The Wire - 9/19 (Season Premier)

Any fans of The Wire here?

HBO has moved us from SFU’s California back to the projects in the city of Baltimore. Maybe I’m suffering from jet lag, but what happened to the season 2 story line? No Port, no dock workers, no Greeks? I must admit to missing a couple of episodes from season 2 so maybe there is a story tie-in, but it just seemed odd to me.

Lot’s of police department politics, lots of gang politics (after all it is the political season). I thought the “rules of order” meeting the Barksdale gang was having was hilarious. Seemed like the entire episode was hinging on how out of control the city had become meanwhile here’s the gang having this marketing meeting…

Hopefully my jet lag won’t last too long and I’ll be back on board for another run with The Wire. I do enjoy the series and the actors.

Well, the lack of the dockworkers makes sense because the cops got as far into that investigation as they could at the end of last season. “The Greek” slipped away and as we saw in the final moments of the finale last year, after a short dry spell as they rejiggered their smuggling, the drugs and women flowed into Baltimore just as before but through a new route which the police have no idea about. The docks had some great characters, and perhaps a lesser show would have continued the storyline forever just to keep those guys around. A lesser show certainly wouldn’t have killed off Frank Sobotka! Damn shame that Chris Bauer wasn’t nominated for an Emmy for his role as Frank Sobotka. (Did the show get any nominations? I don’t think so. Injustice!)

This season is going to focus on the the conflicts between the cops and the politicians and the cops and the dealers. The up-and-coming councilman could be a real intriguing character in the weeks to come I think, as well as the fresh parolee.

Another Wire fan here. I think the dock workers lead right back into the drug trade in Baltimore, this time via Proposition Joe and his suspicious treaty with Stringer Bell. By all accounts, Bell is an even worse sociopath than Avon Barksdale, and McNulty has a hard on for him. I don’t blame him; I’d like to see McNutty finally get his man. Three seasons is long enough to wait.

Can’t wait until the first appearance of my favorite character on the show, and definitely on my Top Five TV characters of All Time list, Omar.

What do you guys think of the theme song? I liked Season 1’s jazzy sound, but Tom Waits on Season 2 was awesome. This one doesn’t do it for me at all.

Loved the Tom Waits version for season 2. His gritty voice matches this gritty series very well.