That they had a point doesn't mean I think they delivered it well. Frank Sobotka is clearly intended to be seen as a basically good guy I should have some sympathy for, rather then an irritant I'm apathetic as to his fate (Chris Bauer's frustrated preformance is probably a major knock against the character, but I dunno. Anything else I've seen him in, well, he's good at being the sleazy ball of anger villain type... tragic heroes clearly aren't his forte.)
I compare it to the scenes where Dee took Wee-Bay home and he thought he was walking to his execution on one hand and Bodie and Poot hosting Wallace on his last meal and he had no ideal what was about to come on the other hand. COMSAT had become the big thing about that time. There was that Craig T. Nelson series about the DC Police where they made a big deal out of the COMSAT revolution.
Agreed entirely. What I'm trying to say is, when the writers get on their soapbox, with a character or a plot, they lose me. They tried hard to show us Sobotka doing nice things for people, believing in his cause, but he came across as more or less deserving what he got. I'd have a hard time deciding whether the actor or the writing had more to do with that.
Except when Frank was riding to his death and the season montoges you only hear music when a character is playing music. What year did 50 Cent have his breakout hit? 2004, 5? That is the year we are in Wire timeline. I guess the first story was an ideal before most people had cell phones so they had to take time to explain why pagers when you would have expected the Barksdale crew to be on cells in 2002
Just watched 3.8... Damn. That's why I love this show. Other shows, the Avon vs. Stringer thing would be played out for suspense, for a finale... but here, they turn over the cards almost as quick as they deal them. Now, Stringer's only just revealed his part in what happened to D... so it's not over yet - but I can't believe there's four or five more episodes left for this to play out in. Hamsterdam's a cool idea, and I'm glad the writers aren't making this out to be paradise - someone mentioned Bubbles' nightmare walkthrough, and Carver keeps talking about all the kids involved. There seems to be a little bit of writer tract going on here, but it's balanced ... and very interesting. Loved the detail's reaction to Avon's parole. It didn't get spelled out, but Kima, the angriest, got shot, so Avon could spend a single year behind bars. Ugly stuff, but probably very true. If I get the chance, I'll probably finish season 3 tomorrow - I can't believe how good this stuff is...
Finished up to 3.11 - one more episode to go. Unbelievable. Some great shots in one episode a few back. D'Angelo's mom kneeling beside Avon, and between them in the background, Stringer. McNulty in the shadow of the Capitol. Prez alone in the dark, in the detail for the last time. but when Mouzone and Omar walk out together from behind the corner... chilling, from there to the end. I got a little lump in my throat when Avon said goodbye... and when the detail started celebrating breaking Stringer's code, I knew he was doomed (the show hits that irony button a little too hard sometimes - everyone gets a break just before it all goes wrong). I'm partly convinced that the last episode of the season can't top that... but given the track record, it probably can. Can't decide whether to put off season 4, or watch it as fast as possible.
Now I can join the conversation about season 3! The killing was inevitable, but the how was worth the wait. Still reeling, really. I don't know if the "operatic" stuff is the best, though. Like Omar and Brother Mouzone, it's flavouring. I think it's there in the right amount. For my money, the best scene in the finale was McNulty talking to Russell on her front steps "Can I meet your kids?". Second best, Avon watches his sister leave his sentencing, as Marlo arrives... I'm glad. The politics without the policing would have been a fairly dry and didactic show. With the show's track record of sticking true to life, I wondered if Hamsterdam was based on anything that really happened. Either way, it was a cool concept, and dealt with more even-handedly than most lessons in The Wire. On a level a step back, it seems to be making the point that people deserve the drug problem, because when a politician/policeman tries a new approach, it's not politically viable. The federal gov't and the electorate won't allow it... so it's business as usual. I don't think the show is defending the realism of the portrayal, as much as exploring the reasons that such an idea won't fly. Thanks for not spoiling that! Definitely one of the highlights so far. I missed all that too. I thought her comment about getting her head blown off was just to stay that he didn't keep anyone safe. I find sometimes it's unclear what's going on in the action. I also feel like I missed everything about the seat in the 11th district, and Daniel's wife being on the outside, getting on the inside... Loved the Flight of the Valkyries. Without spoiling, does that shot of Rawls in the gay bar ever get followed up? Does Dennis come back? Colvin? It surely did. Hard to say whether 1 or 3 was the best this far. Really?!?!? I did wonder about that... awesome. how often does TV get that good? Here's hoping that the credits for season 4 have a better cover of "Down in the Hole", and that they keep the scene of the camera being broken, and the silhouetted smoker with headphones...
