Confessions of a Wire virgin. - Page 3

I'll second that.


Welcome to our world, Stelios!

I'd just like to say two things: Kima. "Goodnight Moon." That is all.

Glad to keep converting people.
I should really start to re-watch the show. I miss it.

I was reading Goodnight Moon to my daughter and started adding Kima's version. My wife laughed but looked at me like I was insane.

Goodnight Popos!

Kima: Let's say goodnight to everybody. Goodnight moon...
Elijah: Goodnight moon...

Kima: Goodnight stars...
Elijah: Goodnight stars...

Kima: Goodnight po-pos...
Elijah: Goodnight po-pos...

Kima: Goodnight fiends...
Elijah: Goodnight fiends...

Kima:Goodnight hoppers...
Elijah: Goodnight hoppers...

Kima: Goodnight hustlers...
Elijah: Goodnight hustlers...

Kima: Goodnight scammers...
Elijah: Goodnight scammers...

Kima: Goodnight to everybody...
Elijah: Goodnight to everybody...

Kima: Goodnight to one and all...
Elijah: Goodnight to one and all.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=5iX02_0JLcM&feature=related

Ziggy and Stringer are the detectives in the Prom Night remake. What are the odds? Or was it intentional?

Seeing how it was Prom Night. I highly doubt they were aware of it.

The director is a very competent TV guy.

I've been watching Season 1 and I just the episode last night in which they took Bird down. That was some great stuff right there, from the way Lester hit him with the bottle to the behind closed doors beatdown. Helluva pair of scenes.

Only two more seasons to go. Season 3 was just brilliant, Simon just brings up so many ideas for discussion it's hard to keep up, I liked that he moved the focus into the political world but still kept a pulse on the street, those comstat meetings are just painful to watch even though every word that comes out of John Doman's mouth is absolute gold.

SPOILERS



I like that it's about more than just crime, the whole Cutty storyline was executed with depth and humanity that most shows wouldn't bother with, I liked that although Colvin's experiment yielded some good, it was still an absolute clusterfuck by a man who really didn't want to end up on the cutting board in the next comstat meeting, it was the last act of a desparate man who had run out of options and saw no other way of getting his numbers down and that's all it comes down to. numbers, how to look good in front of your superiors, the mayor has to do it in front of the media, Burrell and Doman have to do it in front of the council and the mayor and the brass have to do it in front of their superiors at the comstat meeting. When Colvin got fucked I really felt bad for him but I also knew it couldn't end any other way.

I was watching a certain wake on YouTube and I just have to say: Damn I love when Delaney Williams has a nice long monologue. I want to hear that mutherfucker read some books with that voice. Just a great voice. And Falstaff. Someone get him on camera as Falstaff ASAP. Hell any Shakespeare, please.

http://www.thehousenextdooronline.co...nce-video.html

This was part of a symposium on 'The Wire' that took place through NYC's Museum of the Moving Image. Which was tonight. Goddamnit.

Do we not have a thread about Treme? Motherfuckin' Bunk and Lester have been cast!

I had finished Season 1 a while back. Should get onto Season 2 soon. But I will say the scene involving Bodie, Poot and Wallace is some incredibly powerful acting and writting. If you aren't brought to tears as to what's goes on then I don't know what to say.

Seriously, that was one of the most difficult things to watch in any film or show I've ever seen.

That was right up with the Melfi rape, it terms of how much dread one feels when watching that scene.

I just bought the fifth season of The Wire today. My favorite series, so I dug in as soon as I got home.

Wanna take a guess where I wanted to just turn off the TV and fuck the remaining three episodes?

Kima's version of Good Night Moon?

Is it Prop Joe's untimely demise? Considering we're talking about drug dealers, it's pretty incredible how Simon makes you absolutely hate one above all others.

But the funny thing is, he can make you hate a character in one season only to make you absolutely love them later. See: Prez and Bodie.

I'm going with Omar.

I'd like to ask Dennis Lehane how many people come up to him and hassle him about his episode. I know Simon rules all, but as much as I love the guy, I still think of him as "the guy who killed Omar".

That and the scene that came about because of it.

Where's Wallace at? Where's the boy String? Where's Wallace, that's all I wanna know. Where the fuck is Wallace? Huh? String! STRING! LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME! WHERE THE FUCK IS WALLACE!

God damned was this show filled with great moments.

The thing I love most about that scene is Stringer's reaction to it, when he says, "All right, you made your choice." The quiet menace in Elba's voice is stunning.

Larry Gillard, Jr. is one of those actors who should be getting a lot more work than he does. His chess monologue is brilliant, and that's such an important scene in terms of the series.

So true. I think Bodie might have ended the series as my favorite character.

I know it's just standard casting. But I love how they got someone who looked so similar to play D'Angelo's mom. I was very surprised to learn that she wasn't realted to him. Note that Gillard shows up in the first season of Homicide getting grilled by Kay Howard.

I actually thought the chess monologue was the one piece of writing in the whole series that seemed ham-handed and forced. The show trusts you to figure things out on your own, and in that one scene it doesn't, it spoonfeeds you. It's also jarring in that, unlike the rest of the show, it doesn't feel like real people, it feels like writers and actors. In any other show it would get a pass, but THE WIRE is so shockingly a cut above, that scene sticks out horribly.

I think that much of the newsroom storyline is WAY more ham-handed and forced then that scene.

