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The Wire Series 4 (no longer spoiler free)

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    The Wire Series 4 (no longer spoiler free)

    A posh racist lovely small rural town, with a well-known girls boarding school.

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      The Wire Series 4 (no longer spoiler free)

      Well, Boys Village in Cheltenham, Maryland is also a well-known boarding school, of sorts.

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        The Wire Series 4 (no longer spoiler free)

        EPISODE 11, 'A NEW DAY'
        I watched this a few days ago and can't remember much of it now. The main memory that will stay with me, oddly, is Omar handing the bog roll to Renaldo while they're on stakeout.

        Oh, and Freamon dramatically saying "This is a tomb!" His bit of detective work leading to that discovery was another one of those set-pieces (see also Kima with the broken bottles in the alleyway a few episodes back) intended to show us that some of these characters are 'good poh-leece'.

        And I could have sworn Michael was gonna become a cop killer there, not just a paint-splatterer. And, with deliberate symmetry...

        EPISODE 12, 'THAT'S GOT HIS OWN'
        One of the best opening sequences ever, even if it's a gag they can only get away with once. When Chris and Snoop were stalking Michael around the derelict warehouse, it looked like an exact re-enactment of Stringer's death... until it turns out to be a paintballing exercise.

        I suppose I should have guessed when he ran out of places to run, and just gave an 'aw shit' kind of shrug rather than looking terrified for his life...

        You know I mentioned the little visual touches before? Loads of them here. Like the black Santa face on Bubbles' trolley, and DeLonda's pink Christmas tree. (Of course DeLonda is gonna have a pink Christmas tree.)

        You know the scene where we see the back of DeLonda's head as she's giving Namond a talking to? Tell you what it reminded me of: the first time we meet Marcellus Wallace in Pulp Fiction, and we just see the back of his Elastoplasted scalp. Possibly unintentional.

        The storyline with Sherrod taking the vial of poison was a bit too telegraphed, I felt. As soon as Bubbles mixed the powders, I saw it coming a mile away. (When did they become 'vials', by the way? I'm sure they were 'phials' when I was a kid.)

        I like the way they've got Carcetti's hair going grey after, what, three episodes of being mayor and having to eat various shitbowls. I'm still a bit bored by the political machinations, though. The Wire is basically 50% Glengarry Glen Ross and 50% Clockers, and I prefer the Clockers parts. Call me childish, but I prefer drug running and gunplay to committees.

        By the way, Carcetti's posturing when Rawls told him the deal about the bodies was hilarious, simultaneously affecting to take the moral high ground ("There are bodies in there, they need to come out!"), acting outraged by the very suggestion that it might be politically expedient to get a move on, but making sure to instruct Rawls to "get it done by January".

        Vaguely gratifying, in this episode and the last, to see Herc getting his comeuppance due to the stop-and-search and the lost camera, just when he thought he was in the clear cos Marimow's out of the picture.

        Prop Joe always has the best music playing in his 'office', doesn't he?

        Anyone know what all that 'gump' business was about? Lost me, there.

        Some classic dialogue...

        Method Man, with fake 'real' teeth hiding his fake gold ones, telling Prop Joe "He had this one ho pulling guns out her pussy. That shit was unseemly."

        Bunk describing Landsman, accurately, as a "John Goodman off his diet looking motherfucker".

        Some random ne'erdowells heckling Cutty with "Go ahead, Montel."

        ...not to mention DeLonda's real reply when Carver phoned.

        Strange little moment near the very end, with Michael - once again, putting up a harsh front to his would-be mentor Cutty in front of his gang - nevertheless saying "I'll hang here for the ambo, alright?" when Cutty's on the ground with two bullets in his leg.

        Oh, and a great ending too, with Randy's reproachful words to Carver as he leaves the hospital burns unit. "You'll watch out for me, won't you, Detective Carver? You've got my back, right?"

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          The Wire Series 4 (no longer spoiler free)

          Tough crowd.

          Oh well, I'll be watching the series 4 finale tonight, and doubtless howling into the void about that as well.

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            The Wire Series 4 (no longer spoiler free)

            OK since you asked...

            SR I've enjoyed your discovery of the show immensely, almost more than watching it again myself, (since it's so painful to watch it again, knowing what's going to happen to some of the characters. I'm not usually that bothered about spoilers, but this is oetihng different, it's not the story that gets spoiled, it's the characters, the people.)

            I don't agree with you about Carcetti. I love the Glengarry Glen Ross stuff but I also think it makes the drug stuff more interesting -this is about life under late capitalism. Everyone's trying to survive. And nobody lasts for long- except Omar.

