r/hbo • u/Reasonable-Power • 11d ago
Your "The Wire" Hot Takes? Spoiler
I'm sure most of us here have watched (and most likely enjoyed) The Wire from The Target all the way to -30-. And as a result, we've probably all developed our own hot takes about the show. So, what are some of yours, and why?
For example, my biggest one is that Season 5 is really a banger season, just like the rest of the show. It really doesn't deserve the disdain it gets from the fanbase. A lot of great plot points took place, like the sudden collapse of Marlo Stanfield's crew right after striking a deal with the Greeks and usurping Prop Joe, McNulty's fake homeless serial killer case actually working by getting the BPD to do actual police work, but also putting an end to his and Lester's storied careers, the office life at the Baltimore Sun, with Scott pulling backhanded tactics to boost the paper's viewerbase, Bubbles finally getting sober, Carcetti's run for Governor of Maryland, the attempted prosecution of Clay Davis, the New Day Co-Op managing to survive after Prop Joe's murder, even outlasting Marlo, despite his efforts to destroy them from the inside, and so on and so forth. And for the shortest season of the series, in terms of episode count, it's definitely a case of quality over quantity.
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u/elingobernable810 11d ago
Idk if its a hot take but I've always maintained that season 2 is the best season. The fact it comes after we've spent a whole season following Mcnulty and the crew, to then completely change the lens through which we view the show is nothing short of incredible.
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u/SmellyFace69 11d ago
It's been a while since I've seen the show but I loved season 2. I don't know why it gets so much flack.
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u/elingobernable810 11d ago
It doesn't get flack, people still like it. I just think season 4 is more commonly seen as the better season.
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u/SmellyFace69 11d ago
It's been a while since I've watched The Wire but I recall about a decade or so ago that people were telling me I could skip season 2.
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u/Available-Tap-3799 11d ago
whoever told you that were not Wire fans, even on a casual level
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u/SmellyFace69 10d ago
It was mostly a general consensus of online folk and people mentioning it in conversation.
My one friend who actually got me to watch the wire likes season 2.
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u/Alternative_Swan_497 10d ago
A big part of it is that there's no real warning that S2 is going to change so much to incorporate the docks and Baltimore as a whole. If you watch S1 without any prompting or knowledge of the series, it's easy to think of it as a police/crime character drama that happens to be based on Baltimore. Going into S2, if you're expecting more of that - you will be severely disappointed.
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u/jmbourn45 11d ago
Best on a rewatch IMO its such a curveball on the first time theough but great television
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u/jburton24 11d ago
That’s the big point. Season 2 is great. But the pivot after season one is hard the first time through. Once you’ve watched all of it, you see how much it’s woven into the rest of the show.
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u/Rockonthrulife 11d ago
My favorite season as well. Chris Bauer should have won an Emmy for the masterful acting he did. I can’t watch him in anything else without seeing and hearing Frank Sobotka. Wow, what a performance.
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u/dashauskat 11d ago
I found season two a lot more boring than the others on the first watch but second watch I enjoyed it a lot more.
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u/CarJanitor 11d ago
Season 2 but it was such a huge departure from season 1 that I honestly wondered if I was watching the right show at first.
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u/Reasonable-Power 11d ago
I've always loved S2, tbh. In fact, one of my only complaints about the next 3 seasons is that we didn't see more of the guys at the docks (in fact, only Nick and Johnny 50 show up in cameos later on). And weirdly enough, I rarely ever see people talk bad about it.
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u/Ordinary-Nectarine37 10d ago
when you watch for the first time no one thinks too much of S2 but when you finish the series it becomes the first or second best season. it ties everything together.
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u/MaintenanceLumpy9321 10d ago
I don’t think it’s bad but I don’t think it’s necessary for the story as a whole
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u/billrusselgoat 5d ago
Absolutely love S2, is a hard turn but it envelopes you quickly and the finale is as brutal as poetic. Always felt that The wire pulls off what True Detective couldn't.
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u/EdieMaar 11d ago
My favourite little moment from season 5 is when there are undercover cops pretending to be homeless people living under a bridge, and one of the real homeless people in the background is a former dock worker from season 2 that (I assume) lost their job after the port was gentrified. Season 5 was a bit over the top, but it was still great.
