What got you hooked?

DeepBlue

A question for those that rank The Wire as "The Best Show Ever On TV":

At what point did you really get into the show?

For me it was when

Greggs got shot

in "The Cost" in season one. It just seemed so visceral and "real".
The acting when McNulty and Daniels hear it over the radio and arrive at the scene just raised goosebumps and the following scene in the next episode between Rawls and McNulty where Rawls tells him it wasn't his fault was imho one of the best scenes of the series.

kryptyk500

I originally started watching because I like George Pelecanos' books, and when I heard that he was writing for The Wire I thought that I had better see if the show was any good..needless to say I got hooked very quickly.

The thing about the Wire is that it ruins other tv programmes for me..I can't watch anything where the story is wrapped up nicely after an hour e.g Law and Order, CSI etc. The acting is so much better too - Idris Elba as Stringer Bell is excellent.

The scene where McNulty and Bunk are going over a crime scene whilst saying nothing except the F word.

GhostInTheRuins

DeepBlue wrote: »

For me it was when

Greggs got shot

in "The Cost" in season one. It just seemed so visceral and "real".
The acting when McNulty and Daniels hear it over the radio and arrive at the scene just raised goosebumps and the following scene in the next episode between Rawls and McNulty where Rawls tells him it wasn't his fault was imho one of the best scenes of the series.

I have to agree that that scene was simply amazing and is one of the reasons why I really started to love the show

kryptyk500 wrote: »

I originally started watching because I like George Pelecanos' books, and when I heard that he was writing for The Wire I thought that I had better see if the show was any good..needless to say I got hooked very quickly.

Last week my sister got me a load of books for my birthday and two of them were George Pelecano's. I googled his name and The Wire came up and I couldn't believe it, my sister doesn't really know about the wire or how much I love it, what are the chances of her picking those books? Needless to say I'll be reading them as soon as I can.

godtabh

Deleted User wrote: »

The scene where McNulty and Bunk are going over a crime scene whilst saying nothing except the F word.

Was gona say that myself. Was brilliant.

Before I got into the Wire a friend of mine was trying to explain the scene and for the life of me I couldnt picture it.

When I saw it it was just class.

tvnutz

Some great examples. That scene where

Greggs is shot

was amazing. As is the F word scene. Great stuff.

I think I caught it on FX a while back. They were only starting it whereas TG4 were on Season 3. So I watched 1 and 2 on FX,recorded 3 on TG4 and got through all 3 seasons fast enough.

I think,like a lot of people,it took a few episodes for me to get into it. I wasn't used to the format,as kryptyk said each episode isn't wrapped up at the end,the whole season unfolds like a novel. Watching it first time around it takes a season to get into it,then the following seasons are great. But I would advise going back and rewatching the show again at a later date. There are so many things you miss and so many things you realise are genius.

godtabh

The thing that got me at first as well is that you dont get a happy ending. Its so anti hollywood its great

ixoy

The F-word scene was a scene of legend - it was abundant cursing but cursing with a purpose! Each use and intonation expertly conveyed their reaction

There's lots of moments, but the one that really got me was at the end of S1 when

Bodie shot Wallace

. Is it wrong that, five years on nearly, I'm still upset about that?!

I've been there the first few minutes of its first airing on TG4 and spreading the word since (I can only hope I converted some of ye here). I'm utterly hooked now and both looking forward to and dreading the final season now.

Mossy Monk

The fantastic writing, acting and story telling. It is a masterpiece.

tvnutz

ixoy wrote: »

The F-word scene was a scene of legend - it was abundant cursing but cursing with a purpose! Each use and intonation expertly conveyed their reaction

There's lots of moments, but the one that really got me was at the end of S1 when

Bodie shot Wallace

. Is it wrong that, five years on nearly, I'm still upset about that?!

I've been there the first few minutes of its first airing on TG4 and spreading the word since (I can only hope I converted some of ye here). I'm utterly hooked now and both looking forward to and dreading the final season now.

Ye I agree with that scene! I'm still pissed off about that! But it is a reason the show is so great,no happy ending.

Wallace wasn't built for that world,he was also intelligent and had a chance to get out. But the coldness of 'the game' got him in the end.

There are several other moments that stick out,just off the top of my head-

In season 2 where Ziggy just goes mental all of a sudden and shoots the Greeks,and also when Sobotka is walking towards the Greek and his men just as they find out he is talking to the cops.

