The Wire - no spoilers!

[Yassim]

Two things I missed recently -

- when Stringer meets with guy from DC and says none of his people can be in on it, it wasn't clear to me, even after D'Angelo's death, what they were talking about. Before watching the next ep, I watched the "Previously On", and that cut the scenes together to make it clear, and then the next ep had them meet again. Am I dense, or was it supposed to be unclear until an episode later?

- After being rejected by his ex, McNulty went on a bender, got in his car and banged up the fender... then he got out, did a little handwaving, got into his car, backed up and retraced his skid, doing even more damage to his car. It felt like one of the show's visual storytelling moments... but I missed any significance other than McNulty beating up his car...?

 

[Kegg]

^
He's self-destructive and won't do a half-assed job of it?

Anyway that's how I read the scene.

As far as Stringer goes I know what's going on but I don't remember how much you know a this point so I'll refrain from spoilers. But it does make sense, trust me.

 

[TheGodBen]

^
He's self-destructive and won't do a half-assed job of it?

Anyway that's how I read the scene.

Yeah, I think that's the way it's supposed to be viewed. He crashed his car, either accidentally or intentionally, and wasn't satisfied with the end result so he did it again, and better this time. Screwing up in a small way isn't good enough for McNulty, he has to screw up big-time.

Personally, I'm not a fan of the scene that followed: McNulty was wasted, looked like death, his hand was bleeding from a car crash, and that waitress decided to sleep with him? It felt to me like as if they were looking for another excuse to put tits on screen.

 

[Star Wolf]

^
He's self-destructive and won't do a half-assed job of it?

Anyway that's how I read the scene.

Yeah, I think that's the way it's supposed to be viewed. He crashed his car, either accidentally or intentionally, and wasn't satisfied with the end result so he did it again, and better this time. Screwing up in a small way isn't good enough for McNulty, he has to screw up big-time.

Personally, I'm not a fan of the scene that followed: McNulty was wasted, looked like death, his hand was bleeding from a car crash, and that waitress decided to sleep with him? It felt to me like as if they were looking for another excuse to put tits on screen.

One thing I didn't understand was how easily McNulty and others made their hook ups on screen, Think of Rhonda Perlman. One thing of all the characters only Stringer was pretty enough for it to be that easy for him.

 

[Lonemagpie]

You just touched on two of my favourite things in season two: D'Angelo's death (or rather the scene before it, which is a great epilogue to his own life); and Omar Little's trial scene. That tie, priceless.

Yeah, Omar on the stand is a brilliant scene, up there with the "Fuck" crime scene search in season 1.

On a related note, has anyone seen the miniseries of The Corner (which is based on the same book as The Wire grew out of), and is it any good?

 

[Star Wolf]

You just touched on two of my favourite things in season two: D'Angelo's death (or rather the scene before it, which is a great epilogue to his own life); and Omar Little's trial scene. That tie, priceless.

Yeah, Omar on the stand is a brilliant scene, up there with the "Fuck" crime scene search in season 1.

On a related note, has anyone seen the miniseries of The Corner (which is based on the same book as The Wire grew out of), and is it any good?

It doesn't have the overall arc and the "story of a city" feel as they focus on just the corner. It would be like just following the life of Bubbles

 

[Pauln6]

Babylon 5 for me was a flawed masterpiece in that there were lots of things that could have been done better if JMS had got his way. The Wire is just a masterpiece. From start to finish you can never predict where it's going to go and the story arc works perfectly. I think it deserves the monikor as the greatest series of all time.

 

[Goliath]

On a related note, has anyone seen the miniseries of The Corner (which is based on the same book as The Wire grew out of), and is it any good?

I own it on DVD. I didn't think it was quite as good as The Wire, but it was still pretty good. I would recommend it.

 

[Goliath]

I used to be watching one every other day... now I'm watching two or three a day...

One of us. One of us.

just another fiend, no matter how bad that shit is we come back for more

The way he keeps banging that shit, he's gonna fall out one of these days.

 

[Yassim]

The way he keeps banging that shit, he's gonna fall out one of these days.

I thinkin bout movin over the east side... they got new product. Me n Bubbs... we're survivors.

Ep 2.10 Storm Warnings... season 2 almost over.

