Thursday, August 7, 2008

The Wire, season 3

Jana and I wrapped up season three of The Wire last week, another outstanding 12 hours of television. The show is freaking addictive, the television equivalent of a book you can't put down.

They killed Stringer Bell! His fall from grace was fascinating to watch, like a Greek tragedy. The seed for the climax of season three was planted early in season two - you really have to stick with this show to realize the full payoff. Watching Omar and Brother Mouzone pop holes in String was both exhilarating and sad at the same time. We felt so bad for McNulty, who had String but the latter never knew it. It was cool to see McNulty show Avon the warrant and let him know that String had sold him out.

Bunny Colvin is the man! His Hamsterdam experiement to push drug activity into concentrated areas to salvage other areas was brilliant, out of the box thinking that was clearly lacking. His tutelage of Carver on the proper way to conduct police work was so necessary.

Go get them Cutty! Here's hoping Dennis Wise's boxing gym saves a hopper or two from the street. Chad Coleman plays Cutty with such earnest features, what a great character.

McNulty is after Beadie Russell! Really?!? It's more entertaining to watch him get tanked, crash his car, and take home the skanky waitress, right? Although it was fun to watch the late clips of him walking his new beat in the Western.

Daniels can't shake McNulty!

Marlo is ice cold! What a cold, calculating young man who is not afraid of anyone and inspires great loyalty in his people. That late courtroom scene where Avon turns around and mouths "Marlo" in sort of a sign of respect is a passing of the torch. Can't wait to see where Marlo takes it.

This might sound sick, but I wish Slim Charles would have acted on Stringer's request to whack Clay Davis. I can't stand that guy!

I'm guessing Carcetti becomes mayor after that speech to Burrell and Rawls (who's a gay bar afficionado!). Too bad for Tony Gray, who came off as a genuinely nice guy. What's going to happen to Carcetti's strategist who looks like a fish?

Poor Prez! They should never have let him keep a gun. He was so good at the nerd work ... looks like they'll keep him around, though.

Can't wait for season four!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad you guys continue to like the show. Season 3 ended up being my favorite (although all of them are great)....season 4 is a lot of people's favorite but it was emotionally draining (just a warning). The main arc is about the kids in the struggling Baltimore public school system, so that lends itself to a lot of dramatic moments.

Colvin's "Brown paper bag" speech is one of the best things I've ever seen on television.

Lastly, one of the things I like about the show is that it sometimes portrays the characters in subtle strokes. The Rawls/gay bar scene is a perfect example.

Coach Scott Tappa said...

We're three episodes into season four, and Jana got notice today that season five will be ready on August 12, so we're pumped!

I'm already really into these kids in season four, especially Michael. Last night I told Jana that you can tell that he and Naymond are headed for a tragic ending of some sort.

And Marlo remains fascinating. Like Jana said, he hasn't messed up yet, like the Barksdale crew was doing all the time.

Love the brown paper bag speech too, made so much sense.

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