The Wire comes to UK Tv..

[Mr. Seven]

Mark me down for "re-up the package" also, I use it as slang for "get me another beer". Yes, I am a geek.

[ozzfan]

I found the police and politicians harder to understand than the street kids.

 

Aw, mos def, yo! (sorry)

 

I still can never remember what a MOPE is. Although I do like to use the system of 1=Black 2=White.

 

I'm pretty sure mope doesn't mean anything specific, it's just a general description for a low level criminal who happens to be pretty stupid. Eg. Marlo Stanfield would not be referred to as a mope because of his intelligence and reputation but someone insignificant and stupid like Little Kevin or Spyder would defininitely be referred to as a mope.

 

I've just dug out my copy of The Wire: Truth be Told, which has a motherpimpin' glossary. Here is the definition of Mope:

 

Mope: An ordinary street character, possibly guilty of crimes and possibly not, but certainly not a Taxpayer.

 

[Parkamarka]

I know a couple of people (all middle aged) who have trouble with the dialogue. Anyone in their 20s though is fine with it. i think the dialogue is 99% understandable with the exception of the amazing Snoop that is.

 

I was worried that my Mum - who is 60 - wouldn't be able to keep up with the dialogue and the slang. So then she blitzed through season 1, and when I asked her if she'd liked it, she replied "mos' def". She's since bought the whole thing and just finished season 4, and told me that all other television has been forever ruined.

 

So proud.

[rochellerochelle]

People getting annoyed over the end of The Wire season 3 and writing off season 4 before they've even watched it are very foolish indeed.

 

Man did i end up looking very foolish indeed by doing exactly what you said. Season 4 turned out to be the most beautiful well crafted season of television ever, i have always loved the Sopranos and considered it to be the greatest drama ever but now i think the Wire has to take its place. I cant express enough how wonderful season 4 of the wire was.

 

As i did it with season 3, i figure i may as well write my thoughts on season 4. All in the spoilers as i don't want to ruin anything for anyone.

 

<-- click on 'spoiler' to show/hide the spoiler

As the season was about the kids for the most part, i will start with them. The friendships and how each child evolved throughout the season was just superb.

 

I think Michael's path for the season was pretty easy to predict, he was the leader and big brother to the others. They always portrayed him as a pretty ruthless guy even if it wasn't completely obvious and the stuff with Bug's dad was pretty well done. Out of the four boys i think Michael was my least favourite (I still loved the character, just not as much as the others).

 

Namond was a brilliant character as you could tell from one of the first episodes that Namond had no place in the game. He just ran away when that piss balloon prank went wrong, what was great was that he wasn't really a coward its just he never wanted that lifestyle. Out of the four boys he is the only one which has (i'm guessing) a happy ending, which sort of annoys me as i don't think he was the most deserving. I did love his mother though and how she wanted him to be like his father and expected him to get into the game. It just shows how much expectation are on the kids to provide for their family and really have no chance to leave the game even if they wanted to.

 

Dukie was the character i cared a bit too much about, i honestly couldn't watch a scene of his without getting near to tears, I was a mess half the time as i just felt so bad for his situation and know there is no way in hell his story will have a happy ending. If he doesn't end up doing drugs or decides to take his own life i will be stunned. They have set it up so that those are the only two options, i'm sure, I would have said he might end up living with Prez and his wife but after Colvin took Namond in i just don't see that happening. The character is a bit too depressing for me, i absolutely love him its just i cant ever smile when he is on screen.

 

Out of all the boys, the one i loved and really thought was the best character was Randy. He was my Stringer bell for this season, i thought he was perfectly played and just felt so real as a character. He was the most well adjusted kid who you could tell wanted a normal life but was happy at the same time as long as he had his friends. I felt so bad for him when the whole snitching thing happened as it never really seemed like he enjoyed/wanted to snitch, he just did it because if he didn't his life would have been taken away from him. It was so undeserving and i hated the ending when he was in the group home with the boys writing snitch and beating on him. The one thing i didn't understand was that his last name was Wagstaff and when Freemon went back to the Major crimes it was shown that Cheese's last name was Wagstaff. I'm guessing he was his dad, but surely if it was then he would have had a pretty 'good' life like Namond's?

