Anyone here anticipating the start of Season #2 for The Wire on HBO? I really got into the show last summer, and I must admit it’s one of the best programs I’ve ever watched. For those interested, here’s a brief preview of the upcoming season:
Looks as if I’m the only one on these boards touting this outstanding show on HBO. I’m curious as to how they intend to weave elelemts of the first season (the Barksdale case) with the new one emerging this season (the dead girls found in the shipping containers). But what I love about this show (as evidence from season #1) is that eventually all the various storylines will come together.
For those interested, check out info on the show at HBO’s website:
SPOILERS for last season and the first two episodes of this season.
When I heard that there would be a second season I was deeply ambivalent. I thought the original worked so perfectly as a closed story I was afraid of what might happen by revisiting the characters. So far I’ve been largely impressed, although there are a few things that bugged me – for instance, the fact that Barksdale’s crew is now having trouble with supply undercuts the futility that McNulty and Greggs felt at the end of last season. It seemed then like nothing had changed, but as it turns out, the Barksdale detail did make something of a difference.
Last night’s episode had a lot of excellent stuff in it. As the episode started I was ruminating on the question of whether they could put together another season as good as the last one. Then there was the scene with all those various police agencies standing around by the girls’ bodies, all of them weaseling out of jurisdiction – that was as good as it gets. Plus the fact that McNulty’s primary goal (although to be charitable, perhaps not his only one) in investigating the crime was to stick it to Rawls – and that Bunk and Lester ended up with the job. Landsman was right that they’re his two best detectives – but he was also conscious of the fact that they’re McNulty’s friends as well.
–Cliffy
Cliffy,
Thanks for weighing in with comments. I’m still surprised that there hasn’t been more fanfare on the SDMB regarding this show. While I enjoy the other original programs that HBO offers (especially Six Feet Under), there’s something about this show that really resonates with me.
Good point - but McNulty, et al. don’t know that. They’re having to deal with their own issues. I like the fact that we get to see the many perspectives in the aftermath of the case. McNulty to harbor patrol, Lt. Daniels to the evidence room, Shima doing desk work, Prez and the one cop who teamed with Herc (can’t think of his name) having to deal with the cop out to get Sobotka and the longshoreman (over a stained glass window in a church!!!).
I agree - good episode. I especially like the fact that we get to see the bureaucratic mindset of all the cops involved in haggling over jurisdiction. Buck passing indeed!! In your standard cop drama, you would have the cops all fighting over the chance to solve the case. You don’t get that here - I imagine that this type of bureaucratic behavior is much more common in real life.
I’ll have to agree that McNulty is taking particular delight in sticking it to Rawls. But I also think that McNulty is generally a good cop who really wants to do his job - be a detective and be involved in good cases. Same goes for Lt. Daniels - I don’t honestly believe that he’ll put in his papers and leave the force.
Plus, McNulty, Daniels, Lester, and Shima have had an impact on the younger cops as well (Prez, Herc, etc.). We even get this in the first episode of season #2 when Prez (talking to his asshole father-in-law) that what he really wanted to do was be involved in good cases. That’s what I especially liked last season - that a motley crew of cops cobbled together came together and worked as a team.
Great show, I missed the first season because I tried to half-watch the first couple of episodes and then got totally lost. No watching while web surfing for me this season. I’m a little lost in the black gang subplot but greatly enjoying the dock workers.
A beer & egg breakfast? Is this a Baltimore-ism or just something that I’m not aware of since I’m not a hard-drinkin’ stevedore? A Google search on “beer egg” and “egg beer” and “eggbeer” didn’t turn up much, except for one site which says you are supposed to beat the egg first.
This season seems a little unfocused. There are a lot of tail ends of previous stories hanging around (like the Barksdale stuff and Shakima and Hauk and Lt. Daniels) while they’re also trying to introduce a new case and a new cast of characters. It’s still good, but it seems to be drifting into the standard episodic tv drama format, like HBO’s other shows.
That said, the first season was one of the most remarkable things I’ve ever seen on television. With all the crime stories I’ve watched over the years, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one that covered a case in such loving detail. Not only did it show a lot about the intricacies of wire-tapping, and case research, and police bureaucracy, but it gave a fairly complete picture of the day-to-day details of running a drug operation. Whether or not the details were accurate is hard to say (you’d have to ask a cop or a crack kingpin), but they seemed accurate, which is what matters.
The cast was amazing. No one but HBO seems to have the balls to make a show that big without a single ‘name’ actor in it.
And Omar is the shit.
I Saw the first season and watched the first episode of the second season (episode two on tape at home, will watch it tonight.)
The first season started kinda slow, but got better as it went along. I think that might be the case with this season as well. Sorta sorry they aren’t still back at the projects, but this could be an interesting location as well.
Besides, it’s not like there is all that much on the tube this time of year anyway, so…
I love this show. It’s SO slow moving though. When the episodes end I just want to keep watching.
They sure do have a lot of “what the heck is going on” moments though. Stuff that you think should make sense but doesn’t. But then it gets cleared up in the next scene, so you couldn’t have gotten it the first time around. Like the guy getting his cell tossed was completely random at first, then it was revealed who he was and why it was happening a few minutes later. It’s a little frustrating.
As noted above, I worry about this too, guy, but remember that it took a good three episodes in the first season for anyone in the audience to figure out what was going on, so I think it’s too soon to judge whether this season is up to snuff.
–Cliffy