The Wire Thread

[Vim Fuego]

Very late to the party but I finished watching The Wire boxset at the weekend and it really was amazing. I enjoyed reading through this thread and seeing people getting excited at a lot of the same moments that I did, I'm glad I stayed pretty much spoiler free before watching it, I don't think it'd of had the same impact on first watch otherwise.

A bit of a tie between series 3 and 4 as to my favourite season, seeing the kids story go through 4 and 5 was so heart breaking, it effected me a lot more than I thought it would. As a story The Wire was pretty standard but the characters and acting elevated it to a totally different level, I'm gutted that I've not got any more episodes to come but at least I can start on The Sopranos now.

[WrongIslander]

Best.Show.Ever.

[Vim Fuego]

Best.Show.Ever.

It's definitely up there, I've not seen The Sopranos, Mad Men or Deadwood yet but it'll be difficult to beat the quality of The Wire.

[WrongIslander]

It's definitely up there, I've not seen The Sopranos, Mad Men or Deadwood yet but it'll be difficult to beat the quality of The Wire.

 

Couldn't get in to Mad Men, Deadwood and the Sopranos are quality but the Wire is just that cut above. Beautifully written and the depth of even "lesser" characters is amazing. Just ask anyone who their favourite character is and you'll get about 20 different answers probably at least.

 

Bubbles

Omar

Rawles

Bunk

Marlo

Bunny

Bodie

Snoop

Chris

Stringer

Michael

McNulty

Daniels

Freamon

Prez

Avon

Cutty

Slim Charles

Prop Jo

The Greek

Maury

Clay Davis

 

and on and on, I've heard them all given as possible favourites, I couldn't even begin to pick mine because they are all fucking superb characters.

 

It has quotes for all time that only mean anything to people who've watched the whole show.

 

"Come at the king yo, you best not miss."

 

"We like them bald headed bitches on the chess board, the game's rigged yo."

 

"We had to let him play, this is America."

 

"We used to do shit in this country, build shit."

 

"You got the briefcase, I got the shotgun."

 

"What? Money ain't got no owners, only spenders."

 

“Don’t matter who did what to who at this point, fact is we went to war and now there ain’t no going back. I mean, shit, it’s what war is you know, once you’re innit, your innit.. If it’s a lie, then we fight on that lie, but we got to fight”

 

and on and on.

 

Pure fucking genius.

Edited February 21, 2011 by WrongIslander

[Torvald Utne]

I thought Mad Men was utter utter shite, loved the sporanos but not nearly as much as the wire.

[Pidge]

Isn't it still £50 on Amazon? Seriously tempted. It's been nearly a year since I finished it and I still have to fight the urge to say "What up, yo?" whenever I pick up the phone.

 

I just have to try and remember that I have episodes of boardwalk piling up on Sky+ and Treme has just started (fucking loved the first episode).

 

Need to give Deadwood and Sopranos a proper go at some point.

[WrongIslander]

Boardwalk is a bit too "risque", hell it's down right porn. I hope that they're just setting the scene not the tone of every episode.

[rondeco]

FX will be showing it again in the next few weeks..

[lifetime fan]

I've watched the wire start to finish twice since the start of December.

 

Started the Sopranos a couple of days ago and reckon I can have it done by a fortnight's time.

[dirty_sanchez]

Ask me who my favourite character in The Wire is and I'll tell you straight up. It's Bunk motherfucking Moreland. Legend. A humble motherfucker with a big ass dick.

[lifetime fan]

Ask me who my favourite character in The Wire is and I'll tell you straight up. It's Bunk motherfucking Moreland. Legend. A humble motherfucker with a big ass dick.

 

I think the point WrongIslander was making was that people will have different favourite characters depending on how they related to them. And there are fucking loads of great characters you can relate to.

 

The missus loved Dukey, he really reminded her of a lad she used to teach and she fucking bawled her eyes when he finally shot up. Yet he was only in the last two series.

 

For me my favourite character changes by the series.

