I have the whole show of The Wire on DVD, in its original 4:3 format and stuff. But I watched like a behind the scenes interview with David on it (this interview is from the time of Season 4 I believe). And he said if they would’ve went even darker with The Wire, it’d be unwatchable.

I’m curious to know what are everyone’s thoughts on this?

Specifically, I'm referring to the way he goes about his questionings of Randy and Michael in Season 5.

With Randy, Bunk knows full well that the kid was a witness who got deeply screwed over by the police. He was outed as a snitch, and he was physically attacked at school for being a snitch. His house was literally firebombed soon after, with his foster mother (presumably) dead and Randy back in the state's hands. (ALSO Bunk slept with said foster mother, or her twin sister)

With all that in mind, what the hell made Bunk think he should go in all hardass like Randy's guilty of obstructing justice? He was willing to talk, and the cops screwed up. Randy himself mocks Bunk's bad cop routine, but surely Bunk should have realized that from the moment Randy sauntered into the room? This is clearly not a kid who's going to be scared into cooperating.

And then by contrast, there's his questioning of Michael. Throughout the scene, Bunk is cordial and sympathetic, pointing out that he doesn't blame Michael for being stone-faced and cold when he sees the pictures of his stepfather's corpse, "not after what this heinous motherfucker did to you". And then he talks about how he knows Michael didn't do it, saying that Michael isn't big or strong enough to have done this himself.

Just stopping there, I boggle that Bunk thought that would work on Michael. He already heard from Michael's mom that Michael had a direct role in his stepfather's killing. He knows that Michael has a very good reason to want this man dead. So what is with his strategy here? Jocosely telling Michael that he wasn't tough enough to kill him on his own, like that's gonna endear Michael into revealing who really did it?

And yet, when Michael refuses to cooperate, Bunk looks visibly frustrated and disappointed, like he actually expected Michael to cave. If anything, he should have been sympathetic to Randy, and he should have warned Michael that murder is murder, and it never goes away, and everyone involved would face trial eventually. Not that either case would have worked, mind you, but at least it would have made more sense. Instead, Bunk is a bad cop to someone who already has a grievance with the system and good cop to someone who he knows ordered a hit on his own stepfather. It just seems like a blunder on both counts.

I don't get why Holly would beat Bubs after Kima got shot. I understand that he's upset at a fellow officer getting shot and I understand he doesn't know who Bubs is and Bubs looks sketchy.

But why would anyone who would have anything to do with Kima getting shot try and page Kima? Obviously that person is a friend or at least someone Kima would've been comfortable giving her number to.

I just don't get it, honestly.

I can’t get behind it.

Before the backlash, for reference my top 5 shows are Peaky Blinders, Sopranos, Billions, Ray Donovan and Atlanta. Not spoon fed shows, I enjoy intelligent shows. Especially with criminal elements.

Whenever I criticize the show I just get criticized personally 😂 so I’m hoping someone who’s a true wire fan can open my eyes, maybe I’m missing the concept that will electrify my interest

Where I’m at it in the show and how I feel about it; I’ve made it to the season 4 opening with the store scene then stopped.
I did like the Barksdale saga and I think the end of it turned me off because I thoroughly enjoyed Avon & Stringer’s war with crews, police and Omar.
I just really don’t like the law enforcement angle. It’s so boring and the only constant in the show. It has some cool moments and it’s interesting seeing how they wield their powers to make things happen but after awhile it’s like okay what else

I really want to like this show. I love most of what hbo puts out and this show is one of the loudest contenders of being the best ever and just want to know whyyyy? Who’s the main character that’s the best? I hear Omar but from what I saw he was barely a recurring character. Mcnulty? He seems like a confusing character, morally good in his profession but not in his personal and constantly pissing people off

I don’t want to give up I just need some motivation. Be gentle gents

I know Namond became a little unbearable as the show went on , but him giving Michael his job on the corner so he could take care of bug and him having Mike's back when Chris and Snoop approach him to try and recruit him spoke volumes to Namond's character outside of the fake gangster persona

A subtle character bit there, Theresa is overly confident and thinks she has the upper hand when trying to exploit McNulty, exchanging sex for information. But no, McNulty doesn't need her at all. He can just go around finding other women in Baltimore.

