On May 12 2012 07:44 Malinor wrote: Just finished the last season, and it really is as amazing as everyone says. I had trouble to get into it the first half of the first season. The reasons are rather obvious, like the slow pace of the show. And being a white male from europe, I had absolutely no relation to the whole black ghetto drug-setting. And other profan reasons, like it was (is) really hard for me to understand the slang of all the black gangsters and young kids in the show, there are a whole lot of scenes where I just had to guess what they were saying. But I'd rather sell my firstborn child than watch a subbed german version. But when you finally getting used to the pace of the show, the experience is just amazingly rewarding.
I really enjoyed the Carcetti storyline, it is amazing to observe how a guy with good intentions gets more or less corrupted by his own ambitions and the inner workings of the system, you can hardly blame him in the end. There is one scene in the fifth season where his wife looks with disbelief at her husband when she recognizes how he has changed, coupled with a scene a couple of episodes before, where she tells him "You will do the right thing." Those scenes are so subtle and quiet, but they capture the process so well.
The character I enjoyed the most was probably Stringer Bell, the actor did an outstanding job on him. I found Omar to be a little over the top, but very enjoyable still.
And I had a real WTF moment when I realized that Snoop is a girl.
you're right about that. the director even said he did that on purpose as he wanted to romanticize Omar.
I read Omar is a mashup of 3-4 real life people. There was someone who David Simon described as being a really little guy who wore a trenchcoat and carried a shotgun, and he would see the dealers take off running then 30 seconds later the little guy would walk around the corner.
On June 25 2012 00:55 Deadlyhazard wrote: I quit watching a couple episodes into season 2...it seems to drag a bit.
Season 3 changes location and is better, you should keep watching.
Well to the OP, all seasons of the Wire start off slowly; each season introduces a new setting, and a new way of doing things both by the drug trade and the police, so you might think it's dragging on a little. That's deliberate. The Wire has to teach you to be able to watch it.
For instance, if you recall season 1, if you're used to cop shows, you're probably prone to pigeonholing people as 'good guys' or 'bad guys', and the Wire goes out of its way to confuse viewers who instinctively think like that. Prez fucks up twice, badly, in two episodes, before being shown to be a competent backroom investigator. D'Angelo starts off by getting away with murder through witness intimidation, before it's clear that he's more contemplative and less prone to violence than either his underlings or superiors. And everyone's favourite lovable rogue, Omar, spends his first two episodes being merely a sinister presence in a van who'll shoot a kid in the leg in order to rob a drug stash. The whole point of introducing characters like this is in order to stop you cheering mindlessly for one group of guys or the other, and just to get you to watch the characters for what they are. You have to be trained to watch the show, and it takes time to do that, just as it takes time for you to get introduced to the operations around the docks and the working class characters, that show up in Season 2.
As to sc4k, I'll take issue with the notion that season 3 is obviously better. There's some strange phenomenon where Season 2 starts off, after the first viewing of the whole run, as being people's least favourite season, but after people watch The Wire through the whole run 2 or 3 times, it gets re-evaluated as one of the better ones. I don't know whether it's because the Sobotka family story is more gripping, in hindsight, when you know how it turns out, or because when you initially start watching season 2, it's not entirely obvious that The Wire is not so much a cop show but a kind of television essay on social institutions and how they function. That's probably made clearer once you start on seasons 3 and 4, and it might help to watch season 2 with that in mind from the beginning.
But anyways, yes. Keep watching, but not because The Wire 'gets better'. It's just that at some point, you might realise that the stuff you thought was too boring or slow, earlier on, was actually awesome, all along!
On April 29 2012 02:37 Zim23 wrote: This show is the best. I have friends who are refusing to watch it because it isn't in HD (and because they are assholes), any word on it ever getting released in HD or is that not possible?
I heard that it will never be released in HD. When it was filmed, there was widescreen and HD available, but the producers decided to use 4:3 to make it seem more "realistic".
edit: here's the source
And perhaps the final contrast to the rest of high-end episodic television, The Wire for each of its five seasons has been produced in good old fashioned 4 x 3 standard definition. DP Dave Insley recalled, "The reason the show has stayed 4x3 is because David Simon thinks that 4x3 feels more like real life and real television and not like a movie. The show's never been HD, even 4x3 HD and that (SD) is how it is on the DVDs. There is no 16x9 version anywhere."
If i had to call one season to be inferior to the others it would be the first, only because the building of characters is so good and takes over to the other seasons.
s2 gets better with every viewing... I remember it taking me a while to get used to the change in scenery and characters but after watching it 4-5 times, it's definitely one of my favorite (but then again I feel like they're all my favorite lol)
On June 25 2012 02:38 asongdotnet wrote: s2 gets better with every viewing... I remember it taking me a while to get used to the change in scenery and characters but after watching it 4-5 times, it's definitely one of my favorite (but then again I feel like they're all my favorite lol)
I don't think S2 is my favourite, but the penultimate episode of season 2 is my favourite episode of the entire show. The way the last few minutes of that episode are pulled off is just amazing.
I think seasons 2, 3 and 4 are all roughly equal to me as brilliant television. Then 1 comes after that as a strong but not amazing season, and 5 is just pretty good.
you are crazy season 1 is epic season 2 is meh the rest are allright some times good sometimes not so good the whole show is amazing tho in comparison to most other shows out there most def reccommend to any who hasnt seen it
On June 25 2012 02:48 ShadoBiO,o wrote: The Wire, huh? Will look into it. I need something before Breaking Bad starts
If you like Breaking Bad and their excellent story arc and character progression, The Wire is most definitely recommended. Like others have said, The Wire is in a league of their own. Slower paced than Breaking Bad, yes, but it pays of big time in terms of depth for both characters and story.
my story is the same as many here, thought season 2 was the weakest season on my first watch. on my second and third watches it's easily one of my favorites. you really don't give a shit about these whack ass dock workers until you understand how the story is going to unfold.
On June 27 2012 04:57 oscar62 wrote: my story is the same as many here, thought season 2 was the weakest season on my first watch. on my second and third watches it's easily one of my favorites. you really don't give a shit about these whack ass dock workers until you understand how the story is going to unfold.
I thought it was one of the best on my first watch through. Only bested by season 4 imo.
On June 27 2012 04:57 oscar62 wrote: my story is the same as many here, thought season 2 was the weakest season on my first watch. on my second and third watches it's easily one of my favorites. you really don't give a shit about these whack ass dock workers until you understand how the story is going to unfold.
I thought it was one of the best on my first watch through. Only bested by season 4 imo.
Also, the drunk duck...
Haha yes, me as well. Though I would put s3 slightly above it as well.
EPT
