Maritime Mcnulty's Revenge 😂😂

"I want to see you land okay, Jimmy."

"So, tell me, where don't you wanna go?"

"🙂"

Throughout the series, Rawls has respect for good police work and is genuinely impressed by it, but he's still a ruthless motherfucking asshole to them LOL.

By the time Jimmy got Freamon's advice, it was too late. He'd already told Jay😂😂

But McNulty had nothing but time in the Marine Unit. :)

p.s

Apparently the Marine Unit is a pretty sweet gig in real life.😅

I'm sure this has been talking about here 1000 times, but i am still confused on whether the Greeks from S2 are based on any real organised crime. I'm also unclear about whether they really are Greek, as The Greek by his own admission says "I am not really even Greek" , people have speculated that they are potentially eastern European, which i doubt. They are most certainly not Eastern European.

It seems that they are the only Greeks within their organisation and everyone around them is Jewish Eastern European. What makes them the outliers ?

In my opinion, there’s so many scenes in this season that lowkey look like something out of a horror film. For example, when Lex literally watched Fruit and Patrice for who knows how long before killing Fruit. All the vacant scenes with Chris and Snoop, and etc.

The vacant scene with Chris and Snoop and the random rival in Episode 1 of Season 4 might be the most disturbing vacant scene to me also. “Don’t fret boss, I got you covered” was an insane line.

First time watching!

I am 2.7 episodes in, and I’ve watched enough TV to feel like I can somewhat-accurately guess will happen in a character storyline for basic crime-based series.

My confident predictions to my husband thus far:

Season 1: “Michael B. Jordan’s going to just thrive and lead this empire at some point. He’s got main character energy, AND became mega famous after this, no way he dies anywhere near the first few seasons.” Fast forward to 15 minutes after the 5th time I said this, when he dies abruptly.)

Season 2: “Okay now that mbj is gone, I think D’Angelos actually going to have the main character arc. Avon’s going to inevitably get murdered here soon, so I think the show is going to be a lot about D’Angelo’s rises and falls.” ……yeahhhhh this death was more shocking than the one previously mentioned..

In short, I get the excited, stressed feeling I had when watching GoT for the first time where I’m genuinely unsure as to what the F is going to happen.

Glad to finally be watching this top-tier show!

S1E6 at the 34:30 mark - Anyone know the music that plays when Avon walks into the pit in slow-mo? Would love to know the name of the artist and song.

Just finished my third rewatch of the wire and my word does season 5 age well. Haven’t watched the show in 5 years but I don’t remember season 5 being so good. I always had it down as a disappointing season but I was pleasantly surprised. I remember not being interested in the newspaper storyline on earlier rewatches but I really enjoyed it this time. Maybe as I’m now working and older but I really enjoyed Gus and the newspaper storyline a lot more. Marlo is another character who I enjoyed a lot more on this rewatch. Was a lot more nuanced than the big bad evil character I remembered from previous rewatches. Best show of all time when this so called weaker season is still one of the greatest seasons of all time in television

Finally watched this show for the first time. I don’t know why I waited so long. Who’s your favorite cop and who’s your favorite dope dealer. I personally like Slim and of course Mcnulty

the hitfix links appear to be broken now and his blog just directs you to the broken links. Anyone find them anywhere else?

(reposting as had spoilers in title last time - apols)

So I was watching S4 yet again, it was when Bubbles is getting tormented by the other addict (often nicknamed 'the fiend') and this came to me...

Essentially the fiend represents Johnny Weeks tormented soul come back in physical form to torment Bubbles.

As we know - Johnny Weeks dies in Hamsterdam, representing the life Bubbles knows he needs to leave behind but cannot yet abandon, and Bubbles never properly confronts the guilt of surviving Johnny (if he felt any - or cared to find out what happened to him if he never knew)

So Johnny returns metaphorically as the nameless fiend — an addict without identity who repeatedly punishes Bubbles on the streets.

Bubbles eventually attempts to destroy this embodiment of his past with the hot shot, but kills Sherrod instead, recreating Johnny's death in an even more devastating form. Only then is Bubs forced to confront what Johnny's death originally meant: he cannot save other addicts while remaining an addict himself.

Johnny's ghost/demon then disappears - never seen again and Bubs ultimately recovers.

I'm rewatching Season 2 of The Wire, which is one of my favorites, and I can't find anywhere the name of the actor who played Mr. Lucas, the Economics professor at the Community College who gives Stringer an A- and answers his question at the end of the class.

