Jon Bernthal as Sgt Wayne Jenkins in We Own This City.
The high watermark for Baltimore-set police dramas isThe Wire,but that’s a complicated comparison on a number of fronts. Firstly,and simply,it’s unlikely any series will be the equal ofThe Wire. But also,and perhaps most significantly,We Own This City comes from The Wire creator,David Simon,and Simon’s long-time collaborator George Pelecanos.
In a way,what setsWe Own This City apart from the great masters of the genre is the extent of its swing on the ethical axis. The truly great police dramas,such asHill Street Blues andThe Wire,predominantly focused on the good guys.The Shield,and the gritty,brilliant Australian police dramaBlue Murder,are examples of shows which lean deep into the darkness.
We Own This City is something else again,a deep plunge into policing gone wrong. Jenkins (Bernthal) and his colleagues are the worst of the worst,a bloated mess of ethical lapses and policy breaches. Into that world comes attorney Nicole Steele (Mosaku) who is conducting an inquiry into policing. She’s a match to Jenkins’ fuse,and the series promises all sorts of explosions to come.
Wunmi Mosaku as attorney Nicole Steele.
There is also a peculiar,and surely conscious,connection toThe Wire. Supporting actors who played villains in that series return inWe Own This City as law enforcement. It’s hardly an overt statement,and might only be apparent to either the careful eye or fans ofThe Wire. But the intention is plain:to illustrate that the boundaries between good and bad,faded but still discernible inThe Wire,seem to have faded entirely here.
At six one-hour episodes,We Own This City is perfectly packaged. A reflection,perhaps,that if you’re not going deep,you can’t also go long.The Wire lasted five seasons but never felt over-told. It was a more patient drama,content to unfurl its story tendrils in a slower,more meticulous fashion.