对于那些生活在煎熬里的剧中人,五季的时间太长。Bubbles,第一季就出现,戏份还很多的一个瘾君子,在第五季里终于讲出了"到现在为止,我已戒掉毒品1年了"。Poot和Bodie,同时把贩毒做为一项事业。一个最后横尸街头,一个心灰意冷当起了鞋店售货员。小人物的生命轨迹只是政客们文件里的一项项冰冷的数字,体制下的生态系统如一个巨大的漩涡,要想浮出水面不被吞噬,需要卸下良知,尊严,轻装上阵。城头变幻大王旗,市长,警察局长,黑帮老大换了一界又一界,巴尔的摩的街角的悲喜剧还是每天准时上演,从来没有改变。"Yo, It's all in the game."剧中人Omar对全剧的一个注脚。
剧里巴尔的摩警察有一个传统,和死去的同事在酒吧喝最后一杯,第3季里,探长Jay在酒吧里举杯致辞: Did he say the wrong shit now and then? Did he bust balls and cheat on his taxes... and forget to call his mother and fuck the wrong broad... for the wrong fucking reason every now and then? Who fucking doesn't? Christ! His shit was as weak as ours, no question. But Ray Cole stood with us... all of us...in Baltimore... working, sharing a dark corner of the American experiment. He was called. He served. He is counted. Old King Cole!