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Stringer also didn't have a very strong hand to play. Avon going to jail leads to their source of good drugs drying up; Stringer doesn't have the rep to be able to get it back. Plus all the capable muscle was either dead or in jail. It was these weaknesses that led Stringer to cozy up to Prop Joe in the first place. Considering the poor position he was in he did pretty well, for a while. By the time Marlo arrived on the scene the Barksdale crew was still very limited on muscle; Stringer didn't believe in this aspect and so failed to invest in it. Avon came back and over-compensated, ignoring the good parts of Stringers ideas and attacking Marlo head-on with weak muscle and lost. Avon and Stringer were an effective partnership: Avon ran the street, Stringer the business. When they were apart and not working together conflict resulted, embodied by Brother Muzone. The two of them had a really excellent story arc.
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Feb 13, 2022 21:48
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Sweet, I'll probably watch this
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Feb 16, 2022 20:13
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We Own This City is just what I want. I really adore The Wire, especially for its realism. I've spent time looking into it, trying to find out things they got wrong in how different people are portrayed-- cops, teachers, lawyers, gangsters etc. The show has an excellent rep for a reason. Only one criticism has stood out for me though. It came from some sociologist who was watching The Wire with a bunch of former gangsters. And one thing they kept saying is how this cop or that cop should be on the take. Should be corrupt. And given how much has come out about the police force in Baltimore, it looks like these gangsters were right, there are indeed lots of corrupt cops. So I'm very interested in seeing this aspect explored.
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Mar 16, 2022 22:41
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christmas boots posted:McNulty could never be on the take. Yeah, the gangsters were saying McNulty was on the take which means they weren't paying attention to the show. In the show, I think the only example of a cop working with the gangsters was the FBI guy working with the Greek. It should have been way more common.
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Mar 17, 2022 15:54
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V-Men posted:I think it's the end of season 2 where they get introduced to texting. "My teenage daughter is crazy about it!"
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Mar 18, 2022 12:35
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Data Graham posted:I mean the whole titular "wire" is all about those newfangled Nah burners only show up in season 3. As usual the police are way behind the curve of new technology.
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Mar 19, 2022 14:26
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burner phones
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christmas boots posted:The trick is that not only would you have to tap them but you’d have to ensure that your targets specifically buy those tapped burners. I can see that being difficult to arrange outside of fiction In the show it was a bit of a stretch. They set up a fake phone store... with what budget?
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Mar 19, 2022 18:27
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happyhippy posted:Maybe I misread it here being mentioned, but why didn't they tap the public phones that they used to call from? They did tap them in the first season. But Stringer got paranoid and had them ripped out.
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Mar 20, 2022 15:03
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BiggerBoat posted:
Yeah I agree with you here. There's been little emphasis so far on character development; that time is instead mostly put towards explaining the political and cultural context. Which is mostly fine because I like dry stuff, but "Trump is never going to get the nomination" sticks out like a sore thumb. BiggerBoat posted:- I knew those robbers were cops the second the one dude said "watch my six". It stood out to me as language that only people of a certain profession use. Getting some real Training Day/Denzel vibes from G-Money. I was like wtf how much CoD are these guys playing.
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May 7, 2022 13:22
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Jewmanji posted:That Trump line did stand out to me, but then I had to remember that me and literally everyone I know said that exact phrase about 1000 times that year. I also think it's one of the first (if not the first) instance of me seeing Trumps name appear in a tv show/book/movie and that'll probably feel jarring for years to come. I found Bodie to be very sympathetic in S1, which made the death of Wallace all the more impactful. There's the famous scene of him learning about chess from D, various scenes with him and Herc and Carv, and all the general hanging out. I found he developed much less in later seasons. And I agree the Wire doled out its characterization very slowly. I hope we see that more with this show.
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May 7, 2022 14:46
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escape artist posted:I'm starting We Own This City and I kind of love it so far, after one episode. I hope it sticks the landing. Lots. Especially in E03. I just finished E04 myself and am finding it's getting better as it goes.
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May 26, 2022 00:56
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Stare-Out posted:Yeah but Frank was all about unions above just about all else so he would've, very reluctantly gone with Hillary. Nicky, sure, he would've voted for Trump maybe depending on how his relationship with Frank was at the time, and Ziggy wouldn't have voted obviously. No way, Frank is the stereotypical Trump voter. White guy with minimal education (probably) who sees his economic future crumbling from under him while others (like that lobbyist he pays) get rich. Remember that exchange with the lobbyist? "In America we used to make things. Now we just reach into the other guy's pocket." Whatever policies Hillary was running on Frank would have ignored because Trump promised to turn the country around to a direction Frank fervently believed in.
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May 26, 2022 20:31
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4 is my favorite I quite like 3. The Hamsterdam stuff was very good and interesting. I really like Cutty's introduction and character arc. The tragic culmination of of the Stringer-Avon relationship tops it off.
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Jun 4, 2022 16:32
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Over a couple evenings recently I've been watching E01 of The Corner, which I'd heard of but had never seen. It's quite good so far but god-drat is it sad.
