The Wire - Season Five

[jebreject]

Yeah, but I mean, when you're all manic-y and obsessive like this, I don't think you really have time to think shit through as well as you might normally.

[girl]

Ok for McNulty, but Lester?! (after living with the new episodes for a little while, I do like them better than I did at first, but this plot still isn't quite working. And unlike the unlikely Hamsterdam plot, there's no Avon/Stringer plot in this season to make up for it.)

[nonotyet]

UPDATE

Discs 2 and 3 of The Wire Season 4 have been upgraded from "Very Long Wait" to "Short Wait" on Netflix

after a mere three months of being on the fucking list

and I hate everything

[elpollodiablo]

UPDATE

Netflix is gimp as hell

It is a service of chumps

[nonotyet]

I am beginning to slowly realize this, but I also don't really see an alternative.

[Andrew_TSKS]

Dude, that's not what happened: Marlo claimed it was Omar.  He only took responsibility in so far as it's his fault that Omar's back

Wait, really? I watched that episode twice and that's not what I got at all. Will rewatch though.

i might be way behind in saying this, but: it took me until one of the other co-op members asked omar if he shot joe and omar looked at him like he was crazy before i figured out what marlo had actually meant at the co-op meeting. so yeah, blucas is right, but it wasn't all that clear to me either at first.

[Andrew_TSKS]

Yeah, that's all pretty much right I guess. I just like the idea of the fucking worst person being the one that comes out on top. What I kinda see happening wrt the co-op is Marlo taking them out before they really can become a threat to him, but with only three episodes left, the likelihood of that is questionable. Basically the thing that I am most sure of is that ultimately the co-op will fail--whether they get Marlo or Marlo gets them--and that the drug trade is gonna go back to how it was before the co-op existed.

marlo has all but dissolved the co-op at this point anyway: cancelling monthly meetings and telling people to either deal with their problems or shut up about them. there's no longer a diplomatic solution available for the members, so things are gonna get taken to the streets, which will increase crime and murders. this is going to  get them rained on in a big way; the heat on the streets is gonna go way up. after all, the connect was only part of the reason joe had a co-op going; the other part was to make sure that disputes got handled peacefully as often as possible, because street crime is bad for business. marlo has no fucking clue what he's doing, and the percentage in taking him out is far greater than the percentage in letting him stick around, where the co-op is concerned. no, his days are numbered; the question is just whether it'll be the cops or the street criminals who will get to him first.

which, by the way, reminds me of fritz lang's "m". coincidentally (or maybe not), i noticed what was either a weird echo of that movie or a deliberate homage, in episode 7 (i think) where both the newspaper people and the cops were plotting on ways to deal with the serial killer situation, and the scene kept cutting back and forth between the two. i might be wrong, but i can't imagine that the resemblance was coincidental.

[Andrew_TSKS]

Ok for McNulty, but Lester?! (after living with the new episodes for a little while, I do like them better than I did at first, but this plot still isn't quite working. And unlike the unlikely Hamsterdam plot, there's no Avon/Stringer plot in this season to make up for it.)

i don't think the plot is weak, i just think that characters we've come to see as righteous and strong are being weak and fallible in this season. we're seeing mcnulty come apart again, and unlike in season 3, it's really taking a much harsher toll on him than it did before. obviously he should never have gone back to being a detective--he can't handle it. freamon has pushed his legal options before as a detective, which is how he ended up in a position to meet the rest of the unit in the first place. he too may have been a fool to go back to the serious work, as he is again being tempted by his weaker/more venal nature. etc etc, and if you can accept seeing the characters degenerate like this, without losing the ability to suspend disbelief, i think the plot is acceptable and good. but a) the characters have been built up as stronger than this, and while i suppose simon's point to some extent is that they're all human and had the potential to crumble this way all along, it's hard to accept because they've been portrayed as otherwise before now, and b) it fucking hurts me to see these characters that i've come to care about being dragged down into the shit, and what appears to be permanently. i'm assuming it hurts you guys too.

by the way, i've been assuming all along that this thread wasn't a spoiler-tag thread, and therefore avoided it until i could see episode 7. i don't know if i should go back and white alla this out now or not. sorry about that if i've made it a pain in the ass for anyone.

