The Wire - season 1

So I'm also a newbie to The Wire and just completed season 1 so, inspired by mozartfan1313's great review I thought I'd post a few extra comments of my own. Also behind a cut so I don't spoiler anyone who is even further behind than me (if that's possible!!).

The key thing I loved about this series was it's detail, the fact that you couldn't just skim watch or take your eye off it for a second for fear of missing key facts or scenes and totally losing the plot. In the director's commentary they talk about wanting to produce a series that played out like a novel and that's exactly how it felt. I started off watching it and enjoying it even though I wasn't entirely sure what was happening or who was who part of the time and suddenly a few episodes in it all fell into place and I was totally hooked! I think the other unique thing was the ambiguity - it's really rare to see so many well written shades-of-grey characters in a series rather than just lots of good and bad guys and characters like Omar and McNulty were fascinating for that very reason.

In terms of favourite characters, I'd agree with mozartfan1313 but have to add Lester Freaman to my list. I loved how we, like McNulty, were encouraged to dismiss him initially only for him to turn out to have vastly hidden depths. The actor somehow managed to pull off charismatic and understated all in one role and I thought he was great.

After finishing the final episode the other night I re-watched episode 1 and found lots of cool parallels I'd missed from just 1 viewing. The "nicely done" line used between McNulty and Stringer was particularly good.
 
Have season 2 on order from amazon and can't wait already :)