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Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.

BiggerBoat posted:

I think it's just a way of reviewing "who had the biggest moment/best lines/greatest impact" and using at as a jumping off point to generate more episode discussion that cover things they may have glossed over. Like a recap. I never took at as "who WON" in terms of "who best furthered their own aims, goals and ambitions" so much as maybe who was the most right/correct or made the proper decisions but, overall, I take it mainly as "which actor owned the gently caress out of their scenes".

Where does everyone come out on the Stringer "gently caress Boy" vs. Avon vs. Marlo vs. Prop Joe as far as who is right most often and makes the smartest calls? I'd say Stringer is right as much as he's wrong ("you're taking notes on motherfucking criminal conspiracy?!?"), even if his decision making is sometimes misguided or naive. I GET why he was trying to do what he did and he made a TON of smart/wise decisions.

I think Prop Joe was the smartest and most diplomatic out of all of them; All about business, negotiation, respect, keeping the peace and, most important, loving laying LOW. Of course, he got got at the end because Marlo is just loving that ruthless and doesn't even really give a gently caress about the money as much as the power.

They all had their weaknesses:

Marlo: Putting the crown above all else. Power for the sake of power and His Name
Avon: Old school street battles and violence that won out over bringing down heat or appearing "weak"
Stringer: Thinking he could turn The Towers and The Corners into a legit business run like a real company using real company methods. Except he's not wrong though. The Italian mafia managed this to a certain degree.
Prop Joe: Missing the fact that some people are in it more for the crown/power far more than the money.

IMO it's a mistake to label Joe the smartest because he's the most like us, a bunch of soft men obsessing over a TV show. Marlo valuing his rep over all else (even death) isn't necessarily a weakness,* it's just hard to understand for people from different cultures who probably value "staying out of mortal danger" above most anything else.

*I can't remember this leading to any major tactical blunders. He was willing to meet Omar in the streets to defend his name knowing he could die. This seems idiotic to us, sure, but this was a guy who didn't know how banks work and flew to the Cayman Islands to literally look at his money, then was able to easily dismantle and take control of the co-op because he followed his killer instinct.

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Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.

ilmucche posted:

avon meeting marlo in jail is so weird. avon is 100% still street gangster, and marlo looks fairly uninterested which i guess makes sense since he's only in it for himself.

Avon is flexing after losing the crown and Marlo clocks it instantly and is just waiting for Avon to get to the point ($100K to Brianna), same way he does with everyone. He's impressed for a second because Avon figured out what he's up to, but he knows Avon wants something and doesn't care about him putting on his little show of power.

An interesting thing about Marlo is that he was all substance with no style, and that's probably why his name doesn't live on in legend the same way Omar's does and colorful figures like Avon and Prop Joe probably will too. Avon, for example, threw cookouts, participated in the basketball games, had personality, etc. Marlo was just ruthless, businesslike ambition to get to the top, which ironically probably softened the power of his name once he got there.

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.

BiggerBoat posted:

Sorry to raise this thread from the dead but the Down in the Hole podcast has some new poo poo up and I've been catching up with it.

They pointed out something I never noticed before.

After Marlo kills Prop Joe, he tells the co-op "I'm responsible" and that "the price of the brick going up". I totally mis-read that scene and thought Marlo straight up copped to murdering Joe. But really he deflects it onto Omar and says that Omar came after people close to him or something like that. Further (and I missed this too) Slim Charles knows this is false because he had already had a run in with Omar and Omar let him go. I never caught the look on his face when he shows that he knows Marlo is bullshitting, figuring "wait. If he's coming after Marlo through his people, why'd he let me go?" It's subtle but it's there.

Then he immediately nopes out when Marlo offers to promote him.

EDIT: Also holy poo poo I just noticed that one of the editors at the newspaper is Gale from Breaking Bad.

They probably all knew Marlo was bullshitting.

"Motherfucker who's got the connect, he the one who did Joe."
"No doubt."

Also Marlo wasn't really offering to promote him. In a previous episode when Marlo suggest Slim Charles gets a promotion, he's feeling out who he could turn against Joe if they have higher ambitions. Slim doesn't, so he moves on to Cheese. After Joe's death he knows Slim will likely turn down the promotion again, so he "settles" on Cheese, but it was always going to be him.

Also the liar guy from the newspaper directed that Adam Sandler movie where he gets a magical pair of shoes or whatever.

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.

BiggerBoat posted:

Yeah, I caught that exchange when they all entered the meeting (and they were right) but it seemed to me that a bunch of them bought the whole "It was Omar" bullshit too. Tough to say really. Looking at it again, you're right though. Seemed like most of them knew what was up but the podcast made me rewatch that scene in a new light. It's easy to read as Marlo manipulating them to go after "the dicksuck" and he even ups the stakes by immediately raising the bounty in a way that solidifies pinning the whole thing on Omar. To most of them it didn't much matter anyway since they were all hosed and it was obvious Marlo was large and in charge regardless.

