The Wire S5 - Episodes 7-8
Aug. 3rd, 2011 10:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatTwo episodes left of S5, The Wire - which had a total of 10 episodes in all. And this is really a heartbreaking season. Far more grueling in some respects than S4.
They just killed off one of my favorite characters! Omar! And by Albert, the little kid. It was so sad and so heartbreaking. My jaw dropped. I more or less expected Omar to get it - but not that way.
And Beadie's lecture to Jimmy...reflects Omar, who is forgotten. Both Jimmy and Omar leave and risk everything, to get Marlo Stanfield, and end up destroying themselves.
Beadie tells Jimmy that family is what matters in the end. That's who is at your wake. (Here's the thing - we all die alone. And none of us are going to give a damn when all is said and done who pops up at our wake or funeral. We aren't there! So that little speech seemed a bit silly to me - and totally Denis Lehane - he did the same bit in Mystic River and I had the same reaction. Wakes are for the people left behind, not for the dead. We aren't honoring the dead, we're honoring our memory of them, our pain at their loss.) Not sure Beadie can forgive Jimmy for what he's done. But forget Beadie...
Kima - went straight to Lester and reacted in the same way that Bunk did. This is wrong.
It really is a noir tale - following the Conradian Heart of Darkness narrative trope to the letter - or for that matter Shakespeare's Propero and Hamlet....when fighting monsters, make sure you don't become them. Or look into the abyss, the abyss looks back in to you. Jimmy, Lester, and
Omar all look into the abyss...their tale is a heart-breaking one. Yet from the beginning we see the signs.
There's a few funny bits - the whole FBI analysis of the serial killer - is dead to rights, McNulty. Which makes McNulty incredibly uncomfortable. His response to Kima - is "they are in the ballpark."
Right now, my only hope is Marlo Stanfield goes down. And Snoop, Paltrow and Cheese with him.
I fear for Michael...who is being paralleled with Namond. Just as Bunny Colvin is paired with Pryz.
And to a degree McNulty is paired with Greggs, and Bunk with Lester.
The writing is tight. Although I think they went a bit far with the serial killer case. They are obviously making fun of the CSI's and other police procedurals. Go so far as to have the Director of the FBI show up and brag about it. McNulty and Greggs state they've done Homicide for years and have never seen a serial killer. It's true. Serial killers are actually fairly rare...most homicides are done by someone you know, drug deal gone bad, domestic dispute, robbery...or gang related. But the media likes the serial killers so blows it out of proportion, often embellishing the facts - which is what David Simon and company are making fun of.
I'm not positive - but I think Episode 8 - Clarification by Denis Lehane was nominated for an Emmy and may have won one. Episode 7 was written by Richard Price. Personally, I thought the episodes in S4,3 and 1 were better - but truly great tv shows often don't get noticed until their last season. Sad but true.
They just killed off one of my favorite characters! Omar! And by Albert, the little kid. It was so sad and so heartbreaking. My jaw dropped. I more or less expected Omar to get it - but not that way.
And Beadie's lecture to Jimmy...reflects Omar, who is forgotten. Both Jimmy and Omar leave and risk everything, to get Marlo Stanfield, and end up destroying themselves.
Beadie tells Jimmy that family is what matters in the end. That's who is at your wake. (Here's the thing - we all die alone. And none of us are going to give a damn when all is said and done who pops up at our wake or funeral. We aren't there! So that little speech seemed a bit silly to me - and totally Denis Lehane - he did the same bit in Mystic River and I had the same reaction. Wakes are for the people left behind, not for the dead. We aren't honoring the dead, we're honoring our memory of them, our pain at their loss.) Not sure Beadie can forgive Jimmy for what he's done. But forget Beadie...
Kima - went straight to Lester and reacted in the same way that Bunk did. This is wrong.
It really is a noir tale - following the Conradian Heart of Darkness narrative trope to the letter - or for that matter Shakespeare's Propero and Hamlet....when fighting monsters, make sure you don't become them. Or look into the abyss, the abyss looks back in to you. Jimmy, Lester, and
Omar all look into the abyss...their tale is a heart-breaking one. Yet from the beginning we see the signs.
There's a few funny bits - the whole FBI analysis of the serial killer - is dead to rights, McNulty. Which makes McNulty incredibly uncomfortable. His response to Kima - is "they are in the ballpark."
