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The Wire


BradHorse

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Don't have Internet in the flat just now so Ben re-watching the wire. Bout halfway through series 3 just now. Decided I'm a fan of series 2 o that watch through. Nick and the female cop are kinda drab characters, but everyone else is pretty good. You can also see huge influences for gta4 which is a game I really enjoyed.

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  • 1 month later...

Just watched this over the last month. Really good.

As mentioned elsewhere, it does look a bit dated now, but you get over that quickly.

Personally, I think season 1 was my favourite, it got me hooked. Didn't enjoy 2 as much as the others, but still good.

I think they tried to cram too much into the last few episodes though, it all felt rushed. Why only 10 episodes, when there was 13 every other series?

Overall a thoroughly enjoyable viewing experience and one I'll look forward to repeating one day.

Sshhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeettttt,what am I gonna watch next?

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  • 2 months later...

Just started watching this, got up to episode 6 and I'm still trying to figure out what's actually going on.

Is it worth sticking it out?

Yes. ;)

It becomes a very good story. More of a long story, plenty of relations with each character. I thought it was very good, not on the levels of SOA or Breaking Bad but definitely worth watching.

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Just started watching this, got up to episode 6 and I'm still trying to figure out what's actually going on.

Is it worth sticking it out?

Think I got to maybe 6-7 episodes in but gave up because I was watching a few shows at the time. I did like it, I'll probably start watching it again soon, struggling for something to watch at the moment.

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Yes. ;)

It becomes a very good story. More of a long story, plenty of relations with each character. I thought it was very good, not on the levels of SOA or Breaking Bad but definitely worth watching.

I know it's all subjective but fucking hell. SOA despite not being to my tastes (thought it was cheesy shite) and well rated, is never going to be talked about in twenty years time as one of the best ever drama shows. The Wire certainly will.

Only finished off The Wire lately but it's pretty fucking special. Season four in particular really hits hard and represents what's it all about best.

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I know it's all subjective but fucking hell. SOA despite not being to my tastes (thought it was cheesy shite) and well rated, is never going to be talked about in twenty years time as one of the best ever drama shows. The Wire certainly will.

Only finished off The Wire lately but it's pretty fucking special. Season four in particular really hits hard and represents what's it all about best.

I just finished it off last week, thought The Wire was quite slow, which I enjoyed. I absolutely loved the setting and characters (especially Omar) but I thought Sons was better.

I'd have the Wire in my top 5..

Sopranos

Breaking Bad

Sons of Anarchy

The Wire

Mad Men

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  • 1 year later...

Just watched s01e01 again. Yeah, I think this still holds up pretty comfortably as great art. A lot of people talked about the writing and performances, which are mostly great as I recall, but not enough love for the direction. The chaos and squalor when D'Angelo first gets to The Pit, when Rawls is reflected off the window giving McNulty the middle finger, the informant yapping in Kima's car as they move in to make a bust, it all has a nice balance between that heft of feeling real and also being nice, oddly dreamlike (in the way that dreams are not often pleasant  or relaxing but in fact a lot of sensorial information at once) and aesthetically-pleasing. The opening dialogue about the dice game is probably the best opening dialogue in any tv series. Absolutely sets up the whole thing. Explains so much. I was really worried about how this scene in particular would hold up. The whole thing with The Wire is that it is kind of more real than the genre of realism, that it's all in vernacular, it's sometimes grim, funny in relatable ways, it's sometimes bogged down in admin as much as action, and yet there are these famous scenes that are very knowing and a bit like something out of a play, bits where characters are obviously commenting on society or the show or something like that. Also because in my mind I was thinking  the show teaches us very clearly that the street people do NOT talk to the police openly, let alone poetically and with a little bit of exposition, and yet that's exactly what happens here. Anyway it was still a good scene and once it was over it got better.

Setting aside Wednesday nights as Wire night and doing one a week right through a whole rewatch. The way it should be. Join me! 

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  • 1 month later...

#WIREWEDNESDAYS

The one a week thing didn't really work out and i rattled season one of fairly quickly on a couple of weeks off work. 9/10 for the season overall, no two ways. Up from an 8/10 (4th best season overall, will re-evaluate this order once I'm done) on original viewing. Don't get me wrong I didn't think it was flawless and some of the things felt a bit like a play or a bit too knowing. I must admit first time I watched it I wished there was much less home/personal life stuff in the characters and wished they would just do stuff that related to the role I was watching them in. I expected to dislike S01 more his time because of this but thought it was better and made a lot of recent stuff seem unambitious in terms of nuance, politics, scope, characterisation etc. First time I watched it think I done the first 4 seasons in about a fortnight so slowing it down will hopefully make me appreciate more how S02 is a turn that might have put some people off.

....so done S02E01 last Wednesday and going to try one a week again. It's a relatively glacial episode and I can't imagine if this was the first anyone saw of The Wire they'd be dying to stick with it. Quite a few extreme long shots of sad-looking Baltimore landscapes in a long winter.

Last years characters: McNulty is cold and bored on a boat. Lima is bored in an office. Daniels is in a dusty evidence basement. Stringer is testing the remnants of his crew to see who merits promotion by getting them to drive a car without incident (they insinuate that Bodie might be getting iced, but he's not). An occasional character from the first series being annoyed with a priest. Avon is in jail but seems relatively chill.

The new characters: Lad banter on the docks with the occasional criminal stevedores that becomes nice when a sweet Port police officer rolls by. A loose cannon not cut out for the docks and his cousin who wants to be like the older guys he knows but can't bcs capitalism. Some swarthy Europeans in a cafe who seem to pull strings in possibly a much deeper way than the dealers on the streets could.

This episode is really needed to show get the wheels spinning. Everyone is stuck and they have to move forward. I think on some level it's important we feel that too as viewers. It's not quite Laura Palmer on a beach wrapped in plastic, though it does pick up with the discovery of a female corpse in the harbour water. The ending of the episode provides a huge dramatic hook that demands you stay with it.

There are a couple of slyly funny moments, like Bodie listening to Garrison Keillor in the car, or the "what a swampy" face the Greek guy in the cafe pulls when Ziggy won't stop prattling on. But it's more just character (re)establishment and it only works as an episode in wider context. 6.5/10 for the opener. Series 2 I have down as a 9/10 and 2nd best series overall from first viewing so know it's going to pick up.

Edited by Christophe
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Just finished it for I think the 5th time. I can always remember the famous scenes and the general plot themes and whatnot but each time I rewatch it I think 'surely it's not as good as I remember?' and every single time it has further went up in my estimations.

If you don't think The Wire is the greatest TV show of all time then you just didn't get it in my opinion.

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If you don't think The Wire is the greatest TV show of all time then you just didn't get it in my opinion.

The final season of The Sopranos is far superior to the final season of The Wire IMO.
That's why I'd always have The Sopranos first on my list of all time greats.
Only narrowly though.
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