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shadowkatLovely day, walked around the park, saw people that looked like they had meandered off the tv show the wire lounging about, and wandered back to work - where I've been attempting to resolve a rather amusing cluster-fuck regarding the installation of an air conditioning unit on the roof - for a data center upgrade, which is being delayed due to the failure to procure and install the platform to place it on. (Long story - but the Wire amused me even more than usual in part because of it.)
How is it possible for a tv series to get better with each and every episode, or stay this consistently good? I haven't seen a weak episode since maybe 5 and that episode was still better than 90% of the stuff I've been watching on tv of late. (Should probably take a moment and let you know what I'm watching? Nah. You can guess on your own.) People actually thought season 2 of the Wire wasn't that good? Ooookay. Mileage varies and all that, I guess.
Tonight I laughed my head off again. It's hilarious in places.
Burrell? Oh, I've met this guy throughout my career. I do feel for him though. And it is a rather realistic portrayal of the insidiousness of institutional racism in the US and what persons of color or women have had to do to get ahead. Play dirty ball, stroke the right feathers, stab the right backs...kiss the right palms and asses. You don't really get it - until well you see it up close and personal. But with Burrell and Daniels in The Wire - it really is depicted quite well. And they work as brilliant mirrors of each other. You have honest cop Daniels who wants to advance, but also wants to be able to look himself in the mirror each morning and feel pride in his job, Burrell - who wants to advance, is convinced he can make a difference, and is willing to do what it takes for self-preservation and to work the system within reason of course, and finally the Senator who is as crooked as they come.
I'm falling for Dominic West's damaged Irish cop with a heart of gold, McNulty, but have the oddest feeling that no one else who loved this show liked this character or understands my love of him? Granted he is a familiar trope, but they aren't giving in to the stereotype. He isn't wonder cop, he just sets things in motion and he doesn't give up, he is interested, he's basically like Greggs, he adores solving cases - being a cop, but unlike Greggs he has sacrificed everything - his kids, his wife, his family, his own wellbeing and that of his friends to be a cop and solve cases - he puts the cases above everything else with a tunnel visioned doggedness that doesn't always work out as he wished. A damaged character that makes sense to me. The pitbull tenacity, often self-destructive, and often far too micro for one's own good. McNulty is the sort that gets caught up in his own ego, that he fails to see what he's doing to those around him. There's an excellent scene between McNulty and the two men who know him well, have worked with him - Lester Freeman and Bunk - the best cop team I've watched in a long long time.
Lester: McNulty has got himself a theory.
Bunk: You genuis of deductive reasoning.
Lester: He's going to tell us...(and they proceed to tell McNulty everything he has figured out about the case ...)
Bunk: That would you deigned to come here and help us with?
McNulty - sheepish: When you'd figure it out?
(Russell and Bunk tell him. They aren't Cole, they aren't dumb. They don't need McNulty's smart white irish ass to tell them what is what. But they are wonderfully good at putting him in his place, yet at the same time...patient and friendly about it. There's a friendly comraderary that feels real and lived in. That I loved so much about Homicide Life on the Streets and have not seen depicted on a tv show in quite some time. )
Another great scene - hilarious and oh so true - is between Lester, Bunk, and the crew who can't speak a word of English and have five different dialects - all from Russia and Asia. At one point Bunk and Lester, fed up, start speaking gobbley gook back at them. It is hilarious and a sly jab at all these cop shows on television where everyone speaks English. Sorry, but you can't be in a NY or Chicago or big city police department and not run into suspects who don't speak English. Or interview a bunch of people on a Russian ship, and expect them all to speak English. This is what I love about The Wire and why I'm completely ruined for shows such as Bones, Castle, Law & Order, CSI, NCIS, etc...
they have pristine offices, sterile labs, great clothes, perfect hair and makeup, look like they walked out of a modeling agency, and drive expensive cars, have expensive phones, and crimes get solved like a snap. Sorry, no. No city in the US has that type of money. Police Departments are funded by tax payer dollars. (Okay, maybe the police department in Beverly Hills...or the rich suburbs, but not the inner cities.) The Wire gets it right.
Poor D. He's being screwed at both ends. Although at least Avon kept him from o'ding on bad coke.
The Hot Shots of the title. Stringer is screwing his wife? Girlfriend? Mother of his kid? Can't say I blame her - Stringer is hot or Idris who is playing Stringer is hot. He's got to be hands down the most attractive looking actor on this show, with Omar a close second. Distant third is McNulty.
Although I do wonder about Stringer's taste, she's whiny.
There's more female characters in S2. We have the two gal robbers who Omar hooks up with - in a wierd way. Beatrice Russel - who appears to be taking Shakima Greggs place on the team. Shakima is second year Pre-Law. (Yep, she's aiming to become a lawyer, just like I thought.) Rather like Russell.