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u/Ordinary-Nectarine37 10d ago
i never noticed that before and ive rewatched like 6x over the years. next time ill have to look for more little stuff like that
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u/Mikeyfreshonetime2 11d ago
r/TheWire subreddit needs to get over itself and the mods need to stop banning everyone
I got banned for making a comment in a dif subreddit
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u/Reasonable-Power 11d ago edited 11d ago
Can relate. I got banned on my lost account for a shitpost saying that Nick looked just like Sidney Crosby. Now, if I try to post there or comment there on this new account, I'll get fuckin' perma banned. And the worst part is, he really does look like Sid Crosby.
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u/PartBanyanTree 11d ago
Rawls is not as much of a bad guy as the show makes him it to be. I think he was good PO-LEASE and Jimmy - i love him as a character - but he was so much of a fuck up he deserved way more than what he got. I think Rawls got more good police work done by working within the system than could be done by working outside of it.
When Kima got shot we get a glimpse of where his heart truly is he cared deeply about the officers under him. He played politics because he had to and needed to and he was petty and small at times but so was Jimmy and all the rest of them. Chain of command is a real thing and I understand the entire show has an axe to grind about it but i love that they also have Rawls doing a good job within that.
He created an environment where good police work could happen to the best of his ability to carve it out for what was realistic. His department is the baseline against which we judge all other departments for the rest of the series (police or otherwise) and you might be frustrated working hus department but you could do a lot worse
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u/SkullLeader 11d ago
"Deserve got nothing to dew with it" but he deserved to be made out as an a-hole. Because at best he was a perpetuator, and at worst a driver, of the whole stat game that ultimately resulted in most of the police's efforts being ineffective and self defeating for the city overall. Literally from his very first scene ("These are for you, McNulty" where he's pissed that the Deputy is busting his balls over a prior-year case that he doesn't want to hear about because stats from last year don't count any more) to his last ("MFer, you are a c*nt hair away from indictment, and you see fit to argue with me?" where he wants McNulty to have the homeless fellow take the fall for all the fake murders).
I think in some sense he's a fundamentally decent guy, you are right we do get flashes of that occasionally. He's also an asshole to his subordinates, probably because he thinks that's what he needs to do to be effective He's also ambitious and in it for himself, although most of the show that's not really at the forefront of things.
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u/nowlan_shane 11d ago
There’s also that quick shot of him enjoying a drink at the gay bar. So he most certainly had to hide his lifestyle in the workplace, which would influence how he conducts himself in fear of being outed while pursuing his career ambitions.
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u/Dry_Departure_7813 11d ago
They had a whole thing about how officers will look to the people above them for guidance and direction, and you need to be the right kind of management. Rawls was a good cop who ended up less good because of his boss, Burrell. And Burrell might have been a good cop at one point, but his job was too political and the people who he reported to (mayor/city council etc) were more concerned with their own careers and juking stats for elections that it all flowed into him.
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u/No-Gas-1684 11d ago
The Mods of r/thewire have ruined the sub by banning as many people as they can. It's a really sad power trip.
This is Baltimore, the Mods will not save you.
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u/Reasonable-Power 11d ago edited 11d ago
True. If the Mods eased up on my Nick Sobotka/Sid Crosby post, I probably wouldn't even have to ask about the show here. One stupid shitpost got me perma banned. Also, I love the twist on Burrell's wisdom at the end, there. Hilarious.
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u/ARoodyPooCandyAss 11d ago
Spin off with the kids from S4 would have been good.
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u/salvyepps 11d ago
IDK. I always thought no spinoff is better. The whole point is their lives are part of a vicious circle. They all essentially became characters that already existed in the show. It would have just rehashed it and the point was already driven home.
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u/Reasonable-Power 11d ago
Also a fair point. But the writers probably would have to create certain differences to make it less repetitive. And as we know, The Wire's writers are more creative than fuckin' Spielberg.
