The Wire (S1)
Jun. 2nd, 2009 06:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
falafel_musingsI've been ill today, can't stop coughing. Ugh.
Well, finally finishing The Wire: S1...
If I'm being honest, I wanted to love this more than I did. I mean, when there's that 'Down in the Hole' theme, a Tom Waits song performed by The Blind Boys of Alabama, of course I want to love this show. But I've struggled with it. I don't know if I'll continue.
I'd say it comes down to my own taste and issues, not any fault of the show itself (which is first rate). I've never been crazy about the crime genre, either in TV or literature. So even the very best, well-constructed, realistic, powerful crime story is going to be a little wasted on me. Also, it's very realistic. Which isn't a criticism, but personally I don't have a lot of stamina for heavy realism. I'm a fan of Mike Leigh or Larry Clarke films, but if you asked me if I wanted to watch a 13 hour film by those directors I'd be reluctant. Even if it was a great 13 hour film. The pace was often too slow for me. Much of the crime plotty stuff I didn't pay a huge amount of attention to. Mostly I loved individual dialogue scenes more so than the overall story - 'Snot got shot' and 'Mr Nugget'. Scenes like that.
Even though there was a great balance between the law and the crooks, I was much more invested in the street characters. They had more grit and poetry to them. I found characters like McNulty, Kima and Bunk were mostly likeable, but I didn't care about their side of the story as much. I got a little worried over Kima getting shot, but I was fairly certain she'd pull through.
*sigh* Bodie and Wallace were my favourite characters. That ended well for me, didn't it? That scene was so disturbing and soul-killing. I'd almost been scared off the show by Brandon's murder. I think after Bodie killed Wallace I've got to get out of the game. I felt very much like DeAngelo did about the whole thing. Aww, I had respect for Dee in the end. Bodie and Wallace just made me so sad. I guess it was obvious from the chess scene that Wallace was going to be the pawn who was out of the game early and Bodie was going to be the smartass pawn who fights his way across the board. It's kinda poetic that one pawn takes the other pawn out. Horrible, but poetic. It is going to be hard to shake that image of Wallace crying and Bodie yelling at him to "Be a man!" while his gun hand is trembling. I felt like they were both victims really. Bodie is right that in the game you have to step up or step out. They were both 16 year old kids who were trying to do their best; the only difference being that Wallace thinks in terms of 'good' or 'bad' and Bodie thinks in terms of 'strong' or 'weak'. Bodie is never getting out of the game now. He's sold his soul to it. That's almost as tragic as Wallace's needless death.
On a lighter note, I adore Bubbles. Who is that magical actor who plays Bubbles? He is magical. He's the one character that tempts me to keep watching despite the ruthless violent depressiveness. I loved the friendship between Bubbles and Johnny Weeks (but Johnny has AIDs so I'll have to deal with him dying too, no doubt). My favourite moment of the series was Bubbles standing up for his "sincere desire to live" at the rehab meeting. It was one of the few uplifting moments. But then he failed to tell McNulty he was getting clean and ended up using his money to buy more dope (noooo!) The other character I think is outstanding is Omar. He's a legend. He is like the Baltimore Robin Hood. I had to get this icon of Omar's scary yet hysterical expression in the final scene.
So yeah, I'm really undecided over whether I want to watch more. There are some characters I love, but I don't like getting invested in characters only to have them die horribly and then having to go on without them. It happens too much to me. But if I quit now I will miss Bubbles hats, Omars whistle and Bodie spitting through his teeth.
Well, finally finishing The Wire: S1...
If I'm being honest, I wanted to love this more than I did. I mean, when there's that 'Down in the Hole' theme, a Tom Waits song performed by The Blind Boys of Alabama, of course I want to love this show. But I've struggled with it. I don't know if I'll continue.
I'd say it comes down to my own taste and issues, not any fault of the show itself (which is first rate). I've never been crazy about the crime genre, either in TV or literature. So even the very best, well-constructed, realistic, powerful crime story is going to be a little wasted on me. Also, it's very realistic. Which isn't a criticism, but personally I don't have a lot of stamina for heavy realism. I'm a fan of Mike Leigh or Larry Clarke films, but if you asked me if I wanted to watch a 13 hour film by those directors I'd be reluctant. Even if it was a great 13 hour film. The pace was often too slow for me. Much of the crime plotty stuff I didn't pay a huge amount of attention to. Mostly I loved individual dialogue scenes more so than the overall story - 'Snot got shot' and 'Mr Nugget'. Scenes like that.
Even though there was a great balance between the law and the crooks, I was much more invested in the street characters. They had more grit and poetry to them. I found characters like McNulty, Kima and Bunk were mostly likeable, but I didn't care about their side of the story as much. I got a little worried over Kima getting shot, but I was fairly certain she'd pull through.
*sigh* Bodie and Wallace were my favourite characters. That ended well for me, didn't it? That scene was so disturbing and soul-killing. I'd almost been scared off the show by Brandon's murder. I think after Bodie killed Wallace I've got to get out of the game. I felt very much like DeAngelo did about the whole thing. Aww, I had respect for Dee in the end. Bodie and Wallace just made me so sad. I guess it was obvious from the chess scene that Wallace was going to be the pawn who was out of the game early and Bodie was going to be the smartass pawn who fights his way across the board. It's kinda poetic that one pawn takes the other pawn out. Horrible, but poetic. It is going to be hard to shake that image of Wallace crying and Bodie yelling at him to "Be a man!" while his gun hand is trembling. I felt like they were both victims really. Bodie is right that in the game you have to step up or step out. They were both 16 year old kids who were trying to do their best; the only difference being that Wallace thinks in terms of 'good' or 'bad' and Bodie thinks in terms of 'strong' or 'weak'. Bodie is never getting out of the game now. He's sold his soul to it. That's almost as tragic as Wallace's needless death.
On a lighter note, I adore Bubbles. Who is that magical actor who plays Bubbles? He is magical. He's the one character that tempts me to keep watching despite the ruthless violent depressiveness. I loved the friendship between Bubbles and Johnny Weeks (but Johnny has AIDs so I'll have to deal with him dying too, no doubt). My favourite moment of the series was Bubbles standing up for his "sincere desire to live" at the rehab meeting. It was one of the few uplifting moments. But then he failed to tell McNulty he was getting clean and ended up using his money to buy more dope (noooo!) The other character I think is outstanding is Omar. He's a legend. He is like the Baltimore Robin Hood. I had to get this icon of Omar's scary yet hysterical expression in the final scene.
So yeah, I'm really undecided over whether I want to watch more. There are some characters I love, but I don't like getting invested in characters only to have them die horribly and then having to go on without them. It happens too much to me. But if I quit now I will miss Bubbles hats, Omars whistle and Bodie spitting through his teeth.
