The Wire

[SuitedAces21 2,722]

for me seasons 2 3 and 4 are so far above anyhting else in history that i cannot tell you which was better than the others. they were so great they dont need to be ranked.

[BigDMcGee 3,352]

for me seasons 2 3 and 4 are so far above anyhting else in history that i cannot tell you which was better than the others. they were so great they dont need to be ranked.

That's sort of how I feel.

[brvheart 1,752]

Season 4 over. This is easily my favorite season so far. I have a lot of love for the inner city public school system, and that aspect of this season really puts it over the top for me.My favorite characters from season 4:Omar (easily his best season so far. He was awesome in the last couple of episodes.)Cutty (I really like Cutty. A lot.)Daniels (Sooo happy about his promotion.)Bubbles (When he was hanging from the ceiling I got so sad. I'm really glad they saved him.)Dukie Weems (I love this kid. I want to find him and adopt him.)Michael Lee (I hate that he went to the dark side, but he is a super interesting character, and very well acted by whoever the kid is.)Randy Wagstaff (Urg! I hate the fact that there are actually kids that have to live in a situation like him.)AMAZINGLY ... Ellis Carver has made my list. He changed from "Herc sucky" to "McNulty awesome". (Ironically, McNulty isn't going to make my season 4 list.)Bodie Broadus (This is the first season I really really liked Bodie. So, of course he died.)Namond Brice (It makes me always unbearably sad that kids have parents like his. Although I'm mainly referring to his mom, since I really like Wee-Bey)Lester (Yes! Lester's back!)Snoop & Chris (I view them as one person, and every time they were on scene they were a huge scary presence. Snoop almost doesn't speak English, and I love it.)The black dude that is Carcetti's 2nd in command, Norman Wilson. I really like him.Pryzbylewski (I think Pryz is a terrible teacher, and he's way too weak to be in that environment. But I love the school system so much that I almost always enjoyed his scenes.)Albert (the kid who's mom dies and he cries talking to Bunny Colvin. He's not on screen long, but he's a solid actor. I really loved his crying scene. It broke my heart.)Honorable Mention:Prop Joe (He's been a solid overall character, but I don't really care about him. I'm sure he'll end up dead after the shipment screw-up.)My favorite characters overall:StringerOmar (Omar jumped about 3 spots since the end of season 3, and since McNulty fell off a cliff in season 4, he jumped him in my overall rankings.)McNultyDanielsCuttyDukie WeemsBubbles Michael LeeRandy WagstaffAvonLester FrankWallace (based almost entirely on his death scene)Ellis Carver (If you would have told me that he was going to be on my overall list at the end of season 4, I straight up would have laughed at you.)Characters I hated in season 4:HercNamond's mother.

[byaaatch 0]

okay totally off subject of the wire but has anyone watched breakout kings? I didn't really want to create a new topic incase there was no interest but it does have Herc in it. Season 2 just started and season 1 is streaming on netflix. Just started watching a couple of the episodes seems not too bad.

[BigDMcGee 3,352]

Dunno if this is a herc appreciation thread.

[brvheart 1,752]

Well, I knew that little kid was going to kill him as soon as Omar walked past, and the way it played out was pretty predictable, but I was still super sad when it happened. They should have let Omar get his revenge on Chris and Snoop, but I understand the message is that the next generation just picks it up when the older gets killed. Still. It was an awful way to end Omar story line. I'm disappointed. Omar was great this season.

[ShakeZuma 585]

brvheart your reviewing of this show is a bit odd to me. I've never heard of anybody watching the wire all the way through and thinking of it in terms of "favorites" and what parts of the story line they liked or didn't like. to me the wire has always been a show you weren't really supposed to "like" as much as a show about what really happens, and that's what makes it so freaking great. like omar getting shot: that wasn't so much how the omar story line ended as much as it was just how things happen. nobody gets out clean.**this is a paraphrase from some quote either from david simon of from a story about david simon but I can't find the original.

[SlapStick 0]

.

[brvheart 1,752]

brvheart your reviewing of this show is a bit odd to me. I've never heard of anybody watching the wire all the way through and thinking of it in terms of "favorites" and what parts of the story line they liked or didn't like. to me the wire has always been a show you weren't really supposed to "like" as much as a show about what really happens, and that's what makes it so freaking great. like omar getting shot: that wasn't so much how the omar story line ended as much as it was just how things happen. nobody gets out clean.**this is a paraphrase from some quote either from david simon of from a story about david simon but I can't find the original.

If I was watching The Wire in 2002-2007 or whenever ist was on TV, I may have watched like you are suggesting. However, since I'm watching it well p

[ShakeZuma 585]

did you have a stroke at the end of that post?

[SuitedAces21 2,722]

calling omar's death predictable is laughable. it flies in the face of every tv show thats every been or ever will be.

[ShakeZuma 585]

look suited, let's not waste any more time on this. we both know that brvheart is a grade a IDIOT so I mean what are ya gonna do? let's take our macs to a coffee shop and talk about the new shins album k? k.

[SuitedAces21 2,722]

there's a new shins album?

[ShakeZuma 585]

there is! I'm waiting for my new mac to come in to download it, cause I mean, how perfect would that be?

[BigDMcGee 3,352]

look suited, let's not waste any more time on this. we both know that brvheart is a grade a IDIOT so I mean what are ya gonna do? let's take our macs to a coffee shop and talk about the new shins album k? k.

