The Wire

[mweb]

A Wire movie?

[Tony-OH]

I must admit that I feel a little bad/guilty because the On Demand thread has almost killed this one off.

I hope that anyone who does not have On Demand or who, like Tony, somehow has the will power to obstain from On Demand viewing, will still post thier views and opinions here if/when they have the chance. I wouldn't want anyone to feel left out, especially since we are half-way through the final run of the show.

BTW, I'm not so sure I have will power, just a lack of time.

I may end up watching the season finale on demand though...

I have to say, I've enjoyed this season. Although I feel like things have been rushed because of the shortened ten episode season, and it's not anywhere near season four (which might possibly be the best season of television for any show), over the show to me looks like it will go out with a solid last season.

I'm interested to know how things will turn out for Michael. Really, out of all the characters, he's the one who's future is most up in the air. Will he fill the drug king pin power vacuum, become another Omar, or choose to leave it all behind? Since The wire doesn't like Disney endings, my guess is he starts to lay down his claim to the drug kingpin throne and becomes the next Barksdale/Marlo.

As for the serial murder, if I had to guess, I believe that McNaulty and the Sun reporter will both basically get off because both the city and the paper will do damage control and cover things up rather than show everyone they made a mistake. I think Simon will try to hammer the paper by having Gus either quit or get fired over not firing the young reporter.

I truly believe Simon's goal is to leave is with feeling in our stomach at the end. McNaulty fired, Michael the new kingpin, the reporter getting a job with the Post, Gus quitting, and business as usual for the drug trade and lack of funds for the police and schools.

After all, it's Baltimore, not Utopia.

[O'sFanThruJune]

I'll take a shot at this, but I'm not 100% sure myself. Obviously, I trust there is a very reasonable explanation for what has occured. Either it has slipped my mind or I just missed it entirely, most likely the latter .

Man, I'm gonna have to watch those early episodes again. There's enough confusion between the two of us that it's very probable that there's a logical explanation, but it looks like it requires an awful lot more risk by McNulty and Freamon than I had thought. It seems like anyone that had taken a second look at any of this could have picked up on one of these little inconsistencies.

Anyway, I figure I should throw in my two cents to make up for not posting until this week. Going into season 5, I ranked the first four seasons:

1. Season 4 (pretty much unanimous)
2. Season 2
3. Season 1
4. Season 3

After the first three episodes, I would have put season 5 last on that list, right behind season 3, because of their lack of plausibility. I never really believed that the Hamsterdam thing could possibly work out, as implemented, for as long as it did. And I couldn't really believe McNulty and Freamon both resorting to what they did in season 5.

However, once the (unlikely) premise put forth in the first few episodes is accepted, I think the rest of the season has been amazing. Pending next week's episode, I expect it will leap to the second spot on my rankings.

My favorite things are:

-McNulty's scene at the FBI, when the profile fits him perfectly. His facial expressions are priceless
-The entire Omar storyline. I've loved everything they've done with him. I started to get upset around the middle of the season, when he basically turned into Superman: avoiding a hail of gunfire from 15 feet away, jumping out of fifth-story windows, robbing corners in broad daylight, etc. But in hindsight, it was written that way to build him up to be killed in the most demeaning, un-heroic way. Shot in the back of the head while buying cigarettes by a secondary character, who just happens to be the shortest character in the show. Up to that point, we had seen Kenard misbehaving in school, trying to steal from Namond (and getting a beat down from Michael), and attempting to set a cat on fire. This little delinquent was all it took to take down Omar? It was perfect. Especially since we were made to believe that Omar would have to be in some final, epic confrontation and were all surprised when he was killed two episodes too early.
-The scene from episode 9 in the holding cell, where we saw Marlo raise his voice for the first time ever, and also learned that Marlo was unaware that Omar was calling for him. We found out that Marlo wasn't always cool, rational, and cautious. He lost his temper, and looked like he wanted Omar back just for the chance to confront him.

