Watching the Wire for the Second Time

Thanks for that link.

I need to rewatch season 5 since i've been seeing a few of the cast pop up here and there. Marlo in The road. Started watching "The corner".

Originally Posted by the_state

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Hamsterdam was borderline Sci-Fi.

People keep hating on Hamsterdam but TBH I could see it happening. There are enough parts of Atlanta (although they are fewer and fewer these days) where a police chief could confine drug dealing and know one would ever know because the type of people who would care would never go there. Add to that a largely incompetent police force more concerned with padding stats and it could happen. I guess the only reason it seems far fetched is because it requires a major who actually wants to do good and get **** done.

Originally Posted by edinatlanta

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People keep hating on Hamsterdam but TBH I could see it happening. There are enough parts of Atlanta (although they are fewer and fewer these days) where a police chief could confine drug dealing and know one would ever know because the type of people who would care would never go there. Add to that a largely incompetent police force more concerned with padding stats and it could happen. I guess the only reason it seems far fetched is because it requires a major who actually wants to do good and get **** done.

does **** still pop off in ATL?

I just have the final episode to go and a couple of things come to mind:

First, I'm watching the Marlo "My name is my name!" scene. He then tells those sitting in the holding cell with him that the first thing to be done after they get bail is to go to the streets and let people know that "word did not get to him" regarding Omar call him out by name.

This just sounds like your typical cop out excuse. So if I am in the streets and I get word that Marlo didn't get word about Omar, what am I going to think? I think there's two answers.

The first is that I have to call into question, how close really is Marlo to the streets. Here you have Omar repeatedly going around disrupting operations, going so far as to burn large amounts of money to make a point, and Marlo doesn't hear about any of these details!

And second are poeple going to buy the logic that "word did not get to him" as a valid reason why he didn't come down to the streets to face Omar personally? It seems like a convenient excuse. Say he was scared. Couldn't he have used the same line to create the same results. If so, and I think you could make a good argument so, it's not hard to arrive that your average person on the streets could reason that he was scared.

Second, and I didn't come up with this, a friend of mine did. I'll posit the "bald guy theory", which holds that each season of The Wire has a bald guy who is basically projecting the logic that David Simon (who is also bald) would say. In Season 1 there's D'Angelo (who after Season 1 grows out his hair, since he has no more "Simon Value" to add. In Season 2 there's Frank Sobatka, Seasons 3 & 4 has Bunny Colvin, and Season 5 is Gus (the city desk editor at the Baltimore Sun).

Discuss.

Originally Posted by Biggskip

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Season 5 is Gus (the city desk editor at the Baltimore Sun).

Discuss.

Gus was a very thinly veiled attempt at putting David Simon and his story in the Wire.

Originally Posted by edinatlanta

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Gus was a very thinly veiled attempt at putting David Simon and his story in the Wire.
I don't deny this, but to have a bald headed character in every season acting as a vehicle to deliver the reason that you wish to enlighten the viewer on is pretty brilliant.

i've seen every episode like 4-5 times, it gets better the more you watch it

i find the show incredibly depressing. the end of the story with bubbles being replaced by another scrap collecting junky kid and omar being replaced by another dispossed gangster. theres so many scenes in the show which give the feeling that there is no hope. whenever something small happens for the better it triggers something bigger happening for the worse.

Originally Posted by Mr Herbert

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i find the show incredibly depressing. the end of the story with bubbles being replaced by another scrap collecting junky kid and omar being replaced by another dispossed gangster. theres so many scenes in the show which give the feeling that there is no hope. whenever something small happens for the better it triggers something bigger happening for the worse.

Brother Mouzone didn't give you hope in humanity?

Originally Posted by Mr Herbert

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i find the show incredibly depressing. the end of the story with bubbles being replaced by another scrap collecting junky kid and omar being replaced by another dispossed gangster. theres so many scenes in the show which give the feeling that there is no hope. whenever something small happens for the better it triggers something bigger happening for the worse.

umm...randy is hope. but seriously, it's not a happy go lucky show, it's a pretty decent depiction (at least aestetically) of west baltimore.

thats why i like mouzone. he broke the stereotype.

the rest of the show just leaves you feeling so helpless.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the show for me was detailing just how "nasty" the game of big city politics is.

Originally Posted by Mr Herbert

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i find the show incredibly depressing. the end of the story with bubbles being replaced by another scrap collecting junky kid and omar being replaced by another dispossed gangster. theres so many scenes in the show which give the feeling that there is no hope. whenever something small happens for the better it triggers something bigger happening for the worse.

That is Simon's whole point. With a few exceptions (NYC, LA, Chicago, etc.) American cities are dying. Simon wanted to do The Wire so that he could call attention to the various ways in which this is happening. He's tyring to reach out to the rich white yuppie sitting in his McMansion's living room and say, "Hey, this is going! Please do something to stop it?".

Originally Posted by poly800rock

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umm...randy is hope. but seriously, it's not a happy go lucky show, it's a pretty decent depiction (at least aestetically) of west baltimore.

Uh, I think you mean Namond. Randy winds up becoming incredibly disillusioned (loses the dream of opening his own store, becomes hostile towards police, etc.).

Just watched this this morning. Since I got netflix I'm starting over and watching it all again.
I use to watch these with my amigo. He was sick with cancer, so on Sat the highlight was watching the wire. Good times RIP.