We own this City

7 / 10

Crystallized in its banging main theme and furious intro, We Own This City is a merciless portrait about Baltimore being inside a vicious triangle of drug dealing, racial profiling and massive abuse of the state's monopoly on violence by the Gun Trace Task Force. Fueled by poverty and resentment from the officers, the six episodes showcase the thoroughly corrupted modus operandi from the task force and its sergeant Wayne Jenkins, played by the once again terrifying Jon Bernthal. His character embodies the disdain against the community, his greed and the exploitation of police detention mechanics – ill-motivated by honest, hard work and inadequate wages for a regular officer – culminating in excessive pleasure and a Wayne Brady-esque moment when he drives away with his newest car in boasting fashion.

Although the series' present plays before and after the period of the 2016 presidential election, the story makes several confusing time jumps in order to detail Wayne Jenkins' career in the BPD and the observation of the task force through another local department and the FBI. This in combination with the low tension results in a challenging watch, but David Simon and George Pelecanos give the viewer the full picture of the broken trust between citizens and the police with no sign of optimism to be seen for a city which indeed has become “the poster child for the basic failure to stop lawlessness”.