# We Own This City (2022)

> A miniseries following the rise and fall of Baltimore's Gun Trace Task Force as its officers slide into corruption amid a city shaped by drug war policy.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/104419

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 6
- Episode runtime: 59 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: crime, drama
- Created by: George Pelecanos, David Simon
- Network: HBO
- Cast: Jon Bernthal, Wunmi Mosaku, Jamie Hector, Josh Charles, McKinley Belcher III, Rob Brown, David Corenswet, Darrell Britt-Gibson
- TMDB rating: 7.6/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14192504/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: dense
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: gritty, bleak, tense, grounded, morally heavy

## What critics say

Critics broadly praise the grounded, documentary-style portrayal of police corruption and the strong lead performance, though the miniseries is seen as a dense, slow-burning watch.

## Synopsis

We Own This City (2022) is an American crime miniseries created by George Pelecanos and David Simon for HBO, a six-episode limited series. Jon Bernthal plays Sgt. Wayne Jenkins, the charismatic leader of Baltimore's Gun Trace Task Force, whose drive for results pulls his squad deeper into robbery, planted evidence and street-level dealing. Wunmi Mosaku plays Nicole Steele, a figure whose scrutiny of the unit grows as the stakes rise, while Jamie Hector appears as Sean M. Suiter in a supporting role. The engine of the series is the slow compromise of officers who justify their misconduct as the only way to win a war on drugs, and each episode builds from raids, wiretaps, strip club meetings and courtroom reckonings. Set in present-era Baltimore, the story measures a city shaped by drug prohibition and mass arrest policy, where the line between enforcement and crime blurs. The tone is grim, procedural and morally heavy, with a documentary-like attention to institutional failure. Fans of The Wire, The Shield and Training Day will find resonance in its gritty, unflinching portrait of corrupt police work and the human cost behind it.

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