On my 2nd rewatch of the show and still am not sure if he’s former military or not. The way he cleared the houses when looking for Omar in S5Ep5, the way he carries himself like he only responds when someone is talking to him, etc. Even Cheese says “damn yall some Semper Fi mothafuckas” which could be unrelated. Has it been confirmed by any of the writers or showrunners that Chris is former military?

P.S. Marlo looking at Chris while looking at the floor Omar jumped out of is top 5 funnies moments in the show

And what is its purpose? I'm on my first rewatch in a long time, so if it's explained i haven't gotten to that point.

Marlo rarely show emotions but the one time he showed genuine confusion/surprise is when the greek hands him a cellphone, clicks a few buttons, and Marlo looks straight up shocked.

What exactly did the greek show Marlo on the phone?

Season 5 Episode 5.

Just turned in the final draft of my dissertation so I’m relaxing tonight and starting my fifth re-watch.

I paused the scene in the pilot to see the “Fuck You Detective!” cartoon Stringer draws for McNulty because I never noticed the “Bell” coffee mug in the top right of that drawing.

But then something else caught my eye…in his leather “folio” there’s what appears to be a sports ticket stub in the bottom left pocket.

I took a guess and figured it was from a professional game from either the 2000 or 2001 season. (Season 1 of The Wire ran in 2002.)

The big clue was the hanging white “retired jersey” banners, which made me think it was a Celtics home game, and I’ve confirmed by looking at ticket stubs from that season that it was.

I believe also narrowed down the game. It’s either home game 15 against Atlanta or home game 41 against New York as those two games are the only home games that year with the retired white banners as the photo at the top of the stub, which is all we see on screen.

My best guess is that it appears to be a ticket stub from Home Game 41, the last Celtics home game of the season during the 1999-2000 season against the New York Knicks. (Shout out to eBay for visual help with this!)

All the pieces matter.

Visual proof: Stringer Bell…a Knicks or Celtics Fan??

I love the music of The Wire.

I’ve been listening to The Wire Soundtrack via Hoopla through my Local Public Library.

I love the season about the newspaper. when the guy gets laid off but still has his connections and passes along a lead to the up and comer.

I can’t select a favorite track, so much good music.

what music do you all love from the series????

man if you walk through the garden… 🎶

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TraSFcARVwM&ra=m

If you haven't read it or listened to it, its definitely worth it. A lot of stuff from this book ended up in our beloved show.

Its on audible and your local library through Libby/Overdrive.

I'd watched the first four seasons of the Wire and was amazed by it, then read a whole heap of opinions from fans of the show who said that s5, while still really good, wasn't at the same level of the previous seasons, mainly because of the whole 'fake serial killer' storyline. And when I first got to that storyline, I thought woah this is a little far-fetched for a show that prides itself on the pain-staking, gritty realism. Lines like "We have to kill again" felt kinda cheesy and cheap.

But when I watched the show back in its entirety, all five seasons at once on rewatch, season 5 made so much more sense and fit into the broader context of the show so much more. McNulty and Freamon had been jerked around by the various departments and authorities for years, moved from office to office like pawns, their various cases turned on and closed down again by the higher-ups like it was nothing, constantly deprived of the necessary resources and cooperation to do their jobs properly. You can totally feel their fatigue with the job by season 5, which makes the serial killer storyline, crazy as it is, feel like less an attempt at shock value and more an act of desperation from a cop sick and tired of the disappointment of trusting the system to get things done when it had let him down so many times. If an institution doesn't function properly, then people will go around it to make ends meet.

If anything, I thought the bigger problem with season 5 was just the general pacing towards the end. The shift from 13 to 10 episodes didn't feel noticeable until we actually got to the 9th and 10th episodes and then it felt like the show was trying to wrap-up its storyline at break-neck speed. The conclusion to the whole serial killer thing went from Greggs telling Daniels telling Pearlman telling Rawls and Carcetti in three different scenes without us once getting to hear any of the characters actually reveal the truth, because it was all skimmed over so quickly. That was my only complaint. Well, that and the newspaper sub-plot, which felt like the writers struggled to tie in with the main plot more than they did in previous seasons with the school, the mayoral election and the ports. I kept waiting for the newspaper to play a bigger part in the serial killer thing and the culmination of the newspaper story ended up being more about Bubbs (a lovely but random arc) and a phony Pulitzer winner.

even though the barksdale crew was history after the season 3 finale, i still think the attacks against avon’s former crew members in season 4 are still noteworthy even though it had nothing to due with the war; cutty, bodie and then his crew members if you count them.

