The Wire -Episode 4 - Old Cases

[shadowkat]

Briefly...That was one of the most brilliant pieces of television that I've seen. And the best Cop Show/Criminal Procedural bit I've seen. It was better than Homicide.

There's three brilliant sequences in this episode. Actually four. No, make that five. The writing in this show - that is how you write a police procedural dialogue folks. If you want to know how to write good television scripts and not paint by numbers? Rent The Wire.

A really famous bit, that is so realistic that it blew me away. (An aside - while in law school and prior to law school, I did a lot of internships such as orders of protection, public defender, housing authority, legal aid, etc.) Two homicide detectives come to a crime scene, and figure out how a woman was shot. The only word of dialogue stated is variations of "fuck". The scene is exactly how cops do investigative work. And it's entertaining. I was riveted. I kept rewinding.

Watch The Wire - and you will understand why I can't watch any of the police procedurals on television which include Bones, CSI, NCSI, Castle, Law & Order, Criminal Minds, etc..all of which repeat the same formula, same dialogue, same situations, same mysteries and never take any risks.

Whoa. Just Whoa. That episode blew me away. And Lester is my new favorite character.

How is it possible for a tv series to just get better with each new episode? Usually it's one good one, one okay one, one good one, one so-so, one good one, one horrifically bad one.

Although HBO tends to be fairly consistent. There is something to be said for just doing 10-13 episodes a year as opposed to 22. Cheaper, and the writer's don't get burned out as quickly.

Comments

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Two homicide detectives come to a crime scene, and figure out how a woman was shot. The only word of dialogue stated is variations of "fuck".

Thought you might like that one. :) It's such a fantastic scene - so very simple, and at the same time so clever, telling the audience what's going on not by dialogue but by acting and showing them. By the end of that scene, we know not only how the woman was killed, but how Bunk and McNulty work, what sort of criminals they're up against, etc... and all of that without a single exposition.

And Lester is my new favorite character.

Yay! 13 years and 4 months in the pawnshop unit for being too good at his job - and once they forget why they put him there and let him out, he just picks up where he left off. Lester Freamon is da man.

[shapinglight]

How is it possible for a tv series to just get better with each new episode?

Just wait till you see season 4. It will blow you away.

And the f**k scene is just brilliant, isn't it?

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

Ah the famous FUCK scene! :- )

[ponygirl2000.livejournal.com]

The scene is brilliant on so many levels. One it's just wickedly funny, plus as mentioned above it shows how McNulty and Bunk work together and that they are, as they would say, real police. It also slyly mocks traditional cop shows, showing how elaborate CSI-type crime scene dialogue is pointless and ridiculous. Finally it's a gripping scene to see them figure everything out. We're at an advantage being the audience and having more information but we're so there with Bunk and McNulty working through it - step by step as opposed someone like House making a leap and then explaining it afterwards - that there's a genuine thrill on that final "fuck me."

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

By the end of that scene, we know not only how the woman was killed, but how Bunk and McNulty work, what sort of criminals they're up against, etc... and all of that without a single exposition.

Agreed. But...it's even more brilliant in how the writer sets it up.

It actually does have a little exposition...but it is so deftly done you don't notice it or remember it. There's three prior scenes that set it up. 1) Jay, their supervisor, gives them this file - stating he's found a cold case or past case that may get them D'Angelo. They whine about it. All they have to go on is a piece of paper with D and a phone number. Bunk calls, it's disconnected, he calls Verizon to get the new one and locale. 2) Jay - goes in to see the Major and in a rather hilarious and insane monologue tells the Major that while McNulty is a pain - he's great at solving cases. 3)D'Angelo tells his gange about how he shot this woman, in detail - and showing how he isn't happy about it. Then
we get that brillaint "Fuck" scene. But the writer sets it up so beautifully...

Most TV shows, books, and films give you this lengthy bit of exposition. Or in say a show like Bones? We'd have Booth and Bones discuss in detail where they are going,
why they are going there, who they thought did it, what happened. To the point in which, I've wandered off to the internet in a fit of boredom.