Brother Mouzone makes his entrance. Feels a little over the top, a little forced... but good fun.

FBI makes a cute entrance into the detail. "You take the three on the left."

Ziggy's final (?) fate... didn't see it coming, but made complete sense. maybe he gets killed in jail, after reading Gatsby? I didn't need the "ooh, scary" effects when he walks out of the store. The scene with his confession and a bored Landsman worked much better.

Nick realizes he's out in the cold when the Greeks pack up shop.

Prez throws the best punch ever.

Heavy handed bit at the end where the clean up crew in the store is racing against the cops typing warrants. The show clearly has a point of view, and pounds away at it. Sometimes, it's interesting - we see over and over that the cops are treating the symptom, and often destroying lives, while the disease goes untreated. That point gets made, but it's interesting to see how the system works. But some of the moments are a little too on-the-nose.

 

[Star Wolf]

.

Brother Mouzone makes his entrance. Feels a little over the top, a little forced... but good fun.

.

It what I was getting at about Omar also being over the top when you got spoiled. After Omar had lost his crew in season 1 and the hunt was on for him he walks down the street to "Omar's coming" and he just turns his back to what we later learn was a Barksdale stash house who just surrendered their package.

I always wondered is the Brother a lapse Nation of Islam or maybe a 5 Percenter Nation of gods and Earths type?

 

[Yassim]

Both of them have a little more "terminator" vibe to them than I'm really ready to believe. "Omar's coming!" and everybody runs? He walks up to the stash house, stands around outside, and no one takes a shot?

now that scene, we know Omar's a look-and-wait artist, so maybe he's picking his moments when he knows it's safe, and maybe we don't need to see him sitting in his lookout for hours... but maybe a little, to know that he earns that moment, it's not handed to him (by stupid dealers, or by over-eager writers).

If Mouzone is such a problem, because he's muscle, and he's sitting out on the same bench everyday, why not drive by? or snipe him from the towers? It's a little weird...

 

[Kegg]

I love Brother Mouzone (as I've already said). He's easily one of my favourite Wire characters. Which, yes, shows my weakness for splashy, over the top characters - but hey, I'm a pulp fan after all.

It's just he almost seems to take the oversized nature of Omar to the next level. A stone-cold killer who dresses nattily and always wants his edition of Harpers. Mouzone puts a smile on my face in about every other scene he's in, fun guy.

Spoiler: minor season 3

"Reform, Lamar! Reform!"

I always wondered is the Brother a lapse Nation of Islam or maybe a 5 Percenter Nation of gods and Earths type?

Well, he does say Allahu Akbar at one point, so I assume is a Muslim of some stripe; be that Nation, Sunni or whatever.

 

[Star Wolf]

I always wondered is the Brother a lapse Nation of Islam or maybe a 5 Percenter Nation of gods and Earths type?

Well, he does say Allahu Akbar at one point, so I assume is a Muslim of some stripe; be that Nation, Sunni or whatever.

He does drink at one point and works in the game but then he has on the NOI "uniform". Guess what he was isn't important and the church only plays a minor role in the story as part of 12 steps and as background in season 3.

 

[Harvey]

On a related note, has anyone seen the miniseries of The Corner (which is based on the same book as The Wire grew out of), and is it any good?

I own it on DVD. I didn't think it was quite as good as The Wire, but it was still pretty good. I would recommend it.

I've only managed to see the first episode, since the DVDs I had were due back at the library. It was very good, with a number of actors from Homicide: Life on the Street and The Wire making appearances, but it was also pretty grim.

 

[Capt. Vulcan]

Both of them have a little more "terminator" vibe to them than I'm really ready to believe. "Omar's coming!" and everybody runs? He walks up to the stash house, stands around outside, and no one takes a shot?

now that scene, we know Omar's a look-and-wait artist, so maybe he's picking his moments when he knows it's safe, and maybe we don't need to see him sitting in his lookout for hours... but maybe a little, to know that he earns that moment, it's not handed to him (by stupid dealers, or by over-eager writers).

If Mouzone is such a problem, because he's muscle, and he's sitting out on the same bench everyday, why not drive by? or snipe him from the towers? It's a little weird...