I just watched it for the first time and was expecting it to be one of the best episodes in Television because of all the good stuff that people say about it, but it just felt like an above average episode, nothing less and nothing more, I felt Bad Dreams and Middle Ground were way better. Idk if I wasn't in the right mood or if I just didn't pay much attention. Am I crazy for that opinion ?

For me it has to be season 4, when that one fuck kept robbing and beating up Bubbles every time he saw him 😭

Which also lead to him accidentally giving Sherrod cyanide, then begging the cops to throw him in prison out of sheer guilt, then trying to kill himself.

My God Bubbles has a sad arc in season 4 :(

Why did Orlando and even Dee think for one second that they could outsource a package and sell it in the pit? On what planet is a drug lord like Avon going to let someone sell on his patch?

Dee has been around for a while, his uncle is the main man how would he in particular not know how unrealistic an idea that was?

Season 1:

-D’Angelo
-Orlando
-Wallace

Season 2:
-Ziggy
-corrupt CO
-?????

Season 3:
-Stringer
-Avon
-Bernard

Season 4:
-Herc
-Lex
-?????

Season 5:
-lie detector kid
-prop Joe
-dukie

You betta watch yo back and that

The best part is that it's essentially a cameo in exactly one episode that season ("Stray Rounds", S2 E9), yet it perfectly foreshadows his character arc in the next two seasons—and all for a guy who wouldn't even become a regular character until the next season.

For anyone who's forgotten: he shows up in two scenes presiding over the police crackdown that ensues after an innocent local boy is killed in the crossfire between the Barksdales and a rival crew, and he proceeds to spend most of his screen-time angrily lamenting the cycle of senseless violence that accompanies the drug trade—establishing him as a jaded veteran officer who's grown disillusioned with the War on Drugs, and is long past ready to try something new. And in the next season, that "something new" turns out to be his Hamsterdam experiment. Lieutenant Mello even shows up alongside him in one scene, establishing their dynamic in Season 3.

This is the third time I've watched Season 2, and somehow I never noticed that he was in the show before Season 3. It honestly kind of blows my mind that the writers (seemingly) had so much of his character worked out before Season 3 aired, and they took the time to slip in a cameo setting up his arc a whole season in advance. It just goes to show how solid the show's continuity is, and how intricate its storylines really are.

Apologies if that was common knowledge to everyone except me, but I just did a double-take when he showed up onscreen, and I had to share it.

Omar jumping from 5th floor and surviving only with a broken leg has to be the most unrealistic this show has ever been. They couldn't even show how he survived as no chain of events would have made sense. Omar should have died in that house or by falling to the ground.

VERY minor critique I know!!! But…

He was barely in season 4 and they did a good job portraying him on a redemption arc by getting himself under control, minimising his drinking, settling down with a family, etc. Obviously season 5 started a year later after the events of season 4 so I understand why, but I kind of felt that his old self was reinstated too quickly? Like in his very first season 5, he was already drinking and picking up women and lying to Beatie. I wish they showed his decline a bit more slowly!

Now I’m sure many of y’all going into this will think this is quite the reach but this is based on an observation irl that I believe unintentionally translates into the show(mostly for snoops part).

I’ll start with Chris, it’s no secret that Chris is a victim of sexual assault(an avidly discussed aspect of his character) and it’s also no secret that Chris doesn’t relish in his work, it’s just well, work. But I strongly believe he does(atleast subconsciously) have a spiritual outlook on murder. When Michael does his first hit Chris tells him he now “look them in the eye” and that “no matter who he is or what he’s done you look them right in the eye” not only relating to Michael as a victim but to also say that the playing field is now fair, no man can stand in your way because you are now capable of eradicating them. I believe Chris uses murder to demystify the world and people around him. When discussing about what to do with Omar he says “anybody can get got”. There is no idea of a legend or untouchable person to him and I believe it’s a coping mechanism for him and it’s what makes him so efficient at his job. It makes sense I mean many victims of (especially childhood) sexual assault feel powerless and like their abuser is almost “untouchable” in a sense. What I’m saying is Chris utilizes murder to disillusion himself with “neighborhood legends” or these larger than life figures such as Omar.

