As I watched Bubbles pick up his life again, I was overtaken with emotion.
I was sitting in front of my TV, at home, for the sixth consecutive hour, watching “The Wire.” Bubbles, one of the show’s most engaging characters, was a lifelong crack addict until his mid-40s, when a harrowing experience inspires him to slowly and painfully turn his life around and become clean. As he finds a steady job and reconnects with his kin, I could not help but express my happiness to my entire uninterested family, who could not understand why I was spending my entire break watching this crushingly depressing show. But seeing Bubbles’s growth partially renewed my faith in humanity, a faith that had been somewhat tarnished by hours of continuous exposure to Baltimore’s urban crime environment on “The Wire.”
“The Wire” differed in numerous ways from most of the (very) light television I watched, but most striking and powerful was the very human and real nature of the characters and story lines. Spending time at a college where everyone dreams and imagines having a terrific career and making a difference in the world, “The Wire” was a nice reminder that in the real world, happy endings are not a guarantee (or even likely): half-measures are common, and self-interest usually reigns supreme. Neither conservative nor liberal in tone, the show is unabashedly critical of every major institution that affects our lives today, from government to corporations and newspapers. There’s a reason the show never won an Emmy, while “Entourage” has won multiple awards.
This is what made Bubbles’ story all the more powerful. In the dark and crummy world of “The Wire,” Bubbles, through sheer force of personality and spirit, survives. As I sat watching his televised redemption, I was glad I could see his story, and get a small, fictional view of the real world.
