Monday, January 14, 2008

WIREd

It's now the last season of THE WIRE. My second post on the women of THE WIRE is up, but it feels as thin to me as the use of women within the scope of the show. Now that I've seen the second episode of season 5, I'm worried that Beadie's potential arc may fizzle and not amount to anything.

Season 5 discussion is underway, and in the past I've been reluctant to comment on my observations until I've seen every episode at least twice. I must admit, part of me is tempted to not watch the episodes every week now, and instead, wait until the season is over and then watch them in succession and render my verdict. The main reason is, as of right now, I'm fearing that the commentary I'd seen prior to the start of the season, is correct and the show's lost some of its spark. At this point, I can't see the purpose in shifting gears to the media focus of the last season, other than pure indulgence. I love seeing Meldrick (I mean Gus) but it's not enough to cover for the current weakness of that thread.

If you want to catch up and chip in on previous discussions, there's also one on the first four seasons of THE WIRE.



Someone feels they can sum up four seasons of THE WIRE in four minutes.

And for those who haven't watched them yet, the prequels:



Young Omar



Bunk & McNulty: A Love Story



Prop Joe

AND thoughts on last night's episode worth reading.

5 comments:

pattinase (abbott) said...

Did you see the hatchet job on David Simon in the Atlantic?

Sandra Ruttan said...

I did. Honestly, every season improves on me after I've seen it 2 or 3 times, because it's really one long episode, and you need to see the whole story unfolding. I've said more earlier this time than ever before, and could well end up eating my words.

pattinase (abbott) said...

There's just nothing to compare it to. Really it exceeds any movie, novel or tv show.

Jim Winter said...

I know a lot of newspaper types were upset about David Simon's comments and plans for the season. However, one person directly referenced by Simon as one of the newspaper "bad guys" said, "David's frustrated with the business in general. I'm not happy, but I'm not taking it personally, either." (OK, I paraphrased.)

As for McNulty, I'm rather horrified watching him unravel. Drunk, philandering McNulty I get. But when he started messing with the corpse, I knew this season would be the end of him.

But what does it say about a show when you see McNulty come unglued rapidly and you ache for Beadie?

Sandra Ruttan said...

I'm pretty disgusted with what passes for standard journalism anymore myself, so I have no issue with that at all. It's a sign of the times. Britney's escapades and Paris Hilton - a TOTAL nobody if ever there was one - get more press than massacres in Africa or torture or anything else.

Part of me is so disappointed that McNulty has been propelled forward and dropped in the dumps. It says great things about the show that it makes me ache for Beadie, but I certainly don't see a happy ending coming out of this.

Perhaps in our speculation over whether a cop will go down this season in the line of duty, I should have cited McNulty as a real possibility.