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              The Wire Series 4 (no longer spoiler free)

              Sorry SR, I've gotten onto a Honduran team and practice was the past 2 nights. That and I actually have students to teach in my summer program, whereas before I was getting paid for going on otf.

              Freamon discovering the "tombs" was my last favorite scene of season 4 (even if Randy's comments to Carver was the most crushing.) Again, it was the series' filmmaking at it's finest. Funny how two of the greatest scenes of season 4 had about 3 lines of dialouge between them (Michael coming to Marlo and Freamon looking around.) Then again, great filmmaking is filmmaking and not theatre, meaning not necessarily relying on dialouge and relying on editing and camerawork and sound and performance.

              What also made the scene was Bunk's reactions to Freamon as he realized this intelligent maniac was about to uncover something unimaginable. The "Fuck Me" at the end is something I find myself saying (meaining I say it in the same cadence and delivery.)

              When I went to a job interview in Balitmore, there were vacants right across the street. As I said to another applicant, if I see a boy with "Country" clothes on and a small girl carrying around a nail gun I'm outta there.

              Now you can officially check out the "Believe" campaign on wikipedia. The final act of arson in episode 12 represented what happened in East Balitmore, when the home of a neighborhood anti-drug activist was firebombed, killing herself and her entire family of 7. The reaction was an abstract campaign called "Believe", which was obviously to Believe in a City Where This Shit Doesn't Happen.

              The funny thing about Cutty nearly being a mentor touches on the greatest aspect of The Wire for mrs. v, and that is mentorship. Herc could've actually have been a great police officer like Carver. Only one had bad mentors (Herc having Valchek and Mayor Royce,) while one had a good one (Carver having Bunny.) As much of a bastard Herc was, it could've been solved with having a good mentor to help him. Seeing his last bit of dignity and honor, taking the blame for everything, and seeing him at the end of series 1, proves that he has the capability to be great. However, it's his capability to be a shitbag that undoes him, and what is brought out by his bad mentors.

              The battle for Michael's soul was fought on 3 fronts, with Marlo-Prez-Cutty all making a claim. The problem is Prez and Cutty didn't have enough experience or practice, while Marlo had plenty. Marlo is more established than the establishment.

              The mentorship aspect really gets cranked up in season 5.

              The most significant aspect for Randy was the title of one of the episodes, and that's "Margin of Error." He is like any 7th grader anywhere in the country. He gets into trouble, and tells on someone. Only in this world, making an error has repurcussions that are unthinkable. In any other world, he'd get beat up, or cast out of one group of friends and right into another. Here, his house gets firebombed and he's sent to hell.

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                The Wire Series 4 (no longer spoiler free)

                Yeah, Sepinwall's blog makes an excellenty point about all the little events that lead to Randy's downfall:

                To repeat a point I made in my review of "Unto Others," it's just staggering the number of inadvertent things that had to happen to put Randy in his current predicament: He had to be out in the hallway when the two boys needed a lookout for their blow job party. The boys had to be so cold to the girl the next day that she called the cops. Prez had to take Randy's problem to Daniels instead of Lester. Carver had to feel guilty for having outgrown Herc, instead of just calling Bunk directly. Omar had to call in his chit with Bunk and Bunk had to piss Crutchfield off enough that Crutch threw out Carver's eventual phone message. Prop Joe had to tell Marlo to steal Herc's camera. Herc had to frustrate Sydnor so much that Sydnor walked out of the Little Kevin interrogation before Herc gave away Randy's identity. Bodie had to convince Little Kevin to come clean to Marlo. And Snoop had to speak up to convince Marlo to reverse his decision about letting Randy off clean. And, on the bitter irony scale, Randy had to be so terrified of losing Miss Anna that he turned snitch, which set off this whole Woody Woodpecker chain of events that led to him losing Misss Anna.

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                  The Wire Series 4 (no longer spoiler free)

                  The thing is, yes, a lot happened, but that's real life. The same shit happens in middle-class America, or in any thing in real life (for want of a nail and all of that.) The fact of the matter is, it's not what happens to get to the point, it's the repercussions.

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                    The Wire Series 4 (no longer spoiler free)

                    [JUST IN CASE SR HASN'T WATCHED THE FINAL EPISODE YET, SPOILER]

                    The only thing that kind of irritated me about the story was Namond turning into Oliver with Bunny Colvin in the Mr Brownlow role. I think it was maybe necessary to relieve the bleakness, but it sort of bothered me.

