The Wire

[Dandan]

Don't know if there's another thread about this show but found it really cheap today on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004BZ5AFU/ref=ox_ya_os_product Just $78 including the shipping for the entire series. CHa-Ching! Anyone else like this show?

 

[Shakermaker]

I watched a couple of episodes after seeing Generation Kill, but I couldn't get into it. I guess I should try again.

 

[knut]

sheer utter brilliance. i am quite content when i say that this is easily one of the finest pieces of television from the last ten or so years. i don't care how matter-of-factly i say that, it's quality is just staggering. i have never seen a television show that can match it's writing, story or characters from start to finish with as little flaws as i found this show to have. there are a few i hold in high regard, sure - the sopranos, for example, but i felt that was let down in several departments (livia, janice, the dream sequences, etc) - but for me, this show was colossal from the streets of season one to the editors desk of season five.

iuhfiufdsbvuifbsv i can't even comprehend where to go into great detail about trying to describe what makes this show so great, it's like i say: colossal. if someone was to talk to me about in person i'm often reducing to a gibbering mess trying to get words in about all the many things i like about this show, who my favourite characters are or even what my favourite season is. for a long time, it was season four - the schools, the kids, mcnulty on the street, carcetti's mayoral run, chris and snoop, marlo's reign - but looking back, i think season two might now take the hot spot. there's something about that season that i really, really love and i think on reflection it's just how jarringly different to the rest of the story it is, but it still manages to intertwine itself with the bigger picture just perfectly.

i always thought the films and tv forum was in desperate need of a good wire thread. i remember the last one but i think it was like two or three pages and max. a good LOST-sized thread would be nice, with lots of good chat about favourite episodes or scenes and the like. alas, with the show not running anymore, i guess it's not likely. still, i heartily recommend it to anyone that never got around to watching it. folks in the uk can pick this up for coppers at hmv these days, i imagine even less on amazon. well, i say coppers, but far less than what i payed several years ago when i was collecting the seasons!

 

[Ennui]

The Wire is probably the best television show I've ever seen. It's so good it's practically literature in TV form. Absolutely immense... incredibly authentic and just generally 10/10 in every possible aspect I can think of. If you haven't seen it, WATCH IT.

 

[knut]

i think i have only one flaw with the wire - the one time use of slow-motion overdubbed with music in a scene from season one, when avon walks into the pit. it's very off from the rest of the show, but this was in the first season so i suspect the decision to use anything like that later on down the line was ruled out afterwards. i should note that throughout the show, there is no music outside of what can be heard on televisions or radios.

however, the scene completely rocks and is ****ing awesome anyway, so who cares!

basically it's all gold if something so menial like this is my only gripe. a year ago or so i probably would of said that season five is a little lackluster but on rewatches and a bit of a think, i think it's jsut as incredible as the rest. the baltimore sun was as really ****ing great angle to work with.

 

[Quixoticism]

So now that you've all gushed about how this is so good would you mind telling me what it is and all about?

 

[knut]

i couldn't possibly explain the wire, i'm not a hundred percent sure that anyone can. in short, it's about drugs, politics, corruption, power, decay, crime. actually, it's about so, so much more than that, but there's a foundation for you right there.

it's set in baltimore city, around 2001 onwards or thereabouts, and originally follows both characters from law enforcement and a street level organized crime syndicate with a history for narcotic distribution and attention for an increasing amount of number of homicide cases associated with said organization. it sprawls out amongst other characters even in the first season, but from season two onwards you start seeing even more angles and arcs such as labor union workers at the baltimore docks, children at a inner-city school, mayoral candidates in government and eventually journalists and editors at a baltimore paper. it's a very black and white show, with no real good or bad guys that are easily distinguishable through stereotype, and the entire five seasons are very, very slow. there are no cliffhangers, no one-episode arcs - it's all in the slow boil, and at the end of that there is no crashing crescendo.