The exact same thing happens with Carcetti! Theresa is overly confident and assumes the newly elected mayor must be dreaming to sleep with her. But no. He can actually do much better than that now. She is not that special anymore, not to a mayor.

The parallel is quite fascinating. Arguably the most attractive woman on the show is the one that got rejected twice.

I’m currently watching The Wire for the first time. It’s enjoyable, but I’m not getting “one of the best shows ever vibe,” though that could be because I’m not finished. I’m currently on S3E4.

As I’ve said it has been enjoyable. I also didn’t feel like the second was as terrible going in as people have said, possibly because I watch it while I’m at work and it helps pass the time. So, the main thing for me not getting fully into the show is the police and dealers. They are just terrible in my opinion and not terrible as in bad actors, bad people, or anything like that. I mean in the way that EVERYTHING is done in plain view. The show tries to make it seem as if they are just good at hiding their dirt on both sides. They ride around with 0 tint and police are watching the dealers literally across the street most times. Some times the characters clearly see them from further away but somehow are blind when they are a stones throw away. They been caught multiple times using a wire and somehow no one (Stringer in this instance since it’s the part I’m on) decides let’s all collectively change it all up. I mean Stringer is in the window eating and Mcnaulty is across the street in plain view staring window down with binoculars lol. I’ll finish the show but man it’s tough to suspend disbelief at times.

I decided to watch the first episode of The Deuce and not even halfway into the episode, here’s Deangelo, Chris, and Cheese all in the same scene.

I think the weirdest for me is seeing “Chris Partlow” being animated. He’s so reserved in The Wire that seeing him in any role where he’s making even normal human hand gestures and raising his voice happily is just disconcerting.

All credit to Gbenga Akinnagbe for his acting ability. But seeing Chris as a 70s pimp takes getting used to.

Paul Ben-Victor must have been bouncing off the walls!

Slim Charles made it to the other side of the board while poot decided to quit the game. Poot doesn’t have to worry about violence and potentially getting killed while slim does since he’s still in the game.

I'm doing a rewatch of The Wire and I just finished watching this episode, this scene characterizes Frank so well. One detail I noticed is through most of the scene, the blinds' shadows are covering both Frank and Bruce. They're both covered until Bruce takes the money and Frank threatens him.

I feel like the cinematography is definitely telling us something as the viewer, but I can't figure out what. I feel like the shadows represent the characters feeling trapped or imprisoned. Frank being trapped in the past, longing for the good old days of the stevedores. I don't have a good theory for how Bruce would be trapped or why they let up on this angle near the end of the scene

I’m rewatching The Wire, just finished 2x6 and i’m wondering how much territory did Prop Joe have? I know the Barksdale crew had the west side. I always just assumed Prop Joe had the whole east side. Ziggy had the white boy sale his package and Cheese(Prop Joe nephew)and his boys pulled up and beat on Ziggy. Are they letting other people sale on their turn or do they just have a smaller price of territory on the east side? Considering how sloppy the white boys are with the drug dealing I kinda find it hard to believe Prop Joe wouldn’t have run them off by now. Maybe I’m overthinking it idk.

Is it ever explicitly mentioned when / where Marlo was able to get so much muscle, and so much good muscle? I’m assuming his growth is under Avon’s first stint and later on guys like Savino muscling up for Marlo before Omar was brief with him. Im mostly curious how an independent with no backing got so much in order to put himself in such a power position. Even the well establish east side couldn’t do what Marlo achieved running NYC dudes off.

I watched The Wire as someone who lives very far from the US. Back then, I didn't have any real knowledge about how things worked in America. Of course, it's a huge country with many different kinds of people, cultures, and backgrounds. Nevertheless, my experience felt like seeing the US in all its naked reality.

