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THE WIRE - Some questions (S1 spoilers)

post #1 of 27
9/19/05 at 11:32am
Thread Starter 
1- I have heard the expression "Novel for TV" used to describe this series, does that mean the entire season is planned out before it starts?

2- In season 1, I understand that the judge stopped championing McNulty at some point because it was costing him some election. My question is, did he start helping him for political reasons as well or did he actually believe in the cause?

3- Any news of Season 3 on DVD?

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H
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post #2 of 27
9/19/05 at 6:26pm
Thread Starter 
And also:

4- What makes Barksdale the man? Why doesn't a sharp and much more charismatic mofo like Stringer Bell take over the operation?

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H
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post #3 of 27
9/19/05 at 8:51pm
4- What makes Barksdale the man? Why doesn't a sharp and much more charismatic mofo like Stringer Bell take over the operation?


It's the old story of 'book smart' vs. 'street smart'. But, really, you should put that question aside for now, and save it for Season 3. It's very hard to discuss it without leading you into spoiler territory.
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post #4 of 27
9/20/05 at 9:35am
Thread Starter 
I see. I kinda run into a S3 spoiler from reading around on Idris Elba.

Man, the biggest shocker was learning that this dude is british! .

I hope his career takes off some day in a big way.

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H
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post #5 of 27
9/20/05 at 10:58am
I do think that this a novel of pictures. I haven't seen S3 yet, so I won't spoil you by saying anything.

As far as the judge goes, he does withdraw some support to McNulty because of political pressure. He was left off of an election flyer. Of course, it turned out to be an 'administrative oversight'.

But that plot point ends up helping McNulty and crew a tremendous amount by reformulating their position.

As far as why Avon, I can only refer you to my favorite speech of the series: (and quite possibily one of the most brilliant moments in HBO history!)
Quote:
"The King stays the King.
- D'Angelo in episode 3 of Season 1 "the buys".

I loved watching S1 and S2 of The wire on DVD. Can't wait for S3 to come out!

cheers, Michael
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post #6 of 27
9/20/05 at 1:38pm
Thread Starter 
You're right , the chess lesson was one excellent moment, right up there with:

- The raid.

- Omar's whistling, trench coat and shotgun walk into the pit, with every hood rat scattering on his path.

- The expletive investigation.

- "Are we still cops?"

- Officer down.

- "Where don't you want to go?"

And many others.

About book vs street smarts, it's apparent that Stringer Bell has both in spades. I guess I'll just have to be patient .

Please note that I only watched 2 eps in S2.

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H
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post #7 of 27
9/20/05 at 1:46pm
Quote:
I have heard the expression "Novel for TV" used to describe this series, does that mean the entire season is planned out before it starts?
Yes. It also means that episodes never have self-contained arcs that resolve within the hour. They're like chapters of a novel, advancing various plotlines forward, with shifting emphasis from chapter to chapter.

Quote:
What makes Barksdale the man?
As noted, he has dead-on instincts. And he's sharp enough to remain not only under the radar but almost entirely off it. Have you gotten to the part of season 1 where they try to find his picture?

When you get to season 2, you'll watch Avon engineer something that will show you just how smart (and ruthless) he really is.

Quote:
Why doesn't a sharp and much more charismatic mofo like Stringer Bell take over the operation?
What makes you think he won't try?

Quote:
My question is, did he start helping him for political reasons as well or did he actually believe in the cause?
A little of the latter, but mostly because he got furious after watching a witness change her story after being coerced. That's a direct invasion of his turf. (As a general rule, judges hate it when witnesses lie.)

M.
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post #8 of 27
9/20/05 at 2:49pm
My second favorite scene of the series (although not nearly as good as the Chess analogy) is from season 1. McNulty and Buck are trying to piece together a 6 month old crime scene (the tap tap tap murder)

All they say to each other the entire time is " Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
FUCK
" over and over, as the put the pieces together. " Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
Fuck, Fuck, Fuck! Oh FUCK!
" I don't generally like profanity but that scene is just priceless and captures both characters so well and their friendship. It's about as far from Law & Order as you can get, but still amazingly good police work.

But still, the best of the series has to be "the king is the king".

Can't wait for S3 to come out!