And the scene with Landsman who told her to wear muted pants suits, to counter act the pin-strip lawyer act of Bunk and the tweeds of Freeman...was also hilariously funny. Landsman is hilarious whenever he is on screen. Has some of the best lines.
But so does Russell - loved her line - in regards to the female prostitutes being shipped in the white slavery trade to the US. 50,000 working here alone.
Bunk: Damn, they need to set up a whole agency just to police them.
Russell: What they need is a union. (Great line and oh so true.)
That's how you survive in these jobs by the way - gallows humor. You make fun of the insanity.
I keep having to rewind bits of the Wire, got fed up finally - and put on close-captioning to hear the scene between the Coroner - Dr. Frazier (the doc with the afro - who I adore and I've definitely seen that actor before somewhere) and McNulty. Great scene - a tiny gem. So many gems here.
Every detail, every piece of dialogue...it all matters. Haven't seen anything this tightly written in a long time...not sure ever, maybe Homicide? Most TV shows tend to be written rather loosely..due in part to commercial breaks and in part to the speed you have to produce the show, and how many episodes you have to turn out yearly. The Wire only had to turn out 13...and had plenty of time to percolate - since they had to do a bit of shopping around first. (Farscape is another series that benefited from a percolation period or fermentation period.)
Oh and the whole bit about poor Daniels. Who tells McNulty - I got a law degree, I don't need to be down here with a law degree. (Sigh, I can identify...law degrees aren't what they are cracked up to be.) Now, that he's finally decided to turn in his papers, resign, early pension and become a lawyer, Perez has convinced Valcheck to blackmail Burrell into putting Daniels on the Wire for the Sobotke smuggling operation. LOL! Looks like Daniels, Perez, Freeman, Bunk and McNulty are destined. Most love affairs don't go this well.
I may have to up my netflix ante to three discs a week - not coming fast enough and not enough episodes on each DVD for my taste.
How is it possible for a tv series to get better with each and every episode, or stay this consistently good? I haven't seen a weak episode since maybe 5 and that episode was still better than 90% of the stuff I've been watching on tv of late. (Should probably take a moment and let you know what I'm watching? Nah. You can guess on your own.) People actually thought season 2 of the Wire wasn't that good? Ooookay. Mileage varies and all that, I guess.
Tonight I laughed my head off again. It's hilarious in places.
Burrell? Oh, I've met this guy throughout my career. I do feel for him though. And it is a rather realistic portrayal of the insidiousness of institutional racism in the US and what persons of color or women have had to do to get ahead. Play dirty ball, stroke the right feathers, stab the right backs...kiss the right palms and asses. You don't really get it - until well you see it up close and personal. But with Burrell and Daniels in The Wire - it really is depicted quite well. And they work as brilliant mirrors of each other. You have honest cop Daniels who wants to advance, but also wants to be able to look himself in the mirror each morning and feel pride in his job, Burrell - who wants to advance, is convinced he can make a difference, and is willing to do what it takes for self-preservation and to work the system within reason of course, and finally the Senator who is as crooked as they come.
I'm falling for Dominic West's damaged Irish cop with a heart of gold, McNulty, but have the oddest feeling that no one else who loved this show liked this character or understands my love of him? Granted he is a familiar trope, but they aren't giving in to the stereotype. He isn't wonder cop, he just sets things in motion and he doesn't give up, he is interested, he's basically like Greggs, he adores solving cases - being a cop, but unlike Greggs he has sacrificed everything - his kids, his wife, his family, his own wellbeing and that of his friends to be a cop and solve cases - he puts the cases above everything else with a tunnel visioned doggedness that doesn't always work out as he wished. A damaged character that makes sense to me. The pitbull tenacity, often self-destructive, and often far too micro for one's own good. McNulty is the sort that gets caught up in his own ego, that he fails to see what he's doing to those around him. There's an excellent scene between McNulty and the two men who know him well, have worked with him - Lester Freeman and Bunk - the best cop team I've watched in a long long time.
Lester: McNulty has got himself a theory.
Bunk: You genuis of deductive reasoning.
Lester: He's going to tell us...(and they proceed to tell McNulty everything he has figured out about the case ...)
Bunk: That would you deigned to come here and help us with?
McNulty - sheepish: When you'd figure it out?
(Russell and Bunk tell him. They aren't Cole, they aren't dumb. They don't need McNulty's smart white irish ass to tell them what is what. But they are wonderfully good at putting him in his place, yet at the same time...patient and friendly about it. There's a friendly comraderary that feels real and lived in. That I loved so much about Homicide Life on the Streets and have not seen depicted on a tv show in quite some time. )
Another great scene - hilarious and oh so true - is between Lester, Bunk, and the crew who can't speak a word of English and have five different dialects - all from Russia and Asia. At one point Bunk and Lester, fed up, start speaking gobbley gook back at them. It is hilarious and a sly jab at all these cop shows on television where everyone speaks English. Sorry, but you can't be in a NY or Chicago or big city police department and not run into suspects who don't speak English. Or interview a bunch of people on a Russian ship, and expect them all to speak English. This is what I love about The Wire and why I'm completely ruined for shows such as Bones, Castle, Law & Order, CSI, NCIS, etc...
they have pristine offices, sterile labs, great clothes, perfect hair and makeup, look like they walked out of a modeling agency, and drive expensive cars, have expensive phones, and crimes get solved like a snap. Sorry, no. No city in the US has that type of money. Police Departments are funded by tax payer dollars. (Okay, maybe the police department in Beverly Hills...or the rich suburbs, but not the inner cities.) The Wire gets it right.