you could almost say it's monotonous in that it's so very true to these certain aspects of life in baltimore that nothing overly spectacular or incredible happens such as a massive gun fight or a tirade of explosions, a revenge fulfilled or good eventually winning over evil, but personally the absence of the norm is what i like best about this show. the hooks sink in with the characters, the dialogue, the delicate plod of the pace and the universe that is so far from our cushy armchairs that it cannot help but be just so engrossing even though it's a horrible drug and bullet riddled shitstorm covered in lies and deceit but in reality, might be right down the streets for baltimore residents. all of the show is based upon wrters david simon's time as a journalist and ed burn's service in baltimore police departments homicide and narcotics divisions, so all of the show is pretty much based on events and understandings that they have experienced.

it takes a few episodes to really sink in, and it really requires concentration and patience. david simon intentionally wrote the show to be as thrown-into-the-deep-end as possible, with all sorts of jargon and slang thrown in left, right and center to really put you in the middle of things. it can often be quite difficult to follow with so many characters and storylines criss-crossing all over the shop which i think it's quite a universal opinion that the second viewing of the entire show is often the best viewing. i certainly think so anyway, but i still thought even on the first watch it was really something special.

just... watch it!

 

[Ennui]

So now that you've all gushed about how this is so good would you mind telling me what it is and all about?

To put it as succinctly as I can, it's a five season portrayal of the city of Baltimore. Each season has a focus on a specific facet of Baltimore and its problems - drugs/crime, unions and dockworkers, city politics, the education system and the press. The lead writers are a retired detective and a retired journalist, both of whom lived and worked in Baltimore for decades. The show strives to provide an exceedingly authentic portrayal of modern Baltimore and its problems - many of the characters and events are loosely based on real people and real events, although the show is wholly fictitious. The show has a very grim, serious tone and takes itself very seriously (other than the intro credits, there is no background music besides what is happening in the show like the radio or whatever) and the vast majority of it is shot on location around Baltimore rather than using sets.

There is a group of main characters who are focused on throughout the series and plot arcs that last for several seasons, as well as a very distinct central arc and themes for each particular season, along with that season's own host of characters. The show is really violent, quite depressing, and completely and utterly fascinating. You'll learn a LOT about everything from big city politics and corruption to gang warfare and the operations of the major drug players in the city. The whole way it's done is very much unlike pretty much every other drama on TV, there are no cheap thrills or flashy movie explosions, but the violence - which there is plenty of - is extremely realistic, visceral, and often quite disturbing. The writing is superb, as are most of the actors.

 

[Lucid]

Been getting really into it lately, finished up S3 and I'm just waiting on S4 to come in.

 

[Unfocused]

It's a brilliant show and I'll say it now - you might need to watch 2-3 episodes to get into it, IIRC at first it might be a bit overwhelming (just like knut's descrpition, lol), but it's really not hard to follow and it is gripping.

 

[Vegeta897]

I can't even remember what made me start watching this show. It is indeed hard to get into, and in retrospect I'm surprised at myself for sticking to it despite not having anyone tell me that it takes some time to get into. This is only an initial hump though, and you'll be enjoying some fantastic television.

 

[Sulkdodds]

Yeah, this is basically the best show ever. Absolutely incredulous that this appears to be the first thread we've had on it.

After watching a season of The Wire I always find myself jarred and shocked when I return to other TV shows and realise how manipulative their use of music and scene-setting is compared to the blank realism of the wire. I mean 'realism' in the literary sense - as a style, not an actual measure of its authenticity - but it's also laudably faithful to reality. As in Dickens, the style of 'realism' is shot through with and complicated by mordant little vignettes like the highly stylised and infamous "fuck" scene in Season 1. That said, I disagree with Ennui about it being completely serious. The one thing that nobody ever seems to talk about when they talk about The Wire - its great characters, towering performances, etc - is how damned funny it is. Seriously? Nobody else thinks that? It's hilarious!

Okay, so, let's just take two parts from Season 1 (don't want to spoil too much, especially since I haven't watched the whole series myself). McNulty is at his desk, working. The police detective who's spying for Rawls comes along to stand obnoxiously above him. "Hey McNulty. How's it going?" he says, before lean over very unsubtly to check inside the open desk drawer for a hip flask. He walks away; McNulty shoots him a poisonous glance and slams the drawer shut.

