OT: Today is a hard day (I know many have been there too)

[JD1976]

Today is my first day without a new episode of “The Wire” to watch

I just finished my first binge watch and am kicking myself for waiting so long. What a damn amazing ride.

I will no longer accept an argument for any other drama to be considered “best of all time.” I know I’m not saying anything that hasn’t been said by a million others, but it is a marvel how well Simon and Burns told the various stories and explored the different institutions without having a single bad episode.

Season 2 and Season 5 are often considered the “weakest” seasons, but I don’t see it. Both were as brilliant as the others in my book.

I’m curious what other think about the following (spoilers included):

*Personal Top 5 Fav Characters

*Storyline that you wish was explored in more depth

*Underrated character

*Overrated character

*Character that you loved to hate

*Favorite Kingpin

*Character death that shocked you the most

*Character death that saddened you the most

*Character death that you enjoyed the most

I just need to Wire talk to cope with my re-watch ending

 

[wbrpanther]

Today is my first day without a new episode of “The Wire” to watch

I just finished my first binge watch and am kicking myself for waiting so long. What a damn amazing ride.

I will no longer accept an argument for any other drama to be considered “best of all time.” I know I’m not saying anything that hasn’t been said by a million others, but it is a marvel how well Simon and Burns told the various stories and explored the different institutions without having a single bad episode.

Season 2 and Season 5 are often considered the “weakest” seasons, but I don’t see it. Both were as brilliant as the others in my book.

I’m curious what other think about the following (spoilers included):

*Storyline that you wish was explored in more depth

*Underrated character

*Overrated character

*Character that you loved to hate

*Favorite Kingpin

*Character death that shocked you the most

*Character death that saddened you the most

*Character death that you enjoyed the most

I just need to Wire talk to cope with my re-watch ending

You can always start from the beginning again. I’ve done it 3 times and will go for a fourth soon.

 

[JD1976]

By the way, here are my choices

***SPOILERS INCLUDED***

*Personal Top 5 Fav Characters:

1. Bunk
2. Omar
3. Daniels
4. Stringer
5. Lester

*Storyline that you wish was explored in more depth

I would love to have been able to follow Michael’s future more. Clearly, he was shown to be on a path to become the next Omar, but he has the instincts and smarts to perhaps become the next Avon or Marlo.

*Underrated character

Lots of choices, but I always enjoyed how Sydnor went about his business. He was a character I would have liked to see more from. My main choice would have to be either Cutty or Slim Charles. Slim taking out Cheese was a fantastic moment

*Overrated character

Sorry, I know he’s a beloved character, but Bubbles’ story was stretched way too much. He was great as a CI, but trailed off for me.

*Character that you loved to hate

Definitely Rawls. What a prick, but Iooked forward to every one of his scenes. Imagine having that guy as a boss.

*Favorite Kingpin

Hard choice. I will lean with Avon. As ruthless as anyone on the show, but had a code of ethics unlike Marlo.

*Character death that shocked you the most

Omar was shocking in how it went down, but I literally jumped when Stringer was aced. Plus, when that happened it was hard to see how there was going to be a viable series after he was gone

*Character death that saddened you the most

Frank Sobotka. His character grew as the series went on and it was easy to see him as a victim by season’s end. Prop Joe a close 2nd with Bodie not far behind.

*Character death that you enjoyed the most

Cheese. Hands down.

 

[anon_4dfwm2pijbr0a]

I've watched the series 5 times. Never ever ever gets old.

 

[ratking17]

Welcome to the club.

 

[Ski11585]

So much good stuff here and I’ll respond more in depth. But I want to drop this hot take that I’ve been thinking about more abs more since my last rewatch.

Season three is overrated. I put it o my ahead of 5. Seasons 1, 2, and 4 are all better.

