400 replies to this topic

[Twelve Angry Nonmen]

So, I'm years behind on this.   The first season started out slow for me, but I stuck to it, and it got good. Second season was awesome. Third season was probably the best thing I have ever watched on glowing rectangle, ever.  Fourth better than first, and on par with second, but I wasn't equal to the Third, in my opinion, as nothing really happened.  Starting the fifth season now, I hope it does not disappoint.  Would be a shame to end on a disappointing note.

Stringer Bell is probably my favorite character, ever.

Edited by Jurble, 06 February 2010 - 12:41 AM.

[TheEvilKing]

I recently finished watching it all for the first time and yes, the fifth season is awesome too. The journalist storyline's a bit dull but everything else makes up for it.

[kungtotte]

Omar back, yo.

[Stalker]

kungtotte, on 06 February 2010 - 01:27 AM, said:

Omar back, yo.

And that, that is all you should need to hear.

[Ser Greguh]

Jurble, on 06 February 2010 - 12:39 AM, said:

The first season started out slow for me, but I stuck to it, and it got good.

It's fun to see this comment made over and over again re. The Wire.  Of course, that's the way the show is structured, and it's pretty much the only full-fledged series that's been done like that - where it makes absolutely no effort to tell a complete story, with a beginning, middle, and end, in each episode, and so it had to train its viewers to expect something different.  It's not just the first season that starts slow - they all do, just by the second season we're over the hump of understanding what the show is about, and understand that the early episodes of nothing but setup will be more than balanced out by the later episodes of nothing but payoff.

[Twelve Angry Nonmen]

Anyway so,

Spoiler

In season 4, what with all the time Carver spent chasing Bodie, you'd think he'd be more upset about his death

[Vrana]

On Carver:

Spoiler

I think he had gotten jaded by then, he was a better cop for not being as emotional about things.

[TheEvilKing]

Did they ever show Carver or Herc's reaction to that?

[Vrana]

TheEvilKing, on 06 February 2010 - 06:54 AM, said:

Did they ever show Carver or Herc's reaction to that?

Didn't they? Or am I mixing it up with McNulty and Carver's reaction to something else?

[polishgenius]

You didn't see Carver's initial reaction. You saw him telling McNulty a while after, by which time he could have calmed down over it.

[Vrana]

polishgenius, on 06 February 2010 - 07:21 AM, said:

You didn't see Carver's initial reaction. You saw him telling McNulty a while after, by which time he could have calmed down over it.

You're right, I should know better. Pretty good scene now that I think about it.

[polishgenius]

I re-watched that scene yesterday, quite coincidentally. So yeah.

In light of my general rewatch of bits of the series, I have one thing to say: Slim Charles fucking rules.

[Vrana]

polishgenius, on 06 February 2010 - 08:54 AM, said:

I re-watched that scene yesterday, quite coincidentally. So yeah.

In light of my general rewatch of bits of the series, I have one thing to say: Slim Charles fucking rules.

He has always been on my top five. I love him, I remeber at first only noticing him for his voice but after a while I really dug his whole character. Bunny Colvin, Omar, Lester, Prop Joe. Gah, a rewatch is in order.

I had only one big backpack when I moved, so what I could bring with me was very limited. I never for a second thought of forsaking my The Wire DVD box.

[Ser Greguh]

Spoiler

Carver noted Bodie's death enough to point it out specifically to McNulty but didn't seem particularly shook by it, not in the way that McNulty was at least.

Carver and Bodie bonded a bit in Season 1 (there was that pool game where they were waiting for Bodie's ride to Juvie) but no meaningful interaction between the two in seasons 2 or 3 that I can recall.  IIRC Bodie's only interaction with cops in the two seasons was briefly being detained after the street corner shootout in S2 and being jacked by McNulty, Sydnor, and Kima on his way to Hamsterdam in S3 (they swapped his cell phone out).  Carver was the one that didn't let the three drag Bodie downtown but that didn't seem to have anything to do with Bodie specifically; it was more his general loyalty to Colvin.

By S4 no doubt Carver saw Bodie as a limited contact, kind of a source, and almost certainly one of many (Carver is Real Police by S4).  There's no reason to suspect that Herc remembers Bodie at all.

Edited by Ser Greguh, 06 February 2010 - 11:13 AM.

