[Ping Chow Chi]

yes

[amacachi]

Originally Posted by theoneeyedman

Just finished season 5 .....a little sad and withdrawal symptoms kicking in :-( . One question....why does season 2 get such bad reviews here and elsewhere? I really enjoyed the story around the dockers and the problems with the deindustrialisation of blue collar America as a background to the Subotka story in particular.

I've noticed myself and a few others say that on first viewing seasons 2 and 5 weren't great but on re-watching season 2 is excellent. I guess season 2 maybe feels a bit out of place when watching the first time around.

[gimmick]

Originally Posted by theoneeyedman

Just finished season 5 .....a little sad and withdrawal symptoms kicking in :-( . One question....why does season 2 get such bad reviews here and elsewhere? I really enjoyed the story around the dockers and the problems with the deindustrialisation of blue collar America as a background to the Subotka story in particular.

Season 2 was actually my favourite. Very surprised to hear people say it was the weakest.

On the other side, I felt series 4 was probably the weakest, while many I know say it was the best.

Horses for courses and all that I suppose.

[Cheeky_gal]

Best show I've seen in my life.

Season 4 was the best.

Season 2 was absolute muck as was 5.

But 1,3 and 4 were unbelievable.

Is there any show out there that actually beats it? I hear Homeland is the closest thing to it in terms of greatness?

[Funglegunk]

Originally Posted by Cheeky_gal

Best show I've seen in my life.

Season 4 was the best.

Season 2 was absolute muck as was 5.

But 1,3 and 4 were unbelievable.

Is there any show out there that actually beats it? I hear Homeland is the closest thing to it in terms of greatness?

Can I hazard a guess here and ask if you've only watched Season 2 once? I didn't like it the first time either, watch it again. It's a fantastic season!

[Sir Digby Chicken Caesar]

season 2 was a good season but some of the characters just annoyed the pants off me. ziggy in particular I hate, just can not stand the bastard and the main lads son as well.. dont hate him as much as ziggy but he still annoys me unbelievably.

season 5 was weak, just weak. the school bits were good, I liked seeing pres find his place in life and grow as a person but the whole mcnulty serial killer bit was stupid. didn't like it at all. Sure it made for some comedy between bunk and jimmy, and the excellent scene where bunk brings freeman in to try and convince jimmy to stop and freeman jumps right on board but in general it was just awful.

so the wire.. amazing tv show, absolutely incredible.. but season 5 was just too bad for it to be the best tv show ever. That honour goes to Deadwood.

--edit

oh wait, season 5 was the newspaper wasn't it not the schools. well same thing, I liked the newspaper bit too. The "main" guy in that I really felt for, being squeezed from all sides and just trying to be a good journalist. Serial killer bit was still godawful.

[Cheeky_gal]

Originally Posted by Funglegunk

Can I hazard a guess here and ask if you've only watched Season 2 once? I didn't like it the first time either, watch it again. It's a fantastic season!

Yep just the once.

As the previous poster said I found Ziggy the most annoying character ever. Couldn't stand the Greeks or any of the others. I just didnt like the port. Really missed the neighbourhood

[Mardy Bum]

Originally Posted by Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

season 2 was a good season but some of the characters just annoyed the pants off me. ziggy in particular I hate, just can not stand the bastard and the main lads son as well.. dont hate him as much as ziggy but he still annoys me unbelievably.

Originally Posted by Cheeky_gal

As the previous poster said I found Ziggy the most annoying character ever. Couldn't stand the Greeks or any of the others. I just didnt like the port. Really missed the neighbourhood

You do realise this was the idea of his character - a grating, corrosive guy with serious mental issues who doesn't have any sort of a connection with his father and so falls through the cracks of society- exactly like the kids in season 4. You cannot critique a show by saying you don't like a character personally and insinuate this is detrimental to the season as a whole.

Most people don't like season 2 because generally it is watched immediately following season 1 which is filled with the exotic other (black America in this case) in the poverty stricken streets of baltimore which most viewers get sucked into and orientalise the subject (in Edward Said's sense of the term). Then when season 2 comes along concerning white industrial workers viewers get bored and long for the other which they can only see in deprived streets of baltimore. Simply people prefer watching poor black Americans because we have no real sense of this world and so it interests us more than say the struggle of white industrial workers as we can see this in our own country all the time.

Season 5 was excellent. It probably was the most referential season too; not just previous seasons but literature from throughout humanity. It had a strong Oedipus Rex theme running through with Jimmys quest to save Baltimore on his own without seeing his own mistakes. The idea that this was unrealistic but Hamsterdam was realistic is ridiculous. It was also a wonderful and damning interrogation of print journalism. It was a fine season.

The show was very complex piece for television and will be recognised as a wonderful artistic creation for a long long time.

[Cheeky_gal]

Originally Posted by Mardy Bum

You do realise this was the idea of his character - a grating, corrosive guy with serious mental issues who doesn't have any sort of a connection with his father and so falls through the cracks of society- exactly like the kids in season 4. You cannot critique a show by saying you don't like a character personally and insinuate this is detrimental to the season as a whole.

Excuse me but I will dislike season 2 based on the characters if the mood so pleases. Who on earth do you think you are telling me I cannot critique a show. That's the whole point of this thread - to share your opinion.

I did not like season 2, end of.

Thought 1, 3 and 4 were incredible.

[A Primal Nut]

Not gonna do much posting on this forum for a while because I can't read spoilers (I'm still on series 2, one episode left) but yeah the Wire is the best I've ever seen. So many amazing characters and the dialogue is incredible.

Agreed that season 2 was a bit slow to get going compared to season 1 (a lot of time spent getting the old crew together, not as much in terms of excitement happening on the docks as in Season 1 on the street) but its still fascinating and once it got going midway through it's been great. I didn't like Ziggy as a person either but the scene where he finally cracked was one of the greatest moments so far!