Also season four where Randy is in the hospital after his foster mother suffers burns and he starts asking Carver who will look out for him now.

Jesus Wept

I haven't gotten into to it.

I watched about 4 episodes and was left pretty meh.

You all wax lyrical so much that I will probably persist with it sometime.

tvnutz

Well like I said I wasn't overwhelmed with the first few episodes. It's a show you really need to watch an entire season,it is slow moving,each episode does not end neatly,there are no happy endings. I can honestly see why people might give up on it after about 3 or 4 episodes,luckily I continued to watch

AnCapaillMor

The fact that alot of Oz actors in it, got me into it. The infmaous bunbk\mcnulty murder scene investigation got me hook line and sinker. The interview of the sailors in season 2 was one of the funniest ever, yabba dabba do, english motherf*cker.

tvnutz

I also loved how there so many funny scenes in it,despite it being such a serious show.

The F word scene has been mentioned. Some others I came across today are:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_eH0Kt4DNA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EeFa8QOq_Y&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ai3R1g7UEyg&feature=related

godtabh

tvnutz wrote: »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_eH0Kt4DNA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ai3R1g7UEyg&feature=related

1st one is brilliant. For got all about them. Herc is such a dumb ass.

Him and the major when he was on special detail was class!

DeepBlue

kearnsr wrote: »

Craver is such a dumb ass.

Craver???

Herc surely is the dumbass in that scene (and through the whole series).
After his f**k-ups in Season 4 I'd happily see him taken to a vacant by Chris.

godtabh

DeepBlue wrote: »

Craver???

Herc surely is the dumbass in that scene (and through the whole series).
After his f**k-ups in Season 4 I'd happily see him taken to a vacant by Chris.

Crap yeah got them mixed up

jayteecork

Probably Omar. Omar and McNulty. And Bubs.

ronano

Around episode nine of season one prior to that i enjoyed the show and thought it had superb direction,script,acting etc but did not love it. It clicked within me and then i devoured the rest over the space of two weeks. I need to watch the first season again

MayoForSam

Just finished watching S1 on FX for the first time, The Wire is a real slow burner, but ultra-satisfying for all that.

Some memorable moments from S1 would be the murder scene investigation with the 2 lads just saying "F***", over and over again, the

Greggs

shooting and also the sit-down confrontation between Daniels and Burrell in one of the last episodes, wow, great writing and great acting.

In S2 to date, the highlight for me was again Daniels and Greggs having to let their 'wives' know they were going back in, that split scene over dinner was great.

Corega

Herc walking in on the mayor getting serviced was genius.

godtabh

Best **** scene ever!

Had to post it

sink

That scene is good but having seen every episode, I can now say my favorite scene of the whole show was snoop buying a nail gun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE-uY7P3pe4

Jim

An excellent example of The Wire's brilliance for me is

the ep where Bodie gets shot. I never really paid much attention to his character before. I thought he was a strong character, but he never really hit me the same way others did. Then in that ep the scene with him and McNulty talking "You're a solider Bodie" "Hell yea" and then the scene where he defends his corner and is ultimately killed made me realise how much I had actually invested in this character without realising it. He represented the old era, and the old way of doing business, with him being killed by Micheal completed the transition from the old (Barksdale and Joe) into the new world of Marlo. Brody's frustration at how things were changing, and his inability to do anything about it he did the only thing he could and made his last stand for the old way of life. The accidental reference back to the chess game by McNulty made Bodie realise that what he thought back then had come through. The kings stay the kings and despite he loyalty and hard work he was always a pawn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0PMyOBF4Ps

Sherifu

DeepBlue wrote: »

the following scene in the next episode between Rawls and McNulty where Rawls tells him it wasn't his fault was imho one of the best scenes of the series.

That was an excellent scene.

I like this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pKE-JDjYog

Love this scene. Omar shows how smart he is and really sticks it to Levy. Watching it again after seeing season 5 "same dude, different name is all" could be a reference to the circle of life.

Also

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_rLZYtl27w

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wmgghlEagA

Robbo

I'm a recent convert; started from the beginning and I'm up to 4x04 now. What hooked me was the amount of fully developed characters and the novelistic nature of the series.

Individual scenes that made up my mind for good in Series 1 were Bunk and McNulty at the murder scene and

Omar when Weebay and Stinkum came at him

.