 

[h2p_5150]

Season 5 is fine, the whole crime plot with the homeless folks is farfetched and doesn't really seem in place with the rest of the show being a "realistic" depiction of the streets though. The newspaper characters are awful, too. They are all so one dimensional- either heroic searchers for truth or an evil boss. You can tell Simon was still personally pissed at a few guys he used to work with. The rest of season 5 is just as good as other parts of the show though

 

[Ski11585]

Season 5 is fine, the whole crime plot with the homeless folks is farfetched and doesn't really seem in place with the rest of the show being a "realistic" depiction of the streets though. The newspaper characters are awful, too. They are all so one dimensional- either heroic searchers for truth or an evil boss. You can tell Simon was still personally pissed at a few guys he used to work with. The rest of season 5 is just as good as other parts of the show though

Yeah, Simon clearly had too much baggage to treat the newspaper storyline with the same complicated nuance that he did the rest of the show.

 

[cease10]

I was into this show since its premiere in Summer 02. I remember rushing home on Sunday nights to make sure that I didn't miss it.

That annoying reporter and the homeless murder storyline in season 5 will always leave a sour taste for me.

I've learned to appreciate Season 2 over the years. I think they just needed a better transition from the projects to the docks. It just threw me off to see that the show was all of a sudden on the docks. I remember watching the Season 2 premiere and kept wondering if I was on the right channel.

 

[Cmart2004]

Season 5 is fine, the whole crime plot with the homeless folks is farfetched and doesn't really seem in place with the rest of the show being a "realistic" depiction of the streets though. The newspaper characters are awful, too. They are all so one dimensional- either heroic searchers for truth or an evil boss. You can tell Simon was still personally pissed at a few guys he used to work with. The rest of season 5 is just as good as other parts of the show though

Agree with most of this. Overall, I thought season 5 had the weakest characters and story line. But some of the best moments in Season 5 were some of the best of the entire series.

 

[Cmart2004]

Nothing much to add to the OP’s list except that Snoop was the saddest death imo. Even though she was a kind of annoying character I really liked how they wrote her last moments being complimented on her looks by a man.

How my hair look, Mike?

You look good, girl.

 

[cease10]

How my hair look, Mike?

You look good, girl.

Her's and Stringer's death will always be classics for me.

 

[HailToPitt1985]

I'm still trying to figure out how you guys have so much time to watch TV. I doubt my TV is on more than 15 minutes a day. I don't have the time but glad you guys can do it. Maybe I need to take the time to do something like that.

 

[HailtoPitt]

Bill Peduto should have used the Carcetti strategy this past primary election.

 

[Hailpitt]

Read a book on the production of the Wire. Season 1 did not have many watching the show. Show was perceived as a show for black people. Hence the season 2 storyline was designed to draw in white people to watched.

 

[bobfree]

*Personal Top 5 Fav Characters
-1. Weebay
2. Slim Charles
3. Cutty
4. Butch
5. Bunk

*Storyline that you wish was explored in more depth
- how barksdale took the towers. Maybe some flashbacks etcz

*Underrated character
-Weebay

*Overrated character
-Omar

*Character that you loved to hate
-Early on, prop Joe. Later Marlo.

*Favorite Kingpin

-EASY Avon

*Character death that shocked you the most

-Stringer

*Character death that saddened you the most
-DeAngelo

*Character death that you enjoyed the most

-Snoop


Ski!! No way season 3 was the best.

I was thinking of this the other day.

I would put
1. Season 1
2. Season 3
3. Season 4
4. Season 2
5. Season 5

 

[bobfree]

I'm still trying to figure out how you guys have so much time to watch TV. I doubt my TV is on more than 15 minutes a day. I don't have the time but glad you guys can do it. Maybe I need to take the time to do something like that.

You are so pressed for time you can come to a Pitt Panther message board and weigh in on a show you never watched.

You’re the worst

 

[joeydavid]

Nothing much to add to the OP’s list except that Snoop was the saddest death imo. Even though she was a kind of annoying character I really liked how they wrote her last moments being complimented on her looks by a man.

How my hair look, Mike?

You look good, girl.

There's so much nuance in this scene (like so many others 😆).

 

[JD1976]

There's so much nuance in this scene (like so many others 😆).

