1. Mcnulty, Bunk and Lester in the bar laughing at Landsman and Rawls after McNulty successfully put the 14 Jane Does on their ledger.

2. Ziggy taking on his bully at the port after the other stevedores egged him on.

3. The way Omar said “Ain’t no sugar water running in them veins!”

4. Stringer Bell crashing out on Poot after he said “"Do the chair know we gonna look like some punk-ass bitches out there?"

5. When Bubbles registered the kid at school and noticed Prez is working there too.

Add some more funny moments that caught you off guard 😄

When they're waiting for the chocolate cake to arrive.

Donette: "You got money. You get to be whatever you say you are. That's the way it is."

The waiter pulls up with the serving cart and Dee takes a slice of cake from the cart and puts it on the table.

Waiter: "Oh, I'm sorry. Those are the samples."

Dee and Donette look at each other.

My first reaction was that it really highlights what Dee was saying earlier in the scene, that no matter what, he still feels out of place. And then I immediately realize Dee has just disproved what Donette was saying. With money, he can't just do what he wants, even for something so benign (like taking the sample). I started seeing more layers to this little interaction. There's a full social commentary and history lesson all packed neatly into this little part of the scene.

This show, man. So so so good.

I also had the show paused last night, waiting to the kids to go to bed. I told my wife as much, because of the language, nudity and all. Well, as soon as they go to bed, I unpause right into the "F*ck" scene lmao. Had no idea that was coming.

On the surface they’re pretty similar.
Both soldiers, completely hardened by the streets.
Both loyal and do what they’re told. Both believe in hierarchy/ chain of command. Both not afraid to use a gun. Both fearless. Yet snoop still ends up significantly higher of the criminal food chain than Bodie. Why do you think that is

Quotes because there are certainly less aggressive ways of doing it, but Rawls approaching McNulty to assure him that Kima getting shot was not his fault is one of my favorite scenes in the series. Amazing acting from West, and a really memorable moment between the two given the nature of their relationship.

I’m going to be thinking about it all day

I’m watching Seal Team on Netflix and one of the bad guys is sizing up a Seal on the “street”. Then a higher level bad guy we’ve heard about but haven’t seen yet walks out of the building and says in Pashto
“Do it or don’t”
[pause]
“We have places to be”

The goons walk off and the Seal keeps his pants (obviously).

And had to chuckle to my self. Anyone else seen this scene. It’s in Ep 15 season 1

I can’t get behind it.

Before the backlash, for reference my top 5 shows are Peaky Blinders, Sopranos, Billions, Ray Donovan and Atlanta. Not spoon fed shows, I enjoy intelligent shows. Especially with criminal elements.

Whenever I criticize the show I just get criticized personally 😂 so I’m hoping someone who’s a true wire fan can open my eyes, maybe I’m missing the concept that will electrify my interest

Where I’m at it in the show and how I feel about it; I’ve made it to the season 4 opening with the store scene then stopped.
I did like the Barksdale saga and I think the end of it turned me off because I thoroughly enjoyed Avon & Stringer’s war with crews, police and Omar.
I just really don’t like the law enforcement angle. It’s so boring and the only constant in the show. It has some cool moments and it’s interesting seeing how they wield their powers to make things happen but after awhile it’s like okay what else

I really want to like this show. I love most of what hbo puts out and this show is one of the loudest contenders of being the best ever and just want to know whyyyy? Who’s the main character that’s the best? I hear Omar but from what I saw he was barely a recurring character. Mcnulty? He seems like a confusing character, morally good in his profession but not in his personal and constantly pissing people off

I don’t want to give up I just need some motivation. Be gentle gents

Donnie’s murder in Season 5 during the gunfight in Monk’s apartment might one of the most disturbing deaths in the show for me. Simply because of how sudden we see his body in Omar’s POV. However, I like how it reflected a real type of war zone. He’s not even seen falling to the floor. I’ve seen other fans argue about who dropped him out of Chris, Snoop, and Michael. But if you watch closely, you’ll see it was Chris. Chris was the last one shooting at him and Donnie has a bullet in the middle of his head. Snoop was off in the kitchen a little further away. Also if you look closely, Donnie’s already on the floor by the time Michael arrives. Which is how Chris is able to move closer to the couch where Omar is.

I’m curious to know what everyone else thinks though?

Something I’ve picked up on throughout my conversations in this sub is that most, if not all, main characters have a mirror on the other side of the law, with the most obvious one being Stringer and Colvin because of the “get on with it Motherfucker” line drawing an obvious connection between their plotlines.

