Told from the points of view of both the Baltimore homicide and narcotics detectives and their targets, the series captures a universe in which the national war on drugs has become a permanent, self-sustaining bureaucracy, and distinctions between good and evil are routinely obliterated.
This tv show contains 53 potentially triggering events.
*SPOILERS* Season 3, Episode 2, a dog fighting ring takes place. One of the fighter's dogs loses, and he carries it behind a van and shoots it off camera.
Implied to have been committed by a character. Some uncomfortable moments between the abuser and their victim years after it happened and the abuser interacting with a younger kid.
In season 2, Ziggy acquires a pet duck. He teaches it to drink alcohol and it drinks itself to death. Although the death happens off-camera, we see an upset Ziggy holding its empty collar and, shortly thereafter, its body left slumped in a corner of the bar.
Dog fighting in S03E02, scene where they're prepping the dog: 9:18-10:22. Actual fight and subsequent shooting of the losing dog occurs 11:18-13:20. There is a follow-up conversation 14:09-14:34 and a discussion in a wiretap 26:38-27:07.
In the first season a character is date-raped off screen while intoxicated, she dies during or just after the assault and the perpetrators show no remorse. In the fourth season a teenage character is strongly implied to have be sexually assaulted by his stepfather.
Omar's boyfriend Brandon is captured, tortured, and killed in between episodes 5 + 6. You don't see it happen.
Episode 6: - Opens on a shot of his body; after the kids leave for school, there's a brief close-up. - After McNulty walks past the barking dog later, there's 4-5 minutes of scenes of discussing the murder. Wallace and Di express regret that he had to be killed. - Later, when McNulty takes Omar into the building to show him Brandon's body and leaves the kids on the bench, there's a 1-2 minute scene where we see the body up close and he mourns, and then another 2 minutes of talking about the torture. - At the very end of the episode, after Daniels tells McNulty they were granted another month and he leaves, there's a final shot of a picture of the body
Season 2 E2 greek gang kidnaps a shipworker, beats him up, and stabs him after he confesses. only beating
A teenager is killed after implicating a criminal of high importance. (S1 E12)
A young boy is unintentionally shot to death by a stray bullet following a gang shooting. (S2 E9)
Two of the main characters cheat on their wives. Other characters cheat on their girlfriends.
In S02 a woman cheats on her boyfriend who is in prison with one of his bosses.
Okay here’s the thing: just because it’s a cop show doesn’t automatically mean it’s “copaganda” since one of the central themes of the show is police corruption, including how the War on Drugs was ultimately a failure
Sniffing at least every episode, but usually when predictable (crying, drugs, etc.) so you'll typically be safe just muting when necessary. Bubs is a big sniffer.
Near the end of the episode, a character enters a cramped container as she investigates why it's customs seal was broken. She discovers that several women died in the enclosed space from a lack of oxygen.
A character is murdered by strangulation and his death is passed off as suicide, this is clear to the audience but the characters believe it was suicide and talk about it as such.
Several characters unintentionally overdose.
A character unknowingly consumes heroine laced with rat poison and dies as a result.
A character attempts to hang himself in a police interrogation room but detectives intervene and he survives unharmed.
No characters are shown or discussed successfully committing suicide.
***SPOILERS***
***SPOILERS***
***SPOILERS***
***SPOILERS***
***SPOILERS***
***SPOILERS***
***SPOILERS***
***SPOILERS***
***SPOILERS***
Season 3, Episode 3, Tosha (lesbian) is killed in a shoot out, a robbery gone bad, as part of Omar's crew.
Season 5, Episode 8, Omar (gay) is shot in the head and killed.
***SPOILERS***
***SPOILERS***
***SPOILERS***
***SPOILERS***
***SPOILERS***
***SPOILERS***
***SPOILERS***
***SPOILERS***
***SPOILERS***
Lmao the show takes place in the Baltimore hood with a huge majority of poor Afro-American people so yeah, the chances to see Black people getting murdered are actually quite high.
Season 5 deals with homelessness a lot. There are several homeless characters who appear in various roles. A former homeless man turns his life around. Another character who's underage becomes homeless and an addict.
The series lacks a traditional ending, many characters are shown to continue on their paths - "the game is the game, always" and many are left worse off than at the beginning of the series. There is little sense of closure and the main antagonist is still active.
In season 2 a character is shown driving drunk, he sideswipes a concrete column. The car is shown to be damaged but the character is unharmed. He then gets back into the car, backs up, and attempts to make the turn a second time. He crashes harder this time, further damaging the car, but is still unharmed. Later in season 4 a careless police officer causes a collision resulting in minor damage and no injuries.
Season 3, Episode 2, a dog fighting ring takes place. One of the fighter's dogs loses, and he carries it behind a van and shoots it off camera.