We Own This City Part 3 is the third instalment of an American true crime drama miniseries based on the nonfiction book of the same name by Baltimore Sun reporter Justin Fenton. The miniseries was developed and written by George Pelecanos and David Simon, who had previously collaborated on The Wire and Deuce. The premise involves the rise and fall of the Baltimore Police Department’s Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF) and the corruption surrounding it.
S P O I L E R S
We Own This City Part 3 continues with its time-jumping narrative featuring a ensemble of characters, mainly focused on the players involved in police corruption in Baltimore – the perpetrators and the investigators. This can get to be difficult and confusing to follow as the numerous flashbacks are often not easy to keep a track of and this can cause a loss of engagement in the story being told here.
READ OUR ANALYSIS OF WE OWN THIS CITY PARTS 1 – 2.
Fact of the matter is that with this episode, the tension and conflict has disappeared from the plot as the audience is keenly aware that the members of the GTTF ultimately get arrested and thus, the story is more about a record of events rather than an effective plot line that the audience can get immersed in. Considering the reputation of writers Pelecanos and Simon, this is very disappointing.
Thus, while the acting, directing and other technical aspects are excellent throughout, it’s all seems like a soulless exercise somewhat, without the tension and conflict necessary to keep the viewers’ attention. We are not invested in the fates of any of the characters presented in this miniseries whatsoever. In addition, while the thematic underpinning of the miniseries is relevant especially to contemporary USA, so far it has only been lightly hinted upon.
We Own This City Part 3 marks the halfway point of this miniseries and we do not really know where we are going in its second half and most importantly, whether it is important for us to keep following.
Now streaming on HBO Max.
… still there’s more …