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Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe

Pellisworth posted:

Stringer considers himself a businessman, he's above the street. It's just business. He's way past that gangsta wild poo poo. Except... he's not, and that's ultimately his downfall. He orders the abduction and torture of Omar's boy Brandon in s1 that sets Omar against Bell and the Barksdale crew. He lies to Omar about Brother Mouzone being Brandon's torturer, which sets Omar against Mouzone and ultimately turns Mouzone against Stringer. Stringer orders the murder of D'Angelo which pushes Avon to betray String. Stringer thinks he's above it all because he has other people do his dirty work for him, but his instinct is always toward violence. A great example is how he wants Slim Charles to assassinate Clay Davis after Clay plays Stringer for a quarter mil in cash.

One thing that Stringer gets 100% wrong that he really had no excuse for, is misunderstanding who Avon is and what he's all about. He's convinced that if he just makes enough piles of cash to show Avon when he gets out of prison that Avon won't care about what's happening on the street, won't care about protecting his territory. It's literally the opposite, the corners could be bringing in $0 and Avon would still kill to maintain control of them. It's all he cares about, money is completely secondary.

It's a quality that shows up in Marlo too, but part of the point of Marlo is that he has all of that downside but like super-concentrated by the street and how harsh it's become since Avon was a kid growing up under the 70's bosses. Avon is still a part of the old guard that at least paid lip-service to caring about the community. Marlo has had all of that hollowed out inside him, he cares about domination and nothing else.

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Goatse James Bond
Mar 28, 2010


I've made a huge mistake.

Milo and POTUS posted:

Larry gilliard accosting idris elba screaming where's his career

he's actually doing perfectly passably, did not know that :3:

Goatse James Bond
Mar 28, 2010


I've made a huge mistake.

Jerusalem posted:

Well he survived season one of The Deuce at least :shobon:

The Deuce looks really good

Jeffrey of YOSPOS
Dec 22, 2005

GET LOSE, YOU CAN'T COMPARE WITH MY POWERS
Things don't quite come together into a coherent story in the deuce - it's more like a sampling of the characters' lives. I liked it a lot but it definitely was not as...focused as the wire, plotting wise.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

I actually thought it was pretty focused (as much as an ensemble can be), especially by comparison to Treme which I loved but felt was deliberately unfocused and often meandering.

Asbury
Mar 23, 2007
Probation
Can't post for 6 years!
Hair Elf

Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:

Things don't quite come together into a coherent story in the deuce - it's more like a sampling of the characters' lives. I liked it a lot but it definitely was not as...focused as the wire, plotting wise.

Jerusalem posted:

I actually thought it was pretty focused (as much as an ensemble can be), especially by comparison to Treme which I loved but felt was deliberately unfocused and often meandering.


I'ma be that "answer in the middle" rear end in a top hat and say that it's a mix of the two. It isn't as slice-of-life as Treme, but it also doesn't have the detail-oriented, tight storytelling that the Wire has. (It's still good as gently caress and you should watch it tho)

Escobarbarian
Jun 18, 2004


Grimey Drawer
Yeah +1 on everything Farrier says. It’s almost definitely Simon’s best work since The Wire.

Ainsley McTree
Feb 19, 2004


I'm realizing that I've never actually heard Dominic West in his normal speaking voice until a youtube clip just now, and now that I've heard it, it kind of....sounds like an American trying to do a weak British accent?

Which is a weird thing to say, because once I realized he was British, I instantly started noticing cracks in his American accent, because it's like an 8/10 at best, but now that I've heard his normal speaking voice, I have a hard time thinking of him as British, even though I know he is.

I don't have the same issue with Idris Elba or Aiden Gillen (and if I find out any other Wire regulars are British or Irish I'm gonna lose my mind), just him. Maybe it's just because unlike the other two, I haven't seen him in anything but the wire, so I just think of that face as McNulty's face.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Ainsley McTree posted:

(and if I find out any other Wire regulars are British or Irish I'm gonna lose my mind)

While he is an American, Clarke Peters lived for 30 years in London before doing The Wire and now splits his time between Baltimore and London :eng101:

MrBling
Aug 21, 2003

Oozing machismo

Jerusalem posted:

While he is an American, Clarke Peters lived for 30 years in London before doing The Wire and now splits his time between Baltimore and London :eng101:

Michael Hyatt (Brianna Barksdale) was born in Birmingham and didn't move to the US until she was 10, so technically British even if you can't tell.

Milo and POTUS
Sep 3, 2017

I will not shut up about the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. I talk about them all the time and work them into every conversation I have. I built a shrine in my room for the yellow one who died because sadly no one noticed because she died around 9/11. Wanna see it?
BURRELL WAS BLACK HITLER

ShaneMacGowansTeeth
May 22, 2007



I think this is it... I think this is how it ends
Yesterday I was on a job where my contact on site was the exact spitting image of Colvin. I half expected him to give me a talk about the paper bag while I was doing my work

ShaneMacGowansTeeth
May 22, 2007



I think this is it... I think this is how it ends
Excellent long form piece of Baltimore's Gun Trace Task Force and holy poo poo, I don't even think Simon and Co would think this level of stuff up

CBJSprague24
Dec 5, 2010

Thank you, Johnny Hockey.
About halfway through the finale of Season 2. It's amazing how the events in this season were set in motion at least in part because Stan Valchek was butthurt the Priest liked Frank Sobotka more in that moment.

