Come and join me in praise of 'The Wire'

[commasense]

@cbawlmer

We just finished watching Season 4 earlier this week, and I’ve been avoidng this thread until now so I wouldn’t get spoiled. We subscribed to HBO just for Season 5. I loved Homicide back when it was on (except the pitiful final season), and am blown away by how good The Wire is. It’s the yardstick by which I will measure the relative quality of all other shows, forever.

Welcome to the club!

Do we take it from your name that you’re a native of Charm City?

[cbawlmer]

@commasense

Do we take it from your name that you’re a native of Charm City?

No, but I was still in my Homicide fan phase way back in 1998 when I started using this handle online! I’ve thought about changing it, but just haven’t bothered.

[easy_e]

@Windwalker

Yea that’s one of the few unbelievable things in the show. Mouzone’s not even based in Baltimore, so it seems unlikely that he could have such a bad-ass rep there. And even so, he’d be pretty easy to cap in some of the situations he puts himself in. Omar also seems to be a bit exaggerated, as there are situations where he’s quite vulnerable as well (remember him, alone, shaking down a house full of dealers for their stash from the outside?). At least Omar has earned his celebrity status by being a constant presence; how has Mouzone earned his?

I think that’s supposed to imply that the Baltimore dealers really are small time compared to the New York operations. As Prop Joe says in Season 4 (when Ol’ Face Andre comes to him for help), Baltimore gangsters think “laying low” is crossing downtown and that Andre really should be getting out of Dodge (or rather, B’More).

[commasense]

An article on The Wire in today’s New York Times.

And a Reuters article from a few days ago.

[commasense]

Oooh, I just saw this in the Reuters article:

Pierce also said that he and “Wire” co-star Sonja Sohn approached HBO and Simon about a prequel movie to “The Wire,” which would chart the rise of the fictional Barksdale crime family depicted in the first three seasons.

Great idea!

[Windwalker]

@easy e

I think that’s supposed to imply that the Baltimore dealers really are small time compared to the New York operations. As Prop Joe says in Season 4 (when Ol’ Face Andre comes to him for help), Baltimore gangsters think “laying low” is crossing downtown and that Andre really should be getting out of Dodge (or rather, B’More).

But if New York gangsters were so tough, wouldn’t they be coming back hard on Snoop and Chris (and Marlow’s gang in general) for popping so many bangers from NY?

[AuntiePam]

I think someone (Prop Joe?) commented that it might take awhile for NY to be suspicious about the disappearances. Drug dealers aren’t the type of workers that you check on if they don’t show up for work for a few days.

Plus, most of Snoop and Chris’s bodies were locals, at least at the beginning.

[commasense]

Woo hoo! Fifteen minutes and counting to the official start of Season 5!!!

FYI, there’s a story about The Wire by Tom Shales in today’s Washington Post. Despite the fact that he acknowledges in the article that reviewers were asked by Simon not to reveal any spoilers in the seven episodes they were allowed to see in advance, he hints at the identity of a character who is killed. I saw this coming and stopped reading before I figured it out, but it was clear that anyone as familiar with the show as all of us would have recognized him/her. Thanks a lot Tom. So I’m filing the article away to read after the end of the season.

See you for the post mortem at 10 pm. Here, or a new thread?