I've made no secret that I missed the boat on HBO's "The Wire." After the first season aired and generated low ratings, I gambled it wouldn't be renewed. It was and has become one of the most-praised TV series of all time. And deservedly so. But with a never-ending stream of series to review, I didn't make time to go back and catch up, delegating coverage to the Post-Gazette's Tony Norman, a "Wire" fan from the get-go. I regret that I didn't stick with it, but I won't apologize. One person can't watch everything.

But this season I finally came around and committed to the series, lured in by the newspaper newsroom storyline. That turned out to be the least believable story of the season.

The plot that probably upset most fans, Det. McNulty (Dominic West) creating a faux serial killer, actually came to a satisfying end in last night's 92-minute finale.

So much happened. At times it seemed too rushed, but ultimately it all came together as plots were hatched, schemes crumbled and truth and honesty took a major beating.

"The truth that doesn't bend, breaks," said the ex-wife of upstanding cop Cedric Daniels (Lance Reddick, now creeping out "Lost" fans).

"Bend it too far and you're already broken," Daniels replied.

Of course, the truth does not come out at The Baltimore Sun, as the top editors rally around their little plagairist, Scott Templeton (Thomas McCarthy), and punish beloved city editor Gus (Clark Johnson) by dispatching him to the copy desk. "Wire" creator David Simon once worked at the real Sun and he is deeply cynical about the world of journalism. I say this as someone also prone to moments of cynicism about my career field, but in my experience I'm not sure I've ever encountered any newspaper executives as self-satisfied, venal and willing to be bamboozled as the Sun editors on "The Wire." (Actually, I can think of one -- it's been, mercifully, a decade since I had to deal with that editor at another newspaper -- but that editor was the exception, not the rule.) Plus, the story just didn't make sense in an age when the truth always makes it out on the Internet. Are we really to believe that no one tipped off another news outlet that the Sun won an award for a bogus story?

For fans, the end of "The Wire" marks the end of a TV era. But not for me. Now I'm more excited than ever to go back and watch the show from the beginning. Yes, I know how it all ends, but with a show as dense and layered and filled with "the Dickensian aspect" as "The Wire," it's really all about the journey.