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For the handful that have actually been reading my blog, I've been absent because I've been OBSESSED with The Wire. It's 5 seasons centered around the Baltimore, Maryland criminal, judicial and media system.

The overall writing and events are so raw, compared to the filtered crime shows on the network, such as Law and Order, or CSI. You get to see the detectives working the case getting personal in certain situations or just joking around amongst the guys.

Season 1: The Streets
Probably my favorite season, it revolves around the drug dealings on the street. You see the interaction of business being handled from the corners where the transactions take place. The market depends on the addicts staying addicted to the product. Avon Barksdale leads the most prominent gang in Baltimore and follows an old school code and takes his business seriously. The group of investigators trailing to capture Avon involves Jimmy McNulty, a black sheep in the police who constantly breaks rules and burns bridges by not following the chain of command. Through the investigation you see the frustration as the unit doing the investigation is constantly challenged with obstacles that the Police Commissioner and the justice system puts out, as well as trying to be one step ahead of the gang, by putting wire taps on the pay phones being used.

Season 2: The Docks
They step away from the streets and focus on the blue collar section of Baltimore. A family works cohesively to steal shipments coming in from a certain ship, overseas. The stolen products range from electronics to various items that could be sold for profits. But the case takes an interest when a cargo arrives and a secret compartment of dead girls is discovered. McNulty who was demoted to patrol the docks joins his old team to help solve the case, which turns out to be the importing of the drugs to sell to the dealers for the streets.

Season 3: The Streets Part 2
We focus back on Avon's crew, but this time we see the dynamics higher up in the food chain. The story of seeing the pressure between Avon and his second in command, Stringer Bell, is all too familiar. You have two partners in a business that don't see eye to eye anymore. Stringer, a business man at heart, attends business classes at the local community college, and tries to apply real world economics into the street business. Avon, struggles with his partner's idea of trying to apply them to a business that isn't conventional. Stringer's investments with the political circle leads you into a world of dirty politics, where money does make the world go round. Avon would rather use the old and ancient form of making the world go round: guns and power.

Season 4: School System
We follow 4 kids entering a school system where the education system is in a deficit of $54 million dollars. The school's main concern is to meet the minimum requirements of the state to receive the funding, meaning, each student really only has to show up to school at least once a month. ONCE A MONTH! After that it doesn't matter whether these kids pass the school, they usually will advance to the class most appropriate to their age group, known as "social promotion". Test scores are bumped and adjusted to meet the requirements. The relationships between the frustrated faculty who do want to make a change, and the kids who have no other choice but to work the streets is heartbreaking.

Season 5: Media
We all know the media is a powerful tool. It controls the world. They choose what you see, and what you don't, how you should feel, etc. This season parallels with an investigation where McNulty makes up a serial murder case, to divert funding to those that need it, when the new mayor backs out on his promise to focus on crime prevention and instead routes the money towards the education debt. We follow one reporter who starts out by embellishing quotes, and then all out making up quotes, which eventually leads to making up stories. When his editor discovers this and shares it with his editors, the reporter is instead rewarded because his stories make up the front page. We get to see why something makes the front cover, and why something gets pushed back further into the paper. We see why some stories get more coverage and why others are cut down.

I don't feel I did any justice explaining the show, but it's definitely high on my recommendation list. I'm not going to lie and say that this show is just as fun to watch then it is to talk about... it does move along slow. But much like the real world, the stories are there. It's subtle and hidden beneath another story. Everything ties in together, and each character is going to have you hate them and love them from minute to minute. Then there are the other characters you'll be pleasantly surprised you'll be rooting for.

Attempting to kill time I went through my ON Demand and stumbled upon this show.

It's about Paul Watson and his staff aboard the ship the Sea Shepherd. Aboard the ship they circle Antarctica to chase off the Japanese whale hunters. Paul Watson is the co-founder to Greenpeace, and was later voted out for being too aggressive in his fight against whaling, poaching, shark finning and habitat destruction.

