"The Wire" on HBO

true and true

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...

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

^^^

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.

???? see them hoos!

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

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

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.

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.

unless you're telling me those last two episodes are super stellar or story-resolving

dude

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.

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

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.

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.

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

this is foreshadowing.

Prez... The kid's a prodigy.

lol hoos u crazy. last two eps of season 5 are way better than the rest of it, btw.

There's one scene where Carcetti's reaction is hilarious - and should be (if it isn't already) an animated gif

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, November 16, 2009 9:29 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

um thats not a 'flaw' thats called a 'character'

http://www.youtube.com/user/hh1edits#p/u/0/-Sgj78QG9Bg

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, November 16, 2009 10:02 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark

I have done this many times

I'm also stalled halfway through season 3, not sure if these are related phenomena

http://www.youtube.com/user/hh1edits#p/u/0/-Sgj78QG9Bg

― 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"

I'm also stalled halfway through season 3, not sure if these are related phenomena

that is absurd

perhaps edward iii should pitch a slate article about this

did he have hands? did he have a face? yes? then it wasnt us

to be fair that's some pretty profound shit to hear if you're a 16 year old drug dealer

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

that said, as a viewer it's not exactly like some deep stuff, true

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

My issue with it was that it was incredibly close to the content of a scene from the movie Fresh.

yeah and Fresh >>>>> The Wire

sorry guys but its true

*folds arms*

Shakey went too far.

fresh is better than the wire vs traffic is as good as the wire

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.

^^^

did he have hands? did he have a face? yes? then it wasnt us

that's one of my favorite lines.

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, 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

and they're more like 14 than 16, no?

bodie was, wallace wasn't

seriously think for one second about all the shit that blew your mind when you were 16

http://www.youtube.com/user/hh1edits#p/u/0/-Sgj78QG9Bg

― 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), Monday, November 16, 2009 6:20 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yep. "tweedy impertinence," too. no Jay quotes, no cred.

yeah these are some preachy ass 100 quotes

i love the wire 4ever but fuck if i hear another quote about 'the game'

Not reading this, as am only near the end of season 2, but is Omar the best character on TV ever?

Indeed.

Omar's role in the series always seemed kinda obvious and irritating to me - he's the one guy that's unbeholden to any of the institutions that trip up everyone else, and he has this moral code that he lives by, he only robs/kills criminals, he loves his momma, etc. And as an extra bone to all us open-minded liberals out there, he's GAY! Its all just so ridiculously idealized. This from a show that otherwise prided itself on its realism...

anyway my favorite character was Prop Joe.

I see what you're saying, and yet he's just so much damn fun to watch.

xpost
His performance makes it easy to forgive all that, for me anyway.