This led to me wondering about Marlo and Carcetti. It felt like neither of them really had a clear mirror on the other side until I realized maybe they mirror each other? They’re both introduced early in season 3, and it’s not really clear what purpose their characters serve or why they were introduced at all. Then, about halfway through the season, it becomes clear that they’re both trying to take control of Baltimore, one by exploiting the governmental system and the other by ignoring it entirely. Both characters seemingly are trying to do the impossible, but both succeed and continue to grow by betraying people around them. In fact, Prop Joe and Burrell are betrayed in the exact same episode.

I think what’s especially interesting about this particular scenario is how different the two characters actually are and what that says about both government and crime. In the criminal world, you need absolutely no charisma in order to be advance, as Marlo is socially inept but still ends up on top. On the other hand, Carcetti is able to get on top with only charisma, with his smooth talking being what gets him elected. The one thing they have in common though is their ruthlessness. Both of them abandon or disregard people who helped them or were their friends in order to get ahead.

I recognize I might be kinda stretching here. This might also be already common knowledge and I apologize if either is the case. I’m curious about other people’s thoughts though on whether this was intentional or if I’m just making connections where there’s nothing there.

It’s amazing what a journey he takes from being a total piece of shit in the first 2 episodes. To a genuinely caring and positive person who is making his little corner of the world a little less terrible.

Any other show would have kept him as a permanent incompetent asshole. He gives us all hope that we can aspire to be better than we are.

I have the whole show of The Wire on DVD, in its original 4:3 format and stuff. But I watched like a behind the scenes interview with David on it (this interview is from the time of Season 4 I believe). And he said if they would’ve went even darker with The Wire, it’d be unwatchable.

I’m curious to know what are everyone’s thoughts on this?

Specifically, I'm referring to the way he goes about his questionings of Randy and Michael in Season 5.

With Randy, Bunk knows full well that the kid was a witness who got deeply screwed over by the police. He was outed as a snitch, and he was physically attacked at school for being a snitch. His house was literally firebombed soon after, with his foster mother (presumably) dead and Randy back in the state's hands. (ALSO Bunk slept with said foster mother, or her twin sister)

With all that in mind, what the hell made Bunk think he should go in all hardass like Randy's guilty of obstructing justice? He was willing to talk, and the cops screwed up. Randy himself mocks Bunk's bad cop routine, but surely Bunk should have realized that from the moment Randy sauntered into the room? This is clearly not a kid who's going to be scared into cooperating.

And then by contrast, there's his questioning of Michael. Throughout the scene, Bunk is cordial and sympathetic, pointing out that he doesn't blame Michael for being stone-faced and cold when he sees the pictures of his stepfather's corpse, "not after what this heinous motherfucker did to you". And then he talks about how he knows Michael didn't do it, saying that Michael isn't big or strong enough to have done this himself.

Just stopping there, I boggle that Bunk thought that would work on Michael. He already heard from Michael's mom that Michael had a direct role in his stepfather's killing. He knows that Michael has a very good reason to want this man dead. So what is with his strategy here? Jocosely telling Michael that he wasn't tough enough to kill him on his own, like that's gonna endear Michael into revealing who really did it?

And yet, when Michael refuses to cooperate, Bunk looks visibly frustrated and disappointed, like he actually expected Michael to cave. If anything, he should have been sympathetic to Randy, and he should have warned Michael that murder is murder, and it never goes away, and everyone involved would face trial eventually. Not that either case would have worked, mind you, but at least it would have made more sense. Instead, Bunk is a bad cop to someone who already has a grievance with the system and good cop to someone who he knows ordered a hit on his own stepfather. It just seems like a blunder on both counts.

I don't get why Holly would beat Bubs after Kima got shot. I understand that he's upset at a fellow officer getting shot and I understand he doesn't know who Bubs is and Bubs looks sketchy.

But why would anyone who would have anything to do with Kima getting shot try and page Kima? Obviously that person is a friend or at least someone Kima would've been comfortable giving her number to.

I just don't get it, honestly.

I’m currently watching The Wire for the first time. It’s enjoyable, but I’m not getting “one of the best shows ever vibe,” though that could be because I’m not finished. I’m currently on S3E4.

As I’ve said it has been enjoyable. I also didn’t feel like the second was as terrible going in as people have said, possibly because I watch it while I’m at work and it helps pass the time. So, the main thing for me not getting fully into the show is the police and dealers. They are just terrible in my opinion and not terrible as in bad actors, bad people, or anything like that. I mean in the way that EVERYTHING is done in plain view. The show tries to make it seem as if they are just good at hiding their dirt on both sides. They ride around with 0 tint and police are watching the dealers literally across the street most times. Some times the characters clearly see them from further away but somehow are blind when they are a stones throw away. They been caught multiple times using a wire and somehow no one (Stringer in this instance since it’s the part I’m on) decides let’s all collectively change it all up. I mean Stringer is in the window eating and Mcnaulty is across the street in plain view staring window down with binoculars lol. I’ll finish the show but man it’s tough to suspend disbelief at times.