Sobotka and his complete dumbshit son and nephew who, in his own way, was a fuckup in his own right were no angels, but after this season, gently caress. Stan. Valchek.

e- Another amazing thing I've found so far is the episodes are the gift that keeps on giving. I'll watch an episode expecting only 10 minutes to be left, only to hit the info button on my DVD player and find I'm only 25 minutes in and there are still 38 to go. I've at times split episodes in half to savor it a bit more.

CBJSprague24 fucked around with this message at 16:29 on Apr 3, 2018

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
Valchek is probably one of the more detestable characters in the entire series, yea. Prez finally popping him in the mouth is top 5 best moments in the entire show imo.

Season 2 is just so unbelievably underrated, even to this day. It's such a great companion piece to all the other seasons, people tend to not realize all the connections it has to the other storylines until they go back and rewatch it.

Ainsley McTree
Feb 19, 2004


Basebf555 posted:

Valchek is probably one of the more detestable characters in the entire series, yea. Prez finally popping him in the mouth is top 5 best moments in the entire show imo.

Season 2 is just so unbelievably underrated, even to this day. It's such a great companion piece to all the other seasons, people tend to not realize all the connections it has to the other storylines until they go back and rewatch it.

I’m up to 2 on my rewatch (my 3rd or 4th maybe) and yeah, it’s so good.

Sobotka is such an amazing and tragic character. In over his head, playing a game he was never ever going to win in the first place :(

theCalamity
Oct 23, 2010

Cry Havoc and let slip the Hogs of War

ShaneMacGowansTeeth posted:

Excellent long form piece of Baltimore's Gun Trace Task Force and holy poo poo, I don't even think Simon and Co would think this level of stuff up

And people keep saying that the serial killer part was unrealistic

spog
Aug 7, 2004

It's your own bloody fault.

Basebf555 posted:

Season 2 is just so unbelievably underrated, even to this day. It's such a great companion piece to all the other seasons, people tend to not realize all the connections it has to the other storylines until they go back and rewatch it.

I think in hindsight, I disliked S2 on the first watch because it was stopping me from following the Barksdale crew and I resented that.

On the rewatch, I enjoyed it a lot more and appreciated it.

Ainsley McTree posted:

Sobotka is such an amazing and tragic character. In over his head, playing a game he was never ever going to win in the first place :(

You can really feel his emotions: Chris Bauer really knew how to show pain with just his eyes.

Ainsley McTree
Feb 19, 2004


spog posted:

I think in hindsight, I disliked S2 on the first watch because it was stopping me from following the Barksdale crew and I resented that.

On the rewatch, I enjoyed it a lot more and appreciated it.


You can really feel his emotions: Chris Bauer really knew how to show pain with just his eyes.

I think that’s pretty much everyone’s reaction to s2, yeah, I know it was mine. After season 1, you finally get a handle on all the players, and then they introduce a bunch of new ones on you! Then you realize that every season of the show does this, and once you’re used to it, you realize how good season 2 was the whole time.

Bauer’s acting is so good; he does such an amazing job showing barely-contained fear and panic in the scenes where his plan starts falling apart and the cops start showing interest in him. It’s powerful acting, and also such a contrast to the calm behavior of the professional crooks like the barksdales and the Greeks.

Alhazred
Feb 16, 2011




CBJSprague24 posted:

About halfway through the finale of Season 2. It's amazing how the events in this season were set in motion at least in part because Stan Valchek was butthurt the Priest liked Frank Sobotka more in that moment.

And McNulty placing the murders within his former precinct. The case is pretty much solved because of petty spite.

Stare-Out
Mar 11, 2010

Season 2 is the one people dislike on initial viewings but love retrospectively. I’m one of them. It’s a shame we never got even a glimpse of those characters in subsequent seasons aside from the Greek, and Nick being belligerent at Carcetti and co. for a brief moment. I really wanted to see how Ziggy was doing in prison, for instance.

Ainsley McTree
Feb 19, 2004


Stare-Out posted:

Season 2 is the one people dislike on initial viewings but love retrospectively. I’m one of them. It’s a shame we never got even a glimpse of those characters in subsequent seasons aside from the Greek, and Nick being belligerent at Carcetti and co. for a brief moment. I really wanted to see how Ziggy was doing in prison, for instance.

