News-Record.com

I am a satellite TV subscriber, which has its advantages and disadvantages.

One advantage is the NFL Sunday Ticket, which allows me to watch my beloved Packers every week.

One disadvantage is that I can't see new episodes of HBO's superb series, "The Wire," as soon as digital cable subscribers can.

They have HBO On Demand, which allows them to see new "Wire" episodes a full six days before I'm able to.

I have to pledge them to secrecy so they won't spoil the outcome for me. Lately, though, I've gotten a buddy to record the On Demand episodes, so I only have to wait a day.

There is a lot to like about the latest and final season of "The Wire"

One story thread involves cops inventing a make-belive serial killer of homeless people to get more resources directed to crimes against the poor. You see, these street poeple actually were killed but not by the same person. A detective plants eviidence on the bodies to make the killings look related, otherwise no one would care. (The premise: Serial killers are sexier to the media and politicians.) It works like a charm. The mayor is outaged. Local TV and newspapers eat it all up.More money and personnel suddenly become available to cops working in the inner city.

Another thread involves a reporter for the fictional Baltimore Sun who fabricates many if his stories. Unaware that the he is a figment of one cop's imagination, the reporter actually publishes an interview with the serial killer who does not exist.

Good stuff.

But I am disappointed with what they've done to my favorite character, Omar, a scarfaced anti-hero who robs drug dealers and who happens to be gay.

For some odd reason, they've made Omar almost a super hero. Even when breaks his leg improbably leaping off a high-rise balcony, he limps around making hits on the bad guys.
As a drug kingpin says, incredulously."That's some Spiderman s---t."

And it does not belong in "Wire," whose beauty is supposed to be its gritty realism.