For those who have watched all episodes - any dissapointing moments

Lord Nikon

Use of spoilers should be included...

Were there any moments in the show that you would change, or any attributes to characters that you would like to add...discuss.

godtabh

I think there was a few but there was so many good ones its hard to remember

Sherifu

Not really tbh.

DeepBlue

I would have removed the Scott Templeton character and story arc in season five. It failed completely.

Lord Nikon

Yeah, but it tied in with McNulty's bright idea :P

JPA

Bodie being shot was very sad. Just because I liked him.
Would have liked to see him get out the game but I suppose that just wasn't him

Jay Ru

DeepBlue wrote: »

I would have removed the Scott Templeton character and story arc in season five. It failed completely.

how did that story arc fail? the scott templeton character was based on 3 real life reporters who's career mirror Templetons almost exactly. i don't see his arc as a failure, sure he's probably one of the most annoying characters i've ever seen on tv. i think it was a great story really.

DeepBlue

Jay Ru wrote: »

how did that story arc fail? the scott templeton character was based on 3 real life reporters who's career mirror Templetons almost exactly. i don't see his arc as a failure, sure he's probably one of the most annoying characters i've ever seen on tv. i think it was a great story really.

Contrast it with the docks storyline in S2, politics in S3 and the schools in S4. Each of those storylines was conveyed with much more depth than the media storyline in S5. Essentially you could sum it up in one line -

Journalist lies to get ahead and gets away with it

. That's it! The other stories had far greater nuance, were more layered and felt far more compelling than the media storyline which failed to engage.

Perhaps the fact that it did mirror a number of real life cases may have drained it of any drama. One would have thought that David Simon's previous career has a journalist would have equipped him to come up with something more insightful about journalism and the media but this wasn't the case which was very disappointing. He laid himself open to accusations that he was just getting a dig in at his previous employers and it's difficult to argue that that wasn't the case.

The storyline did result in a great scene between McNulty and Templeton late in the season

where McNulty calls him out. The look on Templetons face was priceless

but it was nowhere near a good enough pay-off for the slow, boring media storyline.
It's not like they didn't have plenty of targets in the American media out of which they could have made a much better storyline.

Jay Ru

i guess when u put it like that i can see ur point!

godtabh

Season 5 was kind of weak when you compare it to the themes of the other seasons.

The thing that I didnt like was the whole killer thing. It just seemed a bit to far fetched. I've no idea if it could happen but it just seemed to happen to easy

tvnutz

kearnsr wrote: »

Season 5 was kind of weak when you compare it to the themes of the other seasons.

The thing that I didnt like was the whole killer thing. It just seemed a bit to far fetched. I've no idea if it could happen but it just seemed to happen to easy

But it's hardly more far fetched than the Hamsterdam story which people really like. Season 5 overall wasn't as good as I had hoped,but that being said it was still miles better than any other season of a tv show this year. Perhaps it felt a bit underwhelming because it came after season 4 which personally I think is the best season of a any tv show ever.

Rjd2

Any scene with Brother Muzone, an absurd character who we weer meant to be believe was more fierce than anyone else:rolleyes:

godtabh

tvnutz wrote: »

But it's hardly more far fetched than the Hamsterdam story which people really like. Season 5 overall wasn't as good as I had hoped,but that being said it was still miles better than any other season of a tv show this year. Perhaps it felt a bit underwhelming because it came after season 4 which personally I think is the best season of a any tv show ever.

I think Hamsterdam has/is being tried out in many places through not enforcing the laws in certain places but not on the scale shown in the show

extopia

Yeah, S5 was definitely the weakest, and a disappointment. Agree completely about the Templeton character and storyline, it was cartoonish at best, not very well developed, and shallow. McNulty's "bright idea" was too outlandish an idea for such a realistic-feeling show, (although it brought about the series greatest line,

Lester's "We have to kill again!

. The point about policing budget cutbacks was well made (and the backdrop for McNulty's outlandishness), but I felt the writing just wasn't as nuanced and considered as previous series, possibly due to lack of time.

Boston

The story for season five wasn't as good as previously, but Mcnulty was back on form so it made up for it.

silvine

Disappointing moments:

In season one when they decided last minute to put a wire in the office above Stringer Bell and Avon's office. Why did they not do that at the begining?

As for the journalist storyline, I kind of liked it. It re-enforced the whole "some lies are just too big to shatter" theme that ran through the season. However, as the real Baltimore Sun pointed out, they never really touched on the role of new media and internet journalism, giving credence to the argument that this season was less nuanced than the previous ones.

DeepBlue

tvnutz wrote: »

But it's hardly more far fetched than the Hamsterdam story which people really like.

Perhaps the problem with S5 was that it had two storylines (lying news reporter and manufactured serial killer) which were far fetched.
In S3 the other stories were interesting or well done which meant the viewer could forgive the implausibility of open air drug dens operating without word getting back to the brass and/or media very quickly.

silvine wrote: »

Disappointing moments:

In season one when they decided last minute to put a wire in the office above Stringer Bell and Avon's office. Why did they not do that at the begining?

Didn't it take them quite a while to find out where the office was? I think it was only after Orlando's arrest that they made the connection. And they also needed someone on the inside to find out where best to aim the camera and microphone. Shardene did this for them and she only got on board late in the day.

I'll need to rewatch S1 to be sure - any excuse will do .