Also..here, that word conveys so much - emotion, frustration, and what this type of work is like. Looking at a picture of woman, brutally murdered is not pleasant.
In reality? You'd say "fuck" or "motherfucker" if you saw that picture. That's the knee-jerk emotional response. It gives the violence a weight and meaning, as well as the work involved that most tv shows fail to do.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Agreed. As stated above in response to beergood, the way the writer sets up that scene is a stroke of brilliance.
We have the D'Angelo scene - which is also quite good and blew me away with the layers, and nuance. D'Angelo doesn't say he shot her - but it is obvious he did. And it's obvious he hates it. And no one knows, but those on the street. Then the two scenes with Jay, where he gives McNulty and Bunk the file, and he speaks with his superior. The writer gets a lot across with so little.

It also slyly mocks traditional cop shows, showing how elaborate CSI-type crime scene dialogue is pointless and ridiculous.

Exactly. This scene slyly makes fun of all of those shows.
Depicting how it should be done.

I love the procedural bits in this series. Which are time-consuming, and involve little dialogue. And simply shown.
Yet gripping.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Beyond brilliant. Best procedural scene I've seen on TV.

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

Lester is basically a modern day Sherlock Holmes without the personality problem or drug addiction. I *lurves* me Lester. There's a scene at the end of S4 that's right up there with the "famous Fuck scene" that centers on Lester. That moment when the lightbulb goes off over his head before he even opens his mouth is a beautiful thing to watch.

Clarke Peters, who plays Lester, is one of Simon's "stable of go-to actors". He's in The Corner (a predecessor mini-series of sorts that ran on HBO that's sort of prequel to The Wire that focuses on Baltimore addicts based on Simon's book of the same name) and he's current in Treme. And even though you recognize his face, the characters he plays are so wildly different from one another.

The problem with picking a favorite character in this show is that it's bloody impossible. Just when you think you've at least settled on someone not to like...*wham*...something happens to change your view of the character.

I remain, as ever, envious of your first watch on this series...

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Hee. The discovery of a rich well written story is always the best part. People have been rec'ing it to me for years. My brother sent the DVD of the First Season to my parents one year as a Xmas present, but they haven't found the time to watch. And when I'm done there - they are never in the mood.

Simon's first series was Homicide Life on the Streets - I think. And he may have used the same actor there as well. The actor looks familar. Although a lot of the actors from The Wire are popping up in The Good Wife (the closest broadcast tv has come to this type of story since Homicide.)

There's three brillaint scenes with Lester in episode 4 - one, he's calmly watching the cops try to wedge a desk into the room and fail miserably,
two, he figures out the whole bit about the payphones and gets the pager number of D. And three, when he tells his back story to McNulty, after McNulty got the scoop on Lester from his partner, Bunk.

The problem with picking a favorite character in this show is that it's bloody impossible. Just when you think you've at least settled on someone not to like...*wham*...something happens to change your view of the character.

I'm noticing that. These characters are so well-drawn and complex. Also unlike most tv shows...it's a diverse, multi-racial, multi-size, age, realistic cast and not a bunch of pretty magazine cover models who all look alike and are all between the ages of 20-35.

[candleanfeather.livejournal.com]

Lester is one of my favourite characters too. He really grew inside the show; I won't tell you more for fear of spoiling you but you're in for a treat.

Strangely (or not at all given the nature of the Wire)though, for me the outstanding characters really are some of the "bad guys". They stay with me and even after three rewatches there's always something new to catch, a new light on them, a little trait, a new depth or something else that messes with my previously established order amongst favourites.

Seems to me you're now firmly engaged on the road of addiction. Waits patiently for you.:-)

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Also unlike most tv shows...it's a diverse, multi-racial, multi-size, age, realistic cast and not a bunch of pretty magazine cover models who all look alike and are all between the ages of 20-35.

I once read an interview with David Simon where he talked about casting Homicide. The studio asked him to cast some young, pretty, well-known actors. So he called them up and told them:
"We just cast one of the lead roles."
"Is he well known?"
"Yes."
"Who?"
"NED BEATTY."

:D

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

LOL!! I love it.

Simon likes to reuse people - he hired Melissa Leo, and then cast her again apparently in Treme.

Loved the cast of Homicide. Yaphett Koto, Andre Braugher, Melissa Leo, Reed Diamond (he was pretty), Ned Beatty, and several others I'm drawing a blank.

Casting is about 50% of it. Hill Street Blues had good casting as did St. Elsewhere, MASH, and Game of Thrones does. The Wire has excellent casting.