The Wire comes to BBC2 (Spoiler free, please)

[Madusa]

i reckon it was cos michael knew his 'step-dad' had abused his brother, or was planning to. chris had obviously been abused as a child, hence his brutal variation n the contract.

eh? when was it revealed that Michael's brother Bug had been abused by that guy?

to me actually, it just looked like the guy got out of prison and was shacked up with the drug fiend mother, but that Michael wanted to be the man of the house and didnt want to let go of the social card cos he knew he'd have no means to feed himself and his brother. Not more. The way the dad gets killed though. *shivers*

 

[London_Calling]

Michael gave up boxing because of an adult male touching him during training - weirded him out. That wasn't because of what happened to his half brother imo. He can't talk about it because it makes him less of a man, etc.

I don't recall abuse ever being diirectly mentioned.

 

[DotCommunist]

Michael gave up boxing because of an adult male touching him during training - weirded him out. That wasn't because of what happened to his half brother imo. He can't talk about it because it makes him less of a man, etc.

I don't recall abuse ever being diirectly mentioned.

Pretty heavily implied, however.

 

[Madusa]

Michael gave up boxing because of an adult male touching him during training - weirded him out. That wasn't because of what happened to his half brother imo. He can't talk about it because it makes him less of a man, etc.

I don't recall abuse ever being diirectly mentioned.

Ah yeah, this is true.

 

[Orang Utan]

eh? when was it revealed that Michael's brother Bug had been abused by that guy?

to me actually, it just looked like the guy got out of prison and was shacked up with the drug fiend mother, but that Michael wanted to be the man of the house and didnt want to let go of the social card cos he knew he'd have no means to feed himself and his brother. Not more. The way the dad gets killed though. *shivers*

michael obviously hates his stepdad and is desperate for him not to spend any time with his brother. i think it's suggested that perhaps michael himself knows why this is not a good idea.

 

[Belushi]

Pretty heavily implied, however.

Yeah.

 

[Madusa]

.

 

[London_Calling]

Pretty heavily implied, however.

Not only but particularly from Michael asking Chris to remove the threat to Bug by murdering his father.

 

[spanglechick]

i've always read that story as being that michael had been abused by his stepdad, and wanting to protect bug from him because he's now the right sort of age.

 

[Madusa]

By the end of series 4 is it actually humanely possible to not be head-over-heels in love with Omar?! Gender or sexual orientation NOT A FACTOR!

 

[London_Calling]

The BBC2 showing isn't at the end of S4 yet so the people following it in real time aren't at the end of S4. Hence you could do something about post #1597.

 

[DotCommunist]

By the end of series 4 is it actually humanely possible to not be head-over-heels in love with Omar?! Gender or sexual orientation NOT A FACTOR!

It's hard not to love Omar. He's no Robin Hood, but he is totally the lovable Chaotic Neutral (D&D term, soz)

 

[Madusa]

The BBC2 showing isn't at the end of S4 yet so the people following it in real time aren't at the end of S4. Hence you could do something about post #1597.

ok

 

[London_Calling]

Did anyone get a handle on the meeting of police commanders at headquarters - 'stat' something they called it.

You can pull together the political pieces of what David Simon is saying but I was always struck by the staging, the lighting and layout - as if it were heavily referencing. At first it looked like the jury at one end and the fellow commanders were sat at the side like a jury, but that doesn't work. In every scene there a commander was mocked and abused for his stats or approach.

It also came out of no where in S3, just before Hamsterdam. Just curious if anyone got a reference vibe from the staging. A war room based film - Dr Strangelove?

 

[Orang Utan]

man, you should have been at the q&a last week. all people asked were shit about the writing process (and one of those came from an eastenders scriptwriter).
also, a little bird tells me that itv's moving the bill to a later slot, as well as being a bid for higher viewing figures, sprang also from the desire of the writers to introduce a wiresque element of grittiness.

 

[DotCommunist]

every time a commander was getting castigated it was like a war room set-up tbf.

but that's not a Wire exclusive thing, merely how it goes. And given a few hours I could rustle up some other examples. Kangaroo Court ennit?

 

[DotCommunist]

man, you should have been at the q&a last week. all people asked were shit about the writing process (and one of those came from an eastenders scriptwriter).
also, a little bird tells me that itv's moving the bill to a later slot, as well as being a bid for higher viewing figures, sprang also from the desire of the writers to introduce a wiresque element of grittiness.

