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The Wire Series 1

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    The Wire Series 1

    So, I've been watching this on BBC2 and it is everything, everything good that people have said about it.

    I never got into the Sopranos. Gave it the first three episodes and my wick remained unlit. Watched the first episode of The Wire ("you need to be patient with it", they said) and within two minutes I was certain this was the best thing I've ever seen.

    Episode 11 of series 1 has just been broadcast on BBC2. I have literally no idea how this will pan out. I can quite imagine they will let B and Stringer get away. That McNulty will get hung out to dry. They're not afraid to make difficult and bold dramatic decisions, I reckon. I mean, making D'Angelo likeable - that's a no-braniner. Making him not turn state's evidence at the end of episode 2 when the janitor gets whacked? That's bolder. Making Stringer Bell so damn likeable? That's class. Stringer? He's stepped straight out of Julius Caesar or something. A truly great character.

    ***
    SPOILER
    ****

    It was clear that Greggs was about to get shot. They practically put a red Star Trek top on her once they got her to give her homily about the day she felt pride in the badge. But then they don't actually kill her. Will she make it? Will she be able to testify? I thought they'd just have her get whacked. This way? So much better. Like everything else about The Wire.

    ******
    END SPOILER
    ***********

    I feel foolish and tightfisted for not having gone out and bought this stuff on DVD years ago.

    ******
    POSSIBLE SPOILER - I DUNNO
    *******

    Whatever happened to the remark about Daniels being on the take? That's a big fine house he's got there on a Lieutenant's wages. Since then, nothing. That stuff has to lead somewhere.

    ******
    END SORT OF POSSIBLE SPOILER THING
    *******

    I want to talk to someone about this shit, goddammit!

    But no spoilers. Is there a thread out there? I don't even dare search in case of stumbling across a spoiler.

    God, I feel angry that I have to wait another 23 hours to find out what happens next.

    Why can't all TV be this good?

    #2
    The Wire Series 1

    I do kind of wish that JV or GY or someone could explain to me how civic elections work in US cities. I always used to get mystified when they'd start talking about DAs and elections and shit in Hill Street Blues. It's clearly important here, what with the sympathetic judge having

    ********
    SPOILER
    *******

    just washed his hands of McNulty and Daniels now his name is on some election ticket or other.

    ********
    END
    *********

    Who gets elected? How? And to what?

    I'm confused.

    Comment


      #3
      The Wire Series 1

      Sepinwall writes about The Wire (Season 1)

      Purves, the above is an episode review for Season 1 Episode 1 written by an excellent TV critic, Alan Sepinwall. He wrote one for all 13 episodes of the first season. If you follow them be careful to only click on the Newbies section rather than the Veteran section.

      The marker on the sofa was one of the best scenes on TV.

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        #4
        The Wire Series 1

        It was staggering. I watched most of that episode thropugh a sort of sparkling prism of half-formed tears, what with Greggs, Wallace and then Bubbles pulling that crumpled 20 out of his pocket at the end. Amazing stuff.

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          #5
          The Wire Series 1

          PG: it varies greatly between states and cities, but I think about three quarters of states elect (at least some) judges for relatively short terms. Some have party based elections, some don't. Likewise most cities/counties elect sherriffs/police chiefs, but others don't.

          I'm not all that familiar with the DA situation, but I think almost all states elect at least the most senior prosecutor, and some elect others as well.

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            #6
            The Wire Series 1

            Ah, fantastic! A Wire thread that isn't gonna spoiler me! (I've just finished series 2, and I've got series 3 lined up on DVD.)

            I still don't think it's quite as good as The Sopranos, but it's the closest thing I've seen yet.

            I found it really hard going for the first few episodes, because of the producers' admirable-yet-frustrating refusal to use flashbacks or exposition, and their insistence on using deep ghetto slang and arcane police jargon. "For god's sake throw us a bone", as I said on Facebook at the time.

            A mate of mine (Ben Marshall, ex-Stud Brother) is obsessed with The Wire, and has driven around Baltimore with various members of the cast etc, and his advice - obvious, really - is to watch with subtitles on. But I'm reluctant to do that, because it's a barrier to really losing yourself in the 'reality' of it.

            You're right about Stringer Bell, Purv. An incredible actor, able to say so much with a slight tilt of the head and pensive look in his eyes. Not bad for a guy from Hackney with the somewhat girly name of Idris.

            Re. spoilers, I advise you against listening to the DVD commentaries until you're fully up to date. They're really interesting, of course, but in series 2 the guy who plays Character A and the guy who plays Character B spoiler something that hasn't happened yet.

            Edit: names of characters removed, since even informing you that they're still alive in series 2 is arguably a spoiler of sorts in a show with such a high body count.

            Comment


              #7
              The Wire Series 1

              I still don't get it. I expect someone to come on here in a minutes and say "It's not as good as Hamlet but it's better than Oedipus Rex".

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                #8
                The Wire Series 1

                You just don't get modern, Tubby. The Wire pisses on fucking Shakespeare, that's fo' damn sho'

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                  #9
                  The Wire Series 1

                  I started plussing this, but the fuckers are showing an episode a night. I'm never going to be able to keep up with that, so I ended up deleting it without watching it so my plus box didn't fill up.
                  What's wrong with one or two a week?

                  Comment


                    #10
                    The Wire Series 1

                    I'm jealous of people just starting the Wire. So many good times ahead.