EDIT: triple post of power

[jebreject]

UPDATE

Discs 2 and 3 of The Wire Season 4 have been upgraded from "Very Long Wait" to "Short Wait" on Netflix

after a mere three months of being on the fucking list

and I hate everything

Go to Riverwest Film & Video FFS

[girl]

Has anyone posted a link to this blog? It's a writer who's watching this season of The Wire with some real "thugs" to get their reactions and predictions. This is the first entry, but there's one for every episode so far.
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/09/what-do-real-thugs-think-of-the-wire/

[Andrew_TSKS]

haha. i like that they're only up to episode four and they've already predicted that prop joe had a leak inside the cops. of course, i think they're crazy to think bunk is crooked.

[girl]

I also really loved their reaction to Butchie.

[heather marie]

HOLY FUCK I AM ALL CAUGHT UP

Also, just so it's clear, I have the hots for Carver. MORE CARV PLZ.

[elpollodiablo]

I have the hots for Wee Bey

MORE BEY PLEASE

[heather marie]

Seriously, though, I can't even wrap my head around all the shit that's going on in this season. You guys all said it better than me but fuck. I guess it was too good to be true to imagine McNulty on some righteous path, being a good dad and a sober boyfriend and a normal dude. I had some hopes for him but ultimately knew they'd be crushed. I'm kinda into this newspaper shit, though. MORE STEVE EARLE, TOO

[elpollodiablo]

Did you guys know that Norris, one of the ancillary homicide detectives, is a former commissioner of the Baltimore police dept? I always thought that guy was some character actor! He's pretty good.

Also: has there been any speculation as to who the leak at the courthouse is? I'm thinking Phelan, but that might simply be because he's one of the few faces we know there. Maybe someone from Demper's crew?

[Andrew_TSKS]

Did you guys know that Norris, one of the ancillary homicide detectives, is a former commissioner of the Baltimore police dept? I always thought that guy was some character actor! He's pretty good.

hah, i just looked up this guy's wikipedia entry and it blew my mind. that's an awesome discovery there, pollo.

[elpollodiablo]

Haha, also the host of 'The Ed Norris Show'

[hannah]

Oo, another fun fact (quoted from the House Next Door) -- spoiler for episode seven --

"The lawyer representing Clay Davis, Billy Murphy, is a real-life defense attorney, one of the city’s finest, as well as a member of the city’s black aristocracy (his great-grandfather founded the Baltimore Afro-American, a legendary black newspaper that’s popped up in the background on The Wire once or twice). In the biography on his website, Murphy describes a philosophy that leaves no doubt as to why he was Clay Davis’ first choice: 'I look at it this way -- a trial lawyer who isn’t able to use the full spectrum of techniques has arbitrarily limited himself. If a trial judge pushes you, you’ve got to push back. I used to say that my client is a child of God and everybody else is a son of a bitch.' "

[hannah]

For anyone who likes to read post-episode commentary, I think Alan Sepinwall does the best of the bunch -- nothing flashy, some recapping, but mostly just thoughtful and intelligent: http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Wire%20Season%205

[dieblucasdie]

godDAMN it I spoiled myself again trying to see if Ep 8 was out yet.  On like, something way bigger this time.

(The last time, btw, it was because some asshole posted a giant screencap of Omar killing Savino).

But yeah, it's out on On Demand; I bet we see it online later today.

[YojimboMonkey]

comeoncomeoncomeoncomeoncomeON

[dieblucasdie]

it appears to be up at mininova

[dieblucasdie]

Yeeeeeah it's real

[Andrew_TSKS]

ok, time to quit reading this thread again, at least for a few days. maybe i'll call brandon and see if he wants to watch this on wednesday.