And Marlo was smart to not only dangle but UP the reward on Omar.

I can see it being read either way tbh but I think Slim Charles at least knew better. Most of them though simply came off as "aint this some poo poo?" a lot like a corporate raider buying a small company and announcing layoffs and downsizing.

The game is the game.

In my opinion Marlo was just giving them a story, any story that they could all pretend to believe in order to get back to business as usual as soon as possible. They probably even clocked that Cheese was the one who gave up Joe when he happily falls in with the crew that murdered his uncle, and later when Slim Charles kills Cheese and says "that was for Joe" they all seem to know what he's talking about. None of these guys are stupid. Also LOL that in the first season Avon's original bounty on Omar was $2K and by the end it's $250K.

Jerusalem posted:

Also wrote and directed a little movie called Spotlight!

Never heard of it.

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.

CharlestheHammer posted:

I mean yeah like I said a personal failing. I get it wouldn’t make for good TV if it was just soul crushing despair but that’s kind something Wire fans like to present the show as. A show that tells it like it is. Which I don’t really think is true, it deals with the issues in a very surface level way.

Which I don’t actually have a problem with, as no TV show really did that at the time. So while it defintely is pretty pro cop it is still a significant departure from its contemporaries.

I guess it’s more a thing of fans overhyping a show they love

The show doesn't portray the kids not getting out as a "personal failing", that is a truly bizarre reading. If anything the entire point of the kid's season was to show how these kids are sent on a path to destruction basically from birth. The Wee-Beys of the world are a product of their environment. Randy gets beaten up, given up by his foster mom because they firebombed his house, and is thrown into the system and forever labeled a snitch, all because an adult authority figure intimidated him (a child!) into telling on someone else.

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.

Ainsley McTree posted:

Is that what happened? I assumed she died, but now that you mention it I don't remember specifically.

I believe she was seriously injured but can't remember anything about her dying. "Given up" might not have been totally accurate but a year later he's still in the group home.

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.

CharlestheHammer posted:

It’s not a bizarre reading, it’s what happened. Duckies was given an out he rejected. So did Michael. This isn’t open to interpretation it’s what happened. Those two have the strongest arcs and are the main focus of the boys

Yes, this is what happened, but the show never portrays these as failings on the part of the kids. You seem to be caught up in the same kind of thinking that you're accusing the show of, blaming the kids for making the wrong choices with no understanding whatsoever of how or why they might make those choices. The entire story of the kids is there as a repudiation to the idea that people on the bottom rungs of society should simply "make better choices".

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.

CBJSprague24 posted:

Cross-posting from the couch chat thread and based upon the opinion of posters there, I've been skipping through all of the Newsroom scenes since episode 2.

LOL this is really silly, who would do this?

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.
The newspaper stuff still has its good moments including a couple with Jimmy. Plus just watch them, it's only a portion of a shortened season and it's what the creators intended. If you're that pressed for time you probably shouldn't be watching five seasons of a 20 year old TV show in the first place.

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.
One of my favorite little moments that I haven't seen mentioned much is in season 5 when Bunk brings Lester is to talk some sense into McNulty and instead Lester instantly jumps on board and starts to scheme with Jimmy and Bunk just can't believe it.

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.
Resurrecting this thread for a really dumb reason.

When White Mike is being interrogated he asks Kima and McNulty for "two hot dogs and a strawberry soda". This always stuck with me for some reason, well tonight I'm listening to Johnny Guitar Watson's 1977 funk song a "A Real Mother For Ya" and towards the end he ad libs "I better stop and get me two hot dogs and a strawberry soda". So that's where that bizarre order comes from. Who knew.

Human Tornada fucked around with this message at 04:45 on Jan 27, 2022

Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.
I liked the irony that Marlo's single-minded focus on wearing the crown actually hurt his legacy in the end. In his last scene he asks "do you know who I am?" to a couple of guys telling tall tales about Omar. Joe, Avon, and Omar's names probably all live on as legend because they had actual human personalities as opposed to Marlo's Capitalism-Bot 3000.

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Human Tornada
Mar 4, 2005

I been wantin to see a honkey dance.
The serial killer and journalism plots really aren't that bad and both have some classic scenes (the FBI profile of McNutty, for one). The biggest issue is they feel rushed because of the reduced episode order but sometimes you have to play the hand you're dealt. That and some people really hate the idea of a Mary Sue character but IMO Clark Johnson is still fun to watch.

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