                    What do you want to know about municipal elections, PG? They're pretty similar to ours, with the exceptions that swe don't have primaries and our judges aren't elected.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      The Wire Series 1

                      A key with the Wire is the struggle between municipal government to the county government to the state government to the federal government.

                      Re: Judges Elections - as GY said, different from state to state, town to town. You figure a bunch of states seceeded from the federal government 150+ years ago, and there's not that much difference from then and now as far as how much influence the feds have over states. It's why some states do well in a recession or depression, and others do poorly in boom times. They're pretty close to 50 different countries.

                      The Federal Government does not elect judges, they're appointed by the President. The Wire deals with city judges to state judges to federal judges and the Federal Bureau of Investigation and federal offices (as Baltimore is only an hour+ from Washington DC.) Likewise, there will be conflicts between the state government and city government.

                      However, season 3 deals with the City Council, and you'll have a pretty good idea of city politics in the East Coast or the former Union/Northern part of America (Baltimore being similar to any city from Milwaukee to St. Louis to Cleveland to Pittsburgh to Philly to NYC to any of the rust belt.) Cities are usually broken up into areas (wards, boroughs,) and each elects a representative who deals with the mayor. Some cities and municipalitites have mayors that appoint judges (and are elected on the basis of what kind of judges they appoint,) and others have elections for judges (which is quite acinine in my book, as judges make legal decisions on the basis of getting votes.)

                      Basically in season 1, Rhonda Pearlman is the state's attorney. She answers to the Governor, yet she has to play by federal rules in order to do any federal laws, and needs a city judge to work with. Some crimes are too heavy to be dealt with by municipal court, and thus she is a state attorney working in a city. Thus, she deals with drug dealing and murders. She puts together cases to be tried at the state level.

                      Not sure of what else to say.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        The Wire Series 1

                        Hobbes, the way to do it is going through a season in 12-14 hours on a Saturday. Although all of that grime and crime starts to wear on you after a while.

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                          #13
                          The Wire Series 1

                          And Simon, all of this complaining about the accents, they're almost all British actors. If they can take the time to not only understand but speak it, you can too. Break out your Wu Tang albums and reset your ears instead of listening to all that disco and glam shit.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            The Wire Series 1

                            Finally, Purves, just watch the entire first season of the Sopranos. Like the Wire, it's a complete story, so it's like tuning out of Doctor Who season 1 after episode 3. It's a 13-hour movie.

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                              #15
                              The Wire Series 1

                              Hobbes, the way to do it is going through a season in 12-14 hours on a Saturday
                              I would, but I've only just caught up Heroes, I have 1-4 Battlestar Galactica to watch, Frindge is hotting up, I have series 6 and 6a of Sopranos waiting in the wings and a fiance who thinks I watch to much telly anyway.

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                                #16
                                The Wire Series 1

                                I do modern, Liq- see my "are these passims cool?" threads.

                                The "balance of powers" angle might be what gets into it. Thanks, JV.

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                                  #17
                                  The Wire Series 1

                                  as JV once told me "It builds and builds".

                                  You've just gotta keep with it. If you aren't hooked by the time the wire is actually 'up', you probably won't want to bother with the rest.

                                  Comment


                                    #18
                                    The Wire Series 1

                                    .

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                                      #19
                                      The Wire Series 1

                                      whoahgetthefuckouttaherewithyourmotherfuckinseries 3spoilershit.

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                                        #20
                                        The Wire Series 1

                                        Hardly a spoiler to say that a celebrity has a cameo role, but fair enough, I'll delete...

                                        Comment


                                          #21
                                          The Wire Series 1

                                          tee hee hee. Course it wasn't a spoiler, you big silly.

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                                            #22
                                            The Wire Series 1

                                            Anyway, my telly is about to shoot a hot sticky wad of 1/12 all over my grateful face. Laters.

                                            Comment


                                              #23
                                              The Wire Series 1

                                              I love The Sopranos, but I must admit I think The Wire beats it hollow. I didn't know you could do what The Wire does with a TV series.

                                              It's really great to have you aboard, Purv. Her indoors'll be pleased too.

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                                                #24
                                                The Wire Series 1

                                                Re: Ep 11 "Dope On The Table"

                                                Judge Phelan doesn't want to go up against the Police Chief. He'll have a lot to answer for if he steps in the way of a major drug bust, and it's why he doesn't go up against the city power structure. It also highlights how arbitrary and senseless decision making is, as he's also showing that he doesn't answer to McNutty. He also has to answer to the Maryland Bar, which oversees all lawyers (and of which Barkdale's lawyer, Maury Levy, is a bigwig on.)

                                                The District Attorney is the prosecutor. The top DA in the USA is the Attorney General (of which Alberto Gonzales recently got indicted by Baltazar Garzon, in which case it will be the first time the US Federal Government will go up against International law.) Each state has a state AG.

                                                Each prosecuting attorney usually works at a certain level of court. Each township or municipality has a prosecutor (they're not called Attorney Generals at this low level.) They prosecute traffic offenses or certain levels of assaults (usually teenage fights.)

                                                In Maryland in The Wire, there is usually the district court and circuit court. District Court is when there is no jury. Circuit Court is where cases are argued in front of a jury.

                                                Comment


                                                  #25
                                                  The Wire Series 1

                                                  Strangely enough, Edgar Allen Poe's cousin was also named Edgar Allen Poe, and he was the Attorney General for Maryland in the early 1900s.

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