Alas, I finished The Wire

I know it's not a movie but The Wire is so good it could be a movie. Each episode is a mini-movie -- and yet watching it makes you want to watch the next and the next and when you get to the end and there are no more, it's so sad. :(
The Wire's five seasons center around the gritty under belly of Baltimore, Maryland, but each season has its own focus.
Season 1: The Drug Trade
Season 2: The Port
Season 3: The City's Bureaucracy
Season 4: The School System
Season 5: The Newspaper
All of the seasons are great, but I especially enjoyed the last two. The school chapter is one of the most realistic looks of a school on the screen that I have ever seen -- and believe me, it is not always pretty.
The newspaper chapter marks the demise of the great American newspaper and makes you sad about its slow death.
As a matter of fact the show is always of the verge of disaster for one of its many great characters, and in the end I hoped that at least some of them would be saved from a terrible fate. There was in fact salvation for some of the characters but many along the way meet sad endings. While some of the characters are saved the institutions are not given the same good ending. The police department, school, city hall, and the newspaper continue to be mired in bureaucracy and greed.
My favorite characters are the following:
Bubbles (his last speech to his NA group was incredibly moving)
Omar, modern-day Robinhood, "Omar's coming"
Mr. Pryzbylewski, befuddled teacher
Lester, a detective who likes data
Bunk, hilarious homicide detective
Of course, Jimmy McNulty, seriously messed up but charming
Daquan, pull at your heartstrings middle-school waif
This is just naming a few of the many great characters in the show.
One caveat is that The Wire is an investment in time and energy. It is often violent and filled with foul language. And it isn't a show you can follow very easily if you don't make a concerted effort to pay attention to what's going on. I often found myself rewinding because I missed things. But it is so worth it. Without sounding hoity-toity, ok I will sound this way anyway, I really felt edified by The Wire and think it is one of the greatest TV watching experiences I have ever had. How's that for hyperbole?!