My least favorite thing, in addition to the absurd first few episodes, is the one-dimensional newsroom characters. The single best thing about the Wire is that every single character is sometimes good and sometimes bad, or sometimes hated and sometimes empathized with. The newsroom throws all of this away. Have Klebanaw or Whiting ever done anything good? Has Templeton? Has Gus ever committed a sin in his life?

Maybe we'll see this get turned on it's head next week. They've already shown an ability to address my concerns with Omar's invincibility. Maybe they'll do it here too, and make the season that much better.

[Lester Freamon]

My least favorite thing, in addition to the absurd first few episodes, is the one-dimensional newsroom characters. The single best thing about the Wire is that every single character is sometimes good and sometimes bad, or sometimes hated and sometimes empathized with. The newsroom throws all of this away. Have Klebanaw or Whiting ever done anything good? Has Templeton? Has Gus ever committed a sin in his life?

Great post!

IMHO, the newsroom characters aren't completely one dimensional. I think they are pretty consistant with the experiences David Simon had while he was in The Sun newsroom.

One thing you can say about Whiting and Klebenaw is that they are good at their job, it's just that we've been shown to despise the way they do their job. Marlo too is good at his job, but there is nothing good about him. Templeton also is simply no good. But what good can there be from a guy who is making up news for his own personal ambition?

Gus certainly, I think, represents the way newspapering should be done. But I don't think he's perfect. The season started off with Gus and his crew pulling in a very good story, and it should end this way too what with Fletcher's story on Bubbles, but in between they have missed a lot of stuff - however due in large part to lack of resources.

Outside of the bad three, the rest of the newsroom is shown to be very hard-working and honorable people. Gus, Alma, Zorzi, Fletcher, Price, Phelps ("I feel very white" ) Corbett (named after Simon's editor at The Sun who he says Gus was modeled alot after), the Metro editor guy whose name escapes me, and the bought out Twigg - perhaps the most shining example. All of these people, to me, show that Simon still loves and greatly respects the newspaper business.

The whole point, in my mind, is that the newspaper is being shown as another one of our failed institutions, however still filled with people who are doing thier best despite the limitations they are forced to deal with.

[mweb]

A good article by Bill Simmons about a murdered LA high school football player, he relates it to The Wire.

[Icterus galbula]

Just saw this on TV for the first time:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=dUA1PICL8qs

So we have Clay Davis hawking cell phones, Cedric Daniels shilling for Cadillac, and now Maurice Levy munching on some Arbys.

I'd love to see Wee-Bey for some financial planning.

[McNulty]

I keep seeing Gus's boss in some stupid ad for Holiday Inn. He's in the passenger seat of a car taunting the driver with food.

[Gurgi]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertai...,1518020.story

Savino nearly bites the big one for real!

[Icterus galbula]

I just saw Cheryl (Kima's ex) in a commercial for something called Viera, I think.

[Birds08]

Just finished Season 2. First half of the season was sort of weak, but the second half was awesome. Looking forward to season 3 arriving in the mail shortly.

[Lucky Jim]

I watched Gone Baby Gone this weekend.

Pretty great to see Amy Ryan (Beedie) in a big role. And Michael Williams (?) (Omar) playing a cop.

I get the feeling Affleck is a Wire fan.

[McNulty]

Not sure if this has been floated here yet, but....

This is a great (but long) panel discussion with David Simon and others about the show at Harvard, mainly dealing with the sociological issues.

Watch for Prez at some point; apparently he lives in Cambridge.

http://www.iop.harvard.edu/Multimedi...-American-City

[DREKTUNES]

Yeah, late to the party as usual. Just finished the 5th season. Ok with how it ended. Didn't know how they'd get there.

And if it's not actually the greatest show in the history of televison, it deserves to be in the discussion.

Just to try to add a little something - Simon's AV Club interview - http://www.avclub.com/content/interview/david_simon

[Birds08]

I finished Season 5 on Saturday, as well. Truly the best show I've ever seen, tied with Rome. Really sad that its over, but not the least bit disappointed in the ending.

[frankpembleton]

Here's a really great read from David Simon found in the Guardian.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/sep/06/wire