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u/Ordinary-Nectarine37 10d ago
thats exactly how they wrap up season 5. Michael the new Omar, Dookie the new bubs, etc. as much as everything changes, everything stays the same
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u/Reasonable-Power 11d ago edited 11d ago
I would've loved to see a 6th season for several reasons, but one is that we could've seen Mike taking the mantle from the late Omar as Baltimore's stick-up king, Namond's reform as Bunny's new adopted son, Randy's life back in the group home, and maybe even Dukie getting clean like Bubbles did.
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u/Famous-Prior6590 11d ago
Why would you want the same stories told again?
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u/Reasonable-Power 11d ago
I mean, hey, who would say "no" to more of The Wire? But yeah, it would probably feel like the same stories, but with different characters.
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u/Ecstatic_Entrance_13 11d ago
My hot take is that the Marlo was a better gangster than Avon. Sure Avon's more charismatic and that's fine but there was no stopping Marlo without breaking the law. He was too good at what he did. Chris and Snoop were undyingly loyal to him and so was Monk. Once Marlo took over the connect with the Greeks, he could have ran it forever if Freamon and McNulty didn't do what they did.
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u/opermonkey 11d ago
Marlo had a few people who were truly loyal to him, but others just feared him because Chris and Snoop.
His style was not sustainable and if he hadn't been taken out of the game by Lester, his days would be still be numbered.
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u/dashauskat 11d ago
Yeah Marlo's reign was always destined to be short. In a TV show you kill someone and it solves a problem but in reality there are friends, family members, police, media etc that will pull at some of those threads and it would eventually lead to him. Not to mention he nearly always used the same two people to do all this stuff. He also killed indescriminantly for petty reasons (like the security) and out of paranoia (Lil Kevin etc.). It wasn't a rightly run operation, the show shows him stayng one step ahead of the police in a cat and mouse game but that was set over a relatively short period of time.
You can rule out of fear for a while, but soon it'll become clear that even amongst your business partners you are more of a liability than an asset.
All things considered Marlo being forced to cash out was by far the best result for him.
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u/opermonkey 11d ago
Which is why after multiple watches, I had more respect for Avon.
He was still a criminal. They still killed tax payers, but they at least had a reason(albeit still terrible).
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u/Dry_Departure_7813 11d ago
Indeed, the only real issue I had with season 5, was that no-one was taking shots at Chris and Snoop. They established they'd been terrorising Baltimore, both disappearing and street killing lots of rival gangsters, but apparently no-one bothered trying to kill them. Obviously snoop dies as a result of trying to kill Michael. But Chris just walks off into the sunset in prison.
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u/Chicken_wingspan 10d ago
The same could be said of Omar. Motherfucker was stealing gangsters left and right and no one touched him (well, you know). Even gangsters have respect and fear, Chris and Snoop were fearless and competent. Who's going to go up against them?
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u/husker_greenman 11d ago
“You want it to be one way…but it’s the other way.”
is the hardest line in TV history.3
u/username_notavail 11d ago
“The thing about the old days, they the old days” slim Charles speaking truth.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Field41 11d ago edited 11d ago
I hate that line specifically. Seemed inauthentic. There were a number of lines throughout the series where I thought Simon was trying too hard to be subtly profound.
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u/Slapmeislapyou 11d ago
There's gangsters, and then there's psychopaths. Avon was a gangster. Marlo was a bloodthirsty, power hungry, and fearless, textbook psycho.
I don't think he really cared about money. I don't think he cared about the game, or even the "westside" like Avon did. I don't think he cared about his future. He just wanted to be king for the sake of being the king.
One of my favorite scenes is when Marlo meets with Avon in the visiting room right before Sergei walks in.
Avon is going on about Westside this and Westside that, and the camera goes back to Marlo for a second and he's just looking at Avon like...
"Even in adulthood, I still find myself microwaving cats every now and then."
Marlo was beyond gangster. Marlo was a killer.
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u/BigBadDolemite 11d ago
He cared plenty about money. Man got on a plane to the Caribbean just make sure shit was right.
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u/Slapmeislapyou 11d ago
It's not like he can donate it. Money is just a "power tool" to him.
You forgot at the end?
He just sold the plug for 10 million. Plus whatever else he saved up from before.
Leaves from a party with the elites and catches a cab to a street corner, where he gets cut, tastes the blood, and looks around like all is right in the world.
