Favorite Season of The Wire

[unclebengi]

Seems like we've done this 3 or 4 times since I've been on the board, so it feels a little redundant at this point, but my ranks are the same as they ever were and pretty much mirror Drizzle's unpopular opinon.

4
1
2
3

5

Let me follow up by saying that they are all fantastic except 5 which is merely great. My beef with 3 (as I've stated before) is that it feels more contrived and story driven than any of the other seasons. There's lots of greatness in there, but the Stringer/Avon story line HAD to have a a conclusion and at times it almost felt like a different show. Stringer's business ventures, the way he was killed, just felt more like typical "great TV drama" and character arcs. Not as many real world reflections and cutting observations as the other seasons. It might be the most entertaining season, but wasn't as stimulating to me and has none of my favorite moments from the series.

Also I haven't revisted in years and won't be anytime soon with the backlog of TV series/movies I'm trying to get caught up with, so my criticism isn't as detailed as I would like, just have always ranked them that way.

1 is underrated to me because I couldn't stop watching marathon style, not as much content there as some of the other seasons, but compared to any TV season one that had come before, it was jaw dropping and felt like it was made for me.

[EMCEE DARTH MALEK]

^i like the stringer/avon story quite a bit. i felt a bit rushed when avon's out of jail & all these new guys with grenades are around -- so did stringer. dude is tryna be smart and get out the game but fucking is steady playing him out. shoulda popped that faggot.

mcnulty wandering into stringer's apartment. who is this guy???


even so I'll put

4
1
3
5

2

2 is boring. deal with it.

[The Afronaut]

3 & 4 are nearly tied, with 3 barely edging out 4 for the top spot.

1
2
5

Surprised to see 3 getting a little hate. Of course there's the Avon/Stringer story, but the Bunny/Hamsterdam stuff is great too. Then there's the political stuff creepin in. Just a great, great season.

[EMCEE DARTH MALEK]

i put 1 above not cause 3 sucks, just because 1 is so dope as a standalone. i will never forgive bodie.

[darkwingduck]

AMAZON PRIME now has HBO content streaming. I think Im going to start watching the WIRE. Am I in for a treat?

[Kid That's Lifeless]

It's pretty much the best. The first few episodes are slow, but when it gets going it's great.

[Combo7]

4
2
1
3
5

Don't understand the Ziggy hate at all. Dude played that role to perfection.

[LilLeftBrain]

WIRE THE WIRE IS TREAT THERE ARE OTHER TREATS TO BE FOUND SOME MELT IN YOUR GLOVEBOX SOME STAY COOL IN FRIDGE

[LilLeftBrain]

4
1
3
2
5
6

[ric]

3>1>4>>>5>>>>>>2

[EMCEE DARTH MALEK]

4
2
1
3
5

Don't understand the Ziggy hate at all. Dude played that role to perfection.

it's not even ziggy, he's a relatively interesting character. it's just the whole union situation at the docks didn't do it for me. loved presbo at school tho, loved the newspaper. docks sucked.

[TeenageMoustache]

2 is wildly underrated, some of the best writing of the series. Frank Sobotka is one of the show's strongest characters.

3 is overrated because it has Hamsterdam and Stringer died yo but its very uneven and the story doesn't really come together to anything coherent until the last few episodes. Also, Stringer was kind of a bitch in general, and the whole thing with Donette is a waste of screen time

4
1
2
3
5

[Roy Johnson]

Frank & Nick Sobotka are two of my top five characters from The Wire.

[Joe Pesci]

I guess this is a good place to put this

[TeenageMoustache]

Mr. Snowden did volunteer one personal fact, and it was telling. He told Mr. Williams that thanks to the Internet, he has been watching “The Wire,” an HBO show about, among other things, government surveillance. He said he really enjoyed it, up to a point: “The second season is not so great.”

[JaH BLaZe]

I was surprised to hear a mention of the show in the Snowden interview.

[seagrams hotsauce]

Second season is great. Time to nuke russia.

[Gregg Popabitch]

3>4>1>2>5

[LilLeftBrain]

4
3
5
2
1
6
7
8

[LilLeftBrain]

if we're talking talking heads albums

[Tariq's Dilemma]

Season 2 ages better than most season's, especially season 1 and 3. McNulty crushes that season as well (specifically, the drunk driving/diner scene + busting the prostitution ring).

To me, Season 4 is the best because Richard Price came on as a writer. His impact on the dialogue was huge. If y'all haven't definitely check out his books, starting with Clockers.

Agreed with whoever said Season 3 played out more like a TV show.

I also think season 1 is the worst. Ton's of cliched dialogue, especially from D'Angelo...

[Kid That's Lifeless]

The game, the game, the game, the game, the game, that's the game, string string where the fuck is wallace string, the game.

[The Afronaut]

Agreed with whoever said Season 3 played out more like a TV show.

Not sure I understand how this is a diss. I mean it is a TV show.

[Smitty]

I dunno, I thought season two was...spot on.

[360]

It's a testament to the show that I was genuinely offended when Drizz called Stringer a bitch.

[drizzle]

You think that's offensive, this thing compares him to most-eyed bitchass Robb Stark. Way too harsh imo

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/201 ... their.html

[peanut butter]

Someone was on Twitter the other day saying that if you think S2 of The Wire is the worst season, you are probably watching the show for voyeuristic reasons


PEACE

[drizzle]

I think Ice made similar claims before. It seems like overkill, wouldn't that charge only apply to white viewers? There's def a portion of fans that are attracted to the show because of a fetishistic appreciation of drug culture as filtered through rap music, but I don't think that represents the entire audience.

It's not hard to understand why people balk at s2, it is an outlier as compared to the rest in several ways. But it also has some of the series best writing and acting, and it sets up some of the most key events that happen later, and it actually has a good amount of stuff relating directly to the plots of s1 and s3 that people completely overlook because of the focus on the docks. It's just not as visceral, especially as compared to s3 which is much looser in plotting and general construction but has excellent moments.

[Combo7]

I think Ice made similar claims before. It seems like overkill, wouldn't that charge only apply to white viewers? There's def a portion of fans that are attracted to the show because of a fetishistic appreciation of drug culture as filtered through rap music, but I don't think that represents the entire audience.

I've said it on here before, and it's true. Don't see why it can't apply to white and non-white viewers alike. I'd even argue that there are probably a lot more black than white people in this country who fetishize the drug culture vis-à-vis rap music.

[Req]

s5 is easily the worst, primarily because it was rushed.

s2 is dope for the Nicky/Greeks shit alone.

fav might could be s4