Re:Wired

Last year Barack Obama famously revealed that The Wire was his favourite TV programme, and that the principled ("I robs drug dealers"), shotgun-toting, gay, African-American stick-up artist Omar Little was his favourite character. Though this choice no doubt shocked conservatives, it was probably a calculated one on Obama's part. It was certainly popular. After all, almost everyone who likes The Wire likes Omar.

I'm not sure that I have a favourite character from the show. That's not because I think they're all unlikeable. Quite the contrary, in fact. Certainly, none of them is an angel, but the fact that they're so imperfect and full of contradictions makes them all seem believable and human (with the possible exception of Omar, whose superhero antics make him the least convincing character). This is unusual in television dramas, and is one of the reasons why The Wire is so good. Another is the fact that nothing (sex, violence, police work, crime) is glorified.

I do have a bit of a soft spot for Detective Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski. Maybe it's his vulnerability. Despite his advantages (he's white, and his father-in-law is a local police commander), he never seems secure, and often struggles to do what's required of him. There's a lot not to like about him. Not so much his ineptitude (one of his first acts it to accidentally shoot a wall while showing off his modified Glock, and his shooting up of his own police car in a panic is legendary within the police department), but his apparent lack of any firm principles. At one point he drunkenly pistol-whips a fourteen-year-old boy, an act that leaves the victim blinded in one eye. This seems out of character, though (even his often violent buddies, whose gung-ho attitude Prez is mirroring at the time, are shocked), and like many of his actions stems from weakness, fear and insecurity more than anything else.

I've recently finished watching season 3 of The Wire. I'd already seen all the other series, and one thing puzzled me. How did Prez, who after his initial stuff-ups discovers a talent for code-breaking and becomes an invaluable member of the Major Crimes Unit in season 2, turn into a maths teacher in season 4? Not unexpectedly, the answer was yet another act of incompetence arising from fear.

The scene was almost as gripping as the scene from season 1 in which Detective Kima Greggs was stalked and shot. Prez and another officer are out getting Chinese takeaways. They receive an emergency request for backup and rush to offer assistance. The two men split up, shots are heard, and we see Prez approaching a dead body. Prez says that he saw a gun and fired. It turns out that the dead man is a plainclothes police officer. Completely demoralized, Prez leaves the police force for good.

Although he also struggles to find his feet in the classroom, by the end of season 4 Prez has becomes a pretty competent teacher. If anything he's too good, becoming emotionally attached to some of his students and going out of his way to help them. It's interesting to note that Prez's teaching and other experiences are almost certainly based on those of The Wire's writer and co-creator Ed Burns, who served in the Baltimore Police Department for twenty years before retiring to become a teacher. He also fought in Vietnam, an experience he said was similar psychologically to teaching.