I thought I told you to stay out of Miami..

[SuitedAces21 2,722]

insanely perfect. so suck on that brvy, you mac hating, wire misundertanding idiot.

[brvheart 1,752]

did you have a stroke at the end of that post?

Stupid phone. That was a really long post.

[brvheart 1,752]

did you have a stroke at the end of that post?

The point of the post is that I started watching The Wire almost solely based on the bracket JJJ posted. I had been meaning to watch it, and that pushed me over the edge. So my entire viewpoint was to look at it through the lens of which characters I liked the most, not as an overarching story/plot that was built for me over a period of 5 years from 2003-2008. I agree with you that I would have looked at it differently had that been the case, but there is nothing I can do about that now.

calling omar's death predictable is laughable. it flies in the face of every tv show thats every been or ever will be.

Just because you didn't predict it, doesn't mean it wasn't predictable.

[brvheart 1,752]

I'm done. I would say that this is the best drama I've ever watched, although that's not saying much. I would also say that it's the best drama-based TV show ever, but I'm not sure that's saying a whole lot either, as I usually hate dramas. The production of this show was like that of a 50 hour movie, and that's hard to do. The plot didn't follow to the "normal" conclusions, and yet it was easy to see what the producers were saying. It certainly brings up tons of issues, and I love the fact that they cover so much ground with the complexity of the story. There were some things that I didn't like about it, but that's probably due to the fact that my expectations were so high, since I've heard nothing but high praise since 2003. However, there were many more good things than bad, and I'm sad that it's over. It was very well done, and they had the guts to do a lot of unconventional things, which is awesome. Big props to HBO. I am a huge fan of this series, and I will definitely be rewatching it.In Season 5, I loved that they got rid of Daniels because he was too honest, and that the liar got the Pulitzer, while Gus was stuck in his job, knowing that Scott was a liar. I LOVED that. It's so true to life. You do everything right and end up with dick, while dumb-ass Suited becomes a drug lawyer and makes millions of dollars.That being said, and without further ado, especially for Shake, here are my final rankings:My favorite characters from season 5:Omar (By far his best season. And that's saying a lot, since he was great in season 4)Daniels (I love that he wouldn't lie and that his moral character came before his career. That was amazing, and easily solidified him as one of my favorite characters of the entire series.)Bubbles (His best season. I'm REALLLY surprised more people don't like him. BigD even said that people that liked him were "soft" or something. That's super confusing to me, because I think he's one of the best characters of the entire series, and I have no idea how he is only a #7 seed in that bracket. That's crazy.)Dukie Weems (I love this kid, and I'm so sad that he betrayed Prez because of drugs. That made me super sad.)Michael Lee (Great actor, and I love that he killed Snoop. I do not understand why they had him rob the one dude at the end. I guess they are saying he was going to start his own thing, but that didn't really fit where his character was going. I feel like it would have been much more likely that he, Dukie, and Bug would have all moved in with the Aunt.)Lester (Season 5 was Lester's best season. I loved him whenever he was on-screen, and I loved loved loved the Irish bar ending in the finale.)Snoop & Chris (Both great in season 5. Huge fans.)Bunk (This is the first time Bunk made a season list for me, but I really liked him in season 5.)Gus (He was the only newspaper character that I liked, and I think he played the role very well.)Clay Davis (He was a very interesting character, and the show was better off because he was a part of it.)Characters I hated in season 5:HercMy favorite characters overall:I'll fill out the bracket and post it.

[FCP Bob 1,312]

Michael Lee (Great actor, and I love that he killed Snoop. I do not understand why they had him rob the one dude at the end. I guess they are saying he was going to start his own thing, but that didn't really fit where his character was going. I feel like it would have been much more likely that he, Dukie, and Bug would have all moved in with the Aunt.)

I think the message that they were sending is that the people may change but the game goes on. Dukie is the next Bubbles and Michael is the next Omar.

[brvheart 1,752]

[brvheart 1,752]

Dukie is the next Bubbles and Michael is the next Omar.

I'm not sure if they've actually come out and said this, but it's pretty clear that this is a possibility. Good thought.

[brvheart 1,752]

I just realized that the brackets Bob posted on page 16 were out of order or something, and grantland fixed them later. So I posted an updated one here. Both of them together give a better picture of my overall rankings, so I'm going to leave them both up.Now Lester doesn't make it to the 3rd round because he runs into Stringer, where I would have Lester beating both Marlo and Bodie if the seedings were different.My hardest pick was Wallace vs. Bunk, because I really like Bunk, but Wallace's death scene scarred me for life. It was so close though that I'm 2nd guessing that pick already. I mean, Wallace was only on the show one season. Bunk gave us at least 3 solid seasons.McNulty got the most screwed by being up against a huge favorite of mine, Daniels. McNulty would have easily beaten anyone in his region other than Bubbles or Daniels for me.Also, the Omar vs. Stringer was a simple coin-flip, because I like them equally.

[DJ Vu 176]

@KenTremendous is doing Wire quotes all day.Edit: I guess a lot of people are? Wire Quote Day is a thing?

[BigDMcGee 3,352]

And now, since brv is done.. the main reason I didn't think season 5 was the strongest is that I thought the serial crime sub plot was so contrived. It was the only thing in the entire series that I had a hard time buying, and I hated it.