What I'm Watching

The Wire is no doubt one of the best TV series ever made. Setting aside the fact that I'll watch anything the scrumptious Mr. Idris Elba is in, the series is a gritty, take no prisoners crime drama about sophisticated drug kingpins and the dangerous, tireless work that go into bringing them to justice. I started season one of the series in 2010, but never got around to finishing it. You see, while this is among the best of the best, the action is slow to build. The show takes you on a long, oft tedious, journey of police procedure, judicial red tape, corruption and the politics. You don't get much of the CSI effect where all problems are neatly resolved within the hour of the show. The Wire is relentless in its realism. A fact I appreciate, but nevertheless, its easy to lose me when there isn't a hook keeping me on the edge of my seat. I enjoy the show most when the chase is in the streets and when the bad guys strategize to become the hunter rather than the hunted. So I fell off the wagon, but I always knew I'd return to the series at some point. It is so good, if you have the patience to allow the story to culminate to its peak. 

A cautionary tale to would be drug mules and thrill seeking travelers who tend to err on the wrong side of the law. The personal stories of travelers who got caught up in the game on foreign soil inspire an equal mix of shock (such as the fact that drug offenses can cause you to get the Death penalty in many South East Asian countries), excitement, dread and hilarity. The dumbass things some people do ...