It already has though, and has gone all weird and pretend-grownup

 

[Orang Utan]

It already has though, and has gone all weird and pretend-grownup

sorry, i wrote that all wrong.

 

[London_Calling]

all people asked were shit about the writing process (and one of those came from an eastenders scriptwriter).

I'd have asked about my grand, all-embracing theory about S5.

 

[mhendo]

Did anyone get a handle on the meeting of police commanders at headquarters - 'stat' something they called it.

CompStat, sometimes also COMSTAT. A shortening of Computer Statistics (or, according to some, Comparative Statistics).

It is essentially the process of analyzing crime data using computers in an attempt to track patterns and assess priorities for future policing. It became all the rage in the United states after it was implemented in New York City. Another TV show that made use of CompStat was the awful show The District, starring Craig T. Nelson.

It's not just about showing what crimes occur where, though. It's about resource allocation, and also about evaluation of past performance and holding district commanders and regular beat cops accountable for their performance. I think all of that comes out pretty clearly in The Wire.

Here's an interesting article about it. As the article suggests, not everyone believes that CompStat has been as important in reducing crime rates as its boosters claim.

 

[Orang Utan]

It already has though, and has gone all weird and pretend-grownup

sorry, i wrote that all wrong.
eta: no, what i said does make sense. everyone knows it has moved, but i was talking about the reasons why.
cops was a much better attempt at showing the real police force, though the most realistic portrayal of the cops on british tv has always been in the young ones

 

[London_Calling]

CompStat, sometimes also COMSTAT. A shortening of Computer Statistics (or, according to some, Comparative Statistics).

It is essentially the process of analyzing crime data using computers in an attempt to track patterns and assess priorities for future policing. It became all the rage in the United states after it was implemented in New York City. Another TV show that made use of CompStat was the awful show The District, starring Craig T. Nelson.

It's not just about showing what crimes occur where, though. It's about resource allocation, and also about evaluation of past performance and holding district commanders and regular beat cops accountable for their performance. I think all of that comes out pretty clearly in The Wire.

Here's an interesting article about it. As the article suggests, not everyone believes that CompStat has been as important in reducing crime rates as its boosters claim.

Yep, it all comes across, but it's also nice to have all that info as well. Cheers.

I don't look at Hollywood material much so the artistic references . . .

 

[DotCommunist]

sorry, i wrote that all wrong.
eta: no, what i said does make sense. everyone knows it has moved, but i was talking about the reasons why.
cops was a much better attempt at showing the real police force, though the most realistic portrayal of the cops on british tv has always been in the young ones

on a re-read I get you. I think the introduction of the CSI bloke was done for similar reasons.

If cops was that one shot in fly-on-the-wall style then yes, that was fucking ace.

 

[Orang Utan]

CompStat, sometimes also COMSTAT. A shortening of Computer Statistics (or, according to some, Comparative Statistics).

It is essentially the process of analyzing crime data using computers in an attempt to track patterns and assess priorities for future policing. It became all the rage in the United states after it was implemented in New York City. Another TV show that made use of CompStat was the awful show The District, starring Craig T. Nelson.

It's not just about showing what crimes occur where, though. It's about resource allocation, and also about evaluation of past performance and holding district commanders and regular beat cops accountable for their performance. I think all of that comes out pretty clearly in The Wire.

Here's an interesting article about it. As the article suggests, not everyone believes that CompStat has been as important in reducing crime rates as its boosters claim.

that's well New Labour - target culture
Adam Curtis has a lot to say about that.

 

[The Octagon]

Which episode is this thread up to now?

I thought I was up to date after watching the election episode, but now I've just seen the spoilers about Michael (previous and this page). Am I still a few behind or is someone spoiling stuff?

 

[Madusa]

The Michael stuff runs alongside the election stuff. You should have picked it up.

 

[The Octagon]

The Michael stuff runs alongside the election stuff. You should have picked it up.

Nah, I watched it last night, Michael's in 3 or 4 short scenes, Chris is in 1 and none of what's said up there ^^^^ has occurred

 

[Madusa]

Which episode? Was Michael's step dad in it?

 

[London_Calling]

It wasn't on the BBC last night, was it?

 

[The Octagon]

I'm trying to catch up with the thread on DVD, thought I had last night ("Margin of Error"), now I don't know what to believe anymore