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Jun 5, 2022 23:41
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Ainsley McTree posted:Something about the way they say “Prez shot another cop” when they get the call in s3 makes it sound like he’s done it before The woman was leaning that way but Fraemon wasn't at all.
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Jun 27, 2022 19:31
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Orange Devil posted:Iirc he tells Daniels who then just has no loving idea what to even do with that. He walks out of the room and says Prez needs to be put on suicide watch
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Jun 27, 2022 23:58
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Jerusalem posted:"Looks like the deceased evacuated himself." Now that's humour
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Jul 28, 2022 20:12
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WithoutTheFezOn posted:He/they realized they had a little value, but not enough to really matter. Later, when Burrell tells the mayor what’s going on, he hands over the stack and says as much. I interpreted it differently. When Colvin hands over the letters, Burrell just keeps yelling at him. When Burrell hands the letters to Royce, it's now Burrell with his hat in his hands being yelled at. The letters are again set to the side... but very much paid attention to, because everyone is aware that this is about optics. Indeed, the letters may be what causes Royce to not immediately shut down Hamsterdam. Instead he takes days, against his top aide's advice, to try and "call this something other than what it is". And is ultimately badly burned for the effort. The letters are one of the ways that Hamsterdam is portrayed in a positive light. Ultimately though none of these positives can survive the light of the national political mainstream.
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Aug 5, 2022 17:36
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Kevyn posted:My favorite “what if” to think about is “what if Randy hadn’t been lookout for those other kids having sex in the bathroom?” This got me on a train of thought I thought was interesting, so I'll share. What if Randy hadn't been lookout? Well he wouldn't have gotten in trouble, and wouldn't have given up his knowledge of Lex being murdered. So it's kinda two things, being the lookout, but also being asked by Little Kevin to talk to Lex. Everyone on the streets knew Lex was dead, but Randy only gave it up because he knew more about it than most. So, these two things. A bit coincidental isn't it? This one character happens to be involved in the murder, and is also put in a position to spill the beans. Maybe not so coincidental when we think about Randy as a character. Why did Little Kevin ask him to talk to Lex? Well Randy was running his little candy business right by that corner. Kevin came up to him, and gave him money to talk to Lex. Randy was skeptical, but he's there to make money, so he does it. The lookout situation is the same. Why was Randy, out of all kids, the one asked to play lookout? Well Randy was again doing his candy business thing, sneaking out of class to sell to other grades. He was roaming the halls when few others were about. And again he was offered money for it. Money is the central motivator to Randy's character. In his first scene he's trying to catch a "homer" pigeon which he's heard is worth money. He's always trying to make a buck. This may sound greedy, but remember in this culture the main way for these kids to make money is to join a brutally violent street gang. Randy is a saint by comparison, just an entrepreneur who doesn't mind some hard work. He asks Monk for Mike's share of the cash donated from Marlo. He gets recruited to put up election posters for some cash. He tells Prezbo he wants to own his own store. And at the end of the season he's there offering Carver 230 bucks, in case it would help him get another foster parent, somehow. Cash is what motivates Randy-- but not the drug dealing kind. It's this fact that puts Randy, and not the other boys, in a position to have all this stuff happen. Not so much coincidence as a character being in-character all the time, and fitting into his world. All the pieces sure do matter. Count Roland fucked around with this message at 22:34 on Aug 9, 2022 |
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Aug 9, 2022 22:32
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Solkanar512 posted:His Great Uncle Joe would be so proud! Oh drat, there's something I'd never noticed
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Aug 10, 2022 01:24
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algebra testes posted:Finished it. I liked S5 more the second time through, and when I thought about the context. The season was written in '06 and filmed in '07. Sure it seems very over-the-top, but then came a Financial Crisis. Baltimore City being broke made more sense. The bizarre lies and fabrications that form the core plot seem more realistic-- fraud on an even larger scale was going on involving countless billions of dollars. There was even that one beat-cop, the friend of Lester's, who tried to sell him a house as part of a side gig. It's crazy, but crazy poo poo was just about to happen in the US on a huge scale. Still is far from my favourite though.
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Aug 10, 2022 11:19
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This is Lester we're talking about. He was investigating Clay Davis in the first season, which got the unit shut down. He was still investigating Clay in season 3, where he admitted to issuing subpoenas right before the election for political purposes. He was still investigating Clay in season 5 while the hoax was going on. When he gets a bone he may back off for a time but he keeps at it, even if it hurts those around him. And remember the bodies in the vacants were his. He spent most of S4 dragging Bunk along to look for Marlo's hypothetical bodies. Hypothetical bodies being particularly unwanted by Landsman and other higher ups. It's definitely a stretch that Lester gets involved in the hoax. But he wanted his case to be worked, same as McNulty. They're really pretty similar characters in the end, Lester is just more patient and lacks Jimmy's self-destructive attributes.
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Aug 10, 2022 17:11
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Orange Devil posted:You abolish capitalism and start building communism. How effective was policing in communist countries? This is something I've never read about.