- cheers, Michael
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post #9 of 27
9/20/05 at 5:24pm
I hope that HBO doesn't make us wait until next year for the release of season three. I'm really jonesin' for an all day "The Wire" marathon.
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post #10 of 27
9/21/05 at 2:08pm
Just my $.02, but The Wire is the best drama on TV, at least when it's on. With that said, season 3 will probably hit once the air date for 4 is established. I could have sworn I read they were filming over the summer. If that's the case, they may put it on once Rome is done in November and prior to the Sopranos return in the spring. Or just wait until Sopranos is over. HBO.com has a pretty good message board for the show, and the writers, especially David Simon, show up quite a bit. Beware the S3 spoilers though.
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post #11 of 27
9/21/05 at 8:32pm
Does anybody know who will be doing the theme song this time for season 4? I also can't wait for S3 to come out! Damn, I love this show.
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post #12 of 27
9/22/05 at 10:04am
Season 4 began filming on August 1st. My bet is that season 4 will come on right after the first of the year and wrap up right before the sopranos and deadwood come back.

I don't know for sure that deadwood and sopranos will air around the same time, but that sure would be a great way to spend your Sunday night.
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post #13 of 27
9/30/05 at 6:55am
Thread Starter 
I must apologize for having dissapeared from this thread for so long, that is rude to those who took the time to answer my questions.

I started several responses that I never did finish, and therefore never sent. As I watch the show, I keep revising my thoughts and characters and situations.

In any case, just a heads up, I watched episode 3x11, second to last of Season 3. The rooftop scene and the conclusion of the episode was some sad stuff.

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H
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post #14 of 27
9/30/05 at 8:18am
I just pray they get S3 out before S4 starts. I never watched it in broadcast, but got hooked and spoiled by the relatively close release of S1 and S2. And it look slike I just missed it recently in replay.
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post #15 of 27
9/30/05 at 9:59am
Thread Starter 
Well, this is the first show that has prompted me to go through alternative routes to acquire yet to be released seasons (a habit which I have since extended to Deadwood S2 and 24 S4...)

At the end of S2, althought I prefered S1 (and subsequently S3), I was so thoroughly engrossed in that universe that there was no way I could wait for S3 to be released god only knows when.

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H
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post #16 of 27
9/30/05 at 10:23am
Quote:
At the end of S2, althought I prefered S1 (and subsequently S3)
I had the same order of preference, until I watched season 2 a second time. Every season of The Wire has been excellent, but season 2 was notable for branching out beyond the world of law enforcement and offering an incisive portrait of the decline of the American city as a center of industry. It's the essential social underpinning for the meditations on the drug war that dominate season 1 and 3.

I was aware of these layers when I first watched season 2, but I was too busy sorting out the plotlines to focus on them. Knowing how the story plays out the second time around, I was able to pay more attention to the details of the union and its members and on Frank Sobotka's destruction of what he loved best through the best of intentions. At the end, when I got to the scene of Nick walking down the road and pausing to look through the fence, that montage of blighted facilities hit me like a sledgehammer.

M.
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post #17 of 27
5/21/08 at 8:37pm

Re: THE WIRE - Some questions (S1 spoilers)

Boy am I late to the party -- again!

Just as I only discovered Homicide: Life On The Street on DVD, so it goes with The Wire -- I've only just reached Kima's shooting, so that's nearly the end of S1.

Reading the comments above about Barksdale vis-a-vis Stringer, after Omar's attempted hit on Avon and Stringer's comment about building a wall around Avon, it was pretty obvious to me that in future Bell might try a coup against Avon. That is after all the way of the underworld, is it not?

I really look forward to getting further into this. So many DVDs, so little time...
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post #18 of 27
5/21/08 at 11:32pm

Re: THE WIRE - Some questions (S1 spoilers)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Yee-Ming
Boy am I late to the party -- again!
So was I. I caught up with the first four years before S5 ran in the winter. I can say that The Wire is one of the best TV shows that I've ever seen. Enjoy!
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post #19 of 27
5/22/08 at 3:26am

Re: THE WIRE - Some questions (S1 spoilers)

The Wire is the best TV show ever made. I saw S1 in November last year. I started S2 in February and just went straight through all the way to the end, finishing about a week ago. I had downloaded the show (no other way to check it out) but since I finished, in the last two weeks I have bought seasons 1, 2 and 4, and will be picking up S3 later today, then patiently waiting until August for S5, which I'll be getting on release day if I can.

Twin Peaks was my favourite TV show of all time. The Wire has replaced it. Just a flat out astonishing show on so many levels. The fact it was ignored by the public at large and the Emmy idiots is far more an indictment of them than the show.

