The Wire-Is it any good?

Mr.Nice Guy

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Also forgot to say I love the scene at the hospital between Rawls and McNulty where the former shows him some mercy rather than sticking the knife in.

Great shout. I thought this was one of the absolutely key scenes in the entire show.

Rawls pulled every ****ty move in the book without scruple or mercy before and after this scene because the whole point of the show is that for almost every cop, the game is just about getting ahead.

But as soon as anything with consequences beyond career opportunity- like the above scene, or say for any of the maudlin wakes every dead cop gets- the context changes and some element of shared code/empathy comes through across the entire force.

I think only Marlo's gang and the politicians are the only group examined that lack some similar element of an honour code. Quite the comment on the politicians, really!

Touches like this, character moments like this, are what make it the finest tv series ever made and for me second only to the BBC "Tinker, Tailor, Soldie, Spy" serialisation as the best thing ever made for television full stop.

Oh, and Season 2 is the best season of a TV show ever made, while I'm throwing out big opinions.

2smiggy

https://twitter.com/BillSimmons/status/1249709899686137856

2smiggy

they are going watching the wire from the start again, and do a podcast on the episodes as they go along. Good reason to start it again, seeming as some of us have plenty of time on our hands !!

trashcan

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

He was a great character. Not a saint but not on for any violence above what was necessary. Wasn't about the ego of owning corners like Avon - who was a plank.

As Joe said "Buy for a dollar, sell for two".

Also one of Joe's lines that always made me laugh was when the barksdale crew had weak heroine "everyone knows Avon's putting out piss and calling it the sh1t".

Dress the part be the part motherfuker"

SureYWouldntYa

Just after finishing it there myself, very good but as with anything you know is highly rated it's hard to live up to the expectations

I never once got how Marlo was a leader of his gang in the slightest, never bought into him as a threatening guy like Avon or a smart guy running it like Stringer. Took me out of it at times because to me anyway there was no believability to him, jarring compared to all the other unreal performances across the rest of the show.

It seemed at times they were portraying him as a bit of sociopath or similar, like when he got with that woman that time, but it didn't stick for me

.red.

SureYWouldntYa wrote: »

I never once got how Marlo was a leader of his gang in the slightest,

Marlo got to the top through fear, you either went with him or got shot. No two ways about it.
The other crews had a code, there was a mutual respect that went along with the hatred.
Marlo was different, it was all about him. He had the highest body count of all of them and nobody in the po-lice even knew who he was.

wadacrack

SureYWouldntYa wrote: »

Just after finishing it there myself, very good but as with anything you know is highly rated it's hard to live up to the expectations

I never once got how Marlo was a leader of his gang in the slightest, never bought into him as a threatening guy like Avon or a smart guy running it like Stringer. Took me out of it at times because to me anyway there was no believability to him, jarring compared to all the other unreal performances across the rest of the show.

It seemed at times they were portraying him as a bit of sociopath or similar, like when he got with that woman that time, but it didn't stick for me

Marlo was a great character. Probably the best in the show. Their was no talk with him just action and he never hesitated , very decisive decisions unlike Stringer Bell who lost his way

Joe_ Public

Marlo a wonderful character brilliantly portrayed, but i suppose there could be a question that he's just dropped in without much of a backstory. Where did he come from and how did he get his power? Dont remember we got that many clues. Think that may be deliberate on the part of the writers though. He's a bit of an everyman character in some ways i think, a composite. The ultimate product of the game he has no hope of ever escaping.

SureYWouldntYa

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Where did he come from and how did he get his power?

That's the crux of it for me, we're not shown how Avon becomes the man but I could understand why he was the man rather than him just being the man

I found Marlo to be a guy who makes threats, rather than a guy who's threatening

He might have been more decisive than Stringer, and at the end when the wheel seemed to be respinning, with

Michael becoming Omar, Sydnor becoming Jimmy etc, Marlo doesn't become Stringer and maybe won't have the same fate as him

Penn

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Marlo a wonderful character brilliantly portrayed, but i suppose there could be a question that he's just dropped in without much of a backstory. Where did he come from and how did he get his power? Dont remember we got that many clues. Think that may be deliberate on the part of the writers though. He's a bit of an everyman character in some ways i think, a composite. The ultimate product of the game he has no hope of ever escaping.

I think it just stemmed from the idea that Avon, Joe etc... they weren't the only dealers in the city. As we saw with the New Day Co-op, there are about a dozen high-level dealers operating in the city with their own territory.

Thing is though, they mostly respect each other's territory. Don't sell on other people's corners etc.

