We just started season two of the acclaimed HBO series “The Wire”, and I must say, although we started off slow on this and questioning whether we really liked it or not, we are now as addicted to the show and the characters as we were to The Sopranos.  In keeping with the tradition of great scripts and even better acting, The Wire is a superb show that focuses on the characters and makes you like all of them - from the killer thugs to the hapless bystanders to the cops that chase them down via elaborate wires and various other methods of secret surveillance.

The Wire is about a group of detectives and cops that are assembled to help bring down a new drug ring - at least one that’s new to them, that’s becoming a little too violent.  The show is set in the slums of Baltimore, and the first season centers around an investigation and subsequent uncovering of a drug ring run by Avon Barksdale.  Barksdale remains an elusive character until one cop who pretty much keeps his mouth shut on works on his miniature pieces of furniture figures out who he is by putting a name to a face from a local boxing club.

We are introduced to so many character this first season that we can barely keep their names and faces straight, but we ultimately end up caring about what happens to each and every one of them, which is a hard thing to do for most television shows, especially where the line between good and bad becomes very thin and unrecognizable in most cases.

Now that we are on the second season of the series, we can barely wait to watch the next one, and it’s not because each episode ends with some huge cliffhanger, it kind of ends on a low key note, like the Sopranos usually did, we just genuinely can’t wait to see our characters in action and what’s going to happen in the next one and how the plot develops.  The plots are original. 

Those that expect a lot of violence like the Sopranos has may be disappointed though, it’s low on violence except few scenes that graphically depict murder scenes, but the disturbing graphic violence of the Sopranos caliber won’t be found here, and it’s actually refreshing and it works because the series still maintains that gritty, slightly reckless tone.  I’d definitely recommend this to anyone who can follow a script for a while without getting impatient and can get the names down before giving up on it - it’s well worth the wait.