The Wire’s series finale deliberately avoided closure, but its ambiguous ending made a larger point about American society. When the feature-length final episode of The Wire aired on HBO on March 9, 2008, it should’ve been a cultural event on par with the M*A*S*H finale. But The Wire never got its flowers; it consistently struggled in the ratings, and it was consistently snubbed at the Emmys.

In the years since, more people have caught up on The Wire. Its legend has grown, its fan base has expanded significantly, and it’s deservingly considered one of the greatest TV shows ever made — maybe the greatest, period. But even still, I never see its final episode getting its due respect as one of the best series finales.

The Wire’s fifth and final season is controversial for its far-fetched fabricated serial killer storyline, but it was way ahead of its time in depicting “fake news,” and it ends on a poignantly bittersweet note. The Wire’s final episode — season 5, episode 10, “-30-” — is creator David Simon’s concluding paragraph in his thesis on crime in the American city.

Jimmy McNulty’s Ultimate Fate Is Bittersweet

When we met Jimmy McNulty, he was questioning a witness and compelling him to testify. When we left him in the finale, he’d lost his job after exhibiting reckless, unlawful behavior. This downbeat but just ending falls into the same category as another TV cop antihero, The Shield’s Vic Mackey. They were addicted to the job, and they couldn’t get any more fixes.

But that ending isn’t quite the life-ending tragedy for McNulty that it was for Mackey. Getting fired from being a detective seems like the ultimate tragedy for McNulty, because being a cop is all he knows how to do; he’s not suited to any other line of work. But, at the same time, it is a somewhat optimistic ending.

After getting fired, McNulty is shown to be sober, and sticking with it. He even resists having a drink when he and Freamon toast their careers at a bar full of fellow officers, all drinking heavily. And not only that, he’s reconciled with Beadie. So, now that he’s not preoccupied with his cases anymore, he might be able to clean his life up.

Why McNulty Brings Larry Home

In season 5, episode 6, “The Dickensian Aspect,” as the fake serial killer gains notoriety, McNulty finds it harder and harder to stage the murders, because cops race to the scene every time a homeless person turns up dead in the hope of catching this fictitious killer. He comes up with a novel solution: stage the murder, then disappear the victim.

He meets a mentally ill homeless man named Larry, takes a few pictures of his supposed murder, then gives him $100 and a fake I.D. and drops him off at a homeless shelter in Richmond, Virginia. In the series finale, after the whole hoax falls through, Jimmy drives back to Richmond, picks up Larry, and brings him back to Baltimore.

This shows us that there’s still a glimmer of good left in Jimmy. He hasn’t been completely jaded by the system; he still believes in doing the right thing. Bringing Larry home is a final act of penance. He can’t make up for all the ramifications of his fake serial killer, especially since the whole scandal is being swept under the rug, but he can bring Larry back to Baltimore.

Why Baltimore P.D. Covers Up McNulty’s Hoax

Throughout The Wire’s final season, as McNulty regressed further and further into his lie to keep the funds rolling in, it drove a wedge between the officers on the Major Crimes team. Bunk and Kima objected to it, but Freamon thought it was a great idea; he just thought McNulty was going about it all wrong. It seemed like McNulty and Freamon were heading for some real trouble.

But when it inevitably came out that the serial killer didn’t exist, they got off pretty lightly. Baltimore P.D. decided to keep the fake serial killer a dirty little secret, so McNulty and Freamon never had to face any significant consequences. They lost their jobs, but it could’ve been much, much worse. So, why did the department decide to cover it up?

The media and the police force had riled up the entire city with this tale of a mass murderer on the loose. Too many people would get in trouble for going along with it or failing to catch it, so they covered it up. So many powerful people were fooled by McNulty’s staged murders that it would be embarrassing to reveal the truth.