[TheHitman]

Ask me who my favourite character in The Wire is and I'll tell you straight up. It's Bunk motherfucking Moreland. Legend. A humble motherfucker with a big ass dick.

 

The scene when Bunk triggers the fire alarm after having burnt his clothes to get rid of trace evidence is legendary. Me and my friend played that clip around a dozen times , each time you watch the Wire back you notice different things.

[lifetime fan]

The scene when Bunk triggers the fire alarm after having burnt his clothes to get rid of trace evidence is legendary.

 

'Dat shirt smell of pussy'.

[Vim Fuego]

Bunk is fantastic, like nearly all of the characters in The Wire I'd watch a series just based around him, even a Snoop and Chris series would be great despite you needing subtitles to understand one character and the other never saying anything.

 

I loved how you'd see a character for 2 seconds in an episode and then they'd come back 2 series later to play a major part, made me really appreciate watching it through boxsets rather than having to wait a week for the next episode.

[lifetime fan]

Bunk is fantastic, like nearly all of the characters in The Wire I'd watch a series just based around him, even a Snoop and Chris series would be great despite you needing subtitles to understand one character and the other never saying anything.

 

I loved how you'd see a character for 2 seconds in an episode and then they'd come back 2 series later to play a major part, made me really appreciate watching it through boxsets rather than having to wait a week for the next episode.

 

Rawles in the queer club is missed by so many.

[Vim Fuego]

Rawles in the queer club is missed by so many.

 

That was so funny, I had to wind it back to make sure it wasn't someone else. I loved how someone had written Rawles sucks cock in the toilet of one of the police stations, showed how they were always dropping lots of cool little extras into the programme for people to pick up on.

[lifetime fan]

That was so funny, I had to wind it back to make sure it wasn't someone else. I loved how someone had written Rawles sucks cock in the toilet of one of the police stations, showed how they were always dropping lots of cool little extras into the programme for people to pick up on.

 

I've watched the entire series all the way through twice in a little over two months and I'm still missing stuff.

 

I've yet to see better telly!

[Chairman Meow]

I particularly liked Omar just because I though he was cool as fuck, then again so was Bunk and I liked Stringer as well.

 

Big thing with the series for me is that even in the characters who are basically scumbags you can have empathy for them. It's not all black and white (not meaning skin colour) there are grey areas with most of them.

 

The Dookie arc is very sad to see, how one good teacher can make a huge difference but once they are not present it all goes badly.

 

I love the series but find it very depressing really, you can say what you like about how people can work and get what they want but realistically the cards are so far stacked against some people. The amount who get out of it will always be the minority.

 

There is a really good interview with David Simon on the net from one of the PBS type of channels with him talking about how to those in power the kind of people in the slum areas of Baltimore just don't matter because they aren't economically relevant.

[Vim Fuego]

The Dookie arc is very sad to see, how one good teacher can make a huge difference but once they are not present it all goes badly.

 

I love the series but find it very depressing really, you can say what you like about how people can work and get what they want but realistically the cards are so far stacked against some people. The amount who get out of it will always be the minority.

 

There is a really good interview with David Simon on the net from one of the PBS type of channels with him talking about how to those in power the kind of people in the slum areas of Baltimore just don't matter because they aren't economically relevant.

 

The Dookie and Randy stories were really sad and a good contrast to Namond. The kids that were most obviously "good" and "nice" didn't get to be rescued from their situations by the authority figures they looked up to and got left to be corrupted.

 

My friend's a teacher and some of the stories she was telling me were almost exactly the same as some of the things that were going on in series 4 in terms of working the figures and things that the kids get up to. It's depressing to think with the slash and burn attitude being taken by our government that we're not that far from a similar sittuation.

[dirty_sanchez]

Snoop's wicked. I low how she talk like she in middle of a stroke all time uh shit.

[paddyberger15]

Did that blert Noos ever actually post in this thread ever again after starting it?

My dough would be on him SKY +ing it, watching the first episode, getting halfway through the second, going for a dump, making himself some food, coming back, deciding to leave it til later to finish the episode off and then never watching another fucking second of it.

