There are not many shows taht are better than the Wire; my favorite part about Omar is that he doesn't curse.
In a profane and violent world, he has a code, which he upholds. IIRC, MKWilliams was the one who insisted that Omar not curse.
In a profane and violent world, he has a code, which he upholds. IIRC, MKWilliams was the one who insisted that Omar not curse.
David Simon called it "a treatise on the end of the American empire, and who we are as a people, what we've come to, why we can no longer solve or even seriously address our own problems", and generally said and wrote a lot of insightful things since, very eloquently. I loved The Wire, but discovering that head and character behind it impressed me on top of even that.
Just take this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL6Jv2Jpnpg
If I had to put it in a nutshell I'd say The Wire "comes from a place of" paying attention, not from distraction or deriving entertainment from crime and other problems, and that (combined with genius and the right people getting together and having good chemistry, and a lot of things not going wrong that can easily kill a TV show) made it so good. Good art can be luck, but art this great is always the tip of an iceberg.
One of the brilliant things about the show is how it wove in so many elements: rival criminals, politics, law enforcement, the media, the church, well-meaning citizens, etc. There was so much tension, angst and striving from all quarters. All of this created a separate entity--a system--wherein all actions and motivations served to form a near-perfect tension that held everything and everyone in a state of suspension.
I loved the wire - truly.
However, I think I would rate the first season of true detective as being better than all of the seasons of the wire except for season 2, which was my favorite.
I was surprised to learn that s2 (dock workers, etc.) is not very well liked - I thought it was by far the most interesting.
EDIT: WIRE SPOILER: also, as long as we're talking about it ... the resolution of the omar character in the last seasons of the wire was incredibly anti-climactic and just downright weird. I understand they got the rug pulled out and had to quick wrap up the show but that was really just the worst and most useless bookend to his character arc...
I think that was the point. I don't remember where I read it, but his death was always going to be like that. It didn't matter that he was the only beacon of (kinda) good in a cruel world - good and bad, the streets get you eventually and its never honorable or glorious.
Which in itself is an argument against doing that!
The way he went out says that in the real "game", there are no super heroes. Even the biggest badass dies just as much from a bullet, and ultimately mean nothing compared to the big institutional forces that shape the world.
One way to think about The Wire as a whole is that it's about organisations and how they remain the same, regardless of the seemingly big influence individuals have in them.
At the end of the show most the bigger-than-life people on all sides have been replaced. Yet everything is just the same as it always was.
> the resolution of the omar character in the last seasons of the wire was incredibly anti-climactic and just downright weird. I understand they got the rug pulled out and had to quick wrap up the show but that was really just the worst and most useless bookend to his character arc...
That's just it. In the streets, there aren't heroes and villains. Just everyday people who are in the game, and those who are not. And if you're in the game, something as normal as going to a 1-stop shop can end in murder.
I loved that for Bodie, they let him go out in blaze of glory. Deciding to hold his corner in defiance.
Both characters were given the type of ending that fit best with their arcs. Omar had enough epic shootouts that one more would have been cliche.
That gives a nice kind of circular relationship, although it's hard to say there was hero-worship going on, given the ending.
Which is what made it appropriate and perfect. This is what makes The Wire what it is, this representation of "the game" in all its futility.
There are not many shows taht are better than the WireThe Wire on the other hand I've seen completely atleast 5 times and always notice something new.
Yes! Seeing the family struggles of a vile gangster is what made the show amazing.
Still top-tier, and I think it laid a foundation that others have built upon, in sheer game-elevation alone.
That's what I liked about it.
Season 5 is the most underappreciated season, but I've really started to appreciate it.
McNulty has been a character who believes the ends justify the means. In Season 1, he falsifies that Sidner (iirc) was on the roof, thus allowing the police to admit phone tapped evidence.
In Season 5, it shows how taking that mentality of by any means necessary can quickly spiral out of control.
There is just enough foolery to make it easily tier 2 for me: Francis Wolcott's story arc, Olyphant's acting, Seth Bullock's attempt at morale highground.
If folks aren't turned off by violence, profanity, and prostitution, it's definitely must watch tv.
Oz is still one of my favorite tv show, it has so many good characters and the huit clos format (closed doors) is really perfect for focusing on them