The Wire (REDUX THREAD)

Such a good quote in this

"Sure, having a black president has done nothing to change anything regarding race in America,” he says. “But what I did notice is that Barack Obama becomes president and suddenly black people who are well-spoken are working more. This new market for the well-spoken black actor is all due to Obama. He got inaugurated and I started working like a fiend – hired by the same people who would previously ask: ‘Have you always spoken like that?’ It’s like, you know what, motherfuckers, yes, I have.”

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just started season 3. dennis <3

I want Cutty to give me a big hug.

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There’s about 20 genuinely great characters over the five series. Would end up naming half the cast if I had to give my list of favourite characters. Mad.

Miles better than the Sopranos imo but I don’t begrudge people thinking differently.

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didn’t like this, too slapstick, too far-fetched, too much winking at the audience. everything wrong with season 5 in one clip.

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That’s kinda the point in Ziggy’s character. Everyone else has some sort of underlying drive. It’s like Bunk said, “man’s gotta have a code.” Ziggy is supposed to show what happens when the working class is dying and is transitioning to the ‘underclass’ - just a mixture of cluelessness and nihilism.

With that in mind, one of my favourite scenes is when his cousin talks to Prop Joe. Perfectly captures difference between the two classes. Ironically the difference is mostly driven by the underclass’ access to (a specific type of) capital, which the working class don’t have (Frank gains access, but doesn’t understand how power relations work between those who control this type of capital and doesn’t change his values accordingly, and so pays the price).

just got to hamsterdam :disappointed:

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just finished rewatching seasons 1-4. still pretty much stand by this i guess but 2 is better than its position there suggests.

also realised that lester freamon is by far the best character

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too condescending for my liking. absolutely love that scene though. ‘this is a tomb’

The thing with the Sopranos is that I’m never sure about its subject matter and how it naturally still ends up glorifying it. Just something slightly off comparative to The Wire which depicts bad people in a way you can sympathise but don’t feel there’s anything ‘great’ about them.

There is of course a side point about amazing episodic writing - of which The Sopranos may be the best final example even over Mad Men - vs the modern single story season idea, which The Wire is probably still the pinnacle. In this sense I can’t ever choose between these shows.

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Seeing as we’re not caring about spoilers…

Greatest ‘blink and you miss it moment’ in any media?

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Also Season 5 doesn’t get enough criticism for its worst crime which is just how awful the opening music is:

Though it’s easy to forget when the first episode follows up with this beauty:

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That scene comes before the titles :wink: i just assume that steve earle is david simon’s pal coz his acting and music are both shite.

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he’s got a thing about making musicians he likes act I think. The guy from The Pogues in Treme, fucks sake

friend of mine goes on about Tony Soprano like he’s his moral role model. it’s really weird.

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yeah Spider Stacey. he has a fairly minor role, but Steve Earle was given a lot of heavy-lifting that he couldn’t really pull off.
also it’s surely not that weird giving a musician a minor role in Treme, which is largely about music.

Not doing this again, we’ve had this convo at least 5 times :smiley:

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I can’t make my mind up on The Wire using this scene. On one hand, it’s recycled from Homicide: Life on the Street

On the other, that took it from David Simon’s book, which means it’s actually based on real life.

Never seen it tbf.

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