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                      The Wire Series 4 (no longer spoiler free)

                      jason voorhees wrote:
                      The thing is, yes, a lot happened, but that's real life. The same shit happens in middle-class America, or in any thing in real life (for want of a nail and all of that.) The fact of the matter is, it's not what happens to get to the point, it's the repercussions.
                      Oh, I don't think Sepinwall was saying that it was unrealistic, just that it shows how heartbreaking the show can be at times, and how it proves the often-quoted line "all the pieces matter".

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                        The Wire Series 4 (no longer spoiler free)

                        Episode 13 'Final Grades'
                        The film-length finale had me choked up, a manly tear misting my eye, on numerous occasions.

                        This one was all about something funny followed seconds later by something tragic. For example, Bubbles vomiting all over Landsman's shirt, then Bubbles seen swinging from the light fitting. Or Bodie doing his trademark angry spit-through-his-teeth upon his release after kicking in a police car (the idiot), only to be spotted getting into McNulty's car by one of Marlo's crew.

                        This one was also all about the repercussions of the cops failing to protect the people they'd taken under their wings: McNulty (Bodie), Herc (Bubbles), Carver (Randy), even Prez (although, as a teacher who did his best rather than a cop who didn't, he can't be held quite as responsible for Dukie ending up on the corner).

                        By the way, when I saw Bubbles sat in the interrogation room with Landsman, I thought "Of all the people to pour your heart out to", but whaddayaknow, the fat fucker unexpectedly finds a sympathetic streak and turns into Santa Claus. "D Ward at Bayview. Something with soft walls..."

                        And I'm glad I looked up Bodie's death on Wikipedia, because I swore it was Michael who shot him. Turns out it was just some minor character called O-Dogg.

                        I liked how the opening scene of S4E1, with Snoop buying the nail gun from the hardware store, turned out in the end to be a hugely significant one (due to Freamon's detective work), rather than just a bit of comedy.

                        Omar having the balls to walk right into Prop Joe's lair, unfazed by a furious Method Man, and try to sell back the drugs he'd hijacked from them was one of his best-ever moments.

                        And by the way, did y'all notice that when Marlo was relaying the news of Omar's scam to his people, he said "Prop Joe says Omar wants 30 in the dollar" (when Omar had actually settled for 20)? Cracked me up, that did. Even when the New Day Co-Op is getting screwed, Joe makes sure he gets a little something for himself out of the situation.

                        If Omar is The Wire's ultimate wily survivor, Prop Joe ain't far behind. The way he handled breaking the potentially catastrophic news to the Co-op in the first place was masterly.

                        Did we know all along that it was the Greeks who were supplying Prop with the good shit? Unless I missed it, I don't think we did, which makes the cameo appearance from Spiros in this episode a nice example of the way everything in The Wire is connected, across seasons and across social strata.

                        Marlo's like some sort of omnipotent emperor from a mediaeval fantasy film, isn't he? He never needs to spell out his instructions to have someone murdered. Just a slight significant nod to one of his minions, and it's done.

                        Nice to see Burrell fucking Rawls in the arse (and not in a way he'd enjoy). Not that I've got any particular love for Burrell either, but there are league tables of evil. Also nice to see Daniels pointedly putting Rawls in his place re. the cancellation of the Stanfield wire-tap.

                        It was pretty grim seeing Randy unable to escape the 'Snitch Bitch' tag even in his new group home, but you know what? I was glad he delivered the first punch before he went down.

                        You know the street where Dukie used to live? I know The Wire usually shoot on 'real' streets, but that one looked like a film set to me. Too perfect, too devoid of litter (apart from the pile of wreckage outside his old house). I may be wrong.

                        McNulty's reaction to losing Bodie was very telling. Bodie was the D'Angelo he thought he could save, but the saving wasn't for Bodie's sake. It was for the kick he'd get out of being able to flip a medium-ranked corner boy. Because he recovered from his grief pretty quickly, telling Beadie he'd be using it as a motivation to rejoin the Major Crimes Unit (while working up to a morning shag). It's always all about him.

                        One thing that confused me. Chris getting released on bail when he's suspected of 17 murders. Is that realistic?!

                        Colvin asking Wee-bey for custody of Namond was a bit My Fair Lady, or a bit Madonna-and-David-Banda, I thought. The closing scene with Namond looking out across a serene and orderly neighbourhood was double-edged, though. We know that he's the only exception, and none of his classmates got out alive.

                        You know what I hated in the closing montage? Cutty getting together with that absolute bitch from the hospital. She doesn't deserve him.

