Not bad or anything, just very comfortably behind Season 3, 2, and 1 in terms of quality.

Not bad TV. Better than most TV even. But I've always been perplexed when people list it as the best season of The Wire, much less the best season of anything in all of television. And watching it today reinforced that.

For one thing, during the first three days of the marathon, I was glued to my couch. I felt bad every time I had to get up and use the restroom. Today, with my schedule completely empty, I watched the first few eps, and I don't really feel that compelled to watch this rest.

The problem with the season isn't the kids; they're definitely a, if not, the strength. The Cutty, Kima, Bubbles, Bunk, and Jimmy sub-plots work. But the Mayoral primary stuff gets pretty insufferable. I don't care about the stuff with Marlo, except when it involves Bodie or Omar. The school stuff with Prez works. The school with Colvin is kinda dull. There's not enough Slim Charles. Even the "should we/shouldn't we fire Burrell" stuff didn't hold me this time around.

I mean, there's some other good things about it, like Chris Partlow the Zombie Master. And, as a whole, it definitely has the best collection of cold opens for any season. It definitely has the two big emotional moments in the final two eps (Randy and Bodie). But it's not holding up like the first three seasons of the series.