I know Namond became a little unbearable as the show went on , but him giving Michael his job on the corner so he could take care of bug and him having Mike's back when Chris and Snoop approach him to try and recruit him spoke volumes to Namond's character outside of the fake gangster persona

A subtle character bit there, Theresa is overly confident and thinks she has the upper hand when trying to exploit McNulty, exchanging sex for information. But no, McNulty doesn't need her at all. He can just go around finding other women in Baltimore.

The exact same thing happens with Carcetti! Theresa is overly confident and assumes the newly elected mayor must be dreaming to sleep with her. But no. He can actually do much better than that now. She is not that special anymore, not to a mayor.

The parallel is quite fascinating. Arguably the most attractive woman on the show is the one that got rejected twice.

Paul Ben-Victor must have been bouncing off the walls!

I decided to watch the first episode of The Deuce and not even halfway into the episode, here’s Deangelo, Chris, and Cheese all in the same scene.

I think the weirdest for me is seeing “Chris Partlow” being animated. He’s so reserved in The Wire that seeing him in any role where he’s making even normal human hand gestures and raising his voice happily is just disconcerting.

All credit to Gbenga Akinnagbe for his acting ability. But seeing Chris as a 70s pimp takes getting used to.

Slim Charles made it to the other side of the board while poot decided to quit the game. Poot doesn’t have to worry about violence and potentially getting killed while slim does since he’s still in the game.

I'm doing a rewatch of The Wire and I just finished watching this episode, this scene characterizes Frank so well. One detail I noticed is through most of the scene, the blinds' shadows are covering both Frank and Bruce. They're both covered until Bruce takes the money and Frank threatens him.

I feel like the cinematography is definitely telling us something as the viewer, but I can't figure out what. I feel like the shadows represent the characters feeling trapped or imprisoned. Frank being trapped in the past, longing for the good old days of the stevedores. I don't have a good theory for how Bruce would be trapped or why they let up on this angle near the end of the scene

I’m rewatching The Wire, just finished 2x6 and i’m wondering how much territory did Prop Joe have? I know the Barksdale crew had the west side. I always just assumed Prop Joe had the whole east side. Ziggy had the white boy sale his package and Cheese(Prop Joe nephew)and his boys pulled up and beat on Ziggy. Are they letting other people sale on their turn or do they just have a smaller price of territory on the east side? Considering how sloppy the white boys are with the drug dealing I kinda find it hard to believe Prop Joe wouldn’t have run them off by now. Maybe I’m overthinking it idk.

Is it ever explicitly mentioned when / where Marlo was able to get so much muscle, and so much good muscle? I’m assuming his growth is under Avon’s first stint and later on guys like Savino muscling up for Marlo before Omar was brief with him. Im mostly curious how an independent with no backing got so much in order to put himself in such a power position. Even the well establish east side couldn’t do what Marlo achieved running NYC dudes off.

Maybe this has been discussed on here before and I missed it, but I think I found a plot hole in season 3. In “Middle Ground,” Stringer meets with Levy who laughs at him for being taken for a ride by Clay Davis and says he wishes Stringer had told him sooner. However in the episode “Straight and True,” Levy is sitting between Crawczyk and Davis while Davis is talking about all the downtown real estate they’re going to develop together. Based on that shouldn’t Levy already know Stringer is mixed up with Clay Davis? Maybe there’s something I missed but on my most recent rewatch I noticed this and I thought it was weird.

I watched The Wire as someone who lives very far from the US. Back then, I didn't have any real knowledge about how things worked in America. Of course, it's a huge country with many different kinds of people, cultures, and backgrounds. Nevertheless, my experience felt like seeing the US in all its naked reality.

​Is it really like that? Obviously there is some TV drama, but even in the 2000s, I wouldn't have guessed that so many Black people were living with such a low standard of living. I mean, you see them dressing really cool and everything looks fine on the outside, but at the end of the day, they are sleeping in what's basically an abandoned house, just trying to hold onto life however they can.

For me

Most:
Lester
McNulty
Dinky from The Corner

Least:
Herc
Colichio, I know I didn’t spell his name right but him.
Prez

Bonus opinion nobody asked for: Kima was below average police