Or how about when they're ordered to do a bunch of buy-busts in the low-rises? They all rush in but in the course of the raid one of the older detectives is pushed by a suspect and falls over, suffering some kind of injury. Instantly the cops descend on the perp and start beating the hell out of him. We see Kima Greggs suddenly jump up from what she's doing and race at top speed over to the scene of the beating. Ah, we think. Kima's good police, an upstanding professional who's competent and committed to her job. She'll put a stop to this. Except she's actually running over there as fast as she can so she too can get in and give the poor guy a kicking. I laughed my ass off.

Which is not to mention all the scenes with Bunk and McNulty getting drunk together.

 

[knut]

oh no doubt the wire is hilarious - landsman's peeves at bunk throughout season four, omar's quick-quips and that courtroom scene, herk and carv's various chats (pitching and catching, where d'you get those hats..., the car chase through the rat-race to the theme from shaft, etc), rawls in the gay bar, mcnulty and bunk's wingman tactics in bars across baltimore... the show's hilarious.

however, a lot of the humour does derive from the seriousness of the show. like you said, kima descending upon the pit-boy (which was bodie, by the way) is pretty funny, but it shouldn't be.

 

[Krynn72]

I didn't think it was as incredible as everyone else does, but primarily because this sort of subject matter isn't terribly intriguing to me. But even so, I enjoyed the show a lot, once I forced myself to get past the first two episodes.

And Clay Davis' recurring line is the best.

 

[The Monkey]

We already have a thread on this amazing show.

http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?137561-The-Wire&highlight=the+wire

Took me five seconds to find.

Anyway, as I wrote in that thread, it's probably the best show you will ever see. At first viewing I rated the fifth season as slightly below the other one, but at the second viewing it grew on me, and now I think it's at the same level as the rest. If I have to pick a favourite it has to be the second season. The portrayal of the declining American working class was really brilliant and heartbreaking.

My favourite characters (ie most interesting) would be Omar, Marlo and Carver. Omar for just being the toughest gangster on the show, who at the same time is gay and doesn't use profanities. Marlo for being the only character on the show without any trace of soul at all. He's basically a totalitarian psychopath along the lines of Stalin and Pol Pot who happens to be a drug dealer in Baltimore. Carver is my favourite cop for his personal growth; at the start he was just an average asshole cop who stole money and assaulted the criminals, at the end he was probably the most ethical and competent cop in the whole department.

What stands out to me even more than the brilliant writing is the acting. Every single role, even the minor ones, is played to perfection. These actors have more talent in their little fingers than the entire cast of the average Hollywood blockbuster.

 

[Dan]

What about Bubbles? My favourite, I think most people liked him. The end of the last season I thought was a bit cliche. It basically was about how nothing has changed in the end.

 

[Raziaar]

What about Bubbles? My favourite, I think most people liked him. The end of the last season I thought was a bit cliche. It basically was about how nothing has changed in the end.

That's life though for most people in such situations... they never get out of the rut they're in, whether it be addiction or some other form of despair.

It's real. Movie cliche or not, it's what actually happens in life. At least it's not some cliche like "the bad guy isn't really dead until you shoot him five more times in five separate incidents".

 

[knut]

That's life though for most people in such situations... they never get out of the rut they're in, whether it be addiction or some other form of despair.

but on the subject of bubbles that's quite a strange thing to say, considering that of all the characters in the show he literally comes out on top when one of his final scenes is being allowed by his sister to live back upstairs in her home. he goes through a lot of shit, but manages to break out of the routine and rut in the end.

for 90% of the rest of the characters though yeah, you're right.

 

[Dan]

That's life though for most people in such situations... they never get out of the rut they're in, whether it be addiction or some other form of despair.

It's real. Movie cliche or not, it's what actually happens in life. At least it's not some cliche like "the bad guy isn't really dead until you shoot him five more times in five separate incidents".

I wasn't talking about the characters, but how the young kids all kind of took over the place of one of the older characters. I just thought that was a bit hammy the way they montaged it. Kind of like saying "hey everyone look how subtle we are being!" The point was already made by then and it could have rested without the last ending part.

 

[The Monkey]

One thing they were subtle about though was the "successor" of Marlo. I suspect that was supposed to be Randy, or possibly Kenard.
This is what I mean:

Speaking of Randy, I think this scene from season 4 was probably the most emotional in the whole series:

 

[Dan]

Certainly just by looks, Kenard looks more like Marlow and also has less emotions. Randy is more like Avon.