The Wire: Greatest Show Ever Made
- Thread starter Adebisi
- Start date
-
Guest, it's time once again for the massively important and exciting FoH Asshat Tournament!
Go here and give us your nominations!Who's been the biggest Asshat in the last year? Give us your worst ones!
Just finished my first watch of all seasons. What a great show. Deserves every sliver of praise it gets. I also really liked season 5. I thought the interactions at the newspaper was great.
The only thing I never picked up on was why did they reveal Rawls is gay but do absolutely nothing with it.
The only thing I never picked up on was why did they reveal Rawls is gay but do absolutely nothing with it.
chaos
Buzzfeed Editor
- 17,324
- 4,839
It is just world building, showing you the depth behind these characters. Really, if they had explored Rawls being gay and outed him or something, do you think it would have been a better show? I think it is better leaving it as some little sidebar that we see, but doesn't require explaining. There are a lot of other scenes like that, especially in S5.
I'm just saying it added nothing to his character. I tried looking for subtleties of closeted homosexuality but it wasn't there. Outside of possibly outward projecting hyper heterosexuality but that seemed just the norm for the department.
The Wire: David Simon Q & A | NJ.com
"We could have cannibalized Rawls' moment in the gay bar and advanced that moment, but I'm not sure we would have created any more theme, and on some level it was very satisfying just to grant the notion of a closeted gay man's sexuality a moment on screen and then move on. There was something very compelling and real about just acknowledging that but not making it into grist for a storyline that didn't add anything to our portrayal of Rawls.We were always laying pipe that could be picked up later. It doesn't mean that you should pick it up."
Emphasis added. They just made all the characters have depth, even if they never followed up on it. It is one of the things that sets the show apart. On the DVD extras the actor who played Rawls speculated that it was probably the reason Rawls was such an asshole to everyone, he had this loathing of his sexuality.
"We could have cannibalized Rawls' moment in the gay bar and advanced that moment, but I'm not sure we would have created any more theme, and on some level it was very satisfying just to grant the notion of a closeted gay man's sexuality a moment on screen and then move on. There was something very compelling and real about just acknowledging that but not making it into grist for a storyline that didn't add anything to our portrayal of Rawls.We were always laying pipe that could be picked up later. It doesn't mean that you should pick it up."
Emphasis added. They just made all the characters have depth, even if they never followed up on it. It is one of the things that sets the show apart. On the DVD extras the actor who played Rawls speculated that it was probably the reason Rawls was such an asshole to everyone, he had this loathing of his sexuality.
iannis
Musty Nester
- 31,351
- 17,656
That was kinda the point. Rawls was an asshole, and good at his job (such as it was), and we found out later he was a homo. And those two things were just something he was. But it wasn't shoehorned in and it wasn't judgemental. It was just that some people are gay.
A single Rawls is worth every episode of will and grace and whatever show just Jack has now on nbc times a hunnert.
If nothing else it humanized a character who was possibly overused as a device. Rawls being a fagget made me hate him less and like him more, and that is an accomplishment. It is too easy to mishandled that. I think they had the right touch.
It is one of those things that give characters more depth, Rawls being gay, Colvin adopting the one kid, the other kid being abused at the group home, Prez being an utter klutz the first season etc., it's all stuff that doesn't play out in the big picture, but fleshes out the narrative. In some ways McNulty and Bunk were the anchors, that the show always came back to, but as a whole, very few characters with a significant role were passed over. The main players of the series, all got several layers, even if it didn't actually play out when they where in the focus.
And dammn, reading the wiki, Cheese (method man) were the father of one of the kids? Harsh.
And dammn, reading the wiki, Cheese (method man) were the father of one of the kids? Harsh.
Enzee
Trakanon Raider
- 2,197
- 715
I don't think it's the same actors you guys are thinking of, but one of the little intricacies that made the Wire so great was that they used real people in many roles. Generally, they were smaller, bit roles. But, then you had roles like Snoop that were actual people from Baltimore, with no prior acting experience, who WERE the characters they played. So, that's why you don't see any of those people in things afterwards.
At the same time, I've seen quite a few of the actors from The Wire all over the place. Though, sometimes it's in things that were shot before and I just didn't know who they were at the time. McNulty, in particular, seems to be in all kinds of random shit ever since I watched the Wire. But, he naturally has an English accent, so it doesn't always stand out that it was him.
At the same time, I've seen quite a few of the actors from The Wire all over the place. Though, sometimes it's in things that were shot before and I just didn't know who they were at the time. McNulty, in particular, seems to be in all kinds of random shit ever since I watched the Wire. But, he naturally has an English accent, so it doesn't always stand out that it was him.
Adebisi
Clump of Cells
- 27,713
- 32,825
Speaking of hamsterdam
De Blasio reduces crime between 66%-94% instantly as NYPD tries the Bunny Colvin Method
Note union is literally dumb
De Blasio reduces crime between 66%-94% instantly as NYPD tries the Bunny Colvin Method
Note union is literally dumb
ohkcrlho
Silver Baronet of the Realm
- 6,906
- 8,943
That is why i love season 3.
Moral midgetery is the best episode of the whole series.
But season 2 still is my favourite, mainly due to how awesome and smart the "greeks" are.
23145
Yesterday i was watching tv and namond was in blue bloods. Damn he is fat as fuck
Chanur
Shit Posting Professional
- 28,512
- 45,516
Doesn't Portugal have a pretty similar stance like Hamsterdam to the war on drugs? Just legalize everything and dump all the money into treatment instead of drug busts. AFAIK their addiction rates have plummeted since adopting the policy.
Heylel
Trakanon Raider
- 3,602
- 430
Seasons 1-4 are all equal in my eyes, and 5 is only slightly lower. 2 is generally not as well regarded because it focuses so much more on the ports than the street. I remember hearing complaints about whitewashing of the show when it first aired, and BET has been known to skip that season in reruns. It's really about a different sort of despair than the rest of the show. You really feel for the port guys by the end as they basically lose everything.
I have a minority opinion of thinking s2 is just as strong as any of the other seasons. Crime is crime I don't see why it happening on the streets between thugs or on the docks between whites makes it much different. I understood where they were coming from mostly. They didn't want to turn to a life of crime (as opposed the street dealers who saw it as a glamorous job for the most part) they did it out of sheer desperation. An attempt to keep their marginalized jobs. For whatever reason that season really spoke to me.
