"It's a very pessimistic show because Simon can see that liberal politics has no viable solution. And I'm not sure how a more radical politics could have been dramatised and it remain a realist show. In Season 6 the Socialist Equality Party comes to town to urge workers throughout the Baltimore area to take up the fight for a new political movement of the working class? The Wire is an entirely negative vision. It's leavened with traditional glimmers of heroism around individuals getting the job done and retaining their humanity in spite of the system, but it doesn't suggest that heroism makes any difference."
That's not pessimism, it's realism. Liberal politics cannot offer a viable solution. The best they can do is Hamsterdam.
If The Wire had been about heroism, it would have been a failure. It's about helping people understand that the problems are systemic: it did that through character, plot, camera work, diversity of topics, etc. It would be a huge step forward if Americans did understand that the issues we are dealing with are systemic.
Joanna
P.S. Heroism is an essentially fascistic trope.