The Wire 5x01 Reaction
Added 2023-11-09 23:37:16 +0000 UTC
Comments
Surely the policing problem is a much greater sickness than the 'rhetoric' ahahah
Yannis
2023-12-04 01:14:50 +0000 UTCTo add to this - those who have a desire to protect and serve, and are talented will generally choose a better regarded, higher paying career path. Add the American publics horrible regard for police officers and the challenges they face, particularly in struggling municipalities, and the problem cycles down and down. You're attracted less talented, less compassionate people who are more likely to be jaded to the publics perception of them. Imagine you are a compassionate officer who does his best for his community. Yet you are blanketly hated for the uniform you wear, through no fault of your own. And with the increasing public pressure on your leadership for harsher penalties for offending officers, you won't even feel like your own department will have your back. This blanket harsh regard for officers and departments will literally push out those that you would want to be the ones serving you, and perpetuate the very things you hate in your departments. I'm so glad I'm canadian :P
Graydon Green
2023-11-29 07:48:49 +0000 UTCThe anti police rhetoric is the problem? not the reasons people are so angry about police? your blatant disregard to the completely understandable frustrations with police is a sickness. If you can't appreciate why then you're part of the problem. Especially when watching The Wire, which shines a light on how bad police can be, you're missing a big point of the show.
FrankReynolds
2023-11-28 18:36:00 +0000 UTCSTFU fed.
Gangster Pikachu
2023-11-20 17:53:59 +0000 UTCThe anti police rhetoric flying around nowdays is a sickness. It offers no solution to the problem just blame. I wish you'd try putting yourself in their shoes and see if you could do the job better, they are playning with the cards they are dealt and i doubt you'd do a better job. It's systemic issue and it needs to be solved with more money and a actual police education like in other countries. It just irks me when you jus go on about how bad the cops are.
fdEA
2023-11-16 00:55:41 +0000 UTC3 is right up there with 4 for me.
Aj
2023-11-12 13:39:56 +0000 UTCThe only correct ranking here lol.
Aj
2023-11-12 13:39:03 +0000 UTCLoved your discussion/argument about how Lola hopes for a positive outcome, eve when she knows it is a futile hope. Puts me in mind of an Emily Dickinson poem: “Hope” is the thing with feathers - That perches in the soul - And sings the tune without the words - And never stops - at all - And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard - And sore must be the storm - That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm - I’ve heard it in the chillest land - And on the strangest Sea - Yet - never - in Extremity, It asked a crumb - of me.
Joe Gaspard
2023-11-12 02:16:53 +0000 UTC4 > 1 > 2 > 3 > 5 And while 5 is last for me, it's still better than 99.9% of other shows out there.
Isak Haugerud
2023-11-11 14:44:37 +0000 UTCHonestly so far I think this is my ranking too. S3 had great stuff in it but I was less emotionally invested and just less…gripped by the story overall.
cosmotron
2023-11-11 05:16:51 +0000 UTC5 > 4 > 3 > 2 > 1 Yall are bad at math.
Shivering King Banana
2023-11-11 03:47:23 +0000 UTCReally? I think you’re the only person I’ve ever seen put 3 last
Wanda Did Nothing Wrong
2023-11-11 02:57:29 +0000 UTC4 > 1 > 3 > 5 > 2
M Salam
2023-11-11 01:55:40 +0000 UTCI think part of that is because David Simon and Ed Burns put a lot of focus on the aspects of what they know in real life. And stuff they don't know, they don't pretend to or go out of their depths with it. Each character on this show, is an amalgamation of about 6 different people they have known in the real world. I just don't know if they're as familiar with the female struggles in urban culture, or political offices or the police department like they do the males. And they tend to stay away from things they're not all that familiar with.
M Salam
2023-11-11 01:54:42 +0000 UTC4 > 2 > 1 > 5 > 3
TeaDrinker3000
2023-11-11 01:44:51 +0000 UTC1 = 2 = 3 = 4 > 5
Julian Niquille
2023-11-11 00:54:12 +0000 UTC4 > 3 > 1 > 2 > 5
Alwyn Smith
2023-11-11 00:26:08 +0000 UTC4 > 3 > 1 > 5 > 2
Accolade
2023-11-10 18:09:14 +0000 UTCThe character of Gus, the City editor in the news room, is played by Clark Johnson who was the director for some episodes of The Wire including the pilot and the very final episode. Also the actor who plays the journalist Alma was married to Larry Gillard (D'Angelo Barksdale) in real life.
Andrew Wright
2023-11-10 16:55:08 +0000 UTCIt never really struck me before that this season begins with a scene showing how comfortable Bunk is crossing certain ethical boundaries in the pursuit of his work. He's always been one of the show's examples of police doing things the "right" way, but that's really because he doesn't beat suspects. We saw back in season 1 that he's perfectly comfortable coaching a witness to make a false ID, when he tried to get Kima to identify Wee-Bey as her shooter despite not seeing him.
