"feckin Mcnulty, feckin with us for the fun of it" 
Television The Wire
- Thread starter VanNistelrater
- Start date
Marlo, Royce, Clay Davis, Cheese even Kima in the end for being a grass.. there were quite a few unlikeable characters.
But the one I hated most was that snake journalist that made everything up whose name I forgot.
Scott Templeton... that defensive fit he has with his notepad always makes me gnash my teeth... running to the higher ups like a pissy little 5 year old.
Ohhh that's me soon! Just finishing 4 this w/end!
Seriously tempted to watch a second time.
I enjoyed the 2nd viewing as good as the 1st one. The show is complex enough to keep your attention and meanwhile you're picking up stuff you missed the 1st time.
Will be interested to hear what you make of it once you're done and can give an impression on the show as a whole
Absolutely. Once you know the general plot you're free to pick up the little details, the foreshadowing, etc. Definitely a show you want to watch multiple times.
Talking of favorite characters, I liked Butchie a lot. Stood tall for Omar until the end. Had the respect of both Stringer and Prop Joe but not from Marlo/Chris/Snoop. Would be interested to know if he's based a real person.
Some characters I am not very fond of...
Kima and Bunk (season 5 versions)
McNulty
Officer Calichio (sp?)
Marla Daniels (ho)
Randy
Kima and Bunk (season 5 versions)
McNulty
Officer Calichio (sp?)
Marla Daniels (ho)
Randy
Finally got around to finishing season 4 , than I watched the opening scene for season 5
As a character he may not have had as much going on as Avon, but scenes with Marlo were terrifying in a way Avon's never were. I just came across this article which sums up it up better than I ever could.
Many see Marlo as the most "evil" being on The Wire. He lacks the humour and profane wisdom of the more popular B'more denizens, but I believe he is key to understanding the show's themes. He is, in effect, the ultimate bureaucrat, one who plays the system without empathy or fear.
His sole aim is the increase of bureaucratic power – both his own power within the bureaucracy, and the power of the bureaucracy itself. Although he is certainly a person without a moral backbone, it is not really a question of good and evil at all, but of efficient success. Marlo's methods are the same approach taken by (say) Rawls; the only difference is the bureaucracy is the drug distribution system, so the brutality is more overt. The system itself is the evil, Marlo is just another player, albeit more successful than most.
He may come across as robotic and emotionally dead, but I don't think he's some unreal satanic bogeyman. He does still have feelings and desires, but he has obtained absolute control over them in order to succeed. Marlo allows himself to evince real care only with his pigeons. Emotional reliance of any kind on other humans is detrimental to playing the game so he has denied this to himself and uses his pets as a substitute, a means to safely bond with something.
The first time Marlo makes an impact is when his underlings are about to punish Bubbles and Johnny for leaning on their car, threatening them with a handgun. Marlo takes in the situation and says simply 'Do it or don't. I've got places to be." He instantly puts himself above trivial concerns; he shows neither anger nor compassion. He has merely sized the situation up, judged there is no threat or benefit to him therein, and leaves it as not worth his time. His decision-making is calibrated to winning "the game".
Marlo's utilitarian analysis is perhaps most marked when he decides Michael's fate. He clearly has a slight fondness for Michael (he chose him after all), and agrees with Chris he's unlikely to be the snitch. "But you willing to bet your life on it?" he asks, and the decision is made. He acknowledges his inability to put human relationships first in his last exchange with Joe, who he clearly also felt some bond with: "I treated you like a son" "I wasn't made to play the son. Close your eyes...it won't hurt none".
On two crucial occasions rivals underestimate his ruthless efficiency: when Avon tries to set him him up by having a girl hit on him, and when Prop Joe presumes he can "civilize" him. Both Avon and Prop Joe believe they see themselves in Marlo and miscalculate as a consequence, fatally in Joe's case (and fatally for the set-up girl too). Marlo doesn't rely on heart and emotion like Avon, and he doesn't share Prop Joe's desire for friendship and community - and these traits which make Avon and Prop Joe so human also prove their undoing.