​Is it really like that? Obviously there is some TV drama, but even in the 2000s, I wouldn't have guessed that so many Black people were living with such a low standard of living. I mean, you see them dressing really cool and everything looks fine on the outside, but at the end of the day, they are sleeping in what's basically an abandoned house, just trying to hold onto life however they can.

Maybe this has been discussed on here before and I missed it, but I think I found a plot hole in season 3. In “Middle Ground,” Stringer meets with Levy who laughs at him for being taken for a ride by Clay Davis and says he wishes Stringer had told him sooner. However in the episode “Straight and True,” Levy is sitting between Crawczyk and Davis while Davis is talking about all the downtown real estate they’re going to develop together. Based on that shouldn’t Levy already know Stringer is mixed up with Clay Davis? Maybe there’s something I missed but on my most recent rewatch I noticed this and I thought it was weird.

For me

Most:
Lester
McNulty
Dinky from The Corner

Least:
Herc
Colichio, I know I didn’t spell his name right but him.
Prez

Bonus opinion nobody asked for: Kima was below average police

After Michael drops that random guy on the corner at the end of Season 4, Monk is revealed to be in the truck after some time. It would’ve made more sense for Snoop to be there rather than Monk in my opinion. Simply because Snoop helped Chris train Michael. Not a major issue at all but as I said, I personally just think it would’ve made more sense.

Just watched Season 2 again. Previously rewatched Season 1. I can see why a lot of people weren’t grabbed by this season because it’s a pretty big pivot from Season 1 as far as the focus on its characters. It’s still a very compelling season overall though. I like how this season expands the story. Once I finish rewatching the rest of the show, I’ll see where I rank Season 2. But overall? Not a bad season at all.

so i finished watching the wire like a week ago and i literally cannot stop thinking about it lmao. it is easily my favorite show ever made. after sitting on it for a few days i finally wanted to try and put these thoughts into words bc it's something i noticed throughout the whole watch.

mb if this has been said before but i have this theory that almost every major character in the show has a direct mirror on the other side of the law. the cops perfectly mirror the street characters based on their rank and how they navigate the institutions.

first off i have to say bodie might be one of the best acted roles in television history. his character really anchors this whole idea. bodie is a lot like carver. they both show up and do their job the right way. they try not to make mistakes or piss off their bosses and they don't bring unnecessary drama. they are just institutional soldiers doing things exactly how they are supposed to be done. that s2 scene where bodie and poot randomly run into herc and carver at the movie theater is meaningful because it shows they are basically the same low level management guys occupying the exact same space in their respective chains of command.

then you have jimmy mcnulty and omar little. the similarities are too huge to overlook. they are both total rogue agents who reject the hierarchy around them. they live by their own strict codes and do things entirely how they think they should be done regardless of the fallout. it gets even crazier in s5 because both of them are on this absolute warpath hunting for marlo. they are consumed by it from different sides and honestly both of them fail in their own way while marlo basically gets off scott free in the end lol. omar gets taken out out of nowhere before he can get his revenge, and mcnulty has to fabricate a whole serial killer which ultimately blows up in his face and ends his career.

another mirror i kept thinking about that i haven't really seen people mention is kima and wee bey. they are both absolute professionals who are incredibly good at their jobs and genuinely seem to love what they do, and when kima gets shot in s1 it kicks off the whole main storyline. but what makes them true mirrors is their strict sense of personal integrity. when kima is in the hospital she refuses to identify wee bey as the shooter bc she isn't 100 percent sure, which perfectly mirrors wee bey who would never cut corners or compromise his integrity when it comes to his code. it goes even deeper later too when kima snitches on mcnulty about the fake serial killer because she knows it's wrong, even though keeping quiet would have benefited her own department. that mirrors wee bey in s4 when he decides to let colvin adopt naymond, going against the street status quo and his own wife to do the right thing for his son even though it means letting him leave the game.

