The Wire-Is it any good?

golfball37 · 11-06-2020 10:37pm

jack presley wrote: »

Yeah, I especially like the Season 2 one with the Steve Earle (Waylon) song 'I Feel Alright'.

Hard to believe Waylon inflicted Galway Girl on the world

jack presley · 11-06-2020 10:43pm

golfball37 wrote: »

Hard to believe Waylon inflicted Galway Girl on the world

Don't blame Earle for Mundy's butchering of that song.

Penn · 11-06-2020 11:17pm

Acosta wrote: »

Yeah? Season 1 was class, so that's good news.

Just note, the first few episodes of each new season can be quite jarring considering they introduce new characters, settings etc. But after a few episodes where you start seeing how everything is connecting, it's incredible.

rubadub · 12-06-2020 12:17pm

Penn wrote: »

Just note, the first few episodes of each new season can be quite jarring considering they introduce new characters, settings etc.

I only watched it this year and went onto wiki and read the plot after each episode. I did this as a rule even if I thought there was no need, thinking I had caught everything, even then there was invariably something I did not twig that was going on.

Some of the wiki plots are overly detailed though, here is a long one but they nicely break it up into different sections.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliances_(The_Wire)

I don't think there were any spoilers if you stuck to strictly reading the plots and did not read trivia or other stuff on the pages. There is a bit of a spoiler in that if a new character has their name highlighted, to show they have their own wiki page, then you know they are a fairly main character. That could be seen as a good subtle spoiler though, you know they are one to watch out for.

If you went looking for characters pages obviously there are spoilers, and even if you went to see actors wiki pages it would be spoiled if you spotted the years that they were in the show.

steve_r · 12-06-2020 1:51pm

That's mad, literally just watched that episode last night

jack presley · 16-06-2020 1:02pm

Nice to hear the actor who plays Clay Davis use "sheeeeit" in the new Spike Lee film Da 5 Bloods.

BrentMused · 11-04-2021 2:39pm

I initially watched The Wire about 15 years ago.

Thought it was amazing and whilst looking for a new show to watch a few months ago herself revealed she had never seen it so we had to rectify that!

There was an awful lot I couldn't remember and we've just finished it this afternoon.

All I can say is wow. It's still as good as I remember all those years ago.

Despite all of the deaths, tragedies etc, the one thing that always sticks with me (and is one of the few scenes I clearly remembered from my initial watch) is

Dukie shooting up

in the final scene. So, so sad

The whole series is just an unbelievable piece of art.

Mantis Toboggan · 11-04-2021 3:08pm

Couldn't get past season 1, just wasn't for me.

jesus_thats_gre · 11-04-2021 5:13pm

BrentMused wrote: »

I initially watched The Wire about 15 years ago.

Thought it was amazing and whilst looking for a new show to watch a few months ago herself revealed she had never seen it so we had to rectify that!

There was an awful lot I couldn't remember and we've just finished it this afternoon.

All I can say is wow. It's still as good as I remember all those years ago.

Despite all of the deaths, tragedies etc, the one thing that always sticks with me (and is one of the few scenes I clearly remembered from my initial watch) is
Dukie shooting up
in the final scene. So, so sad

The whole series is just an unbelievable piece of art.

Gets better with every watch. I won't admit how many times I have watched it and The Sopranos at this stage.

mikhail · 11-04-2021 5:20pm

I haven't read the whole thread, just the opening couple of pages, but I didn't see anyone comment on The Wire as social commentary. It's a show about how and why ****ed up systems stay ****ed up. Anyone who tries to do something different is brought to heel or crushed. I've never seen anything like it on that front.

BrentMused · 11-04-2021 5:42pm

I absolutely love how you'll forget about a character and a few seasons later they'll pop up for a scene/cameo to keep reminding you have everything is interlinked.

For example,

Nick Sabotka shouting at Carcetti when he's revealing the development down at the docks

in season 4 or 5.

Joe_ Public · 11-04-2021 6:08pm

^^^^^^^^^^

Thats excellent, not something I'd ever twigged at all and he's a character i liked from my favourite series.

Seve OB · 11-04-2021 9:21pm

Watched black klansmann the other day.
Shieeeeeeeeeetttttttttttt

mikhail · 11-04-2021 9:39pm

Seve OB wrote: »

Watched black klansmann the other day.
Shieeeeeeeeeetttttttttttt

He's a regular supporting actor in The Good Cop, too. It's on Netflix. Cancelled after one season, but it was a fun show.

BrentMused · 11-04-2021 11:10pm

Joe_ Public wrote: »

^^^^^^^^^^

Thats excellent, not something I'd ever twigged at all and he's a character i liked from my favourite series.

It happens a few other times too.

Another memorable one is

Poot working at the Footlocker type shoe store when Dukie comes in looking for a job

.

And also in relation to the docks season -

Johnny Fifty, one of the main docks crew, is shown as a homeless man living under the motorway in season 5.

hold my beer · 11-04-2021 11:13pm

I've started watching it again for the first time in years. Brilliant show

punchdrunk · 11-04-2021 11:20pm

hold my beer wrote: »

I've started watching it again for the first time in years. Brilliant show

I too, feel inspired to back and watch it again- it’s been about twelve years since I watched it and not much has come close!

