SPOILER ALERT: If you don't want to know anything about the premiere and you want to wait until it airs, we urge you to turn back now.

In the brilliant fourth season of The Wire (now on DVD and must be added to your collection as quickly as possible), a character once said, "No one wins. One side just loses more slowly." After watching the season premiere of one of the most critically acclaimed shows of all time, it seems like no other phrase could better sum up the five seasons of The Wire. At the end of season four, it finally felt like we might be heading to some level of success with our favorite citizens of Baltimore. After only one episode of season five, we're back to square one, as everyone slides back into their destructive ways and it feels like all that matters is who loses the slowest. The show that The San Francisco Chronicle called "a masterpiece... must be considered alongside the best literature and filmmaking in the modern era" and about which Daily Variety wrote, "When television history is written, little else will rival 'The Wire'...extraordinary" hasn't lost a single step. It's one of the most richly plotted and intensely rewarding shows in the history of television and we're about to be treated to the last ten chapters of this incredible cinematic novel. We can't make any promises, but don't expect a happy ending.

Season five of The Wire starts with the Joe Chappelle directed "More With Less," an episode written by series creators David Simon and Ed Burns. Down the road, as the quality continues, future writers in season five include Dennis Lehane (Mystic River), George Pelecanos (Right as Rain), and Richard Price (Clockers). Directors include Ernest Dickerson, Agniezska Holland, Dominic West, and new star Clark Johnson. When the season starts, McNulty (Dominic West) is back with the detail that's been trying to break Marlo's crew for months. It's the same B.S. and they know they're not getting anywhere. Meanwhile, the recently promoted Sergeant Carver (Seth Gilliam) has to deal with a police force that's not getting their OT, the right cars, or even the shifts they need. Anarchy on the police force is around the corner. In a fascinating scene, Mayor Carcetti (Aidan Gillen) has to make the kind of tough trademark decision that's been a staple of The Wire - pulling resources from one major unsolved case that's not getting anywhere to get the money to pay his police force to do their jobs. You can literally see Carcetti getting pulled down into the same bureaucracy that he used against his predecessor to win the job. McNulty watches as his team gets disbanded yet again and even he falls back into his bad behavior. As the season premiere of The Wire ends, it almost feels like we're being dragged right back to where the show began, watching a new generation of drug dealers take hold of the street and the people who can stop them turning a blind eye in the name of saving a buck.

How can the endless cycle of red tape and political favoritism in Baltimore possibly be stopped? The Wire creator David Simon has an idea and he starts something rolling in "More From Less" that's clearly a focus - the role of the media and how politicians do or don't get their job done. As well, the focus also reveals how the world of the journalist can get bogged down by the same corner-cutting measures as the policeman and the politician. Simon actually worked at the Baltimore Sun for thirteen years and he knows a thing or two about the importance of the press to serve as a system of checks and balances. He's also aware that the internal wheelings and dealings of a newspaper office can be awfully similar to that of a Mayor's office, police chief's office, or drug dealer's office. The incredible genius of the fourth season of The Wire was in how the show paralleled so many different arenas of Baltimore life, as we watched new blood spring to life in both the race for Mayor of the city and the race for king of the corner. Season four threw in the variable of the school system and its parallel corruption and failures with the world of politics. Season five looks like it will do the same with the world of the media, another important force, like the school system, that seems to be almost irreparably broken.

The Wire never turned into a water cooler hit for HBO despite near-begging from most TV critics. It's partially due to the fact that the show is just too complicated for most viewers. This is not the kind of series to play your DS or chat on the phone while you watch it. You need to concentrate. Even then it's easy to miss the subtle twists and turns of a show that features literally dozens of speaking roles every single episode. It might help to take notes. When was the last time you saw a show that demanded something of you? What about a show that forced you to not only pay attention to what was happening in front of you, but how it would affect other characters and how it worked within the tapestry of the entire series? The Wire isn't easy. Most great things aren't.