I was totally underwhelmed by season 1. Stick with it.
― I am flesh and blood. You are software and circuitry. (chap), Monday, 16 November 2009 11:56 (fourteen years ago) link
to be fair that's some pretty profound shit to hear if you're a 16 year old drug dealer
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 16 November 2009 11:58 (fourteen years ago) link
^^see that's the thing; I like how the show in general doesn't underestimate the savviness of the drug dealers, I really liked the scene where Wallace points out Hamilton wasn't a prez, but that scene really felt like the writers talking down to their characters
― 囧 (dyao), Monday, 16 November 2009 12:06 (fourteen years ago) link
were talking down
― 囧 (dyao), Monday, 16 November 2009 12:07 (fourteen years ago) link
I don't even remember any chess scenes. It should be possible to find other stuff to keep you entertained, if you don't like that bit.
― Ismael Klata, Monday, 16 November 2009 12:18 (fourteen years ago) link
wallace would know about hamilton because he's in school at the time! that's the kind of useless fact they teach you.
i haven't seen the shows in awhile but i recall that scene coming at a downswing in d's fortunes - he's been kicked down the heirarchy to the lowrises. my impression - as i remember it - was that d is trying to impress the lowrise dudes with his worldly wisdom, and maybe even convince himself that he's cut out for more of a thinking man's role than just lowrise enforcer. his spiel is cliched to us, yeah. but i think it gets the point across to his audience. "this guy thinks strategically".
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 16 November 2009 12:21 (fourteen years ago) link
the chess scene is a excerpted as a skit on the soundtrack cd, so clearly someone thinks it's deep. but yeah, it's kind of embarrassing.
― caek, Monday, 16 November 2009 12:34 (fourteen years ago) link
tbf gerard manley hopkins would sound embarrassing if you heard it enough times on a sound track CD.
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 16 November 2009 12:44 (fourteen years ago) link
unless it was actually gerard manley hopkins reading it and also composing the soundtrack, then it would be epic 2x
― 囧 (dyao), Monday, 16 November 2009 12:45 (fourteen years ago) link
true and true
― caek, Monday, 16 November 2009 12:54 (fourteen years ago) link
Obvious and cliche as that chess scene may be, I think it's important not just as an ohhhh. easy analogy way, but in sorting of setting the ground for the drug game narrative they follow. It may be cheesy then, but I think it's more subtly manifest later...
― EDB, Monday, 16 November 2009 14:35 (fourteen years ago) link
d is trying to impress the lowrise dudes with his worldly wisdom, and maybe even convince himself that he's cut out for more of a thinking man's role
^^^
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Monday, 16 November 2009 14:43 (fourteen years ago) link
i own this whole series but my ex wound up with the last disc of the last season, so i never saw the last two episodes. i don't feel real deprived tbh.
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Monday, 16 November 2009 14:44 (fourteen years ago) link
???? see them hoos!
― hoos-kingofthedrugs (deej), Monday, 16 November 2009 14:45 (fourteen years ago) link
what i'm getting at is that by that point in s5 i felt kinda disinvested in the whole thing. in s5 it felt like marlo was still this utterly boring cipher (and that impression wasn't gonna get blown up in the space of the last two eps), mcnulty & lester were being written completely against type, herc & carver were rarely of any fun/interest to follow solo, kima was caught in this uninteresting character loop, and if The Detail was gonna do its thing at all (the group chemistry was among the main reasons i liked the show) it was gonna do it in a severely truncated way.
idk, i just don't really feel like i need to see them unless you're telling me those last two episodes are super stellar or story-resolving in comparison to the rest of the season
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Monday, 16 November 2009 14:54 (fourteen years ago) link
theyre not stellar but theyre funny and heartbreaking and resolve lots of storys. its like youve gotten to page 480 of a 500-page book and are like... oh well why bother
― max, Monday, 16 November 2009 15:02 (fourteen years ago) link
i agree that the chess scene is a bit heavy-handed and seems a little contrived. it seemed to me that it's major function was character development - that D'angelo was a thoughtful guy and might be out of place in the drug game.
xp - the last two episodes pretty much just resolve what happens to most of the characters and illustrate the cyclical nature of that society - characters step into roles vacated by other characters.
― sarahel, Monday, 16 November 2009 15:03 (fourteen years ago) link
If the chess scene is d's idea, it's no surprise that a character should come up with a cliché. Writers try to avoid them, but real people don't.
― Ismael Klata, Monday, 16 November 2009 15:07 (fourteen years ago) link
unless you're telling me those last two episodes are super stellar or story-resolving
dude
― hoos-kingofthedrugs (deej), Monday, 16 November 2009 15:07 (fourteen years ago) link
xp - of course, and there are plenty of cliches that come from the mouths of the characters in the Wire - that particular scene seemed a little incongruous stylistically though.
― sarahel, Monday, 16 November 2009 15:11 (fourteen years ago) link
it's not so much d's delivery of it, but rather that the other two otherwise street smart guys take it hook line and sinker and pretend it's some great apercu
― 囧 (dyao), Monday, 16 November 2009 15:17 (fourteen years ago) link
i feel like the writing got better in later seasons, and they started working with the medium more - in terms of editing and structure - to make points/commentary. I want to say, starting around season 3, the show did a lot more parallel construction showing the similarities between the hierarchies and systems of the different groups it was following.
