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...