Mike Conlin
2023-11-10 15:52:36 +0000 UTCJimmy this season illustrates why so many addicts who got clean overdose when they relapse. When they fall off the wagon, they don't start again from the beginning. They pick up right where they left off.
Mike Conlin
2023-11-10 15:43:58 +0000 UTCI watched a few more episodes of S5 last night, and I still think it's the weakest season, but I enjoyed this opener a lot.
Aj
2023-11-10 11:53:28 +0000 UTCLoved the conversation around Michael, I'm excited to see them react to his story. It is nice seeing him caring about Dukie and Bug again after the end of last season.
Mark M
2023-11-10 08:42:15 +0000 UTCSeason 5 gets some grief as being the weakest (though still awesome!) season of The Wire. This season was forced to be shortened by the network and I believe they were also dealing with a writer strike around the same time, so I think some of the storylines at the beginning don't have the normal buildup as other seasons. With that being said, I think some of the best individual scenes of the whole series are in this season. Just a note with regard to newspapers, the Baltimore Sun shown here would be the largest in Maryland and read throughout the state. The ambitious reporter (Scott) mentions the Times and the Post, implied to be out of New York and Washington D.C, respectively. These are a couple out of only a handful of newspapers that are so well known, prestigious, and read by many across the country, so that just saying something like 'The Times' implies that you are talking about the New York Times. In other words, Scott is shooting for the top.
Craig Manning
2023-11-10 06:57:39 +0000 UTCHeld off watching Season five to experience it in real time with you guys. Guess I need to start so I'm not behind.
Benodinson
2023-11-10 04:35:38 +0000 UTC@Chidi Yeah, it's not that I think the female characters are bad per se, it's more that the story doesn't focus on them as much as male characters. On top of that you can definitely feel a lot of them fall into certain...typical character slots, without actually being explored *as characters* in the narrative. Like, we see a lot of what its like for these boys on the corners, growing up in these drug families, but not really from the POV of girls who live around the same things. We don't get storylines that focus on sex workers from their POV, aside from the brief s1 stoyline where one that D was seeing helped the Major Crimes unit. We don't even get things like Cutty bonding with girls who need help channeling their aggression because he doesn't allow girls to train at his gym. A lot of them kind of just exist for one specific role in the story and not much else beyond that, and it's disappointing with how interesting a lot of the male characters are. Or take Rhonda - she's a smart and capable woman who has been integral to the case many times, but we don't really know a lot about her as a character and don't get her POV. And most of her part in the story has been about her romantic/sexual relationships with McNulty and Daniels. This isn't bad on it's own, and I'm not saying she's the character we needed to get more of a POV from. But the story just doesn't focus on its female characters the same way it does its male ones, and I think that's a shame because the character writing on the show is generally really good.
cosmotron
2023-11-10 04:08:45 +0000 UTCFirst of all it is very good to see that your coffee is hot again. Second it was great to see both of you smile and have hope going into season 5 and isn't it great that 5 minutes in all hopes are gone.
FatPaddySlim
2023-11-10 03:55:01 +0000 UTCFair points! This season starts off more than a year after season 4 ended so Jimmy's gradual deterioration has happened off screen. The writers have said they'd wanted to do more with the female characters. David Simon said writing strong female characters was a weakness of his though I think he did a pretty good job.
Chidi.
2023-11-10 03:41:15 +0000 UTCThis is the first time I've noticed that the instrumental track on this season's theme song is very reminiscent of the Law & Order song. Wonder if that was intentional.
Mike Conlin
2023-11-10 02:52:44 +0000 UTCI haven't seen beyond this episode yet. I'll say so far it hasn't hooked me as quickly as some of the other seasons did. While I'm not surprised to see Jimmy falling back into his bad patterns, I do maybe wish we'd seen it happen a little more gradually. Like obviously it didn't happen all at once, but from an audience perspective that's kind of how it feels. I also wish that Beadie was more of an actual character, but that ties into more with how I think this show doesn't tend to explore its female characters as well. That being said, I'm still intrigued. And I like that it seems like we will be getting a lot of focus on the press while still continuing storylines with the kids from s4. And seeing Bubs in an actual house made me feel a lot of emotions, even if its still a complicated situation. Edit, to add other thoughts: Alma seems interesting, as do the other members of The Baltimore Sun. I like how I can tell a lot about their personalities right away based on how they interact and react to what happens. I mentioned being glad we are continuing to see more of Michael and Dukie, but it also makes me so sad. I hope we see how Namond is doing at some point too.
cosmotron
2023-11-10 02:50:18 +0000 UTCAgreed.
M Salam
2023-11-10 02:41:31 +0000 UTCSeason 5 is great, and gets better and better after rewatching. Trust me. It feels more relevant than ever now.
M Salam
2023-11-10 02:40:30 +0000 UTCThere are aspects of this season that aren't *as* strong as the previous instalments, but its focus on the erosion of meaningful local journalism only feels more essential today than it did in 2008. Simon saw that one coming from a mile away.
