We Own This City

I absolutely loved We Own This City! It was so much better than I expected it to be. It's about the corruption inside one of the Baltimore police forces departments called the Gun Trace Task Force. You will get so invested in the story and what's going to happen next that it will keep you glued to your tv. The real standout in this show is the incredibly talented Jon Bernthal. He should be nominated for an Emmy for his work in this. David Simon is one of the creators and writers of this show, he's known for his work on such shows as The Wire, The Deuce, Treme, etc. This has that same realistic, gritty feel as those shows did. I highly recommend this show to everyone!

It's 2017 Baltimore. The Freddie Gray killing has put police brutality on the front pages. The Gun Trace Task Force has been using questionable tactics to take out guns and drugs. Most of all, they are stealing from criminals and regular folks alike. Sgt. Wayne Jenkins (Jon Bernthal) is a central figure in the ensuing scandal.

It's another Baltimore crime drama from David Simon. This one is really ripped from the headlines. It's a little more contained than The Wire. It's only six episodes long. As always, it is an interconnected story with the reality of the world. This is a must-see for fans of The Wire.

... the editing and directing makes for a confusing story. It is very hard to follow. They flashback to 5 years ago, then ten years ago, than 20 years ago, and the timeline very hard to follow. I get it, they are trying to tell the story of how people got to where they are but it gets confusing the way they did it. At the same time you need to know all the names G-Money, Shropshire, Allers.

This is very poorly edited, and makes it hard to really care about the characters and story.

They should have kept it simple because the story is interesting and the actors are all amazing. Since this is just a mini series, I only hope they tie it up smoothly together in the coming episodes.

Though the non-linear aspects aren't that well handled, with this terrible time sheet thing being used, for some reason-the rest of it is rock solid, I think. Absolutely a spiritual successor of The Wire; even some of the same actors appearing, writers, producers, etc.. It delivers. And what's more, it actually feels quite nice to have the write be on cops. What a terrifyingly corrupt organization the Baltimore police are. If it weren't based on a nonfiction book, I'd have absolutely thought it was fiction. Scary. Excellent. Tight, at 6 episodes. Great plotting, good information, fantastic acting.

No reason not to give it a go.

View this show as its own entity - despite it being as ambitious and involved as The Wire. The writing is spectacularly good and thankfully avoids cliches and so many other pitfalls that are the standard of network 'cop shows', which has also been creeping into non-network shows of late. And the acting talent meets the quality of the writing and direction. Hopefully people can just sit back and enjoy the show for what it is and not politicize it - taking sides, etc. Just the fact that it tackles a specific subject in a way that hasn't been done in this style is such a breath of fresh air and this show is worth watching.