[dirty_sanchez]

I particularly liked Omar just because I though he was cool as fuck, then again so was Bunk and I liked Stringer as well.

 

Big thing with the series for me is that even in the characters who are basically scumbags you can have empathy for them. It's not all black and white (not meaning skin colour) there are grey areas with most of them.

 

The Dookie arc is very sad to see, how one good teacher can make a huge difference but once they are not present it all goes badly.

 

I love the series but find it very depressing really, you can say what you like about how people can work and get what they want but realistically the cards are so far stacked against some people. The amount who get out of it will always be the minority.

 

There is a really good interview with David Simon on the net from one of the PBS type of channels with him talking about how to those in power the kind of people in the slum areas of Baltimore just don't matter because they aren't economically relevant.

 

That's one of The Wire's strongest themes though. The systems themselves are flawed and stuck in a rut and when radical thinkers try to work around the system to make some good happen, they get punished for it and pulled back into line. Thus the circle continues. Bunny Colvin is an excellent example of that, and so to a lesser extent, Carcetti, McNulty, Freamon, Carver, and even Stringer Bell. Although their actions were all morally objectionable on some level, they were all trying to make the best of what they had available, and ended up beaten down for it.

 

And also, can we get a SHEEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTT! for my man Clay Davis.

[dirty_sanchez]

Did that blert Noos ever actually post in this thread ever again after starting it?

My dough would be on him SKY +ing it, watching the first episode, getting halfway through the second, going for a dump, making himself some food, coming back, deciding to leave it til later to finish the episode off and then never watching another fucking second of it.

 

You'd have to be a huge cunt to do that.

 

So yeah, Noos probably did.

[Rorschach08]

The scene when Bunk triggers the fire alarm after having burnt his clothes to get rid of trace evidence is legendary. Me and my friend played that clip around a dozen times , each time you watch the Wire back you notice different things.

 

My favourite that people may have missed is the girl who appears in one scene in each of the last 3 seasons but actually has a fleshed out character, just stunning writing.

 

She's the 'posh' sounding white girl who buys some drugs from Hamsterdam and looks down her nose at the dealer trying to chat to her in season 3

 

Next time you see her is season 4 when she's in a corner shop talking about how her pimp loves her and isn't using her for the money

 

Next time you see her is in the NA meeting at the Church when Bubbles gives his amazing speech about getting clean in season 5.

 

Did everyone notice this because it took me till literally the 4th or 5th time I watched it through to notice it was the same girl.

 

Best programme ever.

[Chairman Meow]

That's one of The Wire's strongest themes though. The systems themselves are flawed and stuck in a rut and when radical thinkers try to work around the system to make some good happen, they get punished for it and pulled back into line. Thus the circle continues. Bunny Colvin is an excellent example of that, and so to a lesser extent, Carcetti, McNulty, Freamon, Carver, and even Stringer Bell. Although their actions were all morally objectionable on some level, they were all trying to make the best of what they had available, and ended up beaten down for it.

 

And also, can we get a SHEEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTT! for my man Clay Davis.

 

The whole Hamsterdam thing to be honest has a lot of merits as an idea.

 

I've long maintained the whole war on drugs is a complete waste of time, politicians stand up saying they are going to take drugs of the streets. I don't really see how on earth they reckon they can manage that when they can't even keep drugs out of prison.

 

The war on drugs has long been lost and whilst ideally eradicating drugs from the world has merit it simply isn't going to happen. Hence why I would say safe zones like Hamsterdam have some merit if combined with treatment and trying to deal with limiting any spread of aids though shared needles and such like. But that then starts to run off into the whole legalisation/decriminalisation argument.

 

In the case of Stringer one of the reasons I liked him, for all he was involved in some seriously bad shit he was trying to remove them all fighting for control with the co-op and trying to use the money to make himself legit.

 

Edit: Clay was one of the few characters I genuinely disliked pretty much 100%, Sheeeeeiiiiit being the reason it wasn't 100%.