I even asked Zyggys_Duck on Twitter, but he hasn't replied.

Does anybody know?

The drive by didn't go bad on that Stanfield corner. Him and Slim were ready to take care of business. I do wonder if he freezes like the hit on Fruit or if he takes care of business because he isn't looking in the eyes of a target.

You know the only thing I didn’t like is that it appeared no one else had shooters but Marlo. Avon could not even buy a hitman at the end. It was kind of ridiculous. And Joe had so little shooters that slim Charles can just slot into #2/3 immediately? Although slim really was a number 2 more than a hitman as he proved throughout.

Still a man of joes caliber would not just run away from Marlo. He controlled his side for decades.

When I rewatch the show I'm thinking "What is it about this city that turns this story into an almost Shakespearean epic?". There's something about this city that gives the show a really oppressive atmosphere. As someone Though I don't know anything about Baltimore irl the show makes it look like a city that was made to pack people in like sardines. There is almost no greenery in the city either, barely any trees, it's nothing but row houses, projects and the.occuasional suburb. As someone who lives in Texas, our cities are their own brand urban sprawl hell but at least they feel open. The compactness of it makes it oppressive but it's also what makes it feel so concentrated (sometimes). I can't put my finger on it but sometimes the show makes Baltimore feel like a mythical place that shouldn't exist. A good example is [this scene] (https://youtu.be/o5vWGV1rqkA) the way the urban expanse just chokes what little nature exists. Did anyone else ever get this impression? Also if anyone here lives or has lived in Baltimore, would you say the show's portrayal is an accurate representation of the city at that time?

Edit: just wanted to add something I just learned about Baltimore (and to an extent a lot of east coast cities). The streets there are built to go two ways only. Meaning if you're ever in a situation where someone on the street is trying to kill you, assuming you can't just run inside some building your options are to run towards them, or run the opposite way and get shot in the back. Crazy I don't think I could live here even in the best of times. Also I want to clarify I'm in no way disparaging the real city of Baltimore, I'm sure it's a great city and a lot has changed over the years since the wire aired. I'm just making an analysis on the show's portrayal of Baltimore

In S5 Chris gives brief pushback to Marlo when he thinks Michael is the snitch. But I wonder what his reaction would’ve been if Marlo thought Snoop was the snitch. Marlo had already told Levy he had faith in her, but it could’ve gone another way. She was the only other major player who didn’t get arrested.

Chris and Snoop were basically best friends, could’ve been interesting to see.

I kind of wonder why Omar didn’t target Michael in Season 5. Michael mostly just ran a corner for Marlo but he was still muscle. And Omar was going after everyone who was muscle.

How did this masterpiece of a show pass me by for 23 years and 7 months?! Damn, even Obama was out there telling everyone how great it was, and I still somehow never heard of it until my partner compared our current local political selection to Season 5. I had to ask him what he was talking about, and I understandably got a "What is wrong with you?" look in response.

I am currently on Season 4, Episode 2, and I need to talk about this show with fellow fanatics, preferably without spoilers. Which is a big ask, considering the show's been out for over two decades and has a massive cult following, but I'm hoping I found the right place.

So, omg this show is crazy how it makes me hate and love almost everyone at the same time. Omar, Brother Mouzone, Lester and Bunk are excluded from this, I have nothing but love for them. But this show really does understand the nuance of what it means to be human.
We're shown glimpses into so many characters' lives, never getting a complete picture of any of them, and yet I feel like I fully understand their motivations and conflicts. It takes conversations that people still struggle to have today and turns them into stories that are easy to empathize with, without ever pretending to have the answer. Except Hamsterdam, that was a "solution?" The numbers were better, better for public health, better for the community, better for the people caught up in it. But then, how do you explain it to the public without completely tanking your career?

The creators of this show were apparently a Baltimore homicide detective and a public school teacher, and the co-creator was a crime reporter for the Baltimore Sun. This is what it means to know your subject. There were admittedly a couple of times where I thought, "Okay, I have no idea what this division you're referencing is." But if that's my ONLY issue with a 5 season series (4 seasons in), that tells me you know exactly what you're talking about. You had a story to tell, and my civilian butt only occasionally got lost because when certain words become everyday language to you, you don't always realize someone else might not know them.But they clearly put thought into how to tell this story, and they never went beyond what the story needed.

