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We own this city- HBO- Spoilers


Calibandar

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Is anybody else watching this? I just watched episode 5 out of 6, which was excellent.

It does definitely have some of that The Wire vibe though I suspect most will agree that this is not as good as that, and may not be able to be i this short format.

The characters are really well done and some of the lines and dialogue are excellent.

The only thing I find odd so far is how at the start it seems to also be about the main drug dealer Brill ( Shropshire) and he just disappears from view, as does the story about him.

I thought he would be a big focus and am disappointed its not also about that and just all about the criminal behavior of the Gun Task Force.

Jenkins is an out and out villain btw, what an asshole.

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I am --  got 5 and 6 on tap for the weekend, maybe after getting back from the Memorial Day bbq.

So impressed with the writing and the actors.  Both doing such clean jobs with such a dirty story.

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Copying from what I wrote in the Watching thread:

Quote

Despite its initial promise, I have to say I'm disappointed in We Own This City. It's leaned so very hard into the scenes of the Justice Department and Internal Affairs questioning imprisoned corrupt cops... and then going back and showing us what they're talking about. I applaud Simon's conviction on informing viewers and showing the truth and the process by which it was reached, but it lacks drama. And drama is, traditionally, what dramas are supposed to provide. This probably would have made more sense as an incisive documentary.

 

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Since I haven't seen the final two episodes, :dunno:  However, so far, it is more than dramatic enough for this viewer.

The book was plenty dramatic too.

Maybe the perceived lack of drama is because we know how this comes  out -- essentially no consequences and it just gets worse?  There are no heroes among these guys, when television demands heroes?

As producers and showrunners / writers of Abbot's Elementary responded to the thousands of twits who immediately upon the breaking of the Uvalde tragedy instructed them they should do a season finale with a school shooting -- "We don't make feel good entertainment out that." Their acclaimed, very popular series is a comedy that treats very serious issues.  They cannot go there with the least bit of comic treatment.

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31 minutes ago, Zorral said:

Maybe the perceived lack of drama is because we know how this comes  ou

Not really. It's just as I said: that all the GTTF guys are already in prison jumpsuits and it's all just recounting their crimes and then sometimes we flash back to seeing one of them depicted. TThe lawyers from DOJ are basically just talking heads bouncing facts back and forth. There's no real disputes, it's just... well, a lot of exposition for my tastes. Well-acted exposition at times, but still, exposition. There's just nothing really dramatic here, unlike in the first episode or two.

Like I said, I think this should have been a well-made documentary. I know that's not really Simon's thing, and if this is how he wanted to get this story out there, all right. But it's a chore. I should probably tune out and get a hold of the book (which I did not know the series was based on.)

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I do wish they'd told the story in order. I'm enjoying it but yeah i'm not nearly as attached to the characters as I normally am with one of Simon's shows. Though only having six episodes might be the problem.

I assume there will be some drama in the final episode, based on what I remember of how the story ends.

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I expect that too. Though, I havent felt there's been a lack of drama so far, even though I agree that the Nicole Steel scenes and those other her colleagues have been outright dull ( but not badly acted).

Whats plain weird to me is how they dropped the 2 detectives at the start, McDougall and Kilpatrick, I thought they were great but clearly the show is not about them and Shropshire.

I do prefer this over Show me a hero.

I already bought the hardcover of this, definitely want to read more details.

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Spoiler

Wow, so I had it in my head that Jenkins or someone else had Suiter killed to prevent him from testifying. I was not expecting that. That was hard to watch. I know suicide is seldom rational but damn.

Really good show for what it was. Definitely not the spiritual successor to The Wire though. Though I doubt Simon ever said it was.

 

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Still haven't had the time to watch the final episode.

But this is up now on the NY Times:

‘The Wire’ at 20: ‘This Show Will Live Forever’
David Simon and Ed Burns discuss the legacy of their seminal crime drama, and why the systemic decay it depicted has become only more profound.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/31/arts/television/david-simon-ed-burns-the-wire-anniversary.html

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Great final episode. Really like episode 5 as well. Overall a great show with some really good characters, that stands out.

Huge performance from Bernthal as Jenkins, but also really enjoyed Gondo, Rayam, Allers, Brill and the 2 detectives, Kilpatrick, McDougall. Erika Jensen and partner too.

13 hours ago, RumHam said:
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Wow, so I had it in my head that Jenkins or someone else had Suiter killed to prevent him from testifying. I was not expecting that. That was hard to watch. I know suicide is seldom rational but damn.

Really good show for what it was. Definitely not the spiritual successor to The Wire though. Though I doubt Simon ever said it was.

 

It seemed a really extreme measure for him and I just didnt get why he would go to that extent. One thing that was satisfying at the end were the prison sentences handed out. 25 years, 18 years, 12 years, serious stuff. 

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13 hours ago, Calibandar said:

One thing that was satisfying at the end were the prison sentences handed out. 25 years, 18 years, 12 years, serious stuff. 