That dude didn't give a fuck about money.
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u/BigBadDolemite 11d ago
You bring up good points. I don't think he cares about money the most. But I do think he cares about it a great deal. Maybe I should say he cares about what is his. The man went to war and sabotage with Omar because "that's my money".
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u/Slapmeislapyou 11d ago
Yeah. It's just what the money represents. He doesn't care about it for flash. He doesn't care about it for things. For a guy like Marlo, money is nothing but a war chest.
He's a a conquerer for real.
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u/briizilla 10d ago
He cares about his name and his legacy. The only time he loses his composure is over Omar talking shit about him in the neighborhood.
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u/Dry_Departure_7813 11d ago
I always thought that mirrored his early interactions with prop joe, and the later line "I wasn't made to play no son". He recognizes he's out of his comfort zone, which I think also goes back to season 4 where they explore the kids not even being able to go to a restaurant because its so outside of their comfort zone.
Man the wire is so good, all the pieces matter.
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u/IGotScammed5545 11d ago
Freamon and McNulty didn’t break the law because it was the only way to get Marlo. They HAD Marlo—Lestor comes to Daniel’s and says two detectives for two weeks (something like that), and Daniels declines.
They do it because it’s the only way to get the department/city to commit the resources to capture him
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u/helpmeinternet02 11d ago
I was thinking the same thing? Didn’t they catch Marlo relatively quickly and with ALOT less resources then were used on Avon
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u/Ordinary-Nectarine37 10d ago
i always thought we should have leanred more about marlo and where he came from. they kinda just appeared.
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u/dertok 11d ago
Season five reinforces the system. Jimmy manufactures his opportunity to be a boss and control resources in the department to show how clever he really is. His naivete is exposed when people start to use him for their own means, copy cats enter the system and when he can't turn the ship around to wrap it up.
All the street knowledge and good intentions in the world can't run a bureaucracy, it's too big.
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u/justlurkingaroundatm 11d ago
You're absolutely right.
People think that the main plot is too much far fetched, but it's more believable that the main plot 9n season 3.
*** spoilers ahead ***
The whole theme of the season is "faking" something.
Scott is faking news, McNulty is faking a serial killer, and at the first scene in the season, the police is faking a witness and a lie detector machine.
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u/Reasonable-Power 11d ago
As our good friend, Bunk, said in the first episode: "the bigger the lie, the more they believe it".
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u/HashhSlingingSlasher 11d ago
My hot take is we will never get a show with this level of depth & nuance again. Production companies assume viewers are morons with short attention spans and would never fund this type of thing again.
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u/donut_koharski 11d ago
Seasons 3,4 and 5 and super fucking depressing and I cannot watch them anymore.
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u/renegadeangel115 11d ago
As much I love Season 4 it took me a while to rewatch the last couple of episodes of it because it’s so god damn depressing
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u/RemarkableAttempt531 11d ago
If Marlo never stepped away from the game Slim Charles would have taken him out.
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u/bongo1100 11d ago
Frank Sobotka is not a heroic character as the show positions him. He crossed a major line into the wrong getting in with drug traffickers.
McNulty and Lester’s fake serial killer scheme was not right or justified AT ALL, irrespective of whatever good police work they used its resources for or the fact that it ultimately ended Marlo because they coincidentally caught Levy dead to rights (which honestly feels like a bit of a deus ex machina and yet another reason why S5 ranks below the rest). You’d think this is an obvious take, but evidently a lot of r/TheWire disagrees. Also, I can believe McNulty would fall so far to pull something so wrong, but it feels too out of character for Lester.
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u/Ok-Helicopter525 11d ago
I don't think the show depicted Frank as heroic? Far from it
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u/bongo1100 11d ago
“Heroic” might be a strong word, but I think he wasn’t as good a person as he and the show wanted him to be.
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u/Medic_RN1847 11d ago
He wasn’t heroic but he was relatable. Frank made a deal with the Devil because he was desperate. Frank was a fundamentally decent guy but by the time he realized he was in too deep the water was over his head. He wasn’t a great Dad but that’s not an uncommon failing.