There’s a quick moment in season 5 where we see Johnny 50 at a homeless camp iirc :(

Stare-Out
Mar 11, 2010

Ainsley McTree posted:

There’s a quick moment in season 5 where we see Johnny 50 at a homeless camp iirc :(

Oh that's right. Yeah he looks super rough there too.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
As much as I'd have loved to catch up with what Ziggy was up to in prison, I get why we didn't get to see that. His story is all about how these societal pressures can build up in a person and lead to an irrevocable tragedy. The whole point is that when he makes that one horrific mistake, his life and all his hopes and dreams are over just like that. So to allow the audience the satisfaction of some more Ziggy storylines in prison would probably undercut those themes. No more jokes, no more pranks, Ziggy's hosed.

pokeyman
Nov 26, 2006

That elephant ate my entire platoon.
Valchek is a strangely fascinating character. He’s an rear end in a top hat but he’s kinda our rear end in a top hat, you know? I can’t quite put my finger on it, but he’s making me laugh a ton on this rewatch.

Unfortunately he doesn’t get a Rawlsian moment of total police competence so I can’t tell if he’s genuinely good at his job.

Ainsley McTree
Feb 19, 2004


pokeyman posted:

Valchek is a strangely fascinating character. He’s an rear end in a top hat but he’s kinda our rear end in a top hat, you know? I can’t quite put my finger on it, but he’s making me laugh a ton on this rewatch.

Unfortunately he doesn’t get a Rawlsian moment of total police competence so I can’t tell if he’s genuinely good at his job.

There's a beautiful bit of background work in the first episode of season 2:



His computer isn't even on his desk, it's on his cabinet on the back wall of his office, stuck on the "login failed" screen. I'm not sure if the joke is "he's a bad cop" or "he's an old hump who isn't even trying to keep up with modern technology" but either way it's a subtle jab and I'm with it

Sorry for the amazon player screenshot, I'm much too lazy to get a better picture than this

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

ShaneMacGowansTeeth posted:

Excellent long form piece of Baltimore's Gun Trace Task Force and holy poo poo, I don't even think Simon and Co would think this level of stuff up

This is a great article and I hope everybody reads it. It's insane stuff and yeah if Simon was to write this kind of thing people would complain he was being unrealistic.

The scary thing is that these guys weren't just operating with impunity, but apparently a ton of people INCLUDING judges, lawyers and other cops were openly complaining about them and raising concerns and yet they continued to get away with it.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
The Wire really hammers home again and again that the "good" cops can only rise so far because the system doesn't reward actual good police work. I'm sure even in his younger years Valchek was the type who was much more concerned with his career path than the work, that's why he is where he is.

pokeyman
Nov 26, 2006

That elephant ate my entire platoon.

Ainsley McTree posted:

There's a beautiful bit of background work in the first episode of season 2:



His computer isn't even on his desk, it's on his cabinet on the back wall of his office, stuck on the "login failed" screen. I'm not sure if the joke is "he's a bad cop" or "he's an old hump who isn't even trying to keep up with modern technology" but either way it's a subtle jab and I'm with it

Sorry for the amazon player screenshot, I'm much too lazy to get a better picture than this

Ahaha love it. Goes with homicide's dedication to hunt-and-peck.

StashAugustine
Mar 24, 2013

Do not trust in hope- it will betray you! Only faith and hatred sustain.

The Wire creator David Simon plans series based on Spanish civil war

Capntastic
Jan 13, 2005

A dog begins eating a dusty old coil of rope but there's a nail in it.

Ainsley McTree posted:

Season 5 will render his heart into scrapple

My friend finished Season 4 the other night and has no idea what 5 is about other than that I slipped “McNulty does a chaos magick ritual to become More McNulty than Ever”

The Scrappling draws Near...

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?


Goddamn this looks good, but it better not gently caress things up for season 2 of The Deuce

algebra testes
Mar 5, 2011


Lipstick Apathy
His twitter feud with Spanish Nationalists is something else too

Escobarbarian
Jun 18, 2004


Grimey Drawer

Jerusalem posted:

Goddamn this looks good, but it better not gently caress things up for season 2 of The Deuce

I think that's already shooting so we're probably good

Orange Devil
Oct 1, 2010

I can not describe just how ready for this I am.

Geekslinger
Jan 30, 2005

Just hit season 3 of my first re-watch (it's been about 5 years) and my wife's first watch. I love paying attention to all the little details I missed the first time through, but I'm really loving my wife's reaction to stuff through out the show. She's already called out Littlefinger as being a slimeball as soon as he showed up just based on GoT.

algebra testes
Mar 5, 2011


Lipstick Apathy

Geekslinger posted:

Just hit season 3 of my first re-watch (it's been about 5 years) and my wife's first watch. I love paying attention to all the little details I missed the first time through, but I'm really loving my wife's reaction to stuff through out the show. She's already called out Littlefinger as being a slimeball as soon as he showed up just based on GoT.

Which is worse littlefingers english or Carcetti's murican accent.

Whiz Palace
Dec 8, 2013
None of the accents in The Wire were bad enough to pull me out of the show. Maybe it's because I'm not from anywhere near Baltimore. OTOH, the Kennedys on The Crown absolutely did throw me for a loop.

Ainsley McTree
Feb 19, 2004


algebra testes posted:

Which is worse littlefingers english or Carcetti's murican accent.

It’s probably just because I’d only seen him in the wire before GoT, but littlefinger, no contest

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Escobarbarian
Jun 18, 2004


Grimey Drawer
That dude’s Littlefinger voice gets so so weird by the end

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