The Wire, Season 2

[selenak]

In which the main plot moves to the waterfront and nobody could have been a contender.

Comments

[selenak]

I did like Frank, and agree he's tragic, but I didn't love him. The twin petty causes - Valchek's temper tantrum over the church window, and McNulty wanting to fuck with Rawles for the boat transfer - for the investigation were both amusing, highly ironic, and in a way the reverse of what Frank thought of himself, the idea that he was doing the wrong thing for the right reasons - Valchek and McNulty were doing the right thing for the wrong reasons.

BTW one of several reasons why Beadie was a good character was that she wasn't so jaded as the rest of the team to death, so her reaction to the dead women could anchor the audience in how horrible their fate was.

I'm not so sure about the needing; Stringer seems to scare people on his own as well. But love for Avon makes sense as an explnation why he doesn't try to use that prison time to get rid of Avon and become officially boss himself.

[selenak]

:) I thought that speech was probably meta and right out of the costume department debate.

[ponygirl2000]

Wow, you are moving fast! I will join the crowd in saying that season 2 is my least favourite but it does have the best season-ending musical montage of all of them, and I did really come to like Frank. And of course it's a necessary season to show what the failure of the manufacturing industry has meant to Baltimore, the influence of outside forces both the Greek and larger economic, and introduction of the emphasis on city politics.

The lack of development for female characters is The Wire's great glaring fault. David Simon has said that he wishes he had addressed institutionalized sexism during the series, to which I say, you were part of the problem, dude. He gave us some great female characters but in general failed to give them the same focus and weight as the men's stories.

[selenak]

I have a terrible cold and it was the carnival time (= holidays). So there is a lot lying on the couch, drinking tea and watch dvds possible.

And of course it's a necessary season to show what the failure of the manufacturing industry has meant to Baltimore, the influence of outside forces both the Greek and larger economic, and introduction of the emphasis on city politics.

True that, and it's obviously yet another factor why the drug industry is so flourishing in the city.

re: women. Well, it's not like the show doesn't offer some great ones, as you say - but the overall narrative and the emphasis is indeed masculine, and this was more glaring in s2 than in s1.

[falafel_musings]

Yeah. I think it's official that I'm the only Wire fan who loves Ziggy (and James Ransone's performance). I actually found Nick and Frank kinda boring but (for me) Ziggy's story was really striking and sad. I perceived Ziggy as a young man who was not only socially inept but mentally unwell and living in an environment where his emotional disorders couldn't be helped or even recognized until it was too late. The only role Ziggy had in life was to be a punching bag and the butt of all their pranks. The way Ziggy self-destructively played into that role was painful to watch. Ziggy felt very real to me. So often 'weird bullied failure' characters are played as sympathetic underdogs, but it's more realistic when they are annoying twerps inviting ridicule. I appreciated Ziggy's story a lot. Though I realise I'm in the minority

[ponygirl2000]

I felt like the actor was essentially playing Ziggy again when he appeared in Generation Kill and yet I really liked him there. So maybe it was a context thing, I just needed to see him in an environment where extreme reactions made more sense.

[falafel_musings]

Yeah, maybe Ziggy's story was a bad fit for the Wire. Though I've read that Ziggy was based on a real stevedore from the docks and one of the main thing I appreciate about the Wire is how they incorporate these true life Baltimore stories.

[ponygirl2000]

Yes, I think Simon had said somewhere that even the duck story had really happened.

[selenak]

I've seen the True Blood pilot but wasn't interested in watching more after it.

Beadie Russell is a good counterpoint. She's from the same world as Frank, and as a woman, struggles harder, but she doesn't fall into the traps.

I think she's also a good counterpoint to Nick, whose initial excuse to himself for going with the heroin trade is that he needs money to move into his own place with his partner and child. Whereas Beadie has two children, no partner, and also no family connections, yet keeps honest.

Yes, I'll probably go through horrible withdrawal, but what can I say - it's that compelling!