Right now, my only hope is Marlo Stanfield goes down. And Snoop, Paltrow and Cheese with him.
I fear for Michael...who is being paralleled with Namond. Just as Bunny Colvin is paired with Pryz.
And to a degree McNulty is paired with Greggs, and Bunk with Lester.
The writing is tight. Although I think they went a bit far with the serial killer case. They are obviously making fun of the CSI's and other police procedurals. Go so far as to have the Director of the FBI show up and brag about it. McNulty and Greggs state they've done Homicide for years and have never seen a serial killer. It's true. Serial killers are actually fairly rare...most homicides are done by someone you know, drug deal gone bad, domestic dispute, robbery...or gang related. But the media likes the serial killers so blows it out of proportion, often embellishing the facts - which is what David Simon and company are making fun of.
I'm not positive - but I think Episode 8 - Clarification by Denis Lehane was nominated for an Emmy and may have won one. Episode 7 was written by Richard Price. Personally, I thought the episodes in S4,3 and 1 were better - but truly great tv shows often don't get noticed until their last season. Sad but true.
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no subject
Date: 2011-08-04 09:44 am (UTC)I think Kima did the right thing, personally.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-04 12:13 pm (UTC)Oh so do I. By "This is wrong" - I meant that was how she reacted. Not sure that was clear. Probably should clarify.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-04 11:51 am (UTC)Kima's arc was excellent - through the whole series she'd been set up to be McNulty's successor but when it came down to it her own code was stronger, it went all the way back to when she was shot and refused to identify the second shooter because she hadn't seen him clearly. Getting close to the end of the series there's a sense of old players leaving the game and new ones taking their places - but I do think some of the replacements will still surprise you.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-04 04:36 pm (UTC)Felt much the same way. I kept hoping he'd get Marlo or at the very least Paltrow and Snoop first. I half-expected Michael to kill him or vice versa. It was well forshadowed though.
Kima's arc was excellent - through the whole series she'd been set up to be McNulty's successor but when it came down to it her own code was stronger, it went all the way back to when she was shot and refused to identify the second shooter because she hadn't seen him clearly.
This worked for me as well. Agreed. It made perfect sense that she, as did Bunk, would not go along with Lester and McNulty's plan.
Her code - set-up from the beginning sticks.
She's not Machiavellian. The ends do not justify the means for Greggs.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-04 02:17 pm (UTC)"".The same for me, though on rewatch I noticed how the series foreshadows it. It underlines several times that Omar likes children and doesn't see them as threats. Omar's first seeing Michael at a meeting with Marlo : "It's just a kid"; Omar surrounded by kids on his way home in Puerto Rico...
"" Yes and yet they don't become monsters even though they cross a line. Even though Omar is a murderer there's still a fundamental difference for example between him and Chris Paltrow. His violence is motivated by grief and a real indignation at Butchie's execution. And IMO what he is doing in his quest for revenge/punishment is also something that contributes to his mental destruction.
Kima is right of course but emotionnaly speaking I can't totally take her side for once because I can understand Mac Nulty's indignation and revolt. There's also a parallel with Omar, like this latter one, Mac Nulty is drawn back to the game by a murder (Bodie's).
no subject
Date: 2011-08-04 04:41 pm (UTC)He's told that by giving more funds to the cops, he's chopped the school budget in half and they may have to lay-off teachers (he barely stops this by cutting funding to the Public Health Dept and Sanitation), each dept gets cuts...the ricochet effect of McNulty and Lester's actions aren't seen by them - they are focusing on what is front of them - Marlo, while we, the audience, get to see the bigger picture..as the camera draws slowly backwards..and it's not pretty. In some respects they create as much havoc as Marlo does, just in a very different way and with the best of intentions.
Emotionally - you root for them, but you also see the effects. Greggs already has - when she interviewed those poor families.
It's a bit like Bunny Colvin's plan to legalize drugs...it works in theory...but in practice?
no subject
Date: 2011-08-04 08:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-04 10:00 pm (UTC)I went to look it up, because that just seems wrong, somehow.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_awards_and_nominations_received_by_The_Wire
They did win a Peabody for Season 2 of all seasons. And several Edgar's and
a WGA, amongst others. The Emmy's aren't the best indicator of good drama - look at whose voting - people who don't watch television.
The only two emmys they were nominated for were 30 (2008) and Middle Ground (2004).
no subject
Date: 2011-08-04 11:40 pm (UTC)