Excellent summary of The Wire. Another aspect of Season 2 that gets overlooked is how the political machine of Baltimore screwed over the dock workers (and blue collar workers in general) in favor of developers. After all, it was developer money that kept the political coffers full, whereas the unions had little to no voice since their finances were on the decline.

Also overlooked in Season 2 was Stringer betraying the Barksdale organization, which led to his death, but also the breakup of Avon's drug empire. Stringer had D'Angelo killed to maintain his silence, but he did the same thing Bunny Colvin did in Season 3 -- his co-op kept a lid on the violence. If there wasn't the violence, the politicians and the police wouldn't care, and the drug trade would have thrived.

What I liked best about The Wire is how the final episode brought things to a conclusion, which was that it was the same thing, day in and day out. Sydnor was the new McNulty, whining about the bosses in Judge Phelan's office. Michael Lee was the new Omar, ripping and running. Had there been an epilogue five years past the finale, it would be the same story line, only with different characters.