Actually, one of my favourite parts is how they put in the happens-for-the-sake-of-happening stuff, leaving it lingering lightly in the back of your mind as you expect something to happen from it. But in the end it never comes up again, and turned out to be inconsequential. Basically David Simon giving a cheeky little "nnnaaawwwww, just f'king with ya!" to loyal and/or close-watching viewers. For example, I can't remember when in the show it happens, so I will be discrete as to try to avoid a spoiler, but... Bill Rawls hangs out in the strangest of places. At the same time, I do feel like the show is missing something. I can't put my finger on what it is, though.[/QUOTE]
And on that note, don't miss what Landsmann sees written on the bathroom wall of the Homicide department after Bubs throws up on him in the Season 4 finale.
[/QUOTE] But I don't think that's at all inconsequential as a piece of character development, you can miss moments like that and still enjoy the main plots but they do give a lot of insight into Rawls' character, in particular his extreme overcompensation (or in other words, acting like a c*cksucker to hide the fact that he's a c*cksucker).
Exactly. The advantages of having absolutely hours of screen time to play with is that you can pay attention to small stuff. If you deconstruct your average novel - you will find page after page of 'inconsequential' material. In addition - sometimes you simply need to add space between key events. For instance - tv routinely uses segue shots where nothing at all is happening or is said.
Well yeah, I didn't articulate my point very well. I was more referring to the fact that it is the type of thing you would expect to become 'public' knowledge amongst the characters in the show at some point. It was of course very important in terms of character development, though.
Wow. So he was in Homicide: Life on the Streets, L&O, L&O SVU, the X-Files, the Simpsons, and The Wire. Am I missing one? That's like Johnny Vander Meer, a record that will never be broken...I doubt it'll be matched, but it'll never be broken.
And that's all to the good. I think The Wire did a very good job with characters and their development over the course of the show. The main characters changed...some. McNulty matured a little, but because his iconoclastic and self-centered qualities were never magically fixed, he only matured a little. The change, given what he went through, made sense, but so did the consistency. Much better than characters who are recognizable as such only because the same actor is playing them, but whose behavior is driven entirely by the needs of the plot rather than some sense of who that "person" is and what they'd do based on how the character was initially presented. Bunk's character was also developed well. For example, he was pushed hard enough to show that while he drank to much and chased women, being "good police" mattered to him. Most of the main characters rose or fell in ways that made some sense, but that were also interesting (Pryz might be the most dramatic). I think the loose ends were in many ways deliberate--a shorthand way of conveying the complexity of real life. I often wondered while watching the show if characters like Rawls had extensive back stories that they drew upon in order to generate even the little blips, like him being seen where he was seen. Somebody (neems?) said he'd never seen a show better at handling complex, interacting plotlines well. I'd agree.
Actually, it isn't so loose. His dirty past becomes a vital part of his subplot in Season 5 (once Nareese gets the scoop on it from Burrell), and influences a major decision for him in the finale: to not stay as commissioner as the resulting stink would take down not just him but it could potentially ruin the careers of his ex-wife Marla and his current girlfriend Ronda. Also, it's another huge story that the Sun have absolutely zero knowledge of. They assumedly report that Daniels has stepped down as commish without reporting how it actually happened.
Finished. I suspect if they'd been given enough episodes to work with, seasons 4 and 5 would have been stellar. As it is they felt rushed. That said, they're better than 99% of the other crap I've sat through, and thematically they stayed on point for every second. Thought it was weird how relatively "happy" the endings were for most of the characters, but I can live with that.
Besides Namon, Carcetti and Pearlman I wouldn't say any of them had a relatively happy ending. For some it got worse.
Of the "good guys" on The Wire: McNulty - His gamble gutted the Stanfield organization and brought a psycho off the streets. He lost his job, but it was made abundantly clear that his job was ruining his life. In the end he's happier, healthier and able to move on after doing his bit for society. Mostly happy Freamon - Happily married, full pension and all the time in the world to work on his hobbies. Didn't bring down the whole money trail, but made a major dent while training a new generation of police. Mostly happy. Bunk and Greggs - True murder police. Happy. Daniels - Had to quit as the commissioner, but saw his ex-wife and girlfriend see out their career paths and was afforded the opportunity to pursue the law - and fight the good fight - from a different angle. Mostly happy. Pearlman - She's a judge. Happy. Carver - Made lieutenant. Has the respect of the people above and below him despite taking risks. Happy. Bubbles - Kicks the habit, becomes a member of society and is finally allowed upstairs to be a part of his sister's family again. Completely Happy. Pryzbylewski - Still grinding away in an unforgiving bureaucracy, but clearly has a handle on the job. Sees his favorite student heading down the wrong path. Both happy and unhappy. Sydnor - Came away from the investigation with multiple arrests to his credit and no black mark. Portrayed as a rising star in his final scene, a la McNulty at the start of the series. Happy. Colvin - Lost his job and got a smaller pension, but he's brought Namond out of the game and is "raising him right." Mostly happy. Haynes - Demoted for rocking the boat, and sees the incompetent liars he's surrounded by win the Pulitzer. Unhappy. Gutierrez - See "Haynes" DuQuan - On the streets becoming a junkie. Unhappy. (That scene crushed me) Randy - In a group home becoming bitter, cynical and jaded. Chewed up by the system. Unhappy. Cutty - Finds redemption in his gym, though he suffers the pain of being unable to save all the street kids. Mostly happy. Now obviously this changes if you consider guys like Omar, Herc, Norman, Michael, Bodie, the Subotkas and a few others to be "good." I'm not certain I do. And, of course, The Wire is way more subtle than simply "good guys" and "bad guys," but for those on the right side of the law and, morally, on the right side of the important issues, the end was fairly forgiving.
I look at the police as either, they lost their job and what made them them and aren't as happy as they used to be, or they're still on the job and still dealing with the same crap day in and day out. They're neither happy nor worse off, they're just there.
I think The Wire shows that there's plenty a happy life to be ahad, and in many cases a successful career, being in the business of protecting and serving and bettering the community. But if you look at the lives that the "good" guys were supposed to help, namely the young black males of West Baltimore affected by the drug trade, how much good did the "good" guys actually do? Wallace, D'Angelo, and Bodie are dead. Dukie is a junkie, Michael is an outlaw, Randy is hardening into a criminal in his group home. The rest are still out on the street. The only survivors were Poot, Bug, Justin, and Naymond and in none of those cases did the public sector institutions engender those results.
Random, but just flicked the channel on the telly and guess what? Saw McNulty being interviewed by police, with Beadie (who he hooked up with in The Wire) acting as what seemed to be his defense attorney - show's called 'Appropriate Adult'. One of those 'rub your eyes' moments... EDIT: AH! Turns out it's a TV movie about the infamous serial killer Fred West. If you have'nt heard of him, click the wiki link.
On my third attempt, I have finally made it a decent way through the first season. I have two episodes left. It took my awhile to get into this series. I was bored to tears with the first few episodes. Everyone has been talking about the f#ck scene in the fourth episode as a turning point. I was watching that scene not realizing that this is the scene everyone has talked about and during it and after I was like this show might be worth continuing and then after the episode was over I realized that was the scene.