There will be many sweet remembrances of “The Wire” in the coming days — and a few interviews with David Simon posted shortly [update: see below] — but for now here’s an excerpt from the first review I read, by Alessandra Stanley. And what a good one it is:

“The Wire” ended at just the right time: too soon. And it’s not that Mr. Simon’s series was the only intelligent drama on television. The difference is that most smart shows try to dazzle viewers with what they don?t know: “House” on Fox throws out the rarest diseases and most far-fetched diagnostic tools to update Sherlock Holmes and “Numb3rs” on CBS twists every crime to fit an advanced mathematical formula.

“The Wire” worked with primary sources that anybody could grasp if they looked closely out the window on the train from New York to Washington. It?s the same view of Baltimore — abandoned row houses, gutted factories and bullet-pocked store fronts — that McNulty takes in when he parks his car and looks down at the city from afar.

“It is what it is,” is what McNulty and others would say to end a conversation. “The Wire” was what it was, and that was a lot.

Now, for those interviews with David Simon and other wraps:

- Alan Sepinwall of the New Jersey Star Ledger talked with Simon over two days — and let’s give props for the subject headers.

- Don’t miss Sepinwall’s finale review and breakdown of all the characters’ fates. Sweet stuff.

- For a much abbreviated discussion, check out Simon’s interview with Salon.

- “‘The Wire’ illuminated ways of life I’ve never experienced, and though I wept for Dukie, I thank the show for creating him and dozens of other memorable characters,” writes Maureen Ryan.

Plus: What’s next for Simon (and, hopefully, TV viewers).