That's why Marlo started to stand out. He started taking corners, with people like Chris behind him. He started going to war with other dealers like Avon, because while the others were happy to keep the peace, Marlo wanted the crown. So he gained his power through fear, because he was willing to do what the other dealers weren't.

Adam9213

One of the best shows ever made hands down.

Joe_ Public

Penn wrote: »

I think it just stemmed from the idea that Avon, Joe etc... they weren't the only dealers in the city. As we saw with the New Day Co-op, there are about a dozen high-level dealers operating in the city with their own territory.

Thing is though, they mostly respect each other's territory. Don't sell on other people's corners etc.

That's why Marlo started to stand out. He started taking corners, with people like Chris behind him. He started going to war with other dealers like Avon, because while the others were happy to keep the peace, Marlo wanted the crown. So he gained his power through fear, because he was willing to do what the other dealers weren't.

Thats true but I was talking more about marlos life. Who's his family, where's he from etc. Like with Avon, we know his history, his family, all his various loyalties. Stringer i think was his childhood pal. All i can remember about Marlo was he liked pigeons.

I interpret this as deliberate. We dont need to know about Marlo because he is almost devoid of these things, doesnt seem to even have emotions. Joe tries to "civilise" him and ends up with a bullet for his troubles.

Which i think is the writers way of saying if you think avon and stringer were bad, wait till you see this fcker. This thug has no code at all. To use a modern analogy, if the barksdales were a virulent strain of flu, this guy is the full blown covid, there's no telling how bad he could be. What makes him so skin crawlingly terrifying.

Just my interpretation anyway.

cdgalwegian

Penn wrote: »

I think it just stemmed from the idea that Avon, Joe etc... they weren't the only dealers in the city. As we saw with the New Day Co-op, there are about a dozen high-level dealers operating in the city with their own territory.

Thing is though, they mostly respect each other's territory. Don't sell on other people's corners etc.

That's why Marlo started to stand out. He started taking corners, with people like Chris behind him. He started going to war with other dealers like Avon, because while the others were happy to keep the peace, Marlo wanted the crown. So he gained his power through fear, because he was willing to do what the other dealers weren't.

Also, Marlo was a robot; in the cold psychopathic non-empathy way. He had no family- I'd think he would have seen them as unnecessary- so had no weak links. As a robot, a backstory is surplus to requirements (unless you're in Westworld).

Mr.Nice Guy

Doctors room ghost wrote: »

When ye have the wire finished watch treme.
“Play for the money boys.play for the mother fcukin money”

Just finished the first season of this. I thought it was alright and at times good, but it didn't grab me the way The Wire did. I also found it quite tough seeing Clarke Peters and Wendell Pierce and not immediately thinking of Lester and Bunk. It was nice to see Steve Earle again though. I've other shows I want to watch so I'm going to give the other seasons a miss but I might give it a look again one day. The music is nice.

I did like the fun little reference to The Wire in one of the episodes when someone says to Sonny, a Dutch character, "Not like Holland or Hamsterdam or wherever you're from."

Large bottle small glass

cdgalwegian wrote: »

Also, Marlo was a robot; in the cold psychopathic non-empathy way. He had no family- I'd think he would have seen them as unnecessary- so had no weak links. As a robot, a backstory is surplus to requirements (unless you're in Westworld).

The security guard scene shows that better than
any other scene.

"But it's the other way"

Ok to watch the whole series a 6th time?

Slippin Jimmy

Large bottle small glass wrote: »

Ok to watch the whole series a 6th time?

Absolutely!

Dots1982

cdgalwegian wrote: »

Also, Marlo was a robot; in the cold psychopathic non-empathy way. He had no family- I'd think he would have seen them as unnecessary- so had no weak links. As a robot, a backstory is surplus to requirements (unless you're in Westworld).

He had two kids at least as he refers to “Both his baby’s mamas” in one scene.

cdgalwegian

Dots1982 wrote: »

He had two kids at least as he refers to “Both his baby’s mamas” in one scene.

Whoah, that's some memory; I meant he had no family to speak of (though I don't remember that, even though I've seen the whole series twice).
Thinking about it, the The Wire was spot on regards Marlo and where he ended up; turns out, 'they' reckon that many CEO's are psychopaths, a trait that is a good fit in cut-throat industries, so the drug trade gets the cream of the crop, psychopath-wise. So at the end of the series, Marlo 'pivots' into legitimate business (well, he makes a move to; his instinct is to dash out and take on some corner boys).
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/08/the-science-behind-why-so-many-successful-millionaires-are-psychopaths-and-why-it-doesnt-have-to-be-a-bad-thing.html

meeeeh

Regarding Marlo:

Marlo is forced to go legit. He gets what Stringer always wanted but couldn't achieve. His altercation with corner boys shows that unlike Stringer he never wanted that, he feels alienated trying to operate legitimately and very comfortable dealing with corner boys.

rubadub

meeeeh wrote: »

Edit: I never liked Snoop but the scene when she is buying nail gun is a classic.