Poor D. He's being screwed at both ends. Although at least Avon kept him from o'ding on bad coke.
The Hot Shots of the title. Stringer is screwing his wife? Girlfriend? Mother of his kid? Can't say I blame her - Stringer is hot or Idris who is playing Stringer is hot. He's got to be hands down the most attractive looking actor on this show, with Omar a close second. Distant third is McNulty.
Although I do wonder about Stringer's taste, she's whiny.
There's more female characters in S2. We have the two gal robbers who Omar hooks up with - in a wierd way. Beatrice Russel - who appears to be taking Shakima Greggs place on the team. Shakima is second year Pre-Law. (Yep, she's aiming to become a lawyer, just like I thought.) Rather like Russell.
And the scene with Landsman who told her to wear muted pants suits, to counter act the pin-strip lawyer act of Bunk and the tweeds of Freeman...was also hilariously funny. Landsman is hilarious whenever he is on screen. Has some of the best lines.
But so does Russell - loved her line - in regards to the female prostitutes being shipped in the white slavery trade to the US. 50,000 working here alone.
Bunk: Damn, they need to set up a whole agency just to police them.
Russell: What they need is a union. (Great line and oh so true.)
That's how you survive in these jobs by the way - gallows humor. You make fun of the insanity.
I keep having to rewind bits of the Wire, got fed up finally - and put on close-captioning to hear the scene between the Coroner - Dr. Frazier (the doc with the afro - who I adore and I've definitely seen that actor before somewhere) and McNulty. Great scene - a tiny gem. So many gems here.
Every detail, every piece of dialogue...it all matters. Haven't seen anything this tightly written in a long time...not sure ever, maybe Homicide? Most TV shows tend to be written rather loosely..due in part to commercial breaks and in part to the speed you have to produce the show, and how many episodes you have to turn out yearly. The Wire only had to turn out 13...and had plenty of time to percolate - since they had to do a bit of shopping around first. (Farscape is another series that benefited from a percolation period or fermentation period.)
Oh and the whole bit about poor Daniels. Who tells McNulty - I got a law degree, I don't need to be down here with a law degree. (Sigh, I can identify...law degrees aren't what they are cracked up to be.) Now, that he's finally decided to turn in his papers, resign, early pension and become a lawyer, Perez has convinced Valcheck to blackmail Burrell into putting Daniels on the Wire for the Sobotke smuggling operation. LOL! Looks like Daniels, Perez, Freeman, Bunk and McNulty are destined. Most love affairs don't go this well.
I may have to up my netflix ante to three discs a week - not coming fast enough and not enough episodes on each DVD for my taste.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-04 06:31 pm (UTC)We get Little Finger explained five times in three different points of view.
Oh dear, not sure how I'm going to get on with these books, then. I'm a great believer in show, don't tell when it comes to literature.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-04 07:37 pm (UTC)They aren't for everyone. I have issues with them. There's bits that are rather wonderful and you'll love. Others that will make you want to throw it across the room in a fit of annoyance, and long passages that are just boring. Also very bleak books. Lots and lots of gory character deaths. And you are in the points of view of very young children during some of these gory deaths and torture sequences...
In a lot of ways I prefer the TV series. Much more entertaining. Little-Finger scene aside. (I agree it was gratuitous. Amusing - in the commentary to the Wire - West is discussing gratuitous breast shots in The Wire and I kept thinking, yet still not as gratuitous as Game of Thrones. HBO and their need for sex scenes...) The series is partly more entertaining because we don't spend as much time in the young kids points of view, and also it moves faster.
More of the complexity of the story is introduced - and much much earlier. The villians are painted far less black and white and it feels less like a young adult novel.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-04 08:46 pm (UTC)I suspect I'm going to prefer the show too ultimately.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-05 04:18 pm (UTC)Unless you have a great deal of patience and get turned on by child adventure fantasy novels...with lots of gory war scenes.
I'm about ready to give up on the books to be honest. So much of the story, far too much of it, is told in flashback. Lots of unreliable narrators and we're constantly being told that we think is true, isn't.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-05 06:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-05 07:14 pm (UTC)So, as a reader...you think, wait, did I miss something? You flip back, and uh, no, you didn't. It did not happen on the page - it happened off the page and the writer hasn't gotten around to showing it to you until now.