View embedded media

Great scene!

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

There needs to be some sort of spinoff/reboot.

 

[cease10]

The Wire doesn't get enough appreciation for the actors that started out on the show or were unknown.

Idris Elba (Stringer)
Michael B. Jordan (Wallace)

I'm not a Walking Dead fan but I think some of the Wire cast is on there too.

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

I need to brush up on some of the stuff to answer. But yeah, I was one who like you came on to this show way late and binged my way through it. And have rewatched a couple of seasons again. It is pretty scary to see what Baltimore is like and realize just how dead nuts on this was.

 

[JD1976]

There's so much nuance in this scene (like so many others 😆).

View embedded media

My favorite scene (which at the end of the day wasn’t overly significant) was in Season 1 when Bunk and McNulty were investigating a murder scene and the entire dialogue was f-bombs or derivations therein.

 

[joeydavid]

Great scene!

"The man said if you wanna shoot nails, this here's the Cadillac, man. He meant 'Lexus' but he ain't know it." 😆

 

[HailtoPitt]

I'm watching Oz now and have spotted a couple of actors from The Wire. Must be a connection there.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

My favorite scene (which at the end of the day wasn’t overly significant) was in Season 1 when Bunk and McNulty were investigating a murder scene and the entire dialogue was f-bombs or derivations therein.

One of my favorites was when Kima was promoted to detective....at her first murder scene investigation, they kind of initiated her by pranking her. They wrote a note and put it in the dead guy's hand acting like he wrote them a note stating who his killer was. I could see cops messing around like that, having a little fun in what's a pretty morbid situation

 

[JD1976]

I'm watching Oz now and have spotted a couple of actors from The Wire. Must be a connection there.

I believe Oz and Wire had the same casting director, plus David Simon was mentored in TV writing by the creator of Oz, Tom Fontana.

 

[Ski11585]

Just remember everyone. Stringer sucked.

 

[cease10]

My favorite scene (which at the end of the day wasn’t overly significant) was in Season 1 when Bunk and McNulty were investigating a murder scene and the entire dialogue was f-bombs or derivations therein.

Yes...that's a classic scene. And the maintenance guy was there just perplexed.

In retrospect though, the scene was significant cause that's one of the murders that brought down Weebey and D'angelo.

 

[cease10]

I'm watching Oz now and have spotted a couple of actors from The Wire. Must be a connection there.

Yes, Oz was prior to The Wire and I think some of the same producers were involved.

I never really sat through and watched Oz though, only saw a few scenes here and there.

 

[Cmart2004]

This thread inspired me to watch the first episode again, even the first scene is great.

-If Snot Boogie grabbed the money and ran away, why’d you even let him in the game?

-Got to. This America, man.

 

[cease10]

This thread inspired me to watch the first episode again, even the first scene is great.

-If Snot Boogie grabbed the money and ran away, why’d you even let him in the game?

-Got to. This America, man.

I'm trying to remember if that was the same episode in which they were running the lie detector test with the copy machine....lol.

And they also bought some kid McDonalds to make it look like he snitched on his buddy.

 

[JD1976]

I'm trying to remember if that was the same episode in which they were running the lie detector test with the copy machine....lol.

And they also bought some kid McDonalds to make it look like he snitched on his buddy

That episode is later in the series. I believe that it is somewhere in Season 5.

 

[Cmart2004]

I'm trying to remember if that was the same episode in which they were running the lie detector test with the copy machine....lol.

And they also bought some kid McDonalds to make it look like he snitched on his buddy.

No, that was later. The details that some people have posted in this thread are a little fuzzy for me because it’s been so long. I’m from Baltimore (suburbs but not the city) and from my personal experience that show was remarkably accurate. Can’t wait to watch the whole thing again.

 

[mike412]

I haven’t seen an episode. I’m going to have to watch it on a streaming service.

I was late to see Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul also, but managed to catch up on both. Also saw El Camino, the spin-off movie about Jesse Pinkman. So, I know I will catch up on this one.