I think the entire newsroom storyline is incredibly ham-handed, and has no competition with the rest of the series. The chess scene is the quintessential Wire scene for me.

See, for me, THE WIRE is all about presenting an almost flawless reality, and that means not going for the easy dramatic choices. The "Drug game as a game of chess" metaphor is hit-you-over-the-head obvious. There were moments in the media storyline that were equally obvious, but for me, none so crystalized as the chess monologue.

Just to clarify, it's only in the context of THE WIRE that I find the scene bad.

Well, the "real people" in the scene are very young, very uneducated drug dealers. If it feels like the show is talking down to you there, it comes from the fact that D'Angelo is talking down to these knuckleheads.

The one I never got on the love train for is the "fuck/motherfucker" investigation. It always showed seams to me as being a concept first and foremost. Odd, because on any other show/movie it would be a highlight, but in this show that takes such care not to stylize its depiction of crime or policework, it stands out. To me, and it's not a deal-breaker or anything.

I'm trying to decide on my favorite moment from the 5th season, and while Prop Joe's send-off remains incredibly chilling, right now it's the scene with Herc and Carver in the Western parking lot. You think back to the first season and just how far these characters have come, and it's both unbelievable and entirely natural. And at a point where you really kind of feel that you've washed your hands of Herc as just an asshole, all it takes is one short scene to bring him a measure of redemption. It also caps off one of the main themes of the entire series with the deceptively simple proclamation that "It all matters." With all respect to the craft of film-making, this is the kind of scene that carries weight only possible in a long-running series.

Herc and Carver scene is pretty incredible. I watched that episode last night, and the weight that Herc carries when he realizes they really did need to cut him from the force is incredible. You'd expect him to rail against the BPD for being a bunch of over sensitive pussies, but nope, he's finally seeing the big picture.

You know, I like to consider myself a pretty smart guy. I understand symbolism. I understand the whole "circle is complete"/Ouroboros theme that gets played out sometimes. I understand that sometimes shit needs to be done to move along or hammer home the bigger theme of a story. I understood Llewelyn Moss' fate and the way it was carried out; I understood it perfectly.

But sometimes, SOMETIMES, I think you gotta say "fuck that" and dish out what's expected.

This is one case where I couldn't have cared less about the big picture. That was just messed up.

I think it played out fine because of the way it was set up. I don't know how else you could have resolved that particular arc, especially considering the bigger theme toward the end that everything in the city is cyclical and that the burden/ torch was being passed to another generation.

Yeah, that's my point. I get that. I'm just saying that they should've passed on that with Omar, made an exception. Sometimes a character is just so great they get away with their shit. It's why Red made it up to the final shot in Pineapple Express (the most recent example).

Would it have been cliché? Abso-fuckin'-lutely. Maybe even cheap. But Omar deserved it, and I don't think anybody would've really complained.

I have to say, I agree with this completely. I've read that scene praised so many times, and to me, for the reasons you indicated, it always felt telegraphed and fake. One of the beauties of the show is it never goes out of its way for exposition. Get on or get off. But that, that was something being spelled out to an unnecessary degree. I get Schwartz's point about them being young pups and all, but I still feel like it was unnecessary. Really if it has any use, it's to show how bright D'Angelo is.

Come on man, inviso-text that shit. That's still a new movie not everyone's seen yet.

Another thing to mention are there are so many moments that come and go with no follow up. For example: Rawls in the gay bar, Carcetti bangin' that one chick, Herc walking in on Royce while he's banging that chick. Just little things about the character come and go.

My bad, man. Done. Sorry 'bout it!

Oh and another thing. The upper-level FBI guy connected to "THe Greek".

I know Simon has specifically talked about the Rawls thing before, about how they never intended to bring it up again, and just wanted it to further shade his character. I thought it worked perfectly; it gives you insight as to why he acts like such a prick.

The Carcetti thing was awesome. I'm trying to remember, wasn't he watching himself in the mirror in that scene? That was a running thing with him throughout the show - notice how every time he comes home he races to the TV to watch himself. But also, I think Simon didn't want him seen as some kind of white knight.

I thought the reasoning behind Rawls being an asshole was mainly because of the sheer pressure the guy's under. But yeah Carcetti was banging that woman in front of a mirror.

Oh and I once again restate my support as to how great Carcetti's Campaign Manager/Chief of Staff was. That guy was an underated character in my view.

I'm sure that's part of it, but I also think it's reasonable to extrapolate that he's having somewhat of an identity crisis, for lack of a better term. There's no way he'll come out given his position, and I think he sublimates his frustration (and possibly shame) about being gay by treating everyone else like shit. He overcompensates in his position of power because he's so helpless in his personal life.

Perhaps, there was speculation over on Wikipedia stating that Royce would've put Rawls in the Commissioner's seat and yet he backed Carcetti. Still getting head of State Police is not too shabby.

Norman!


"I'm a devious motherfucker once I get goin'."

That's right Norman Wilson. Goddamn I loved it when he was on screen.

Gotta ask, were you watching the same show I was?

Also, that we never found out the contents of Daniels' career-ending file. Loved that.

Exactly, that was probably one of the biggest Maguffin's out there.

Herc basically got a new cushy job or something like that after walking in on Royce having some afternoon delight I thought. I know he profited it in some way by just keeping his mouth shut.