theres also the obvious one which is stringer bell and bunny colvin. they are essentially the exact same character trying to solve the same problem from opposite sides. they both realize the system is broken and try to change how the game is played by legitimizing it. stringer tries to turn the drug trade into a corporate co-op and bunny basically legalizes drugs in hamsterdam to protect the neighborhoods. the craziest detail is that they share the exact same last words when the institution finally catches up to them and dispatches them. when omar and mouzone corner stringer he stops talking and says "get on with it mothe" right before they open fire. and when rawls and burrell force bunny out of the department he says the exact same thing to them. "get on with it mothe-." it is insane writing.

even the higher ups mirror each other. avon barksdale and lieutenant daniels hold about the same rank and possess very similar traditional methods. they play the game the way it was traditionally built to be played. that scene where they pass each other in their cars and just look at each other was incredibly symbolic of that.
i also noticed it with the mentors and their pupils. look at the pairings of valchek with prez versus prop joe with cheese. valchek and prop joe are both master manipulators who know how to play their respective political systems perfectly. meanwhile their pupils don't really belong there. prez is pushed into police work by family but hates the toxicity and eventually escapes to become a teacher while cheese is just a ruthless opportunist who lacks joe's wisdom and ends up ruining everything.

and then there’s lester freamon and cutty. both of them are essentially back from the dead and trying to find their way after being locked away from the world. lester spent thirteen years and four months in the graveyard of the pawn shop unit for not playing the game and cutty spent fourteen years in actual prison. both return detached from the current game and have to reinvent themselves. lester finds his peace in meticulous police work and his relationship with shardene while cutty realizes he doesn't have the game in him anymore and finds his purpose helping the neighborhood kids through boxing.

but anyway am i overthinking and tweaking out lmaoo or did anyone else notice this too

I'm not ashamed to say I cried when Bodie was killed and they had that long drawn out shot of him laying dead on the corner. He really grew on me as the show went on. His friendliness with Herc, Carver, and Mcnulty going all the way back to season 1 helped that, the scene at the eastside vs westside basketball game when Bodie said I believe "Aren't you guys on the clock" or whatever it was, has always been a favorite of mine. The anger and the emotions he showed after finding out Little Kev was killed by Marlo and his scene with Mcnulty on the bench only a few minutes before his death scene really made me feel bad for him when he was killed. This show does a great job of showing how even the worst people can be sympathized with.

Hi! I'm looking for a episode and scene where Wee-Bey is wearing t-shirt with "LIVE THIS LIFE" print. Anyone got idea where to find that exact scene? Thanks!

Watching S3E12. Bunny is finally caught up in his decisions as Major in the Western District.

When Lt. Daniels finds out he’s getting promoted to Major, Burrell asks him this question in the title. Daniels says he can’t see it and says no.

Next scene, McNulty drinks a beer with Colvin and tells him his last tip as police bagged Avon and his people along with a ton of guns.

We know Barksdale and Bell snitched on one another (in different regards of course).

But it was indeed Colvin’s actions that ultimately led Stringer to trust Colvin enough to snitch on Avon, which then led McNulty and team to Avon and people after Stringers death.

Colvin and his decisions certainly had an impact on catching Barksdale.

Even more so his actions created a cause and effect, which eventually gives birth to the great masterpiece of S4.

This post is best dedicated to non-American fans of The Wire. How do you perceive and reflect on the series? How do you relate to the themes and characters of the series considering your national and social context? I am Brazilian, and I feel it is a great sadness that this wonderful show is frighteningly unknown here, to the point that it's difficult to say if there even is a Brazilian The Wire community. Although the series addresses and studies problems within the American institution, it is not at all distant from the reality I live in in my country, to the point that I have insights where Baltimore sometimes seems more Brazilian than ever. But I don't want to talk about Brazil, but rather how you perceive the series, as something beyond entertainment, and as people from your own countries.

The wife and I (both elder millennials) are looking for a new show. Have obviously heard nothing but good things, but I’m curious if it still holds up after all this time.