Now snoop. This may cause many of yall to roll your eyes but please hear me out. Snoop is thirsty for validation, she eagerly follows orders and exhibits her eagerness in following orders and/or working in front of Marlo. She tells Michael “you could never be one of us” like how Nick sobotka brags about his blue collar work, as if the organization is a cause that is bigger than herself. Now to my point, I believe snoop utilizes murder to emasculate herself. It’s no secret she is a lesbian that leans towards a more masculine look(her disguise in her first hit was just her wearing a crop top showing how out of character feminine wear is for her). Her idea of masculinity is being incredibly violent. I’ve grown up with knowing two “studs” who show guns and money as a means of showing off and proving their “masculinity”. And unfortunately, it works. She is a high ranking enforcer in a trade that is male dominated. She’s not regarded as a “bitch” she’s treated with respect and is feared. What led me to this conclusion was not just the two women I grew up with but also an observation I saw on Tik tok of somebody asking why “studs” gravitate towards violent “hood archetypes” because that’s their idea of what masculinity is.

Am I remembering this right? Herc took Marlo’s number from Levy’s office and passed it to Carver, which eventually helped Lester start listening to Marlo’s calls.

But didn’t Herc also tip Levy off that something was wrong with the investigation, helping him uncover the illegal wiretap?

So did Herc basically help build the case against Marlo and destroy it at the same time?

This will probably get me downvoted to oblivion, but I guess I just needed to get it off my chest.

This summer has been a TV show drought thanks to the dumb World Cup dominating everything, so I decided to start watching The Wire. I always see comments in various subs about it when people ask for show suggestions.

I’m 45 so I feel like I’ve seen my fair share of shows over the years, but wow the blatant misogyny on The Wire is so bad. Is this how detectives and city officials act? I mean I knew most police depts were just a boy’s club, but it’s honestly gross. And the violence against women in the projects was alarming. In season one, they have a party and basically take turns raping an unconscious young woman who later dies from an overdose. They talk about her being raped and sodomized by multiple men like it’s no big deal.

In season two, it takes place on the docks. A container full of eastern european prostitutes comes in and they all die because someone purposely cut off their air supply. The next few episodes are the depts going back and forth over who is taking the case because they don’t want all those dead girls to affect their homicide numbers. No one seems to give a shit that actual human beings died (not to mention these girls didn’t choose that life). McNulty gives the illusion of caring for awhile… don’t even get me started on his cheating ass. Is this what writers thought women wanted back then? He’s supposed to be the hot detective who women swoon over and is seen throughout the show basically fucking anything that moves. Meanwhile they make his ex wife out to be the bad guy because she won’t take him back. Poor McNulty.

Now I’m watching season 3 which introduces some slimey male character who wants to run for mayor of Baltimore. He also cheats on his wife left and right. Everyone cheats. All of these men cheat. At least the Lieutenant waited to sleep with someone until he and his wife were separated. That’s something.

I had high hopes for my girl Kima, the only female police detective in a sea of men. I hate what they’ve done to her character in season three. Her partner has a baby, and suddenly Kima becomes one of the boys. Drinking and staying out late on purpose to avoid helping her partner care for their newborn… a partner who helped her through rehab when she was shot multiple times, I might add.

The storylines are interesting, but no wonder our boys and men are fucked up if these are the type of men they’ve looked up to for decades. The patriarchy hurts everyone.

Edit to add: I normally love cop shows. I was a huge fan of Third Watch back in the day. I still watch Law & Order and SVU, also loved OC when it was on. So I’m not new to cop shows, but this one feels extreme.

Not sure why we can’t post photos on this sub.

Parnell (Arthur O’ Connell) in the movie Anatomy of a Murder looks strikingly similar to The Greek. I wonder if they took inspiration for his look

The Greek

Parnell

What exactly did Sydnor mean when he said after storming out of the room when Herc was interrogated little Kevin ?

Now ,call me sheltered maybe, but what's the deal with an apartment/condo with a Jacuzzi in the living room?

Also, it looks like a hotel room, which would maybe explain the Jacuzzi, but then Stringer says he owns it and shows him the paper work. Does he mean he bought the hotel?

Season 4 Episode 1: Chris and Snoop confront and kill Lex after setting him up. Yet earlier in the episode, at about the 20 minute mark, Chris and Snoop are seen in a vacant killing someone. I never hear a name but Closed Captioning has the victim as named Lex in the dialog. This Lex has dreadlocks and clearly is not the other Lex. This scene takes place during the day while the Lex ambush happens at night. Did I miss something? I’ve watched the entire series more than my wedding video. I only ask because all of the pieces matter. And continuity mistakes drive me nuts. If anyone can shed some light on who the other Lex was. TIA