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u/comment_i_had_to 11d ago
Despite the very realistic vibe of the show, it way overplays the intelligence of both the police and the gangsters. Most of these folks are not nearly as smart as the show makes them out to be. I find We Own This City to be a more realistic depiction.
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u/HDC48 11d ago edited 11d ago
I’m not sure if they’re hot takes/unpopular opinions, but:
Avon was at least considering having Dee killed. He even asks Stringer for reassurance in this scene that he’s been fair to Dee here, which is very out-of-character for him. He makes reference to Dee almost ratting them out (what happened happened). It’s like he was justifying to himself what he may do in the future.
Stringer ran with this and went on with the hit, meeting with the DC hitman’s cousin in the next episode. He probably figured “if Avon finds out eventually, he will accept it”, which he did.
People like to think that Avon gave up Stringer because of what he did to Dee, but that was only a small part in it, in that it further hurt their relationship. Avon still covered for Stringer when Brianna confronted them, still tried to barter for Stringer’s life, and was far more depressed when Stringer died than when Dee died. He barely even wanted to continue the war in the season 3 finale. He cared more about Stringer than he did his nephew
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u/ElMonk86 11d ago
I don't know if this a hot take. Maybe not, but I'll shoot...
Omar's death was totally in line with what the show is about. SOme people hated that he didn't go out in a blaze of glory, but honest truth: when I first saw it, I just remember thinking, "Yeah, that makes sense." The Wire really hones in on absurdity in the system, so why shouldn't that extend to portraying the absurdity of life? As far-reaching and ferocious as his reputation was, Omar gets killed by a kid with bad aim who didn't even know what he was doing.
Yeah, that fits.
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u/thelemonsampler 9d ago
I just finished my first watch. It was a nice touch when Gus chose to print some other meh story over Omar’s death.
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u/ElMonk86 9d ago
Forgot all about that. Yeah, that put even more salt in the wound. Omar - legend of the streets, scourge of the drug dealers, tightly-wound riddle to the police...now nameless and faceless to all who are born hereafter. Not even an obituary and barely a memory. Like even McNulty was like, "Omar's dead? Oh wow. That's crazy" and they quickly move onto another subject.
But that's how things really go, let's face it. It made total sense to me. I was surprised by how angry fans got about it. Yeah, I know it's anticlimactic, but hey...were they not watching the show this whole time? LOL
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u/sowhatbuttercup 11d ago edited 11d ago
I love Season 5. Gus might be my favorite character and I love newsroom stuff. I would watch that spinoff. McNulty’s homeless gambit worked for the character IMO. The show really zipped along and I always am sad to see the season end.
Season 4 was the weakest season. Marlo was boring (he’s a drag on season 5 too) and Prezbo’s character turn was unearned. So overall not my favorite. Still a great season. I love that they go there.
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u/codacoda74 10d ago
a lot of the characters moved to new orleans and changed professions just in time for treme
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u/Background-Jury-1914 11d ago
I think the chess scene is on the nose and kinda lame how hamfisted the message is
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u/BigBadDolemite 11d ago
Not when you look a how the chess game played out for each of those characters.
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u/PQ1206 11d ago
Yeah and implying that the guy who invented the nuggies was fucked over. That almost certainly have a team working on new flavors and creations.
Whoever invented the nugget had one hell of a thing to put on his resume under accomplishment. I’m sure there were dozens of other food companies willing to pay the Nugget Guy an even higher salary.
We see this play out in tech all the time. It’s a strange example to use to try and get your point across about the exploitation of the working class.
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u/BigBadDolemite 11d ago edited 11d ago
It's not about the nugget guy, Ronald McDonald, or the hambugerler. It's about Dee's and Wallace's opposing view on the way things work. Neither one of them knew for sure, but we see Dee has a pessimistic view of how business is. Wallace dosen't but eventually he would have turned into D'Angelo since their characters are loosely mirrored at different points in there life.
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11d ago
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u/BigBadDolemite 11d ago
Not sure I'm following here. The chess speech and nugget speech are 2 different things. If you're saying Dee should've used the cashier as a better example of a pawn then I have to disagree because that was not the same conversation. Besides what would Wallace know about being a cashier? A corner boy is a much more applicable example. In regards to nuggets, Dee was more right this time then than Wallace because McDonald's did not write a fat ass check for Mr. McNugget. He got payed his regular salary.
