The Wire: The Complete Third Season

List Price : CDN$ 74.98

Amazon Price : CDN$ 54.99

Usually ships in 24 hours

Amazon Marketplace : CDN$ 39.99

Usually ships in 1-2 business days.

Product Details

Format : AC-3, Dolby, Dubbed, NTSC, Subtitled
Aspect Ratio : 1.33:1
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0026359277627
Product Group : DVD
Release Date : 2007-05-01
Studio : HBO Home Video
UPC : 026359277627

ASIN : B000FTCLSU

Customers who bought this goods also bought.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.ca

With volatile issues of Baltimore city political reform as its narrative focus, the third season of The Wire superbly maintains the series' astonishingly consistent status as the greatest "novel for television" ever created. While the Baltimore police department's wire-tapping investigations continue to monitor the intricate and now legitimately fronted drug ring of Russell "Stringer" Bell (Idris Elba, smooth as ever), detective Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West) continues his loutish ways, navigating through a series of shallow sexual conquests while doing some of the best cop-work of his career. Stringer's ex-convict partner Avon Barksdale (Wood Harris) is back in the picture and bent on eliminating a drug-dealing competitor named Marlo (Jamie Hector), and Baltimore P.D. Major Howard "Bunny" Colvin (Robert Wisdom) tries his own defiantly independent brand of street justice by essentially legalizing drugs in "Hamsterdam," where isolated sections of the city are established as open drug-dealing zones, utterly without the knowledge or approval of Colvin's superiors. As city councilman Tommy Carcetti (Aiden Gillen) plots his own ruthlessly ambitious strategy for the mayor's seat, Baltimore officials, McNulty's wire unit, and the entire Baltimore P.D. stand poised for the inevitable fallout from street-level and executive-level manipulations of power.

Of course, this is just the tip of a very large iceberg, as The Wire continues its labyrinthine yet tightly controlled chronicle of over 50 characters, major and minor, who are all flawlessly woven into the fabric of these 12 remarkable episodes. For season 3, series creator David Simon continued to recruit a top-drawer lineup of reputable writers (including novelists Richard Price, Dennis Lehane, and George Pelecanos) and directors (including Ernest Dickerson, Tim Van Patten, and Agnieszka Holland), and by the time a major character is killed in the season's penultimate episode (arguably the series' finest yet), it's clear that The Wire has earned its crown as the most ambitious and intelligent crime drama in the history of American television. DVD extras are excellent, as usual, including five illuminating episode commentaries (an absolute must for devoted fans of the series), a Q&A session with cast & crew moderated by renowned TV critic and author Ken Tucker, and a classroom conversation with Simon that delves deeper into the creative process of the series. Having deservedly earned its renewal for a fourth season (out of a projected five, according to Simon), The Wire delivers surprises aplenty (keep a close watch for startling revelations) while proving, yet again, that cable-TV is the place to be for anyone seeking respite from the relative mediocrity of mainstream network programming. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Back on track (2008-08-02)

What was the point of Season Two? To be honest, you could skip Season Two and go straight to Season Three here as the series is back on song and seems to have zero connection to what happened on the docks in Season Two. The focus is back on Barksdale's crew and how the writers can make getting cell phones on a wire to try to get something on Barksdale is wild. There's also way more McNulty in Season Three which is always good, but the big surprise is the introduction of Major Colvin, the police officer who runs the Western district. He is the revelation of the series but, sadly, it looks like he's on the outs maybe for the future.Without giving too much away, there are some great things to watch for--check out the gay bar scenes and keep your eye out for a certain central character who, if you blink, will miss...and is probably a foreshadowing of something to come in Season Four. We also get a surprising shift in Lt. Daniels' private life w/ a regular on the series.The only moot point I have is similar to Season Two--what is with the white characters who are not directly connected to the cops? The two new semi-main white characters are just not well drawn. I found the councilman Carcetti too dweedby to be believable and the political campaign consultant D'Agostino just came across as over the top especially in her scenes with McNulty. I get she was her own woman adn had the killer bod, but the whole "I'm in charge" maneater jag rang hollow with me. Plus what was the deal with her bug eyes--blink once in a while! It drove me nuts watching her.Once again, though, leave it to Omar to really have the last word as his actions really turn the series on end. At the beginning of Season Three, if you said you saw what was coming as regards the Barksdale crew, can I get stock tips from you then?The extras are nothing special as they're just commentary on some episodes which I just find annoying to listen to anyway. Prefer they put on some interviews with the cast. Anyway, maybe not as mindblowing as Season One but after Season Three, I'm hyped to watch Season Four now.

They've done it again... (2006-09-09)

An equal match to the first superb season, quality-wise, better than season two (well, that one was different, anyway) the third season is just great viewing. Like all great film, it starts with the writing. Tight and inventive to say the least. (These guys know how to tell a story.) And then there's that cast. Simply great chemistry. Understated excellence. No spoilers here but between the ideas in this series, the overlaying metaphor, the symbolism... This is easily the best stuff on TV and far better than most recent film. (Yes, I know there's alot of great film too. I mean commercial film. You know, the kind that unfortunately makes money.) I'll be at my PVR tomorrow night to watch and rewatch the beginning of season 4. Don't miss this stuff. Real ideas here. Right out of the Greek classics.

Look for similar items by category