[Werthead]

Ser Greguh, on 06 February 2010 - 11:11 AM, said:

Spoiler

Carver noted Bodie's death enough to point it out specifically to McNulty but didn't seem particularly shook by it, not in the way that McNulty was at least.

Carver and Bodie bonded a bit in Season 1 (there was that pool game where they were waiting for Bodie's ride to Juvie) but no meaningful interaction between the two in seasons 2 or 3 that I can recall. IIRC Bodie's only interaction with cops in the two seasons was briefly being detained after the street corner shootout in S2 and being jacked by McNulty, Sydnor, and Kima on his way to Hamsterdam in S3 (they swapped his cell phone out). Carver was the one that didn't let the three drag Bodie downtown but that didn't seem to have anything to do with Bodie specifically; it was more his general loyalty to Colvin.

By S4 no doubt Carver saw Bodie as a limited contact, kind of a source, and almost certainly one of many (Carver is Real Police by S4). There's no reason to suspect that Herc remembers Bodie at all.

Didn't Herc and Carver do a double-date with their girlfriends to the cinema and ended up meeting Poot and Bodie in the foyer with their girlfriends, creating a rather weird "Hey guys, what's up?" kind of moment? That was quite funny. That was Season 1 though, IIRC.

[Vrana]

Werthead, on 06 February 2010 - 01:40 PM, said:

Didn't Herc and Carver do a double-date with their girlfriends to the cinema and ended up meeting Poot and Bodie in the foyer with their girlfriends, creating a rather weird "Hey guys, what's up?" kind of moment? That was quite funny. That was Season 1 though, IIRC.

I like the one where

Spoiler

Carver makes Bodie greet him politely; ' Good day, officer', and they sort of bond. Then Bodie tries it on the other guy (cannot remember his name but he had the mohawk/mullet thing going for him) and he tells him to basically fuck himself.

Should look up the actual lines. I love that scene.

[VarysTheSpider]

Last month I finally got around to watching the first episode of the Wire. I was doing my best to manage my expectations but I still thought it was ok, at best. I'm going to watch a few more because you can't judge a show based on the pilot, but I'd really rather not spend hours and hours waiting until it gets good. So can anyone suggest an episode or series of episodes that can be watched as a stand-alone that showcases what the Wire can do?

[Piper]

VarysTheSpider, on 06 February 2010 - 01:56 PM, said:

So can anyone suggest an episode or series of episodes that can be watched as a stand-alone that showcases what the Wire can do?

Can't be done.

[Werthead]

VarysTheSpider, on 06 February 2010 - 01:56 PM, said:

Last month I finally got around to watching the first episode of the Wire. I was doing my best to manage my expectations but I still thought it was ok, at best. I'm going to watch a few more because you can't judge a show based on the pilot, but I'd really rather not spend hours and hours waiting until it gets good. So can anyone suggest an episode or series of episodes that can be watched as a stand-alone that showcases what the Wire can do?

This is like asking if there is a chapter that can be read as a stand-alone that showcases what ASoIaF can do. It's not really possible. You could theoretically start at the beginning of Season 2 or maybe Season 4 instead (if you concentrate on the school story and ignore everything else), but it's still not ideal.

The first 3-4 episodes of The Wire are fairly bemusing the first time you see them. When you go back and watch them later in the full knowledge of the plot, they are awesome. But like most HBO shows, The Wire does take a while to 'bed in' and get you into its headspace. How long that takes varies by viewer, but for me I got into the show's groove in the fourth episode during one particularly classic scene.

Edited by Werthead, 06 February 2010 - 02:03 PM.

[Ser Greguh]

VarysTheSpider, on 06 February 2010 - 01:56 PM, said:

Last month I finally got around to watching the first episode of the Wire. I was doing my best to manage my expectations but I still thought it was ok, at best. I'm going to watch a few more because you can't judge a show based on the pilot, but I'd really rather not spend hours and hours waiting until it gets good. So can anyone suggest an episode or series of episodes that can be watched as a stand-alone that showcases what the Wire can do?

There is no waiting for The Wire to get good.  It already is good, it just takes a few episodes for most viewers to realize it.  Each season is one story.  Episode beginnings and endings, while not exactly arbitrary, are really more like chapters in a book.  In fact, I look at The Wire a lot like I look at most literature; I don't think anything of a 13 hour time commitment to put into a book, and so too is it with this show.