For several years, Watson's group of staff and volunteers have engaged in a campaign almost every winter to find and stop Japanese ships that hunt whales in the name of research, attempting to stop them by any non-violent means necessary. The eclectic group — labeled activists, heroes and/or eco-pirates — leave port in Melbourne, Australia for a two-month campaign that is dangerous, controversial and has garnered international media attention. Sea Shepherd's dedicated, international crew have spent their holiday the last several years and risked their lives at the bottom of the Earth to save whales. -Source

This show is really compelling. Compelling enough that my sister and I looked at each other with the opening sequence and contemplated going vegetarian, after seeing the inhumane manner in which these majestic creatures are being slaughtered for monetary... err.. "scientific" purposes.

The Japanese have used the loophole that whales can be hunted under the restrictions that only a certain number are killed for the purposes of scientific research. Each of their ships have "RESEARCH" painted on the side as to make it okay. As they kill them they hold up signs for the helicopters that say things like "We are collecting samples for DNA". Really? You need the whole body for DNA?

Okay, enough with the ranting, back to the show.

My only complaint about the crew is that well... they're not the best decision makers in the world. It's frustrating to watch them stand around and have the passion to do what they want, but not really have the structure or guidance. For example:

The captain is nuts, and the boat is filled with the worst decision makers... EVER. I'll give him credit for being gutsy and going out and doing what he does but he takes the term of standing what he believes in to the core. They find the location of a whale hunting ship and after several attempts to make contact with them, he comes up with the plan to send two of his crew members aboard the ship so they can be held captive, then he can call the media and say the Japanese ship has two of his crew members kidnapped. Great marketing strategy but otherwise extremely risky.

It did work. But the two guys were held on the Japanese ship for about 2½ days. During those days negotiations reached diplomatic proportions. The government got involved when an agreement couldn't be made on how to return the hostages. The Australian Coast Guard stepped in to pick up the hostages and return them to their home ship. The captain decides to get some shut-eye because he's been up for 56 hours.

While he's asleep they see in the horizon the Japanese ship. They feel it's taunting them and vote whether they should make an attack. A crew member advises they just got done negotiating to get their fellow crew members back, to make an attack against them before the dropoff would be counter-productive. They vote against her, and she suggests they ask the captain what to do. The captain says it's up to the first mate, and goes back to the sleep. The attack goes into action.

They send their little boat after the ship, and the helicopter hovers over keeping watch. He notices they are going in the opposite direction. He lets the ship know, and they try getting radio contact. No response. After repeatedly trying to get their attention the helicopter has no choice but to turn back. The boat is missing for about 2 hours. The first mate doesn't wake up the captain. The communications officer comes in the midst of all this and organizes a search and rescue, also suggesting they call the coast guard. The first mate is furious that he even organized such a thing without going through the chain of command.

The boat does come back. They forgot they had the SAT phone. SERIOUSLY?!?!? Anyway the communications officer gets demoted in the morning when the captain hears what happened.

The whole feel of this operation feels like a bunch of college students who are naively pursuing a cause. Great, but it just doesn't feel well thought out most of the time.

I made a bet with a co-worker at the office on who would win tonight. Before I say my prediction I have to say this is by far the worst season. It's a season of misfits. The last two seasons I always had a strong opinion on who would be the winner, and everyone else agreed. But this season is... blah. Nobody really comes out strong. Everyone is sloppy and mediocre.

Anyway the two finalists come down to Christina, fresh out of school and Petrozza, who has many years as a catering chef. My vote is....

Christina.

She shows leadership qualities. Petrozza is too nice. I can't see him ordering everyone around. Ideally it's nice to have a nice boss and not one who is screaming down your throat, but in a kitchen you need that presence.

We'll see what happens at 9. If I lose, I owe my co-worker 2 cans of soda.

Update: Yay! I win a can of soda.