 

Anyway i could write for pages about all the characters and what happened but i'm not that good of a writer and it wouldn't be the most fun read in the world for everyone. So i will just say i loved every single character (even Marlo grew on me), i was so upset that Bodie got killed as he was such a fascinating character though its the right ending for the character all things considered. Carver turned into real good police which was pretty good to see and i felt awful for him when he failed to get Randy into a home. Snoop was a real brilliant character and scared the shit out of me half the time, at least Chris Partlow seemed to have a conscience, Snoop was just the most cold blooded killer ever. Oh and lastly i am going on record saying Michael kills Omar, just makes sense as he is being groomed as a killer and how Omar just dismissed him as a harmless kid when he saw Michael speaking to Marlo.

 

Overall it was just the perfect season of television.

 

[close spoiler]

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Question for everyone, who is your favourite character from the show? Also who is your least favourite? (if some answers come from season 5 i can just retract the question and save it for when the show is completely finished.)

[Green]

Double R just really nailed most of the season for me above, it's by far the best season of the show so far. Starting season five tonight (I couldn't wait for BBC, I'm THAT impatient) so hopefully things remain this good.

[sivy]

i always liked d-angelo from s1, i think his character was solid and felt sorry when he had no choice but to take the deal

[Astro Hollywood]

[LaGoosh]

That is quite strange. Best aprt is Dominic West trying his hardest not to laugh his arse off.

 

Trying to name a favorite character is pretty much impossible but I'll give it a go: Chris Partlow, Michael Lee, Marlo Stanfield, Slim Charles, THE BUNK~! but probably Lester Freamon overall.

 

Worst character would probably be Sydnor mainly because he's not really a character at all. I mean there's nothing wrong with him but his character is essentially a writing tool to get the police work done while the rest of the characters go about their business.

[Joe_the_Lion]

SPOILER - Highlight the black box to read

Omar gets killed by a little kid.

 

That to me is why the show is so great. I've spent all of this time wondering:

 

a) Will Omar kill Marlo?

b) Who will get to be the one who finally takes down Omar?

 

And instead of that they have him stood in a store in a scene I'm not paying that much attention to and then suddenly some little kid shoots him the back of the head. Most other shows would have Omar die all guns blazing in an heroic street battle, The Wire doesn't give you what you expect and more importantly it doesn't give you what you think you want and it is so much the better for it.

 

 

Season 5 hasn't been on quite the same level as the others, mainly because they've taken the whole fake serial killer thing too far - for the first time in the entire show you have to suspend your disbelief in order to enjoy the show, it's a little bit of shame but it's still been better than 99% of stuff on TV.

 

 

If Snoop dies I riot.

[shep]

Re: Joe's Spoilers -

 

<-- click on 'spoiler' to show/hide the spoiler

I don't know if you spotted it but that wasn't some random kid, it was Kenard, the little prick who was stealing from Namond and took a beating from Michael. He was also one of the kids play acting being Omar when Bunk was investigating one of his shoot outs earlier in the show.

 

Truly shocking though, definitely not how I thought Omar would go out.

 

[close spoiler]

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[Joe_the_Lion]

Re: Joe's Spoilers -

 

<-- click on 'spoiler' to show/hide the spoiler

I don't know if you spotted it but that wasn't some random kid, it was Kenard, the little prick who was stealing from Namond and took a beating from Michael. He was also one of the kids play acting being Omar when Bunk was investigating one of his shoot outs earlier in the show.

 

Truly shocking though, definitely not how I thought Omar would go out.

 

[close spoiler]

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SPOILER - Highlight the black box to read

I did pick up the fact that it was him but he was still the last person I would have expected to take down Omar. My money was on Michael.

 

[Keith Houchen]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00rz...010_Episode_25/

Skip to the 11 minute mark and a guy has The Wire as his specialist subject, I got one more right than he did, I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

[Parkamarka]

Just in case anyone isn't aware, David Simon's new show, Treme (which stars Clarke Peters and Wendell Pierce from The Wire, as well as John Motherfucking Goodman) starts tomorrow on HBO. It's not broadcast here until the end of the year, so let's hope the download sites don't get blocked by Kim Jong Mandelson or his Tory equivalent before the series is out.

[Sym]

So..... I bought the Wire box set about 3 months ago and have watched the first four episodes but haven't really got into it, it's not left me wanting more! Is this the general consensus? Does it get better? Am I expecting too much from the hype? Is it likely to click soon if it hasn't already? Any non spoiler thoughts would be helpful!

[Mr. Seven]

It's not really a show for dribbling retards.