My thread, my corners.
Television The Wire
- Thread starter Salt Bailly
- Start date
Damn, just got done with season three. It’s up there with the best ever seen on television.
I envy anyone who gets to watch this show for the first time.
Second time for me, somehow I managed to forget everything.
Lucky you, with season 4 ahead. That for me was the absolute pinacle of The Wire.
I'm watching it for the 4th time. Great late night viewing.
I watched it upon release but somehow I’ve forgotten basically all of it save for the major arcs of each season. I am supremely lucky.
Yeah I'm the same with my rewatch. Though it's my girlfriend's first time watching it so I'm even getting to live the big moments vicariously through her.
Yeah season three (especially the last episode) on my second viewing blew my mind. So so good.
On Season 5 of the rewatch now.
Some random observations. Never knew the first time round that it was Michael B Jordan playing Wallace. Also Michael Lee looks like baby Mason Greenwood.
Season 4 is the best and everything with the school and Colvin is brilliant. Funny how Namond ends up with the best life due to how much he acted out but the quieter ones who internalized it like Randy and Dukie fell through the cracks.
Some random observations. Never knew the first time round that it was Michael B Jordan playing Wallace. Also Michael Lee looks like baby Mason Greenwood.
Season 4 is the best and everything with the school and Colvin is brilliant. Funny how Namond ends up with the best life due to how much he acted out but the quieter ones who internalized it like Randy and Dukie fell through the cracks.
Dukie is there to basically break your heart while Namond lands on his feet.
I guess it's how life often works out and they wanted to show that.
I would probably rank the seasons as
1
3
4
2
5
That’s The Wire isn’t it - the less likeable, mediocre assholes constantly get rewarded, the good talented ones get shafted. Whether on the street or any of the other institutions the show explores.
Yeah it really is great. There’s a hopeless to it that’s so real. To the point where you don’t even find yourself wanting justice for terrible things that happen, like Randy’s house getting molotoved. It just feels like it’s all part of one big broken system.
Season 5 is comfortably the worst. I don’t have the heart to tell my gf who absolutely loves the show and is very invested now.
It is, but it’s also not nearly as bad on rewatch.
The first few episodes are atrocious, but it finishes decently.
The newsroom angle has aged extremely well.
It is the worst season off The Wire but that still makes it better than most shows.
The serial killer plot is daft and I hate Kima Gregg's in it.
I thought that too. I guess you’ve had the initial disappointment removed second time round.
I actually preferred the way they ended it second time round, not sure why. The Mcnulty thing was a bit stupid though.
In line with USA police. We normally hear about the cops doing shady stuff for own benefit ($$ or to get away with racism/linching), but in this case, the cop was doing the shady stuff for a good reason. I'm sure there must be plenty of real life cases of good cops getting tired with the burocracy/corruption, that have gone far beyond legality to get things done.
No and a bad season of The Wire still trumps most shows.
The serial killer plot is worse than I remembered. Such a deviation from the previous seasons. It’s dumb even by McNulty standards.
It absolutely kills my immersion, and despite how good the newspaper story is, I tend to skip season 5 on rewatches because of the serial killer arc.
So out of character and completely unrealistic.
The actual end of season 5 is every bit as good as the show deserved. Just a shame so much of the rest is unwatchable.
McNulty’s accent slips into Dominic West’s quite a few times in season 5 too!
I’m getting a little upset. Starting watching and didn’t really get into it at first. Now I’m hooked and about to start season 4 and there’s only 5 seasons? How could they end this show after only 5 seasons. It’s turning into a top three show for me now.
It takes most people the majority of season one to get hooked and after that it becomes addictive. Season 4 was my favourite - really great drama.
Not as good as 4 but I still enjoyed it and as you say a good end.
I just finished the Wire and I feel guilty that I didn’t watch this back in the day and kind of disregarded it. What an absolute joy it was to watch and I am still in disbelief that it only had five seasons. Great show.
How did you feel it had aged?
It’s definitely dated with the cinematography and lack of tech( smart phones ect) and it was strange seeing actors today look so young. Nick is the star of Halo, the Mayor was the prick in Game of Thrones, and the newspaper boss is in Billions, but the storyline and characters are brilliant.
Time flies…
On another re-watch, and I'm now of the clear opinion that the season 4 intro is the best.
is it still good and watchable?
Havent come round to watch it yet, have it already ready and prepared for 5 years or so, just need to press play.
Havent come round to watch it yet, have it already ready and prepared for 5 years or so, just need to press play.
It's still the best thing that's ever been on TV. It's obviously a little bit dated in some ways (technology mostly), but it's still depressingly real. Just make sure you don't give up until you're at least a couple episodes in. I'm of the opinion that it's amazing right from the start, but some people find it a little bit slow.
Stop procrastinating.
Everything about what it is trying to say about America seems to be very much still relevant, perhaps more so (to judge by We Own This City). And it is extremely ambitious in what it is trying to say, maybe more so than any show I’ve watched. The execution isn’t always flawless, but there’s nothing else quite like it, still.
The fact that you didn't already have that opinion the first time you heard it makes you a terrible judge of anything.
Yep we rewatched it recently and it's still superb. Nothing quite like it.
