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The Wire comes to BBC2 (Spoiler free, please)

Finished season 5 on the weekend and on reflection I think season 3 is possibly my fave for lots of reasons. Really like some of the new characters like Cutty and Bunny who come in, and Brother Mouzone's in it too.
 
Though the Beeb were going to wait until Wimbledon was over before they started the next series like they did with the snooker,they usually show the tennis highlights after newsnight.
 
Finished season 5 on the weekend and on reflection I think season 3 is possibly my fave for lots of reasons. Really like some of the new characters like Cutty and Bunny who come in, and Brother Mouzone's in it too.

I cant make up my mind. The first 4 are all so good, with number 5 trailing ever so slightly behind, for a couple of reasons.

But we're jumping ahead of ourselves unless we want crispys wrath to deal with...
 
And i'm with Crispy on that - you only have 67 other Wire threads to discuss future series.

You don't want us to put Brother Mouzone on yo' assess
 
And i'm with Crispy on that - you only have 67 other Wire threads to discuss future series.

You don't want us to put Brother Mouzone on yo' assess

Hey yo', if you with crispy an'a other babylon and ting, you're more likely to turn snitch and get Bubs on me...
 
Hey yo', if you with crispy an'a other babylon and ting, you're more likely to turn snitch and get Bubs on me...

Yo, nigga's gotta get paid nigga, dealin wit them low-rise yo's, an buying that red top shit, nigga. Shit is just the same ole sub-standard snooker shit they be slinging last week wit a new motherfuckin' ICC Cricket name.
Motherfuckers be waitin 3 weeks for the re-up yo, niggas be gettin real antsy yo
 
Yo, nigga's gotta get paid nigga, dealin wit them low-rise yo's, an buying that red top shit, nigga. Shit is just the same ole sub-standard snooker shit they be slinging last week wit a new motherfuckin' ICC Cricket name.
Motherfuckers be waitin 3 weeks for the re-up yo, niggas be gettin real antsy yo

best of getting your ass over east side, for some of Prop Jos good dope....
 
Having seen every goshdarn episode of every season, I plump for season 4 as the winner.

And best character? Omar.

Best catchphrase? "Sheeeeeee-iiiiit".

Most distracting hair? Steve Earle.

Best spin off potential? Lester, of course.

If you still need a fix after the series; I recommend George Pelecanos novels. Esp his later stuff - "Drama City" - there's a scene right out of season 5 with Bubbles. Probably wrote that episode, I guess.
 
I came across this a few days ago, thought it may interest some - just someone else's views:

I guess I'll weigh in as someone a bit more critical of Frank Sobotka. I agree that he is a tragic figure, but his tragic flaw, in the Shakespearean sense, is his obsession with saving the traditional work at the docks. He has no Plan B, and therefore he invests everything, including his integrity, to the docks. Let's say that I see him as corrupted rather than corrupt. He wants to be Prospero but he is in the end Canute. This does not, however, absolve him of responsibility. He is smart and strong enough to be held responsible for his choices.

Also, Frank does enjoy the power he has, which is an almost paternal authority and loyalty over the checkers. As a consequence, he becomes a bad father to his real son. He seems oblivious to Ziggy's behaviour until it erupts into violence. He has corrupted his nephew, who is a surrogate-son figure. Interestingly, once (and only once, if I remember correctly), Ziggy refers to a brother, presumably older, who has gone to community college. This brother is never mentioned again, and is therefore arguably estranged from his family to some extent. Frank's obsession with saving jobs on the docks would leave little room for a son who had moved on from that. My instinct that this is the case is reinforced by Frank's hostility to the lobbyist who relates how his family has moved up in the world over three generations through education. The hostility can partly be explained by his sense that the lobbyist is bragging and claiming to be better than Frank, but I think there is also an attitude in Frank that rejecting the docks is somehow a moral failing. As a result, I can see Frank becoming distant from a son who has decided to do something else, even if he rationally thinks that it was a good choice for the son.

In fact, as I was going over this argument in my head before writing it down, it occurred to me that there is something of a theme of bad fathers in this series. In addition to Frank, there is the Prez-Valchek conflict. If you want to put a charitable interpretation on Valchek's acts, and I offer this solely in the spirit of a devil's advocate, he is actually being a good father to his daughter. Having failed to convince the daughter not to marry Prez, he is determined to ensure that Prez is successful within the BPD and is not punished for his misconduct. However, I think the better interpretation is that Valchek is a controlling so-and-so who probably terrorises his daughter as much as his son in law. And of course, we have McNulty, who wants to be a good father and reconcile with his ex-wife, but handles it incredibly badly. Nick also wants to be a good father, to provide for his child, but this desire is subverted into further criminality. Nick's father is probably the closest to an unequivocally good father in this series.

