fans of TheWireHBO’s masterful detective series that forged the golden age of television with The Sopranos and Sex and the Cityget ready to say “shiiit” profusely while watching We Own This City from the same creators, David Simon and George Pelecanos.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
This terrific six-episode miniseries from HBO, which details the gangsterization of an elite Baltimore police cell, is of exceptional quality. Like TheWire (Bugged), which will celebrate its 20th anniversary in June, the quasi-documentary approach of We Own This City – The city belongs to usin French version – catapults us into the dangerous streets of Baltimore, where corrupt police and drug dealers clash in the 2010s.
All against a backdrop of racial tensions sparked by the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African American who was killed by Baltimore cops in April 2015. We Own This Cityadapted from a book by investigative journalist Justin Fenton, Baltimore Sunbrilliantly tells this true story in great detail.
By the way, don’t despair after the very confusing first episode. The timelines overlap and confuse the narrative, the many characters pile up without introduction, the complex plot goes in several directions and the technical jargon mixes us up a bit. A choral and rigorous series has inconveniences, what do you want.
But hang in there, it’s worth it. In the middle of a marathon, I voluntarily stopped listening so as not to burn all the material in one evening. I will later savor the last two hours of this ambitious miniseries, one of the best of 2022. Downside: the Crave platform distills the episodes at the rate of one every Monday evening, which is annoying. Only the first is currently offered, in both official languages.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY HBO
Wayne Jenkins (Jon Bernthal) is an arrogant, narcissistic and violent, but still effective policeman.
The entry point into this gritty universe is Wayne Jenkins (Jon Bernthal, seen in The Walking Dead), an arrogant, narcissistic and violent, but still effective policeman. Wayne Jenkins leads a squad created to seize weapons and stop the drug trade. The members of this special unit patrol in civilian clothes (therefore without a uniform), the ultimate privilege in the Baltimore police. Wayne Jenkins is the golden boy of this powerful clique, the toxic star of the police department. And it goes to his head (already swollen).
Drawn to money, power and bling, Wayne Jenkins, whose descent into crime is expertly documented, steals from bags of cash he seizes, resorts to fake evidence to cover up failed arrests and dips his big toe into drug trafficking. A finished ripou, who embarks six comrades in his racket.
For several years, Wayne Jenkins’ bosses have turned a blind eye to his aggressive working methods, which have generated a ton of ethics complaints. Why ? Because Wayne Jenkins arrests bandits and helps improve the statistics of the police in Baltimore, in the midst of an acute crisis. As stupid as that.
That We Own This City succeeds best is to show the immense domino effect of the collapse of a police force on the functioning of an American city. For example, it is now impossible for Baltimore prosecutors to form an impartial jury. The prospective jurors have either a) lost faith in the police, b) been the victim of police intimidation themselves, or c) a loved one whom the police have wrongfully intercepted.
In the street, informants now refuse to speak to investigators. The police no longer get out of their cars in hot and poor neighborhoods. A citizen could film them, accuse them of brutality and ruin their career. Result ? It’s chaos. The crime rate is climbing, the mayor is living on borrowed time and the dealers are rubbing their hands.
We Own This City is a multi-layered series. A federal investigation opens into institutionalized corruption in Baltimore, the FBI gets involved, colleagues of the hoodlum police officers wiretap them and things brew. Really, this is a blockbuster production.
Flight 714 to LA
If you liked the first season of The Flight Attendant (The flight attendant) on Crave, the second season will delight you just as much. It’s still fun, full of twists and ultra-entertaining. Sober for a year, our favorite flight attendant, Cassie Bowden (excellent Kaley Cuoco), now lives in Los Angeles, dates a nice photographer and still works for Imperial Atlantic Airlines. What has changed ? Cassie is now accepting small spy contracts for the CIA.
Nothing complicated. Just observation, nothing more. However, you know Cassie, a curious young woman with a passion for trouble. During a mission in Berlin, she finds herself at the heart of a spy film, where her target dies in a bomb explosion and a mysterious woman steals her identity. A quiet little Tuesday, what!
Crave has uploaded the first two episodes, in English with French subtitles. The dubbed version will land on the platform in June. Until then, raise your tablet and buckle up to cross this fun zone of turbulence.