The Wire

[Yossarian]

Jun 19, 2010 22:50:59 GMT -4 ikmccall said:

I really liked D'Angelo too. I thought the season with the dead women in the freight container was excellent.

Me too, I think Season 2 was the best actually. It was the one that tied everything together and explained how the drugs (and women) were moved. And like all the seasons, it was just so poignant: those dock workers didn't become criminals because they were evil, they were just desperate and watching their jobs die. So sad.

Season 4 was excellent too; I just wanted to take Dukie home and feed him.

[kathy1977]

I've got two more episodes to go in season three.

It's pretty good. But nothing mind blowing. It's solid. One thing is that I have yet to see one truly bad or mediocre episode in the three seasons I have seen so far.

But Marlo Stanfield is the weak link. In fact, I think he's the weakest character the show has had so far. I don't hate him, nor do I like him. He's just.....there. He has none of the charisma that Omar, Avon and Stringer have. And he doesn't seem particularly smart or tough.

Season two rocked overall. It got off to a slow start but I was impressed by the end. I still liked season one slightly better though.

[Deleted]

Jul 2, 2010 16:18:56 GMT -4 kathy1977 said:

I've got two more episodes to go in season three.

It's pretty good. But nothing mind blowing. It's solid. One thing is that I have yet to see one truly bad or mediocre episode in the three seasons I have seen so far.

But Marlo Stanfield is the weak link. In fact, I think he's the weakest character the show has had so far. I don't hate him, nor do I like him. He's just.....there. He has none of the charisma that Omar, Avon and Stringer have. And he doesn't seem particularly smart or tough.

.

Give it time for Marlo. That is all I will say. And season four is probably going to blow you away all across the board. Enjoy!

[kanding]

I've come late to this show, and am only now closing in on the end of the first season. I don't know why it took me so long to get into it, but now I'm watching 2-3 hours of it every day.

Great, great writing and acting. I can't handle suspense though, so I've been checking the show's IMDb page to see how long individual characters last. It's not looking good for Wallace, but thankfully he moved to Texas to play for Coach Taylor, so I can breathe easy.

I do think McNulty's attitude of I'm-such-a-shit-This-is-all-my-fault is a little weak. He seriously overestimates his influence on his colleagues and underestimates their intelligence. But it's OK because tortured or not, he looks very, very fine. Almost as good as Stringer.

[groovethang]

I borrowed all five seasons of The Wire from a friend and just finished episode 2 of Season 5. I'm so sorry it's almost over!! Season 4 was so heartbreaking. I'll be back after I'm done to read this thread - I started to early on and read the Stringer stuff before I should have

[prisma]

I started watching The Wire several months ago based on suggestions people here made. I watched seasons 1 and 2, took a little break, and then started watching again a few weeks ago. I binged (I mean BINGED) 9 out of ten episodes of season 5 this weekend and watched the finale last night. I'm completely gutted. I want so desperately to talk about it with someone but I'm about 7 years late.

I *LOVED* Homicide back in the day and rewatched the early seasons a few years ago, but it's hazy enough that I have a hard time comparing Homicide to the Wire. Alan Sepinwall says Homicide make The Wire possible, so I guess I have to think of them as cousins.

I feel like I need to go back and rewatch the series again because, honestly, it's so dense I know that I missed tons of stuff the first time around. By the end of the series, I would read the wikipedia summary and then the Alan Sepinwall recap to make sure I didn't miss anything before moving on and I was always surprised by how much I didn't pick up on.

Some random thoughts:

Season one: Wallace. I still feel grief over that one. I felt traumatized by his death and it has really lingered with me because I realize that kind of violence takes place all the time. Same with Dukie. Damn, damn, damn. I just realized that Michael B. Jordan of Creed fame is Wallace and I was so relieved to see the actor is still around and thriving. I know he's not Wallace but it gives me a teeny tiny bit of comfort.

Season four: Leakin Park. I really got into season one of Serial and Leakin Park was where Hae's body was found. So when it turns up in Season 4 and Bunk is joking about all the bodies that turn up there, I was excited that I knew what it was. It didn't look anything like what I'd pictured. I found this article about it.

Season four: Ben Carson is mentioned in a passing reference as an aspirational figure for the kids. That was back before he became a wackadoo presidential candidate.

Aiden Gillan: I know him from Game of Thrones so it was weird to see him with his American accent. I didn't like his character at all but I thought he did a good job with him. One of the things that I'm most despondent about, in hindsight, is realizing that the political game that Carcetti played is probably pretty accurate so it feels like nothing is ever going to change for the better because politicians are in it for themselves and not for their constituents. I read that the Carcetti character is based on Martin O'Malley who, although he's polling next to nothing, really does seem to be a good guy who cares. And if that's what the good guys are like then we're screwed. There's a difference between knowing the system is corrupt and seeing how that corruption amidst political ambition plays out. Damn.

OMAR! I knew Michael K. Williams from Boardwalk Empire and thought he was good but I loved, loved, LOVED Omar. That guy is an amazing actor. He's one of the few actors that I wish I could meet so I could gush to him.

Oh yeah: IDRIS ELBA! Amazing job. I know this was his starmaking role but now I get it. He was a bad guy and I still hated to see him get killed. Wow.

Also: I was surprised to see several faces from The Walking Dead on The Wire. I read that TWD creator was a big Wire fan and purposefully tried to cast wire actors. I guess it goes to show you what a good writing does for actors, because I thought the actors who played Cutter, D'Angelo, and Carver were great on the wire and kind of meh on TWD. Especially Carver. I love Carver but think Father Gabriel is lame. I guess that's an unfair comparison because the writing on TWD is not its strength.

I have lots and lots of other thoughts but I'd better stop for now. Like I said, I'm in this intense grief period over the end of the show and have no one to talk to about it, so if anyone wants to indulge in some nostalgia, I would appreciate it!

[Dharma]

Still remains one of the best series I've ever seen, Prisma. I became very excited when some of the producers ended up working on Fringe and then Andre Royo (Bubbles) ended up in a small role on the show. It's been a while but I definitely need to re-watch it.

[laboria]

Andre Royo is on Empire now playing a lawyer, and every time he's on I say Bubs.

I am on a Wire rewatch now that TV shows are in their mid season hiatus; I'm almost through season 2. Wallace death still hurts the most. I hope I can do seasons 4-5 again. I have not been able to watch those since my own daughter started middle school in an "inner city" school. It already hurt me as someone who attended a real inner city school, because there was real truth, and I could relate to it because I lived it/saw it, unlike the drug and dock stuff.

Anyway, discuss away!

[Baby Fish Mouth]

Season four was the most emotionally devastating for me. I don't know how anyone could watch season four and not agree that the deck is overwhelmingly stacked against kids from the inner city before they are even born.

Bubbles, Omar and Snoop were my favorite characters. The opening scene of season four with Snoop and the nail gun is so chillingly brilliant.

[groovethang]

I loved the Wire so much but can't bring myself to rewatch it because the ending just killed me. Dukie, Michael and Randy. It took me a while to shake off the sadness.

Like prisma who was happy to see Wallace doing well in other shows, I remember being so relieved when Randy showed up on Suburgatory as Malik!

What a great show.