I'm interested to hear what others think of this. I have only watched this series once, so I may have missed some details or nuances which would change my interpretation.

Fwiw, I think the point that's often missed about Frank Sobotka is his inability to show positive, warm emotion on a personal level. He can get angry in the abstract; about the dead girls and about the docks and about a lot of things, but it's difficult to escape the view Frank entirely shaped Ziggy via his emotional illiteracy.

Anyway . . . S3
 
can i just warn people who might get pissed at waiting and do as jon of arc did and jump forward onto dvd not to listen to the commentary on the first episode of season 5? while they're not massive spoilers, there are a couple of comments by joe chappelle and the bunk which give away info about what happens to two of my favourite characters, and it PISSED ME RIGHT OFF. being angry at wendell pierce felt strange, man. it was not an emotion i ever foresaw myself directing at him.

i couldn't even begin to choose a favourite series. i'm going to have to go back and wallow in the joy of them all over again.
 
Radio 4 gave away what happens to Cutty earlier. I wasn't happy.
 
Guys, even saying you found out what happens to xxxx means that people know something importantis going to happen. A great thing about the wire is that so many events are completely unexpected.
 
Watching on DVD and just finished Season 2 last night, brilliant stuff.

Was painful watching the long takes of Nicky just walking by the docks, I was so sure he was going to get plugged and the anticipation made me physically grimace.

Noticed a lot more soundtrack / montages this season (don't recall any extraneous music at all in the 1st season, but maybe someone can correct me?), which veered close to indulgent, but worked well when played over the scenes of the docks slowly dying at the end.

I even started to feel a pang of sympathy for Ziggy by the end (not much, but some), and the horrible inevitability of Frank's storyline rounded off one of the best drawn characters I think I've seen so far in the series.

Looking forward to S3 now, what's the general focus on? I'm guessing it's going to swing back to the projects somewhat, but is the theme the same as Season 1?
 
Noticed a lot more soundtrack / montages this season (don't recall any extraneous music at all in the 1st season, but maybe someone can correct me?),

There is no music aside from incidental in any series of the wire. i.e. if you hear music it eminates from a source in the scene (ie boombox, car stereo). The technical term is dietgetic music. The exception is a single music montage that closes each season.

which veered close to indulgent, but worked well when played over the scenes of the docks slowly dying at the end.

Perhaps it's because Season 2 ends with "Feel Alright" by Steve Earle, a really big song, while Season 1 ends with a much more low key song "Step by Step" by Jesse Winchester.

Looking forward to S3 now, what's the general focus on? I'm guessing it's going to swing back to the projects somewhat, but is the theme the same as Season 1?

Not to give too much away it focuses on higher ranking police and pressure they are under to massage crime statistics, to "show" crime is being reduced. It's also about how the war on drugs cannot be won by throwing police at it. Or grabbing slingers.
 
There is no music aside from incidental in any series of the wire. i.e. if you hear music it eminates from a source in the scene (ie boombox, car stereo). The technical term is dietgetic music. The exception is a single music montage that closes each season.
What about the 'Walk the Line' montage?

I know it's meant to be coming from Prez's stereo, but it's then overlaid onto several scenes of the detail doing their work (and the sound quality switches).
 
What the blinking hell were Herc and Carver going on about last night:confused:? to my tired befuddled brain it appeared to me that they were debating what bloke they'd fancy if they were gay?Daniels is well buff is'nt he? I love those police head honcho briefings, Rawls is well brutal :D
The actor playing him is a former Marine Corps officer and Vietnam veteran
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0231283/
 
Anyone notice Rawls barracking that officer for palming cases off to someone else (the .38 killings) when he himself was involved in the same practice of fiddling his stats this way in previously.
Easily missed hypocrisy but ooh it got my hackles rising.
 
A bar full of drunken cops singing along to a Pogues song,whats not to love about that:D,Omar biting off more than he could chew last night.
 
Series 3 is just not quite as good as the first two is it?

But don't worry newbs, it gets better pretty quickly from now onwards and then you've got series four which is awesome.
 
Having seen every goshdarn episode of every season, I plump for season 4 as the winner.

And best character? Omar.

Best catchphrase? "Sheeeeeee-iiiiit".

Most distracting hair? Steve Earle.

Best spin off potential? Lester, of course.

If you still need a fix after the series; I recommend George Pelecanos novels. Esp his later stuff - "Drama City" - there's a scene right out of season 5 with Bubbles. Probably wrote that episode, I guess.
Who's Steve Earle?

Radio 4 gave away what happens to Cutty earlier. I wasn't happy.
I can't remember anything massive happening to him :hmm:
 
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