Marlo knows his name is everything for his power, so it is no surprise that the slur on his street cred provokes the one moment of genuine anger, the "my name is my name" speech played so beautifully by Jamie Hector. It is significant that Omar is the one who called him out, as Omar is the other character who relies on his name for his power - "Omar be coming" etc. Omar understands that the deathgrip Marlo has on the projects is inextricably entwined with his reputation and his name. He found Marlo's Achilles heel, calling him out and challenging him as a coward - trying to play on his street honour, like some modern gunfighter or samurai. If word had got back to Marlo it could have succeeded.
The value Marlo places on his street rep above all is shown when Herc tries to take him in to meet Bunny Colvin. He simply refuses with a stony "ain't gonna happen" and faces Herc down until Carver (wisely sensing the violence about to boil over) pulls him off. This was the only time in the series when someone stood up to the police in a face-to-face confrontation, as most of the underworld know the danger of hurting or killing a cop. Marlo knows this too, but his name on the street is more important than anything to him, and he was quite prepared to start something serious with the police to protect it. "My name is my name" trumps all.
A few words need to be said of Jamie Hector's masterful portrayal. He brings an eerily unsettling permanent stillness to the role, as though every little action has been perfectly measured in advance. The very absence of any distracting tics or movements make him mesmerizing and terrifying to watch, a being of pure will who cannot be dominated. When he finally snaps the impact is all the more profound for the absolute restraint that preceded it.
Lest you think I am celebrating Marlo for cracking the code of the game, I think he may be the classic victim of the system. In The Wire the overarching organizational machinery is geared to generate Marlos, people who have been forced to leave their humanity behind to succeed. I thought long on Joe's "Its hard work civilising this motherfecker". The systems we've created to live together in civilized society are the same soulless forces that create monsters like Marlo; paradoxically, civilization itself is its own worst enemy.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/organgrinder/2008/dec/01/the-wire-marlo-stanfield
That's a great article, sums up Marlo perfectly.
Aye, that article's very good. Marlo's a cold character, which can be seem like a strange thing to say in a series full of amoral figures and ruthless gangsters, but he does stand out in that respect. The article probably articulates it in the best way I've seen.
Final finished the series off, whilst the story/plot wasn't the best (but good) what really made this show was the character development, I'm actually going to miss not being able to see new scenes with Bunk, Lester, Slim, Omar and many others, never felt that way after finishing a series before.
I'm just about to start the series 5 finale.
Yes, I've dragged it out and have actually already watched episodes 7, 8 and 9 twice already.
Cannot expect much more than tying up loose ends from S05E10. It all looks pretty predictable probably with one or two small twists thrown in.
Do not understand the debate about the most hated character … it has to be Kima (if she brings this all down) closely followed by Herc (hated him as a cop but now he's just the idiot playing both sides). All the criminals were just playing the game and the politicians were to a man corrupt - from Carcetti deciding policy on what gets him reelected somewhere else to the religeous leaders, the police commanders, the school board and the councillors all in it for what they can get personally!
But that dyke bitch broke the rules time and time again in series one through four and then, while suffering from being under-fecked in series five, she had a single fecking "Moon River" Breakfast at Tiffany's moment with her test tube baby and goes all holier than thou!
As Clay Davies would say Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-eeeeeeeeet that bitch done gone fecked e'rything up!
Yes, I've dragged it out and have actually already watched episodes 7, 8 and 9 twice already.
Cannot expect much more than tying up loose ends from S05E10. It all looks pretty predictable probably with one or two small twists thrown in.
Do not understand the debate about the most hated character … it has to be Kima (if she brings this all down) closely followed by Herc (hated him as a cop but now he's just the idiot playing both sides). All the criminals were just playing the game and the politicians were to a man corrupt - from Carcetti deciding policy on what gets him reelected somewhere else to the religeous leaders, the police commanders, the school board and the councillors all in it for what they can get personally!
But that dyke bitch broke the rules time and time again in series one through four and then, while suffering from being under-fecked in series five, she had a single fecking "Moon River" Breakfast at Tiffany's moment with her test tube baby and goes all holier than thou!
As Clay Davies would say Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-eeeeeeeeet that bitch done gone fecked e'rything up!
'kinnell, easy there Bird.