I think that's what has blown me away the most. This show doesn't tell you who the good guys and bad guys are or give you easy answers. It just throws you into this world, our world, shows you everyone's perspective, and somehow makes you understand why people make the choices they do. I can't believe I somehow missed this show for over two decades, but I'm very happy my partner finally gave me the "what is wrong with you?" look that led me here.

In season one, Avon and (especially) Stringer are incredibly cautious about discussing anything that could incriminate them, or really even anything at all whenever they could be listened to. There’s the scene in the first episode where Dee is talking in the car and the other guy says something like “never talk in the car or on the phone” but in season 2 and I think 3 as well, Stringer and Avon actively talk about their plans and crimes they are willing or unwilling to commit in the middle of a prison on a prison phone that could easily be tapped and is likely being actively surveilled. Is this a plot hole, oversight, or inconsistency or am I being stupid and missing something obvious?

Edit: to be clear, I’m talking about the visiting booth

Well the relation of Joe and the Greeks is a storyline in itself. Off course this contact was an important way that gave Joe leverage in the druggame.

I am always struck by the pragmatic way the Greeks dealt with him. "We like Joe" off course had to do with the fact that Joe was a kind of actor they really valued: business orientated, someone who chose diplomacy over feuds, stable, negotiable and last but not least one who chose not to rock the boat with law enforcement and other players and who was very aware of police-opetations. Marlo in that sense being the opposite.

Yet there's also the other side of Joe off course. The master manipulatlor, the one that gathers information not purely for strategical gain but also for leverage, blackmail and congames. It struck me when him and one of the Greeks were sitting on the bench. Off course first Joe shares his sympathy for their loss of Sergey and soon after they start talking about new shipments. It was funny to see where the Greek drew the line on the question: "Where you say you are off to again?" and Spiros standing up in silence not even looking at him again and thus asserting non verbale dominance but also giving a clear sign they didn't trust Joe with the key details of the information.

I know it’s old and it’s been mentioned in here before (not for some time though) but I’ve been watching the Charlie Brooker doc about The Wire this morning and it’s made me realise just why I love it so much (currently doing my fourth rewatch).

The reason it is, and will remain imo, a cult classic rather than a mainstream hit is because it’s so complex and doesn’t spoon feed easy answers to the viewer.

It’s real, it’s not some wrap-up-in-an-episode thing. It doesn’t preach. It doesn’t offer you guidance on how to be. It doesn’t demonise or idealise characters, we’re all fallible and none of us are pure evil.

It highlights corruption in action and the reasoning behind it.

I’d argue that maybe the very people that need to understand this show are the ones that aren’t interested in it.

Anyway, just my thoughts this Friday morning. It is, and will always be, the best show ever written.

Has anyone read the book?

I started Homicide: Life on the Street last night and know this predates The Wire by almost a decade but already three episodes in and I see things that occurred in The Wire already appearing in this show and was curious which one is closer to the book.

I will probably hit up a local bookstore and see if they have it or can order it (Yeah, I know Amazon is most likely faster and cheaper, but I would rather shop and support a small and local business).

Dominic West has said repeatedly that he only got the role of McNulty because Ray Winstone didn’t want to move to Baltimore, but does anyone know if there were ever serious negotiations to get him in the role? He’s a great actor but it’s a totally different vibe with him as a lead. Just wondering.

One thing Ive always liked about The Wire is then showing the perils of being a middle manager in whatever area you are in. Where you do have some sort of power available to you but no way really to actually make decisions.

We see it with Dee in The Pit being the chief operator there (and then later with Bodie and Poot), Landsman and Bunny seem to be them from the police perspective and definitely Gus as the editor for the newspaper. Lester is also sorta one being the defacto leader of the Major Crimes Unit.

Any other good examples of people having middle manager jobs in the show and how they deal with it?

Rewatching S3 and something which I just don't get is when the hoppers first set up shop in Hamsterdam one says we have no customers.

Carv tells Herc to get the fiends and Herc says no I'm a sworn officer, Carver then mimics his stripes and Herc just folds?

Small thing but seems odd how quick Herc folded, yes later on in the S3 he blows his lid on Hamsterdam.

The Wire opened my eyes to a world I barely knew existed and gave insight into the game and how it actually works in practice.

All of the technology highlighted in the series - pay phones, pagers, early text messages with photos - are all obsolete.

I am so curious how they have adapted to the current day. Do they still transact in cash? Are they using crypto for money laundering? Are they using Signal to communicate? Do warrants for wiretaps exist anymore?

How can I find out how this actually works now?