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Aug 10, 2022 19:25
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God Hole posted:in urban planning, the concepts of the 15 minute city and crime prevention through environmental design have gained some popularity in recent years, particularly among academic circles. the idea behind them is that how a city is designed foregoes the need for regular patrols and armed enforcement. for instance, a public space will be designed with adequate lighting, amenities, shops, etc. and arranged in such a way that encourages continuous activity so that there are always "eyes" in a place which has a marked effect on the amount of crime that takes place there Thanks, that's interesting. The idea of having eyes on a street was made popular in the US/West by Jane Jacobs in her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities. I've actually seen photos and satellite images of soviet apartment blocks and I've been curious as to why they were laid out as they were.
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Aug 10, 2022 22:49
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MarcusSA posted:Are they listed as the same character? In the wire it goes without saying that they are. Minor characters from seasons past constantly show up. That's one I'd never noticed myself.
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Sep 5, 2022 16:29
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What an rear end in a top hat
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Nov 8, 2022 14:43
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"It's called texting. My teenage daughter is crazy about it"
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Jan 6, 2023 02:13
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ilmucche posted:Never realised that spiros says "my name is not my name" compared to marlo yelling in a holding that his name is his name. Huh. I'd not linked those two lines before.
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Feb 3, 2023 00:55
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christmas boots posted:I don’t recall if Clay ever ripped off a working citizen or if it was just other politicians and rich drug donors. Clay is super corrupt he felt more like an incidental parasite more than anything Clay threw his own bagman under the bus during his trial. The bagman was just that, a low level stooge who happened to be working for a politician instead of a drug gang.
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Feb 7, 2023 21:14
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deoju posted:I'm ok with there being no season 6 if only because I couldn't handle the possibility of Bubbles relapsing. It seemed like the courts would have been focused on, with Ronnie being a judge and Daniels being a lawyer. Plus Herc and Levy on the other side. I would have liked to see The Wire lens focused on that part of the justice system.
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Feb 10, 2023 14:12
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Jewmanji posted:Peanut is in it too, keep an eye out And Slim Charles
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Feb 11, 2023 21:31
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BiggerBoat posted:Man, this is spot on and it sticks out like a sore thumb in an otherwise great show. I'd forgotten about the numerous character exposition dumps. Actually, it's not even really exposition so much as social commentary and criminal justice theories delivered as lunch conversations. Yeah these were not good. I found Nicole Steele to be particularly bad for this; it seemed like her role on screen was to seek out mini-essays.
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Feb 12, 2023 14:09
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Xiahou Dun posted:I like how towards the end of season 2 there’s that one sequence that just throws out the usual way they shoot things and it starts aping Michael Mann. Just everything getting rapidly worse while schlubby dudes make very poor decisions. The volume on the soundtrack goes up and it’s all really intense Greek singing and a bazouki. The scene where Nick is freaking out, with a fence and grain silos behind him? The camera does a fish-eye sort of thing to show how his world is being turned upside down.
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Mar 8, 2023 12:28
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You know, they did it more than once in S2. After Ziggy shoots the Greek guy there's some camera effects as he's freaking out about it. Maybe appropriate that both cousins get that treatment.
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Mar 8, 2023 17:21
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Jewmanji posted:Back in 2009 when I watched it I simply didn’t buy that Ziggy would do that, but having seen the increasing spiral of lunacy that America is bobsledding down, it seems like an absolutely perfect encapsulation of American culture now. I felt this way about season 5
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Mar 8, 2023 18:05
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ShaneMacGowansTeeth posted:I think the fish eye Nick sequence is the last shot of the final montage? Where it's raining? And the greek music bit is where Frank goes to meet The Greek at the docks. Also, 'I Feel Alright' by Steve Earle is a great choice for the final montage No it wasn't in the montage; by that point he was already in witness protection. Not sure when it was though
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Mar 9, 2023 14:56
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I stand corrected!
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Mar 10, 2023 00:27
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Deadwood and the Wire are my two favourites. I'd be interested in a Deadwood thread.
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Mar 29, 2023 23:02
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Ziggy was smart enough that he didn't need to be a dock worker. He was computer and even internet literate, knew how to work a digital camera and was generally pretty sharp. His judgement was terrible, but that only really caused him problems when he got into the crime. He's the sort that would have found success as a computer toucher sort of thing, or maybe business if he had someone to keep him in check. But because of the culture he grew up in that seemed to never cross his mind, if indeed such opportunities were available at all in Baltimore at that time. You can be good at the docks, or bad at the docks. But there is nothing outside the docks. Count Roland fucked around with this message at 15:15 on May 10, 2023 |
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May 10, 2023 15:03
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GABA ghoul posted:IIRC Nick mentions that Ziggy has been loving around with packages all last year. Seems like he had already went down that road before he ever met the Greeks. Well Nick (and what's-his-name) go to Cheese to bail out Zig for loving up one of those packages. Was Nick already in the drug trade at that point or was it just the smuggling?
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May 10, 2023 17:56
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