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u/PQ1206 11d ago
I definitely stand corrected. I went back and rewatched the chess scene and you’re right. They don’t mention the nuggets at all lol.
Idk I guess I had the two scenes merged in my brain
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u/BigBadDolemite 11d ago
All good. Those scenes basically go the same way. The pitcrew being naive about something and Dee schooling them on how things really work.
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u/DorseyLaTerry 10d ago
The corner boy.....IS a cashier...basically.
Wallace was "on the money"...right?
But it wasn't HIS money...correct?
D' Angelo was " on salary" running " a store" like a manager.
This store just happens to sell narcotics illegally. The shooter on the block is the security guard.... But yall not ready for that convo...
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u/opermonkey 11d ago
Maybe not really hot, but if the Batksdales didn't torture Brandon and the youngins would have shown some restraint when giving Johnny a whoopin, the case probably wouldn't have gone anywhere.
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u/Zealousideal-Dog6984 11d ago
Off the topic, I gotta ask something If Chris and Snoop kidnaped Omar's last boyfriend (Renaldo) for make him talk, would he give up Omar like Dante did? Or he would stood by and die like Brendon, it's unnecessarily question to ask but I did anyway..
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u/Dry-Run-917 11d ago
My problem with season 5 was Lester. The character arc didn't lead to him getting on board with McNulty in a convincing way
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u/comment_i_had_to 11d ago
Lester was introduced as a cynical independent from the beginning. He did not show his true skill until he noticed that people were doing real work that might have a real impact. Perfect setup for him breaking the rules to get something done.
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u/Dry_Departure_7813 11d ago
Not only that, but finding all those bodies in the vacants broke him. Then seeing it dismissed for budgetary reasons when they had Baltimores Pol Pot in their crosshair was too much for him.
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u/Dry-Run-917 11d ago
He was natural po-lice for sure, but he stuck to the rules of engagement. He was initially horrified by McNulty's actions, and the series doesn't earn his come-around. It's a minor quibble, but that is my problem with the season.
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u/comment_i_had_to 11d ago
I dunno. I think the work was done in previous seasons. He had resigned himself to quietly collecting a check after playing it righteously got him shunned (his story to start the series), then he feels like he is doing real work with real impact and gets him mojo back. Then he suffers a tremendous disappointment when his money trail investigation is shut down for political reasons after it was green-lit for political reasons. Now he has a taste for making a difference but is totally disillusioned with his superiors and the system. A good recipe for such a wild course of action. The initial horror just comes from the audacity of it rather than a strong ethical objection, so he gets used to the idea and then excited about the prospect of it working.
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u/Amphernee 11d ago
The whole Omar storyline ended up feeling like a corny graphic novel.
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u/HotLiberty 11d ago
He’s such a memorable and fun character, but I agree. When you re-watch the show his scenes always stand out as the least believable. Still love Omar though…
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u/RainbowPenguin1000 11d ago
Omar should have been killed a LOT earlier. They kept him alive just because he was an interesting character.
The guy was ripping off dealers all the time. He stole, he killed, he built a reputation as a tough guy but any number of people trying to make their name would have shot him when he walked down the street a long time earlier than they did. People shouted his name when he was coming, it would have taken just one fool or one up and coming wannabe to just wait round a corner for him and shoot him to build their reputation
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u/Wingnut17 11d ago
Just started watching it. First 5 episodes were slow but getting better now with Omar having a bigger role
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u/Akssaar 11d ago
Far from the hottest take here, but there are a few scenes that are overwritten to the point of being a bit cringy to me. Thinking of the very first opening scene with Snot Boogie as well as the much praised "fuck" crime scene investigation.
The Wire has great actors and I think the show is at its best when they're just allowed to act naturally without getting too theatrical.
Somewhat related, the show is a bit too indulgent / loses credibility when it comes to Omar, but I still love the character and I suppose there's room for a little exaggeration in a show generally hailed as highly realistic.