SimonTemplar · 11-04-2021 11:24pm

The West Wing and The Wire are two shows I never saw so I started watching The Wire during lockdown. Loved the first three seasons. I got a few episodes into season four but for some reason it didn't keep my interest. I stopped and switched over to The West Wing instead.

I've been meaning to return to season four of The Wire. Maybe it will pick up for me and the season gets better.

Penn · 12-04-2021 8:19am

SimonTemplar wrote: »

The West Wing and The Wire are two shows I never saw so I started watching The Wire during lockdown. Loved the first three seasons. I got a few episodes into season four but for some reason it didn't keep my interest. I stopped and switched over to The West Wing instead.

I've been meaning to return to season four of The Wire. Maybe it will pick up for me and the season gets better.

Season 4 is considered by most to be the best. It probably can be harder to get into it though as the switch to much younger characters and losses of characters from Season 3 is tough at first. But it's well worth going back to.

Then Season 5.... you gotta wade through a bit of bullsh*t as it starts to go off the rails a little but by that point you nearly have the whole thing completed anyway.

nullObjects · 12-04-2021 11:51am

mikhail wrote: »

He's a regular supporting actor in The Good Cop, too. It's on Netflix. Cancelled after one season, but it was a fun show.

Started watching the X files, he pops up in an episode in season one.
Was waiting for him to say it but he didn't

jesus_thats_gre · 12-04-2021 3:27pm

SimonTemplar wrote: »

The West Wing and The Wire are two shows I never saw so I started watching The Wire during lockdown. Loved the first three seasons. I got a few episodes into season four but for some reason it didn't keep my interest. I stopped and switched over to The West Wing instead.

I've been meaning to return to season four of The Wire. Maybe it will pick up for me and the season gets better.

If it helps, I didn't really rate Season 5 the first time I watched it. Probably took a few watches before I appreciated it fully.

I find it often happens when binging on a boxset.

GBX · 12-04-2021 3:34pm

nullObjects wrote: »

Started watching the X files, he pops up in an episode in season one.
Was waiting for him to say it but he didn't

He is excellent. Started watching Your Honour - he's in that as well.

Joe_ Public · 12-04-2021 5:07pm

Penn wrote: »

Season 4 is considered by most to be the best. It probably can be harder to get into it though as the switch to much younger characters and losses of characters from Season 3 is tough at first. But it's well worth going back to.

Then Season 5.... you gotta wade through a bit of bullsh*t as it starts to go off the rails a little but by that point you nearly have the whole thing completed anyway.

Season 2 is my favourite but just purely because i love all that stuff with unions and dockworkers and the greeks added another dimension to the usual drug gangs. When it came to S5 i think the plot lines do become quite elaborate and possibly ott. Personally the newspaper angle didnt grab me, wont give anything away for folk waiting to view it, but i just found those characters a bit cardboardy, as in poorly drawn. Overall, though, thats really just a fairly minor quibble.

Penn · 12-04-2021 5:16pm

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Season 2 is my favourite but just purely because i love all that stuff with unions and dockworkers and the greeks added another dimension to the usual drug gangs. When it came to S5 i think the plot lines do become quite elaborate and possibly ott. Personally the newspaper angle didnt grab me, wont give anything away for folk waiting to view it, but i just found those characters a bit cardboardy, as in poorly drawn. Overall, though, thats really just a fairly minor quibble.

Season 2 became my favourite upon rewatching the series. Frank Sobotka is just one of the best TV characters ever. I think the change to the docks is very jarring at first for most people, whereas then in each subsequent season it's easier to accept the change in settings/characters.

Season 5 I have also enjoyed more on later rewatches, but I do think it's the weakest season.

Mad_maxx · 12-04-2021 8:34pm

hold my beer wrote: »

I've started watching it again for the first time in years. Brilliant show

me too , its truly superb , so many characters who often drift in and out and yet you feel invested in all of them , no wasted characters at all

Mad_maxx · 12-04-2021 8:35pm

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Season 2 is my favourite but just purely because i love all that stuff with unions and dockworkers and the greeks added another dimension to the usual drug gangs. When it came to S5 i think the plot lines do become quite elaborate and possibly ott. Personally the newspaper angle didnt grab me, wont give anything away for folk waiting to view it, but i just found those characters a bit cardboardy, as in poorly drawn. Overall, though, thats really just a fairly minor quibble.

season two is my favourite as well , Frank Sobotka is my favourite character in the entire show .

Dr Turk Turkelton · 12-04-2021 8:46pm

Just finished rewatching it last month and once again blown away by the first four seasons and let down by the fifth.
Hard to believe how much of it I had forgotten considering that's about the fourth full watch of it even though it was about six years since the last time.
Due to season five though it's just beaten into second place by The Sopranos.
Great point about Dukie in the ending though- so sad.

StevenToast · 12-04-2021 8:49pm

The Wire is the greatest show of all time.

Close thread.

Aravo · 12-04-2021 8:52pm

StevenToast wrote: »

The Wire is the greatest show of all time.

Close thread.

+1

golfball37 · 12-04-2021 9:09pm

I’ve rewatched Sopranos and the Wire during lockdown. Forgotten how good they both were, season five is the weakest in the wire but on the rewatch I was surprised how far the sopranos declined in final season too from the excellence that preceded.
The Wire is simply the greatest, I’d still have Sopranos in second despite the last ten episodes.

The Wire-Is it any good?

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