Mike
2023-11-10 02:38:28 +0000 UTCI still have to catch up on your S4 finale review. As always the opening scene gives clues to what's coming later. The key lines are: "The bigger the lie, the more they believe", and "Americans are a stupid people by and large, we pretty much believe whatever we're told." Worth remembering this season aired in the aftermath of the US invasion of Iraq which was sold to the American people under the huge falsehood of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Btw, the kid in the opening scene is one of the two boys who asked Randy to be on look out while they had sex with the girl at school. Also, Chris walking up to Pearlman and Daniels asking for directions was a dramatic coincidence. The main reason why the Major Crimes Unit is active was standing in front of them just as they were talking about disbanding the unit.
Chidi.
2023-11-10 02:07:52 +0000 UTCA certain character that I absolutely despise makes his debut in this episode, not hard to guess who :)
Nina
2023-11-10 02:07:13 +0000 UTCSo glad I decided not to pay for that David Costabile Cameo video!
Mike Miner
2023-11-10 01:37:25 +0000 UTCMan, I don't see how you can look back at how Chris murdered that delivery lady and think he's any less far gone than Marlo...
prolifik5
2023-11-10 01:20:35 +0000 UTCI mean they realised it was an actor they’d seen before, but they just couldn’t remember from where. They’ll be kicking themselves now 😂
David
2023-11-10 01:10:24 +0000 UTC@Sebastian I see what you did there,
Jay Craig
2023-11-10 01:00:48 +0000 UTCSurprised they didn't call out Gale from Breaking Bad when he popped up.
Charlie McFarland
2023-11-10 00:56:17 +0000 UTCIn the cold open, the first kid was I believe one of the ones who beat up Randy outside of the school in Season 4. The second kid (Monell) was definitely one of the boys who was accused of rape which set off the whole Randy/Herc debacle.
prolifik5
2023-11-10 00:50:36 +0000 UTCSeason 5 is my least favourite and I remember the least about it, only some of the big moments, but damn this episode was a lot better than I remember.
Aj
2023-11-10 00:43:09 +0000 UTCOne little moment , I’m not sure you noticed, that shows what a stand-up guy Gus is… When giving the rundown on the story to his bosses Gus gives credit to a reporter - “Actually Jeff Price found it hidden in the zoning bills at the bottom of the council agenda. He caught it late but he caught it”…. In actual fact, Jeff didn’t catch shit 😂 it was Gus who found it and then put Jeff on to it. Gus just wanted to make his people look good for the bosses rather than take credit for himself
David
2023-11-10 00:43:07 +0000 UTC@Sebastian - someone had a theory that younger viewers such as LM enjoy the faster pacing of this season more than the previous ones. So it'll be interesting to watch these reactions. @TeaDrinker3000 - Excellent episodes. Among the very best of the whole show.
Chidi.
2023-11-10 00:27:30 +0000 UTCI like how Milena was trying to focus on the new intro whilst Lola was preoccupied with the underhand tactics the police used to get the confession from the child. 😂 @lola - a row house is a terraced house like the one in which Randy lived. Interesting you assume Omar will return this season... And yes, they knew this would be the final season.
Chidi.
2023-11-10 00:22:20 +0000 UTCsame!
Sebastian
2023-11-10 00:16:03 +0000 UTC5x09 and 5x10 are some of my favourite episodes out of the whole series!! They wrap it up so well
TeaDrinker3000
2023-11-10 00:00:47 +0000 UTCseason 5 obviously gets overshadowed understandably but i really love the way it wraps a bow around the themes and characters we’ve had. at the very least its not as exhausting!
Sebastian
2023-11-09 23:57:37 +0000 UTCOhh we are on the final stretch now.
Jack SV
2023-11-09 23:48:59 +0000 UTCThat's a brilliant catch!!
TeaDrinker3000
2023-11-09 23:48:37 +0000 UTCIt's so devastating seeing Jimmy knowing he's falling back into his patterns, funny parallel with Bubs who manages to go back to his old haunts without falling into his old life, at least for now. Looks like Jimmy hasn't quite hit his rock bottom yet in the same way. A little touch I always liked with Gus in this episode is that he knew that Fat Face Rick donated $40k to Nereese, then bluffs to her on the phone call that they found $60k he donated, and then because she gives it away by not reacting like he's wrong he knows there's an extra $20k somewhere else at least he needs to go find. They drop a few subtle (and not so subtle) hints at why old hands like Gus are so good at their job,
Jay Craig
2023-11-09 23:45:50 +0000 UTCFor real, I haven't even been able to watch their season 4 review yet!
HenryM
2023-11-09 23:45:34 +0000 UTCWe're spoiled. We're absolutely spoiled this week for content.
TeaDrinker3000
2023-11-09 23:39:54 +0000 UTCWe back up! https://tenor.com/bZFF5.gif
Chidi.
2023-11-09 23:39:24 +0000 UTC