Why Daniels Quits The Police Force

After McNulty catches the copycat killer and frames him as the non-existent original, Carcetti holds a press conference in which he takes credit for both the Stanfield arrests and catching the serial killer. He then promotes Daniels to Police Commissioner, but Daniels is clearly trepidatious about taking the job. After seeing his own detectives fake a string of murders, Daniels has already become deeply disillusioned with the bureaucracy of policing.

But that disillusionment reaches a boiling point when Steintorf asks him to “juke the stats” to make it look like Carcetti is keeping his promise to reduce crime. When Daniels refuses, he’s blackmailed into quitting his job. Daniels might’ve hoped that becoming commissioner would’ve given him enough power to ensure things are done by the book, but there’s still more corruption above his station.

As soon as Daniels is promoted, he’s asked to inflate the numbers to make them look better. He realizes he can’t escape the unethical practices of the police force, so, after being strongarmed into quitting, he becomes a defense attorney and pursues justice that way.

The Wire’s Final Montage Explained

As McNulty drives Larry back to Baltimore, he stops on Interstate 83 and gets out of his car to observe his city. The original Blind Boys of Alabama version of “Way Down in the Hole” plays on the soundtrack as the finale cuts through a breathtaking final montage where we see the final fate of almost every major character in The Wire.

Carcetti is elected governor. Kenard is arrested. Pearlman becomes a judge. Daniels becomes a defense attorney. Valchek becomes the new commissioner. Templeton wins a Pulitzer Prize for his made-up news stories. Freamon is making miniature furniture at home. The Greek listens in on a meeting between Spiros, Slim Charles, and Fat Face Rick. Duquan lives on the streets, spending what little money he has on drugs. Freamon makes miniature furniture.

This final montage shows us where all the characters end up, but the broader point is that nothing has changed. The cycle continues. Some characters end up in a better place (Daniels, Namond, Bubbles), some end up in a much worse place (Duquan, Kenard, Michael), but the system remains.

Omar gets unceremoniously gunned down, and Michael takes his place as the local stickup man. Bubbles gets clean and moves in with his sister, and Duquan takes his place as a homeless drug addict. This system is built to maintain a socioeconomic status quo that breeds stories like this, and sadly, it’s not going away any time soon.

The Final Shot Of The Series Reminds Us Who The Real Main Character Was

After that closing montage, we return to McNulty on Interstate 83, overlooking the city. He gets back in the car and tells Larry, “Let’s go home,” before driving off. That’s the last time we see McNulty; the camera doesn’t go with him. The camera lingers on that view off Interstate 83, watching over this sprawling metropolis.

The final shot overlooking Baltimore is one last reminder that the real main character of the series was the city itself. The backdrop of Baltimore was the one constant throughout the whole series. The M.O. of most TV shows is to set up a sustainable status quo: a setting and a cast of characters that will sustain up to 100 episodes of material.

But The Wire was never interested in maintaining a status quo. Even major characters like McNulty would come and go. Fan-favorites like Stringer and Omar were killed off. Each season focused on a different aspect of the city — the illegal drug trade, the docks, the local government, the public schools, the media — to present a well-rounded portrait of Baltimore itself, so there was a revolving door of cast members.

What better image to end the series on than a literal portrait of Baltimore? Simon worked as a crime reporter in Baltimore for years, so he knew the city’s seedy underbelly like the back of his hand. The Wire was a frank deconstruction of Baltimore’s failing institutions, as a microcosm of America itself.

The True Meaning Of The Wire’s Ending

Series finales that fail to provide closure are usually a let-down, but the final episode of The Wire deliberately avoids closure and instead shows that, despite everyone’s best efforts, the corrupted system is still intact. Cops like McNulty can arrest a bunch of key figures in a crew like the Stanfield organization, but a different crew will just swoop in and take their place.

The Wire was never about fixing those broken institutions; it was more about highlighting why they exist, and why they can’t be changed despite the tireless work of a small handful of good, honest civil servants. If they’d magically cleaned up crime in Baltimore in the finale, it would’ve felt disingenuous.