Back in the 80s or was it the 90s (?) Baltimore's real mayor, he had a cameo as a Royce adviser after Hambsterdam became known outside of the Western, proposed a Hambsterdam like solution to the war on drugs.
Not very. The version of "Down in the Hole" for Season 4 is pretty different. I didn't like it much at first, but I found that it grew on me. The version for Season 5 is more 'traditional'.
The clincher for "Middle Ground"'s climax feeling operatic to me was the fact Stringer Bell got to talk a little with the gunmen before he died... and the fluttering birds flying away as Omar Little strode down, shotgun in hand, with a flowing trenchcoat. Granted the moment has probably got twenty times more florid in my imagination, but anyway. I mean operatic in the best scene, also; as I love such utterly satisfying and dramatic climaxes. I liked season 4's title music sort of from the get-go, really. Something about the way they pronounced Satan endeared me for reasons I can't quite pinpoint. Anyway, season 4 was basically my favourite season of the show; and it's also arguably one of the most ambituous in certain ways. Considering I'm saying that right after season 3's astonishing conclusion, well, that is admittedly holding this year to a high standard but I'm interested to hear what you think all the same. There are apparently a lot of cameos like that. Apparently a real ex-drug kingpin, Melvin Williams, is the guy who plays the churchman who keeps prodding (among other things) Cutty to get a productive job.
I'm not sure about others but Snoop and Slim Charles were in the game in their real lives, or so they say.
Yeah. I think this is a case where a truly realistic scene would have been dramatically unsatisfying. Bang, bang--Stringer's dead--okay, next. In fact, now that I think about it, just about every major character who dies on this show gets a little character moment before the end--with a couple of important exceptions, of course. Personally, I thought Stringer's death scene was just right. No long speeches--just a few short words exchanged, and a final chance for Stringer to "man up," accept his fate, and die with a little dignity. This was particularly effective when contrasted with the white businessman (I forget his name) who practically pissed himself at the sight of Omar, thereby proving himself both dishonest and cowardly.
Several times now, I've described each season as nine episodes of setting up the dominoes, and three or four of watching them fall... and realizing what you watching all along. Stringer's death was the climax of three season of tv. Two episodes into S4 so far. I realize now that people can't respond to my observations while I'm in it - not without spoiling - so I'll keep this quick: McNulty gets a brief scene implying he's a family man now. We'd better get to see that! Daniels and Pearlman get a cute scene, making fun of Freamon (because they're scared of him!) The campaign stuff is decent. I like that Carcetti claims to have given up... if any show has the guts to make the POV candidate lose, it's this one... but I'm guessing he actually wins in the end. But I'm not sure, so I've got to give them credit. I'm a teacher (not in a rough school) and I can't wait for Prez to meet some kids. Pistolwhip a couple, the rest will fall in line. Can't wait to show my students the scene where Bubbles' new kid can't do the math... that's why we're all in school kids! Carver has learned the names of kids on his beat... just like Colvin told him to. Feels like a little bit of author's tract, but it's cool. All the focus on kids is new. The kids are great actors. I have a pretty low tolerance for bad things happening to kids, so I can believe things are going to get ugly. Off to watch more..
And the guy who is Colvin's Lieutenant is the real Jay Landsman who was featured in the book, Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets. David Simon himself has a cameo as a Baltimore sun reporter in the second-to-last episode of season two (shouting a question to Frank). He, of course, was a reporter for that paper years before (he'll have another, non-speaking cameo, in season five). And Bill Zorzi (a writer and former political writer for the Baltimore Sun) will play a fictionalized version of himself in season five (he had a cameo in season one, but it was mostly cut out of the show).
Season 4 is really the only version of the theme that I do like. Most of the other years I just fast forward it.
^Me too. The S4 theme works for me. I've heard people say that the cover "works" with the theme of the season. This one, I know it's students, which fits with the school setting. How do the other themes match the setting of the seasons? I'm up to 4.5, and this season seems like an unusually slow burn this far. We've got the kids set up, the politics is churning... it's fine, but not revelatory. The kids went into one of the boarded-up houses to look at one of Marlo's bodies. It's a tough thing for a show to do, to leave the detectives out when the audience knows where the bodies are. I don't think the show can string this along much longer, when it seems clear that they're setting up the dots from cops to Prez to kids to bodies... Poor Bubbs - that boy ain't got no luck at all.