I figured since he was a largely unaffiliated trigger man, most just accepted him as a free agent. Why take the risk of going after this super killer if he's only a danger to you if someone hires him to kill you? If someone HAS hired him, it maybe be better off dealing with the problem that led to his hire in the first place. If you do kill him you may end up raising the ire of all the groups that would have wanted to use his services.

 

[Star Wolf]

Both of them have a little more "terminator" vibe to them than I'm really ready to believe. "Omar's coming!" and everybody runs? He walks up to the stash house, stands around outside, and no one takes a shot?

now that scene, we know Omar's a look-and-wait artist, so maybe he's picking his moments when he knows it's safe, and maybe we don't need to see him sitting in his lookout for hours... but maybe a little, to know that he earns that moment, it's not handed to him (by stupid dealers, or by over-eager writers).

If Mouzone is such a problem, because he's muscle, and he's sitting out on the same bench everyday, why not drive by? or snipe him from the towers? It's a little weird...

I figured since he was a largely unaffiliated trigger man, most just accepted him as a free agent. Why take the risk of going after this super killer if he's only a danger to you if someone hires him to kill you? If someone HAS hired him, it maybe be better off dealing with the problem that led to his hire in the first place. If you do kill him you may end up raising the ire of all the groups that would have wanted to use his services.

The Brother wasn't unaffiliated, he was contracted out to Avon. The only reason Cheese and the eastside boys were in the towers was because of the agreement between Prop Joe and Stringer. Prop Joe didn't want to get involved with the Barksdale civil war by hitting Brother Mouzoune so he wrote off the potentially gained tower as a selling ground.

 

[Yassim]

^ eh, it didn't get told like that. Proposition Joe didn't want to mess with him because he's killed so many people. It looked a little superstitious, really.

I've just watched 2.11 and

Spoiler: ep 2.11

Omar didn't have too much trouble getting in to see him.

More about 2.11...

Omar meets Brother Mouzone. A little funny that Omar doesn't smell the rat in all this - even when he comes to believe Mouzone, he doesn't ask him about Bell... I was hanging on that scene, waiting for one of them to put it together.

Valchek goes on being a dick.

Russell takes some chances staking out Spiros. The shooting in season 1 did a good job of raising the stakes for all of these characters, all the time.

Once again, the cops have won when procedure gets in the way, and they let Sobotka get a lawyer...

The ending montage was effective, but would have been much more so if they would SHUT THAT BLOODY BAZOUKI OFF!

 

[Yassim]

Finished season 2. Excellent excellent stuff.

I can see why people get down on it. A little too much "those poor stevedores". Not that it's not a fair point, but it's not that entertaining...

I was sure Nicky was going to die.
They tied a pretty neat bow on the 14 girls, but without being obvious about it.
Thought we'd get a scene where Pearlman tells McNulty that, after the brothel sting, she's completely done with him.
I also thought we'd get a scene where, now that McNulty's back on the job, he makes the case single-handedly. He came close with the text message thing, but it wasn't flashy.
I get the feeling that Stringer vs. Avon is going to go on a long long time... when Stringer has really not played things smart. Mouzone and Omar have enough to put Stringer on the outs with everybody...

On the whole, more coherent that s1, but not as many highlights.

 

[species5618]

You just touched on two of my favourite things in season two: D'Angelo's death (or rather the scene before it, which is a great epilogue to his own life); and Omar Little's trial scene. That tie, priceless.

Yeah, Omar on the stand is a brilliant scene, up there with the "Fuck" crime scene search in season 1.

On a related note, has anyone seen the miniseries of The Corner (which is based on the same book as The Wire grew out of), and is it any good?

It doesn't have the overall arc and the "story of a city" feel as they focus on just the corner. It would be like just following the life of Bubbles

Exactly; I always looked at The Corner as more of a "Bubbles' World" sort of series, though of course the actor nor the character appear. It was excellent but lacked the larger, more epic scope of The Wire.

You also get to see Clarke Peters (Lester Freamon) and Reg E. Cathey (Norman Wilson) playing addicts. Khandi Alexander (who would go on to star in Treme) also plays a very prominent role. If you liked The Wire, I think you'd probably enjoy The Corner.