Too much
?The world would be way more fecked if only those pure as the driven snow were allowed to call out shit
And hypocrisy aside, she's at least trying to do the right thing and maintain her ability to look in the mirror. Lester and Jimmy could forgive her, why can't you? ;(
That to the side, tho'... how do you feel about the show as a whole?
What? I can understand being picked up on some derogatory language (for which I apologise) but I don't understand that at all!The world would be way more fecked if only those pure as the driven snow were allowed to call out shit
And hypocrisy aside, she's at least trying to do the right thing and maintain her ability to look in the mirror. Lester and Jimmy could forgive her, why can't you? ;(
That to the side, tho'... how do you feel about the show as a whole?
Don't call me a hypocrite, if you read my post I wasn't saying anyone "shouldn't call out shit" because they were, or were not, dirty themselves. All I was saying is that they're all playing the game in their own way: elected government officials, the cops, publicly elected officials, the press, drug dealers, and even those on the street.
As to forgiving anyone … as I pointed out I haven't seen the last ep yet. So I'll reserve commenting until after that … or not as it stands at the moment.
I don't know what's going on any more. You called me on the dyke comment (rightly) but I didn't understand his comment and took it as a critique of my analysis. All forgiven then @Eriku no harm meant
Michael K Williams has been cut out entirely from the Hans Solo film
I don't know what's going on any more. You called me on the dyke comment (rightly) but I didn't understand his comment and took it as a critique of my analysis. All forgiven then @Eriku no harm meant
My post must have come across as bipolar, being littered with smileys as I impugn the character of a guy I've been having a pleasant back and forth with
Is all good, fam. Just to pick up on one point tho', morally I find it more reprehensible when someone goes with the flow of the game, resorting to its dark arts to advance their agenda, than when someone makes a hard call because they feel morally obligated. That's why I can't be too down on Kima.
That's part of why the show is so great tho'. Lots of shades of grey to wrestle with.
I think Kima did the right thing. Was hoping to see McNulty in bracelets.
My post must have come across as bipolar, being littered with smileys as I impugn the character of a guy I've been having a pleasant back and forth with
Is all good, fam. Just to pick up on one point tho', morally I find it more reprehensible when someone goes with the flow of the game, resorting to its dark arts to advance their agenda, than when someone makes a hard call because they feel morally obligated. That's why I can't be too down on Kima.
That's part of why the show is so great tho'. Lots of shades of grey to wrestle with.
That was my point. Just read it wrong and answered without taking a breath. Happens, and I've already said sorry.I'll address the other stuff when there's time to do it service … also, got that last show to watch still too
It's back on Sky Box Sets, for anyone that's interested.
I gave it a chance and watched all 5 series, but I just don't get why it's rated so highly. Big fat meh from me.
Lacks interesting characters, lacks emotional value, even lacks sense at times. And there's so many moments I'm just sat there thinking feck me this is boring.
I love television, and I love a lot of American shows, but this just didn't do it for me.
Lacks interesting characters, lacks emotional value, even lacks sense at times. And there's so many moments I'm just sat there thinking feck me this is boring.
I love television, and I love a lot of American shows, but this just didn't do it for me.
I seriously don't believe he watched it... At the most, he skimmed through it.
feck him.
always the late band-wagoners are the ones saying "i didn't like it! puu puuu" "why so highly rated??!!!" "game of thrones is much better!"
feck em all.
Lacks interesting characters and emotional value?
No, you didn't watch it. I don't believe you.
Come on guys he's allowed an opinion.
I dunno, I just didn't feel as interested in the characters. The constant ones like McNulty, Greggs and Daniels for example did my head in, and the best ones like young Michael and Marlo came too late. I finished it feeling unsatisfied, like a bit meh.
It didn't entertain anywhere near as much as something like the sopranos, and didn't have any heart in mouth moments like breaking bad. Just a bit samey and repetitive for me.
There were some great characters. Bunk, Lester, Carver + Herc, Micheal and the young lads in series 4. But just didn't enjoy it as much as some. Sorry, shieeeeeet
Those FBI-profilers who analyzed McNulty should analyze you too.
Nah, just kidding.
I'm not kidding by the way.