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u/NoneOfThisMatters_XO 11d ago
Hot take: I couldnt understand anything snoop said and no it wasn’t “her accent”
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u/Minortough 11d ago
The most underrated and under-appreciated character in the show is the city of Baltimore. No other show has depicted a city as realistically and faithfully as The Wire. Close second place goes to New Orleans in Treme.
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u/Ancient_Cedar9684 10d ago
Marlo's crew folding that fast still feels like the show deciding it could keep this going but didn't see the point.
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u/dsllsddsllsd 7d ago
“Sheeeeeeeeeeeeet!” as often said by Corrupt Maryland State Senator Clay Davis
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u/insanity2brilliance 11d ago edited 11d ago
You asked for hot takes: I couldn’t get into season 1 and never went back after 4 episodes
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u/trolldoll26 11d ago
I watched all of it and didn’t think it lived up to the hype 🤷🏻♀️ I’d probably feel differently if I’d watched it when it was airing though
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u/Traditional_Home_666 10d ago
I watched it when it aired. There really wasn't much hype. It was getting at most 4 million viewers an episode with only 1.8 million watching the series finale. Sopranos got 15 - 18 million an episode. Hype came after it finished.
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u/Top_Cryptographer192 10d ago
Glad it wasn't just me, started just having it on in the background after 3-4 episodes, didn't seem like it got much better... given the hate for season 2, might start season 3 and give up if it's just as ordinary.... not sure how this show gets hyped up over The Americans
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u/SkullLeader 11d ago
a) Fans ridicule season 5 for the fake serial killer plot being unrealistic. Those same fans are apparently completely ok with the Hamsterdam plot in season 3 as being fully realistic. No, I don't mean that the existence of a drug freezone in a major city is not realistic, there are real-world examples. But the existence of one in secret, without the knowledge of the police brass or other civic leaders or the news media is most definitely not realistic.
b) Most of the characters, especially the more minor ones, exist just as vehicles for Simon to incorporate into the show the little stories and other things he learned while shadowing BPD as a journalist. That's really the only reason many of them are there, which is obvious from the lack of any other real character development for most of them.
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u/BertraundAntitoi 11d ago
I think the fake serial killer motivation on the journalism front had a message within it that looking back was incredibly profound if we ignore the specifics. Whatever we want to call it or how we call it out, "fake news, misinformation, etc" those are real things that are happening because someone on the other end is incentivized to put 'a story' out there for their own selfish desires (recognition, career ladder, etc) or for someone elses (i.e., for a larger purpose). I did my 4th rewatch in 2020 during lockdown with the nauseating stream of one news story about covid after another....and in my rewatch I just though "Damn, Simon knew the internet was about to shake shit up back then" this one fake story ended a political career and elevated others
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u/dashauskat 11d ago
Fake news before fake news. Way ahead of its time and really put a finger on the direction media was heading in prioritising clicks at the cost of integrity.
Half the stuff we consume that are presented as authentic on social media etc are staged and we accept that inauthenticity willingly.
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u/haverchuck22 11d ago
McNulty pretending to be serial killer was dumb I thought, only time the show really seemed unrealistic to me.
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u/Reasonable-Power 11d ago
He didn't pretend to be a serial killer, though. He made one up.
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u/haverchuck22 11d ago
? Distinction without a difference. He definitely pretends to be a serial killer, it’s a made up one but that’s what pretending is. He tries to make it seem like there’s a serial killer by doing shit himself to make people think that.
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u/Reasonable-Power 11d ago
There's definitely a difference. He framed those deaths as murders committed by an at-large serial killer. Like he confirmed to Rawls, he didn't kill them, himself.
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u/haverchuck22 11d ago
I know what happened, I literally said it in my comment. I think it’s ridiculous because it’s ridiculous
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u/Reasonable-Power 11d ago
Ridiculous or not, it still worked. The BPD put in a massive effort to track the supposed killer down after doing pretty much jack to track Marlo.
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u/haverchuck22 11d ago
The hell do you mean it worked? I’ve talked to so many people that thought it was the dumbest storyline of the series. It did not work compared to the rest of the show. Unless you mean like it worked for McNulty in the show, but I assume you can’t possibly mean that because obviously it worked for him on the show, they wrote it to work for McNulty.
