Ramblings about cops and robbers

[mrph]

I may be a little bit addicted to The Wire.

Having heard a lot of hype about it over the last few years, but taken the view that 'nah - I don't really watch cop shows', I finally started watching it three or four weeks back.

Just finished season two - which was as good as the first one, and also had the benefit of a Tom Waits theme tune.

I'm trying to work out why I like it so much. It's beautifully plotted, for a start, and it holds up to rewatching. But I think it might just be the fact that characters change - or try (but fail) to change.

Season one, for those who haven't seen it, revolves around an investigation into Baltimore drug lord Avon Barksdale.

The police and the dealers get roughly equal screen time, and on the Barksdale side, the focus is generally on Avon's nephew D'Angelo - great performance, and a good example of a character who slowly changes...

I think that's why it works for me. Season two? That's a different animal, and harder to discuss without spoilers - I think I was more hooked by the police and the plot that time...

(Incidentally, for anyone who's read Garth Ennis's Punisher MAX comics, I think it's fairly likely that one character was inspired by The Greek...)

Comments

[redandfiery.livejournal.com]

I love it, too - I've watched all of Season 1, and have Season 2 lurking in my V+ box.

My personal favourite from Season 1 is the epi where McNulty and sidekick are reworking a botched crime scene investigation, and they communicate comprehensibly for an entire 10 minutes with nothing but variations of the word "fuck" and changes in tone of voice. I laughed like a drain. Mag-NI-ficent!

[mrph.livejournal.com]

Yep. It reminded me of Four Weddings, in an odd sort of way - and it worked so well...

[henry_the_cow]

I didn't see series one but I'm watching series two (via the V+ box). The characters are well drawn and the plot is reasonably involving, but the pacing is very slow. Like many USA TV series, it also suffers from too many characters, so every episode you tend to get 5 minutes about each character rather than a more immersive experience. (It's not nearly as bad as Heroes or Desperate Housewives in that regard, but there this trend definitely exists in the HBO-style drama series.

[jorune.livejournal.com]

One of the writers behind the Wire is David Simon. In 1991 he wrote a book called "Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets". From 1993-1997 he was a writer on the TV show 'Homicide: Life on the Streets' which is set in Baltimore. Homicide is the Wire's older brother.

While I prefer Homicide to the Wire if you like one you'll probably like the other.

[mimmimmim.livejournal.com]

I love the Wire. I was quite shocked at what happened to D'Angelo (won't spoil it for any people reading, but it certainly wasn't what I expected).

My favourite bit has to be Omar's court scene, where a lawyer is asking him, incredulously, if he really takes money from drug dealers, and Omar points out that the lawyer does exactly the same thing.

[mrph.livejournal.com]

Yes on both counts. That's really not where I saw D'Angelo's personal arc going.

I do like Omar - the suit he wore in court was also quite something...

[erlf.livejournal.com]

My brother bought series 1 & 2, with a note saying that the first hit was free. He was not wrong!
Just finished season 3, and loved it.