Elizabeth, Amy and I having been trying to watch episodes of The Wire every week. Last week was a miss, but we’re back this wee with our thoughts on Episodes 3 & 4. We lost Amy for this round, but she’ll be back next week. We hope!
First things first. Are you into it more after watching the next few episodes?
Elizabeth: Absolutely. People are starting to have personalities, and I can (mostly) remember character names, which helps. But mostly I’m starting to catch glimpses of the feelings and motivations behind some of the actions, and that makes it much more interesting for me. For example, I really didn’t care about McNulty at ALL in the first two episodes, but now I’m beginning to see that he might actually be an interesting character.
Nicole: It really is starting to click. I totally agree with you Elizabeth about McNulty. He was probably the character that I felt the least about throughout the first two episode. I didn’t get what his motivation was at all and it seemed like he was just doing things. I was just as annoyed with him as everyone else was. All of the characters were a blur before and now I am having a much easier time recognizing who they are and what the agenda is in all the goings on in the different offices and apartments. I am definitely getting to the point where I am looking forward to the next episode so that I can see what is going on next with all the characters. Elizabeth is Kima still your favorite character?
Elizabeth: Yep, Kima is still my favorite. I really appreciate when writers can write female characters who don’t just let things happen TO them – do you know what I mean? She is an active participant in the workings of the case – really, she is the best officer they have, and she knows how to get things done. I just love strong female leads, and she hasn’t disappointed me yet. I also am starting to like D’Angelo quite a bit.
Elizabeth: I LOVED D’Angelo’s speech comparing gang life to chess. I thought that was brilliant, and the analogy completely worked. I’m also getting very interested in the officer with the glasses (Hmm, guess I don’t quite have all the names down as well as I thought!), who found the poster of Barksdale for them. I think the relationship between him & McNulty shows a lot of potential. Mostly, I’m just getting excited to see how the relationships start to deepen.
Elizabeth: Well, I’m usually the LAST person to pick up on foreshadowing, so predictably I haven’t noticed any of that yet. I have definitely noticed the way that they seem to portray every department as having some good guys and some bad guys – this doesn’t seem to be the type of show that portrays “the cops as heroes” or something like that. There are some cops who are really good cops – McNulty and Kima come to mind – but there are also some who clearly just want to skate along and don’t care if they actually get anything accomplished. There are some members of the drug gang who are really BAD guys, and some who are just caught up in a situation they don’t really know how to handle. It’s interesting that they seem to be setting things up to blur the lines between the “good guys” and the “bad guys”, and I think that will be one of the things that makes me like the show a lot.
Elizabeth: Oh, I know what you mean! It seems like he pops up everywhere! When he took the undercover cop in to buy drugs, and then they left and walked up to the van to talk to Kima, I thought for sure someone would see them. I definitely have a bad feeling for him.
Watching The Wire? What do you think?
Other reviews and posts:
I wish I'd known you all were watching this! I've been so out of it lately, barely keeping up with posting to my own blog. I love, love, love this show. It's one of my all-time favorites. My husband's too.
I absolutely loved The Wire. It's probably my favorite series. My husband and I rented the entire 7 seasons from Netflix and had to force ourselves not to take breaks in between seasons and even episode!. I really like police investigation & crime dramas and have watched many. I think The Wire is the best written, directed, produced and acted series with some seasons better than others, of course. I'm going to try to remember you are watching it and read your posts every week.
My favorite characters were probably Bunk, Bubbles and McNulty, although he really irritated me sometimes! lol
Enjoy!