It’s cool that capitalist greed has taken out both unions and the metaphor for unions now.
Should I watch The Wire?
It’s good but it’s not as special as it was when it was one of the earliest prestige drama genre. It’s still a good watch that should be close to the top of your list.
The mediocrity of the prestige drama’s that tried to ride the wire’s coattails makes it all the more special IMO.
It’s very good and worth watching. Yes it’s about cops and yes there are some “good” cops in the show, but really it’s about institutional failure and even the “good” cops are bad by human standards.
McNulty is a great father, great guy, 10/10 decision making across the board. Truly a role model for anyone.
I loved the show but McNulty was prob my least favorite character. It’s like they tried to force him to be likeable too much, and he suffers from early 2000s drama TV tropes a bit too much. He’s not the worst TV character I’ve ever seen or anything, but I did not really want to laugh along with his “crazy lovable guy” cop antics I guess
I don’t really think you’re supposed to find him likeable. He drives drunk, cheats, and harasses everyone around him for no apparent reason.
Yeah he’s much more of a “fuckup with some redeeming qualities” character.
Yeah. If anything he’s a commentary on self-sabotage. Everything bad that happens to him is his own damn fault.
The fuck did I do?
Yes.
I literally just started watching the Wire a few days ago and got to S2 yesterday. It’s good, far from the usual copaganda, although it kinda still does some copaganda tropes, but in a more nuanced and cynical-ish way.
Season 1 is the most cop POV season, it doesn’t go out of it’s way to magnify that all the cops are fucks, even the least shitty of them. It’s just less obvious for some than others. It’s one of those shows where you miss a lot on the first watch. Sometimes it’s big and obvious and sometimes it’s just laziness and negligence but they’re all kinds trash.
I don’t know, I’d push back on that a little. While Herc, Carver, and the other ones that Daniels immediately points out as being thumbs are all portrayed as incompetent, negligent, etc. McNulty is portrayed as a POS/egomaniac but “good police” regardless. Then you have to admit the show definitely glorifies Greggs, the only negative bit about her (by season 2) is how she risks herself too much for her partner’s liking, which is just heroism propaganda by another name. I know I’m only 1 season in, but as of yet the show goes more in the “cops are a necessary evil that need some reform” direction than something more radical, leaving itself some space to criticize other institutions like the FBI and criminal justice system but not pressing too hard on cops as the footsoldiers of white supremacy and capital. It portrays all of the higher-ups as corrupt self-serving cynics, but that’s how small government CHUDS already think things are like in all cities, it’s not a radical view at all.
It’s still a good show regardless btw (so far), and moralizing via media discourse is insane, obviously there’s more value to engaging with media that you disagree with actively and critically rather than mindlessly watching video essays you 100% agree with. Treats delenda est etc etc.
You’re one season in
fair
This exchange should be framed and shown as an exhibit on Hexbear media criticism in the Museum of Internet Leftism.
I remember a movie thread on here where someone who hadn’t even seen the movie was arguing about it with someone who’d seen it
All of these characters have more of an arc over the remainder of the series. Don’t fall in love with anyone. They’re all pretty awful and nobody beats the system.
spoiler
Pryzbylewski and Bubs and Cutty are probably the only people who end the show as better human beings
If it makes you feel better, the creator of the show produced another show called “We Own This City” which is based on a police corruption and abuse case. The show is fucking awful in my opinion because it’s just boring and disorienting. But one of the characters it follows is some lawyer or activist (I don’t remember) who gets embroiled in the liberal-activism industrial complex.
At the beginning she’s rather optimistic about reform, but in the last scene she scoffs and dismisses the idea that the police can be reformed after witnessing the corrupt cops get lenient sentences.
The case is particularly funny - not really, but one of the major investigations - is that investigators were finally forming a picture of one of the corrupt cops and they were in the process of detaining or questioning him. In the middle of a routine patrol, he was found dead with a gunshot. Investigators concluded that he shot himself, but the cops insist he was murdered by THUGS!
It’s possible he was killed by his brothers in blue, but it’s funnier to think that he shot himself and everyone is embarrassed so they came up with this heroic story.
Then you have to admit the show definitely glorifies Greggs, the only negative bit about her (by season 2) is how she risks herself too much for her partner’s liking, which is just heroism propaganda by another name.
In season one, doesn’t she participate in beating someone (a minor?) when they’re forced to raid one of the projects. I always thought that moment was to showcase she was just as much cop as the rest.
Yeah, I think it was Brodie or Wallace who push down the old cop then the whole squad beats up the kid. I feel like it was glossed over somewhat, and she ends the season a hero for taking 2 bullets and not perjuring on Wee-Bey shooting her when Bunk asks her to ID. Anyway, GalaxyBrain is right, I’m literally 1 season in so I can’t draw any conclusions lol.
The show definitely develops a huge amount over the seasons. The kinda one note characters from season 1 are gone by season 5. Half of them even stop being cops.
I dang near watch it 2-3 times a year. If you ever want to see if you can watch it try The Corner first. Its proto “The Wire” and is super short, but is kind of more tragic. It has a lot of the same cast too but in super different roles. The Wire had more budget and clearer vision of story.
What are you thoughts on We Own This City?
I liked it. It’s much narrower in scope than the wire but it’s more explicitly acab. The lawyers in the show are frustrating because of how lib they are despite being on the right side of the gun trace task force, but I suspect that’s true to life for the type of people that go into that type of law. I thought the last episode was a real payoff compared to others. I also thought the one lawyer’s speech about passing the torch was compelling.
The actors that play the cops are really good. Jon bernthal is perfect as the supreme punisher chud. He’s got a great fascist, self serving charisma.
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
It’s such a perfect reference that I’m surprised nobody hit the bridge before now. We went the whole Great Recession without someone doing it?
Probably had a minor collision or two, but never anything quite so catastrophic
It’s pretty much how every piece of major infrastructure works now
Minor patch jobs every five years until it just fails spectacularly
We should start a tontine for the golden gate bridge
i dont think its real
For how many times I have seen The Wire, and season 2 in general, I can confirm this is not real.
God damnit why not it would be so funny
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ylp_albeRY
Quite the difference, I did not recall Frank being particularly introspective.
Hopefully invidious bot comes aroundI found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
This was the best season of The Wire
I feel like the truss bridge design using rigid steel support structure was a bad one. For such a long span, it seems cable support is the safest because cables allow for some movement and the structure isn’t as rigid. If it weren’t the ship, an earthquake may have eventually cause the same outcome. That thing fell like a wet noodle upon impact of just one support column, seems like a really bad design. Should have built something like golden gate bridge.
Looks like somebody doesn’t…
spoiler
Truss the plan.
I feel like the truss bridge design using rigid steel support structure was a bad one.
You can tell that by the way it fell down.
Most of these extremely long continuous truss bridges were built in the US in the 70s and 80s because they were pretty cheap for such a long bridge. And people have recognized that they are uniquely vulnerable becuase a single point of failure could potentially take down the whole bridge. However a lot of them haven’t had any retrofits to mitigate this issue.
Oh shit lmao