― sarahel, Monday, 16 November 2009 15:23 (fourteen years ago) link
It definitely gets more impressive as it accrues narrative mass. The beauty of later seasons is the precision with which all the intricacies fit together. The first season is basically a superior police thriller.
― I am flesh and blood. You are software and circuitry. (chap), Monday, 16 November 2009 15:26 (fourteen years ago) link
while we're pointing out flaws can I mention the utter lol that is przyblewski the fuckup making a great insight that his smarter, more competent companions couldn't see
― 囧 (dyao), Monday, 16 November 2009 15:29 (fourteen years ago) link
this is foreshadowing.
― sarahel, Monday, 16 November 2009 15:31 (fourteen years ago) link
Prez... The kid's a prodigy.
― EDB, Monday, 16 November 2009 15:53 (fourteen years ago) link
lol hoos u crazy. last two eps of season 5 are way better than the rest of it, btw.
― horseshoe, Monday, 16 November 2009 15:59 (fourteen years ago) link
There's one scene where Carcetti's reaction is hilarious - and should be (if it isn't already) an animated gif
― sarahel, Monday, 16 November 2009 16:07 (fourteen years ago) link
― 囧 (dyao), Monday, November 16, 2009 9:29 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
um thats not a 'flaw' thats called a 'character'
― hoos-kingofthedrugs (deej), Monday, 16 November 2009 16:52 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.youtube.com/user/hh1edits#p/u/0/-Sgj78QG9Bg
― cutty, Tuesday, 17 November 2009 00:10 (fourteen years ago) link
― max, Monday, November 16, 2009 10:02 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark
I have done this many times
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Tuesday, 17 November 2009 00:16 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm also stalled halfway through season 3, not sure if these are related phenomena
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Tuesday, 17 November 2009 00:19 (fourteen years ago) link
― cutty, Monday, November 16, 2009 6:10 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
did i miss it or did they skip "pinstripe lawyerly affectations"
― hoos-kingofthedrugs (deej), Tuesday, 17 November 2009 00:20 (fourteen years ago) link
that is absurd
― cutty, Tuesday, 17 November 2009 00:22 (fourteen years ago) link
perhaps edward iii should pitch a slate article about this
― hoos-kingofthedrugs (deej), Tuesday, 17 November 2009 00:22 (fourteen years ago) link
did he have hands? did he have a face? yes? then it wasnt us
― hoos-kingofthedrugs (deej), Tuesday, 17 November 2009 00:26 (fourteen years ago) link
I know that conversation was yesterday, but I find myself very much on Tracer's side about this: what's an embarrassing metaphor to ilxors is not necessarily embarrassing to all, including not only 16-year-old drug dealers but also corporate managers, readers of motivational texts, churchgoers, and really basically 90% of America
― oɔsıqɐu (nabisco), Tuesday, 17 November 2009 00:39 (fourteen years ago) link
that said, as a viewer it's not exactly like some deep stuff, true
― oɔsıqɐu (nabisco), Tuesday, 17 November 2009 00:41 (fourteen years ago) link
My issue with it was that it was incredibly close to the content of a scene from the movie Fresh.
― windy = white, carl = black (polyphonic), Tuesday, 17 November 2009 00:45 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah and Fresh >>>>> The Wire
sorry guys but its true
― Valid point, imaginary rude person (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 17 November 2009 00:49 (fourteen years ago) link
*folds arms*
― jØrdån (omar little), Tuesday, 17 November 2009 00:50 (fourteen years ago) link
Shakey went too far.
― windy = white, carl = black (polyphonic), Tuesday, 17 November 2009 00:51 (fourteen years ago) link
fresh is better than the wire vs traffic is as good as the wire
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Tuesday, 17 November 2009 01:18 (fourteen years ago) link
hahaha i am so glad wire threads will never die so i can never stop getting disproportionately pissed off by stuff people say about it.
― horseshoe, Tuesday, 17 November 2009 02:20 (fourteen years ago) link
― harbl, Tuesday, 17 November 2009 02:21 (fourteen years ago) link
that's one of my favorite lines.
― sarahel, Tuesday, 17 November 2009 02:22 (fourteen years ago) link
― 囧 (dyao), Monday, November 16, 2009 7:17 AM (12 hours ago) Bookmark
Wallace and Bodie weren't particularly street-smart (by wire standards at least) at this point of the show
― whiney on the moon (hmmmm), Tuesday, 17 November 2009 04:30 (fourteen years ago) link
and they're more like 14 than 16, no?
― zing touch me I'm (sic), Tuesday, 17 November 2009 04:36 (fourteen years ago) link
bodie was, wallace wasn't
― sarahel, Tuesday, 17 November 2009 04:38 (fourteen years ago) link
seriously think for one second about all the shit that blew your mind when you were 16
― mark cl, Tuesday, 17 November 2009 13:25 (fourteen years ago) link