It was funny but she tips the guy about $150 which was ridiculous. I was sure when Freamon copped onto the nail gun that he might go asking about "has anybody suspicious every bought a nail gun in here? gangster type" -"YES, I will never EVER forget this mad female gangster flashing cash around and knew about guns" (as she was rattling off about calibres etc.)

I finished watching it for the first time, liked it but thought I was going to be blown away from all the reviews I heard. It was rare that I was itching to watch the next episode, some might see that as a good thing as they do not like cliffhanger gimmicks, but I went away from it for several days without being a hurry to go back.

El_Duderino 09

rubadub wrote: »

It was funny but she tips the guy about $150 which was ridiculous. I was sure when Freamon copped onto the nail gun that he might go asking about "has anybody suspicious every bought a nail gun in here? gangster type" -"YES, I will never EVER forget this mad female gangster flashing cash around and knew about guns" (as she was rattling off about calibres etc.)

I finished watching it for the first time, liked it but thought I was going to be blown away from all the reviews I heard. It was rare that I was itching to watch the next episode, some might see that as a good thing as they do not like cliffhanger gimmicks, but I went away from it for several days without being a hurry to go back.

Fair one. It really doesn't rely on cliffhangers. It doesn't get that dramatic. The real fun comes in the rewatching. The story is a bit convoluted so it takes a lot of your attention. So when you rewatch you can focus more on the characters and the Interactions between them. That's the real gold in The Wire.

mojesius

Just finished my second run of The Wire. I binge watched it first time but took it a bit slower this time (hard to do that on season 4!) Its up there with the Sopranos for.me.(which I've watched about 8/10 times at this stage)

Loved season 2 of the wire second time around. As others have said, Frank Sobotka is such a great character.

Prez is another one, pinnacle character in Season 4. Hardest scene for me was Carver with Randy in that season (won't give it away). Carver in earlier seasons comes across as a bit scummy. Randy brings out his humanity.

jack presley

2smiggy wrote: »

https://twitter.com/BillSimmons/status/1249709899686137856

I started listening to this as I rewatch the series It's not as good as the Talking Sopranos one as it isn't hosted by cast members and they don't have guests from the show on but it's interesting enough. They're only at the end of series one now and I think they do 2 a week so it shouldn't take me too long to catch up

steve_r

jack presley wrote: »

I started listening to this as I rewatch the series It's not as good as the Talking Sopranos one as it isn't hosted by cast members and they don't have guests from the show on but it's interesting enough. They're only at the end of series one now and I think they do 2 a week so it shouldn't take me too long to catch up

I'm doing the same, however I like to do an episode a night so now I'm up to S3e7.

I do like the two podcasts hosts, they've insights there about race that I would never have appreciated. They've clearly done their homework also in terms of cast research, and reading books around the series.

jack presley

steve_r wrote: »

I'm doing the same, however I like to do an episode a night so now I'm up to S3e7.

I do like the two podcasts hosts, they've insights there about race that I would never have appreciated. They've clearly done their homework also in terms of cast research, and reading books around the series.

I'm still listening to the podcast but I don't like the way they keep bringing it back to NBA comparisons. I know Jemelle Hill from her ESPN days so it's something she's comfortable talking about but I have 0 interest in basketball and don't care that Stringer Bell is like James Harden or whoever.

Acosta

Just finished season 1. It took a few episodes to get into, but it is very good. Spent about 15 years telling people ''Yeah, I'll watch it at some point...''

golfball37

Acosta wrote: »

Just finished season 1. It took a few episodes to get into, but it is very good. Spent about 15 years telling people ''Yeah, I'll watch it at some point...''

Congrats it gets much much better too.

Acosta

golfball37 wrote: »

Congrats it gets much much better too.

Yeah? Season 1 was class, so that's good news.

Acosta

Acosta wrote: »

Just finished season 1. It took a few episodes to get into, but it is very good. Spent about 15 years telling people ''Yeah, I'll watch it at some point...''

The montage in the last episode of each season is incredible

jack presley

Deleted User wrote: »

The montage in the last episode of each season is incredible

Yeah, I especially like the Season 2 one with the Steve Earle (Waylon) song 'I Feel Alright'.