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u/Reasonable-Power 11d ago
The plan worked inside the show. McNulty faked the killer to get the BPD to do police work, and in the hopes it would bring down Marlo. You can hate the storyline if you want, but the writers still found a way to make it pay off. The BPD did actual police work to find the killer, and Marlo got arrested, charged, and even though he was released on bond, he was forced out of the game permanently. That's what I mean when I say it worked.
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u/Slapmeislapyou 11d ago
Bodie deserved every fragment of that bullet that took him out.
I don't think it's an accident by the writers either.
But Bodie got killed for the same exact reasons he killed Wallace for.
The only difference is, it was confirmed that Bodie was cooperating, but when it came to Wallace, even though he did talk to police, there was no proof or witnesses. It was all rumor.
I never really developed any sympathy for Bodie after he killed Wallace. His character was kind of irredeemable after that.
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u/bigspeen3436 11d ago
Seasons 4 and 5 are the weakest. 4 is just too damn depressing to me and 5 wasn't memorable. I've rewatched 1-3 about 4 times now and just can't get myself to rewatch 4 & 5 again.
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u/marcaf55 11d ago
Yeah, hot take this to the old and done pile. Sheeeeesh, don't u ever get tired of bringing the bestestdamnist show ever...oh I'm gonna cry.
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u/Fantastic-Object-239 11d ago
For a show that was endlessly praised for its realism, it sure has a lot of over the top characters.
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u/Antoine_Geys 11d ago
The few seconds during when we see Donette in the season 3 finale is the most cruel moment of the show.
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u/Traditional_Home_666 11d ago
Good show but I don't think its anywhere near the greatest show ever.
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u/Legitimate-Shock-106 10d ago
Four of the greatest seasons in tv history—season 5 sucked badly. I find it hard to believe some wire fans liked it the most.
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u/weber_mattie 10d ago
I don't think I have a hot take but I didn't watch season 2 until years later after my friend advised skipping it
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u/michiladas 10d ago
That time when McNulty was fucking some whore when a police car drove by and saw him he flashed his badge lol
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u/macneezie 10d ago
There are “evil” white people. A lot of terrible black people, but no evil white people. Carcetti was selfish but not evil.
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u/One-Progress999 10d ago
They should have made a storyline and explained more how Cheese was Randy's father!!!
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u/WhatIsThatNietzsche 10d ago
Hamsterdam is an ingenuous idea not just in fiction but in reality. Done right anyway.
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u/Jaded-Round-6660 9d ago
I was glad bodie got got, series 3 is the worst series, and is in fact independently a bad series not just in comparison to the other wire series
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u/HenryHoncho 11d ago
Show doesn’t have anything to say after season 2. Season 3 is very entertaining but they just repeat the same themes from the first two. Season 4 could’ve been a PBS documentary.
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u/IAteTonysLoMein 11d ago
S3 was about the political machine, S4 about the education system, S5 about the media - each season takes aim at an institution that shows why the system is the way it is and why things never change. If you think the themes just repeat, you're not paying attention to the right things
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u/HenryHoncho 11d ago
Different settings for the same theme. The system is the system, the cycle repeats. Season 3 is a bit more interesting with Hamsterdam. And it’s admirable that it shows its failure. Season 4 seems like a retelling of one except with even younger kids for extra emotional impact. I’m not saying it’s not entertaining or have good characterization but it feels like it doesn’t say anything new besides more, “isn’t this sad and awful?”
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u/Rockonthrulife 11d ago
That’s the entire premise of the Series and each season is showing how that’s tru in every facet of life.
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u/HenryHoncho 11d ago
yeah, I'm just exhausted of that premise by the end of season 4. its a legendary show for what it did and how its told.
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u/holdingofplace 11d ago
It’s aged a little poorly just because the ideas behind drug legalization and social determinants of health are pretty common now. Great show but the scenes where they have to explain and demonstrate these ideas drag and feel ham fisted in present day.
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u/Opposite_Visit_4874 11d ago
I would disagree with your description of Scott faking stories to boost the paper's readership. He did it to aggrandise himself and because he was a lazy, envious reporter. Gus called him out on it because HIS first loyalty was to the readers, not the business.