Baltimore Police Department reacts to the rantings of a judge by setting up a special detail to tackle drug related crime.
This is an excellent start to a brilliant show that introduces the premise and characters nicely.
There is a lot going on in the plot as it introduces a multitude of characters and the two main organisations it uses to portray the broken systems within American society. The emphasis feels just as geared towards introductions as it does the main narrative, which is a challenge to take in, but it is rewarding if you have the mindset to concentrate on what is being said. Not being American, it helped me to put the subtitles on some scenes, as both accents and dialect are very strong.
The characters for me make an impact immediately and their exchanges are all compelling. McNulty and D'Angelo in particular are used fantastically to show the parallels between organisations.
I work in public organisation and I see the same type of political decisions as portrayed by this depiction of the police department command structure. This is what the show nails so perfectly throughout its 5 seasons and why I admire it so much.
It includes wonderfully written dialogue that mostly does not explain too much, but with it being the first episode there is some unavoidably blatant exposition about who's who.
All the cast are so incredibly good it's hard to pick standout performances. Not being from Baltimore I can't speak for Dominic West's accent, but his acting is awesome, particularly when he plays McNulty drunk. He and Wendell Pierce have the most wonderful screen chemistry.
Visually it is very good, with some great cinematography, particularly the opening shot and scene. The feel of it is that you are almost watching something real.
For me it's a 9.5/10 but I round upwards.