                        Oh, that and Paul Weller. Of all the fucking versions of "Walk On Gilded Splinters" out there, they chose that piece of shit?

                        Best dialogue:

                        Bunk: "I'm thinking about some pussy."
                        Snoop: "Me too..."

                        Comment


                          The Wire Series 4 (no longer spoiler free)

                          Did we know all along that it was the Greeks who were supplying Prop with the good shit?
                          It's made pretty clear is season two, yeah. There's that seen at the end of the series with him and Prop Joe sat on the bench for one.

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                            The Wire Series 4 (no longer spoiler free)

                            Great, great points SR. I hadn't noticed almost all of them. Great insight about McNutty, and the failure of the police.

                            My only quibbles, minor as they are, is that the streets may have been clean from Carcetti's initiative to clean the city. Also, even if the hospital lady was a b, this represented Cutty being accepted by society and being fully redeemed.

                            (to ad hoc also,) I liked Namond being accepted into Bunny's family. The first thing you learn in teaching in an urban setting is that quite often you will only be able to save 1 student. It's safe to say without Prez and Bunny, Namond would be dead.

                            I went to a lower/middle/upper middle class school, South Brunswick. A few miles away was New Brunswick, which at the time was predominately Puerto Rican and African-American.

                            We'd always make fun of it, how "ghetto" it was and how their English tests would be fill in the blanks with "C_T." Then as the years went on, you'd realize you and your friends were protected in a middle class bubble, and could rely on your parents and do nothing year after year throughout your 20s, while these kids in New Brunswick did have some students arrested for murder - but you'd go for a job application and the manager or supervisor or boss turned out to be a New Brunswick graduate. It's safe to say Namond will end up in Georgetown or Princeton, while many of his peers in rich suburbs will end up on drugs, driving their parents Mercedes to get whatever the latest heroin that Marlo is selling.

                            In Newark, NJ, they started a debate club. Because kids on the street have to think quick, they ended up as one of the best debate teams in the country.

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                              The Wire Series 4 (no longer spoiler free)

                              Yeah, that was a terrific post, SR. Agree completely about Cutty and that nurse, and the shittiness of the song.

                              Regarding the Believe campaign, it's actually more bitterly, Wire-ly tragic than JV described. I very strongly encourage everyone to read this article both for the story itself, and for the light it shines on all five seasons of The Wire:

                              http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/02/us/in-baltimore-slogan-collides-with-reality.html?pagewanted=2&pagewanted=print

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                                The Wire Series 4 (no longer spoiler free)

                                Yes I enjoyed your last post very much too. The point abut mentors failing to look after the people they are supposed to care for is really strong.

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                                  The Wire Series 4 (no longer spoiler free)

                                  Couple of mopping-up things from series 4...

                                  You know that scene where the kids are all in the Chinese takeaway and they all laugh at Dukie for ordering 'turkey grease' or something, because that's what alcoholics (i.e. his mum) use to make themselves throw up?

                                  1) does that actually happen, and 2) do Chinese restaurants in America have radically different menus from ones in Britain? Because I've never heard of 'turkey grease', or anything turkey-related in a Chinese before...

                                  Also, you know that scene in Cutty's gym where Namond provokes Michael into giving him a couple of slaps, then kind of collapses against the wall with a shocked expression and starts crying? I never understood that reaction. It's not like he was beaten badly, and it's not like he can be surprised that Michael took the bait.

                                  Also, what was all that 'gump' business?

                                  Comment


                                    The Wire Series 4 (no longer spoiler free)

                                    Never heard of the turkey grease thing before, nor seen a turkey dish in a Chinese restaurant.

                                    Gump is apparently a Baltimore slang pejorative, but I don't remember having heard it before the Wire.

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                                      The Wire Series 4 (no longer spoiler free)

                                      May be from Forest Gump, and making fun of someone being mentally-challenged.

                                      One critical thing you're missing is that Namond was picking on Dukie first.

                                      What surprises Namond is that Dukie was the established punching bag, and that Michael stands up for him. So not only is their crew changed forever, but the inevitable has happened. (It's like knowing that things are coming to a slow death, and having it actually happen.)

                                      Yes, Namond provokes him, but it shows how utterly incapable he is of the smallest challenge or fisticuffs. Just like the star gridiron player whose son ends up in the marching band, Wee-bay has all of the warrior genes and Namond has none. It's also Namond coming to a final realization that he will never live up to his father's rep, or will ever be respected in this world, and it's the moment of a sort of death for him.

                                      The entire series is him being given every chance to succeed, and failing every test. This is the final test, the fact that he can't even be respected by his friends.

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