The Wire Season 5 (Jan, '08)

Netflix will provide.

"Where's Wallace at, String? Where's Wallace?"

Season Two is starting slow, but Daniels is regathering his people to keep Valchek happy, and Avon is being a sick murdering bastard to get out of jail, what with that tainted drug deal. And Stringer Bell is going on and on about market saturation of cell phones...

Oh, and Nick's girlfriend is cute.

D'Angelo's done... and Omar makes one hell of a fun witness.

Omar's testimony is legendary. Well, amongst fans, at least.

"You're a parasite, feeding off the violence of the system..."
"So are you. I've got the shotgun, you've got the briefcase."

Truly, truly classic. And for once on that show, something actually worked! Now, of course Omar didn't actually see any of this, but he knew what happened and you can't intimidate him...

Season 5 starts tonight.

Don't spoil it for me. It's bad enough that I know what happens to Stringer Bell.

The show's been talked up a bit lately -- my local paper had a snippet in the Entertainment section about how it was great TV and Season 5 was starting soon, and also made the following comment:

"Staggering in scope, with some o fthe most mesmerizing characters -- Omar! -- ever to appear on the small screen."

I love how Omar is now a one-syllable, four-letter ad for the show.

Don't worry, no spoilers. Just a heads up to look forward to the opening scene- another classic comedic moment.

Season 5 will feature the show's creator, a former crime reporter, venting a lot of personal issues. The first episode throws you inside a newsroom and its relationship to politicians, and it was very interesting and entertaining to watch.

Just finished Season Two -- I'm catching up, slow but sure.

Omar's showdown with Brother Mouzone was fantastic; the closing montage made me want to spit bullets.


One downside: my disc was scratched, so I had to skip the last scene with Omar.

3 eps in, season 5 continues the quality and engaging stories of The Wire. The last ep's big news room scene has been praised by journalists for its accuracy (it helps that it was written by a former journalist). Some of our favorite cop characters are engaged in quite the scheme. And I can already see how some of this stuff will end, and its creeping unstoppable slow movement forward is the genius of this show.

I read an interesting observation of this show that I hadn't quite noticed before- there is no background music. It's just another typical drama gimmick used to whitewash the nonsense of every other intellectually insulting brain-deadening piece of entertainment. Like BIG PLOT TWISTS and pointless nudity and big award-begging sob scenes. None of that here.

Well, they've had some pointless nudity. Nick's girlfriend, Season 2?

Hamsterdam is hilarious so far.

Hamsterdam at night? F***ing scary. Not quite so funny any more.

I did love, however, the unemployment insurance for the lookouts and runners. But as Colvin's discovering, fix one problem and you've got ten more.

Season 3 already? That's pretty quick.

What did you think of 2 overall? Fans are divided over that one.

It felt weaker -- a few really convenient coincidences, for example. But Brother Mouzone was awesome, and Nick's girlfriend was hot, and I won't soon be forgetting the brothel sequence...

Yeah, I'm actually moving in on the midpoint to Season 3, if I count right. It's burning up some of my sleeping hours, but hey, I gotta have my crack, don't I? Besides, a buddy of mine is teaching school in New Orleans, telling some real horror stories, and I want to see how Simon's version of public schools matches up.

The harder they fall...

Stringer Bell's dead, Avon's in jail, Major Colvin's grand experience is vaulting Carcetti to the mayor's chair, and Kima is having hot affairs while McNulty is trying to make himself respectable.

Quite the season there...

Yeah, the whole Hamsterdam really knocked me on my ass as that unfolded.

Season 5 so far is ok but not as stellar as the previous two. I'm seeing one or two moments that are uncharacteristically outlandish here and there.

It's also possible that I'm getting a different vibe from it watching it weekly. Like all the best shows, The Wire is best when watching a few at a time.

I'll confess, the assassination of Stringer Bell left me a little disappointed. I got spoiled, and knew it was going to happen... so my expectations got a little too high, I guess. I sort of imagined some two-man badass assault on the funeral home, not cornering String in his new apartments... although there's a certain symbolism to that. Mostly it just happened so quick.

I did not see the mutual Barksdale/Bell betrayal coming, though.

I loved that Carcetti and Royce both wanted to keep Hamsterdam alive... and I hated that Federal policy was allowed to dictate local policy. Might as well do away with all local and state level government, if that's what happens. I also hated how Rawls and Burrell shafted Colvin over it all. They had to do something, but threatening his subordinates was out of line. But then, those two didn't get to be in charge by playing nice, now did they? And of course playing "Ride of the Valkyries" during the Hamsterdam bust was a beautiful skewering of the whole anti-drug mentality. Rawls is definitely the worst case of testosterone poisoning I've ever seen... because he's overcompensating for something, as we've discovered!

I was glad Cuddy got his boxing school going; I didn't expect that to work.

Next up: public schools. I really, really can't wait.

Carcetti, Royce and Rawls, along with Daniels and Clay Davis (sheeee-it) have some great stuff in season 5.