But it changed nothing in the Baltimore Police Dept. or any other police dept. or get rid of utterly ineffectual for anything but corruption federal laws and policies with the useless 'war on drugs'.  The cops are still not working.  They are still corrupt as shyte.  They still are killing with impunity, and shaking down, lying, and laying down on the job too. 

 

Finished it.  Geeze these actors were good.  Really good.

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I enjoyed it, especially Bernthal and  Hector who somehow convincingly makes me not think of him as Marlo, love seeing people escape a past powerful typecast.

I had the added advantage of not remembering how any of this had played out in the Freddie Gray aftermath. I kind of avoided the depressing RL news while it was such a huge story in the U.S. press.

Treat Williams part was a viewpoint that I share, with the whole "Were doing it wrong " emphasis.

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On 5/28/2022 at 12:13 AM, RumHam said:

assume there will be some drama in the final episode, based on what I remember of how the story ends.

Yes, you were spot on. The Suiter part of the story was very strong, and as I knew nothing about his last of the story it surprised me quite a bit. Bernthal was of course excellent.

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13 hours ago, Zorral said:

But it changed nothing in the Baltimore Police Dept. or any other police dept. or get rid of utterly ineffectual for anything but corruption federal laws and policies with the useless 'war on drugs'.  The cops are still not working.  They are still corrupt as shyte.  They still are killing with impunity, and shaking down, lying, and laying down on the job too. 

 

Finished it.  Geeze these actors were good.  Really good.

Of course. I found it amusing how at the end, you see that the mayor herself was outright corrupt and went to jail for fraud and tax evasion, as did her new commissioner who she replaced Davis with.

But the prison sentences are no less satisfying because of that, Jenkins 25, Allers and Herschl 18, and the guys that cooperated still got between 7 and 12 years. Thats a long ass time to go to jail. I dont know if you are European as well but where I live, even Jenkins and Hershl would have had rather soft sentences. I feel these prison sentences at least like the criminals deserved what they got, serious crime and some dam serious time as well. 

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‘The Wire’ Stands Alone
After 20 years, the classic drama is much praised and rarely imitated. For a series based on the idea that institutions don’t change, that’s fitting.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/02/arts/television/the-wire-20th-anniversary.html

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.... It may be a bleak view, but it’s hard to say two decades of history have proven it wrong. Local news outlets are on life support, or worse. American democracy is in danger of becoming optional. The financial crisis and the pandemic showed the atrophy of our systems of protection and trust.

And Simon’s recent “We Own This City,” a kind of docudrama epilogue to “The Wire,” caught up with the corruption and brutality in Baltimore’s police force through and after the “rough ride” death of Freddie Gray, in 2015. You couldn’t expect “The Wire” to cure society, but it’s hard to dispute its diagnosis — if anything, “City” suggests, it could have been harsher. ....

... Just because you show the world how the job could be done differently doesn’t mean the world will start doing it that way.

But for “The Wire” not to change TV was not a failure. It was proof of concept. After all, the series was an argument that institutions resist change. For it to have spent five seasons showing how to use long-form TV to its fullest, then get its retirement papers and some kind words while the medium went on the way it always did — Jimmy McNulty would laugh. It’s the most “Wire” ending you could write.

 

 

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On 6/2/2022 at 10:26 AM, DireWolfSpirit said:

I enjoyed it, especially Bernthal and  Hector who somehow convincingly makes me not think of him as Marlo, love seeing people escape a past powerful typecast.

 

He does do a good job on that. Still, Marlo was incredibly memorable.

He's good in Bosch too btw.

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2 hours ago, Calibandar said:

He does do a good job on that. Still, Marlo was incredibly memorable.

He's good in Bosch too btw.

Yeah after Bosch it’s easy to picture him as a homicide detective.

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Wunmi Mosaku interview: 

The actor has gone from Manchester charity shop rifler to Hollywood’s most wanted. As she stars in the hot new show from The Wire team, she opens up about sweet-talking racist cops ... and why David Simon left her a ‘bumbling fool’

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/jun/03/wunmi-mosaku-im-black-in-america-my-feeling-about-the-police-is-im-scared

1 hour ago, Spockydog said:

Ah, shit. Why is this thread full of spoilers? Maybe put a warning in the title?

Those aren't spoilers -- they were real life outcomes for real life events that were covered in the media when they happened.

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Regards Marlo-

Cool I'll have to give Bosch a looksee, haven't gotten around to that show before.

Regards spoilers-

One of the things that made this show more enjoyable for me was not having been previous awares of any of the events. Obviously I remembered a Freddy Gray, but I didn't keep apprised of any of the internal P.D. affairs, definitely had no prior knowledge of Baltimore specifically in RL. I did remember the "Wire" being Baltimore at least I guess.

My brain tends to trail off and avoid stareing(sp) too long at all the injustice. I may read the ugly story the first day of a mass shooting or a cop execution, then I will not want to revisit these gut wrenching follow up stories.

The reliving aspect of it is pretty awful for me sometimes.

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