And yes, I was shocked to learn Idris was a Brit. I knew McNulty and Carcetti are played by Brits (or Irish in the case of Carcetti) but was amazed to learn Stringer was a Brit!

I always loved the line about the war on drugs in the first episode and Carver say it's not a war. When asked why he says "wars end".

If this show was a woman, I'd marry it. Hell, if it was a man I'd turn gay and marry it!
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post #20 of 27
5/22/08 at 6:46am

Re: THE WIRE - Some questions (S1 spoilers)

wait till you see Carcetti in the original version of Queer As Folk.
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post #21 of 27
5/22/08 at 7:33am

Re: THE WIRE - Some questions (S1 spoilers)

I look forward to a full series box set of The Wire, hopefully by the end of this year. This show and these characters were so remarkably rendered by great novelists, it will bear repeated viewing for years to come.
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post #22 of 27
5/22/08 at 9:25am

Re: THE WIRE - Some questions (S1 spoilers)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hollywoodaholic
I look forward to a full series box set of The Wire, hopefully by the end of this year.

I'll be shocked if it comes out this year. Season 5 doesn't street until mid August. They won't rush out a complete series so soon.

I'd guess Sopranos gets the nod this year. Then next year we might get The Wire (or maybe Deadwood first).
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post #23 of 27
5/22/08 at 10:32am

Re: THE WIRE - Some questions (S1 spoilers)

Quote:
Originally Posted by David Levine
I'll be shocked if it comes out this year. Season 5 doesn't street until mid August. They won't rush out a complete series so soon.

I'd guess Sopranos gets the nod this year. Then next year we might get The Wire (or maybe Deadwood first).

That makes sense. For some reason I thought season 5 was out already (I've seen the newspaper-themed cover). But I'll be happy to go with that Sopranos box set if it comes and wait for The Wire for next year.
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post #24 of 27
5/22/08 at 11:28am

Re: THE WIRE - Some questions (S1 spoilers)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Corey3rd
wait till you see Carcetti in the original version of Queer As Folk.

Saw it years ago Though it was only recently I made the connection that Aidan was the same guy. (I'd only ever seen him in "Shanghai Knights" other than that.) Though I really don't remember much about that show. (I watched it on Showcase up here in Canada when they first aired it... Man, that was a long time ago.)

I love the way The Wire doesn't even try to be accessible for folk who want to watch a random episode. More TV needs to do that. I mean Babylon 5 was billed as a novel for TV, and JMS did have the entire thing mapped out, but you could watch individual episodes. There may be arc stuff in it, but a newbie could sit down and watch a random episode and still get a whole story.

I think with The Wire, if you don't watch from season 1, episode 1, you're by and large screwed. You can probably pick it up, but you don't get the character development and miss out on a lot.

I am writing this on a laptop that, when I installed XP two weeks ago, I named McNulty
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post #25 of 27
5/23/08 at 2:46pm

Re: THE WIRE - Some questions (S1 spoilers)

I have watched every season as they were aired on HBO and have always thought it was one of the best series on TV. Now that my fave shows have had their season finales I plan to start re-watching The Wire from the beginning of Season 1. I am really looking forward to watching it again. I have almost forgotten some of the storylines in Season 1.
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post #26 of 27
5/24/08 at 9:11pm

Re: THE WIRE - Some questions (S1 spoilers)

Despite only seeing S1 for the first time late last year, I'm going to start through again as well. Knowing how the story plays out now will make it even more interesting. There's a particular scene in the series finale that I will enjoy a LOT more second time around knowing it won't lead where I thought it would.

Gonna be weird going all the way back to the beginning and actually KNOWING all the characters names from the start.

BTW, theme music: Loved the gimmick of same song, different artists, but I gotta say I only liked S1 and S5. 2-4 sucked to varying degrees. (Pains me to criticize Tom Waits, but oh well.) In fact I was kinda miffed that the CD they put out of the music DIDN'T have the Steve Earle version on it.
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post #27 of 27
6/25/08 at 7:38am

Re: THE WIRE - Some questions (S1 spoilers)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hollywoodaholic
I look forward to a full series box set of The Wire, hopefully by the end of this year. This show and these characters were so remarkably rendered by great novelists, it will bear repeated viewing for years to come.

Hey, some hopes do come true ...

The Wire DVD news: Plans Announced for The Wire - The Complete Series | TVShowsOnDVD.com
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