The Wire

[Kaius]

That duck

Spoiler: show

died

Kaius.

[Simple Torture]

One thing that's weird in the world of The Wire is that you don't see a lot of nepotism--you do see some, certainly, and Ziggy's the prime example. I think he's there for a ton of reasons, and one of them is to contrast his and Frank's relationship to the one Nicky has with his dad (his name escapes me). Frank spends the season wondering, "What the fuck, Ziggy?" when, if you sit and think about it for more than five seconds, Ziggy is Frank writ large with a little less self-control: corrupt, self-obsessed (in the way Frank thinks he can fix all the union's problems if he gets one more term), and with a "the world's against me" complex. Frank's to blame for most of what makes Ziggy, but he'd never admit it. Nicky is a lot like Frank too--corrupt, self-obsessed, yada yada yada--but he avoids Ziggy's immature streak because he's got the self-control and moral compass of his dad (for a while, anyways). His dad (Frank's brother) is one of the truly honest, just, likeable guys in the series (he doesn't even gamble! he pretends to bet on the ponies) so some of that rubs off on Nick (who also works to get where he's at at the beginning of Season 2), but he can't help be part of the system. His dad got out: that's the difference.

Just threw that together, could spend some more time thinking about it.

[bada]

Ziggy kind of reminds me of Prez except Prez was lucky enough to stumble onto a job he loved and was good at doing.

[numbers]

Why didn't D'Angelo tip Wallace off and tell him to get the fuck out of dodge when he returned from his relatives? Was wondering this as I watched that episode last night.

[bada]

I think he realized Wallace wasn't going to leave no matter what he said...and D was probably hoping that Avon and Stringer wouldn't be that cold blooded even though he knew they were.

[Simple Torture]

Ziggy kind of reminds me of Prez except Prez was lucky enough to stumble onto a job he loved and was good at doing.

Oh yeah, for sure. But Prez only stumbled into that job because he was willing to say, "Fuck that," to being a cop. Chances are, his father-in-law could've smoothed things over (even though Prez woulda been a pariah in the department for the rest of his career). But he saw a way out, and instead of seeing the kids as "stats" to be juked, he decided to look at each of them individually. Prez is awesome.

[The Argonaut]

Top Five characters Season Five:

1. Omar
2. Snoop
3. Michael
4. McNulty
5. Randy Wagstaffe

[@SkitchP]

Top Five characters Season Five:

1. Omar
2. Snoop
3. Michael
4. McNulty
5. Randy Wagstaffe

Isn't Randy just in like 30 seconds at the very end montage?

[numbers]

Top Five characters Season Five:

1. Omar
2. Snoop
3. Michael
4. McNulty
5. Randy Wagstaffe

Isn't Randy just in like 30 seconds at the very end montage?

Bunk interviewed him but that was only a couple minutes or so. It was an impactful scene, though.

[numbers]

Season 5

1. Michael
2. Gus
3. Dukie
4. Carver
5. Chris

[@SkitchP]

1. Gus
2. Carver
3. Snoop
4. Micheal
5. Dukie

[The Argonaut]

I wanted to put Gus on my list, but he's too perfect. He may be the only entirely heroic character on the show.

[@SkitchP]

I wanted to put Gus on my list, but he's too perfect. He may be the only entirely heroic character on the show.

I love Clark Johnson

[The Argonaut]

And Gus is great! He's a very compelling character. Just not very Wire-y.
I was more surprised to see myself including McNulty on the Season Five list. I remember hating him this season--and I hated what he did with the homeless stagings and I basically wish the show had never gone there. But McNulty when he's realizing that it was a mistake--especially the scene when he admits it to Beattie--is pretty great. The overall weakness of Season Five forced me to choose characters for great moments--which I didn't do in earlier seasons. Hence the inclusion of Randy. It's a very dense scene for being so short.
Marlo almost made the list, too.

Seasons Ranked:

4
2
3
1
5

[bada]

Just finished Season 3. I get why this show is held in such high regard. So many story beats go the opposite of what your standard TV fair would take them. Tons of instances where you could just tell if this show was on NBC or even FX, it would go the traditional route but here goes sideways but it never feels cheap. Good show. I wonder, was Season 3 a possible ending point but the show was later picked up for more seasons? With the exception of the Mayor stuff everything was pretty much tied up. Felt like the end of Season 2 of Deadwood. Looking forward to Season 4.

[Norah]

Seasons ranked:
3
4
1
2
5

[@SkitchP]

Seasons ranked:
3
4
1
2
5

shutuphalfdead

[Norah]

Seasons ranked:
3
4
1
2
5

shutuphalfdead

what?

[@SkitchP]

Seasons ranked:
3
4
1
2
5

shutuphalfdead

what?

Nothing really, I just saw something other than 2 or 4 ranked in the top spot and felt like dramatically voicing my displeasure.

[numbers]

2
4
3
1
5