Meanwhile, "Wire" writers on the drug war (thanks Lucid),
the NYT review, "So Many Characters, Yet So Little Resolution,"
and the very, very long farewell to The Wire from Jersey's Star-Ledger.
Can't get enough? Marc Steiner has podcasts of interviews with the actors.
... and the City Paper has an interview with David Simon.
And it's the final installment of Sudhir Venkatesh's "What Do Real Thugs Think of 'The Wire'?"
17 comments:
My husband didn't say a word through the entire thing until this:
"Slim Charles is the fucking man. What he just did was wrong legally and morally on so many levels but he is the fucking man."
Me? I thought the whole thing was ok. I wasn't particularly upset by how they tied up any of the loose ends. I thought they stuck with the whole deal of some things coming full circle and "the more things change the more they stay the same" deal. I didn't mind that. But it definitely wasn't as good as the final episode of Season 3.
Here are some random thoughts.
Pearlman blackmailing Levy was totally out of character.
I'm glad that Bubbles made it through in the end, but it's sad that that's what Dukie has turned into.
No way the slimeball reporter would get away with that kind of blatant cheating.
I hate Herc, utterly and totally. In some ways I hate him even more than that sleaze Levy.
The scene with Presbo and Dukie was very well done. If you've ever lost anyone you cared about to addiction it'll ring very true.
The way that Daniels was forced out seemed a little rushed/forced.
Having seen the whole season, I've decided that the newspaper storyline contributed absolutely nothing. It was simply David Simon trying to settle grudges. Pity.
I loved Clark Johnson's character, but everyone else at the newspaper seemed like a one-dimensional villain.
They never told us if Rawls really was a fudgepacker.
Finally, here's a bit of trivia. The corrupt grand jury prosecutor was played by Gary D'Addario. Loyal David Simon fans will remember him as the Lieutenant of the homicide shift that Simon wrote about in Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets. He was also the (sort of) inspiration for Lt. Giardello in the TV version of Homicide.
ppatin,
Re: "No way the slimeball reporter would get away with that kind of blatant cheating."
Google: Janet Cooke Washington Post
Lucid:
Thanks, that's a pretty interesting story. The reporter in The Wire was so sloppy about it though, I think that's what made it hard to believe.
Yeah, I hear that. I think the real issue at play was the willingness of those in a position of authority to turn a blind eye and suspend all disbelief for personal gain - something, I think the men behind The Wire were trying to say, that is endemic to every major organization in Baltimore. I mean, I thought the whole "serial killer" storyline was much less plausible than the newsroom storyline. Even in a completely dysfunctional police department, no way faking a serial killer like that would go unnoticed for that long. So yeah, this last season required quite a bit more suspension of disbelief that others.
From the Time article's photo caption:
"Ed Burns, David Simon, and George Pelecanos at the corner of North Bond and North Patterson In Baltimore, Maryland"
Either the Time editor meant to intersect either Bond or Patterson with North Avenue, Simon & Co. are messing with us (by supplying a photo and fake caption), or Time photographs are fictional.
What really got to me about the newspaper storyline was how utterly soulless and evil the paper's management was. Even Snoop & Marlo showed brief moments of humanity, but the bosses at the Sun act kind of like Bill Lumberg from Office Space. That seemed like lousy story-telling to me. The whole "I hate the Baltimore Sun!" message got pretty tiring.
One of my OTHER favorite blogs actually had a post about The Wire yesterday. Please note this site is SATIRE on a select segment of white society and, therefore, if you devoid of humor and incapable of appreciating a sense of the absurd you should not visit this site.
That said: GO HERE
Can someone explain that last scene with Marlo to me? Why did he go down to the corner? Why did they shoot him in the arm?
MJB, it wasn't so much about shooting (or cutting) Marlo in the arm as it was about him reverting to form. He couldn't take the switch to "civilian" life. I think they wanted to show him bleeding through his nice new suit.
Yeah, I believe the point was that Marlo couldn't give up his life of hoodlumery. That scene was a little odd though.
I must have missed it, but what was in "The Daniel's file"? Not that it really matters. It's like the contents of the Pulp Fiction briefcase.
Ah, they were never that specific, but I believe he was a part of a drug unit that either stole from or got paid off by drug dealers.
His SOUL!!!
Part Nine (the last)
People who "drink Budweiser and have trouble getting it up" ... heeee!
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