Jaded inhabitants, dangerous streets, glaring corruption, greed that knows no gender, race or creed could probably be found in aging inner cities anywhere, but the series creators chose this eastern port city, up the coast from Washington, D.C., as a full fledged character in the show.

This tough HBO series is in its final TV season. “The Wire”, created by David Simon and mostly written by him and former policeman Ed Burns, first aired in June 2002. I depend on Netflix for my ‘Wire fix”. It seems to take 15 months or so for a season to get to DVD, so I’m always behind.

Each year’s shows have a specific focus – getting drug dealers off the corner with wire taps, honing in on corrupt politicians who get fat on drug money, the Baltimore docks and where/how can dock workers support families as this once bustling waterfront slowly turns into blocks of condos.

I just finished watching 2006. It follows 4 kids thru a school year and takes a look at how they deal with death, drugs and poverty outside the classroom and bureaucracy, low expectations inside the classroom. The show also gives insight into the saying coined by former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill, “All politics is local.”

A lot of the same characters stay with the show year after year and the viewer becomes familiar with all their dreams, demons and idiosyncrasies. You root for them when they appear to overcome and “do better” and you’re disappointed with them if they slip deeper and deeper into their self made abyss. (My favorite is Michael K. Williams. He plays “Omar Little” – the clever, gay, 50 caliber gun toting gangster with a code of ethics. Terrific.)

Regardless of the theme or focus of a season, they all involve some one’s desperation – desperate to get over, desperate to get rich, desperate to have power. The parts of Baltimore that we see here have seen better days, but occasionally you catch a glimpse of the revitalization in other areas. What will it take to be one of the “haves”? – have more power, more respect, more things than the other guys on the corner. Whether drug dealer or politician, policeman or teacher, a lot of the characters are run by – “I have to get mine.” (Regular folks can wait for crumbs, the smart ones take.)

The writing and acting are superb- all are committed to telling a “truth”, not the only truth, but a slice of life they feel we all need to see and hear.

However, even in this bleakness, there is humor and even slivers of kindness and humanity amidst the brutality. Life is multi faceted, even in Baltimore.