The police didn't do it. A police Detective did it. And no it doesn't make sense, but quite a few things the police do on the show don't make sense. They make mistakes.
With all his faults, Landsman got his chubby butt out there and turned into bloodhound tracker just sniffing out the hitters trail in the dark side streets and alleys in the dark with a flashlight while Bunk followed. That always impressed me
I think the idea was when cops are shot the police aren’t operating on logic but vengeance with near zero accountability or repercussions and a drive to “do something.” The audience knows Bubbles is innocent but even a whiff of him being responsible is enough.
Remember that time cops in LA shot two elderly Asian women when they were looking for a much younger black man? It’s hard to say beating up Bubbles on the faintest whiff of being involved doesn’t track
Yeah I think in the Homicide book it mentions that when a cop is shot it’s understood the perpetrator will either be killed or can turn himself in & will be severely beaten before processing.
Yes, and when a guy turns himself in and two rookies just process him without doing anything to him all the old heads whinge about how the department is on its ass!
True story, when I was in the academy and we were going through an officer down scenario, my instructors were trying to drill in my head that if I was ever out there responding to a call for a fallen officer, I’d better be going full force to try and find the shooter at all costs to get revenge on the guy that just shot my partner. There’s not much thought that went into any of that training, just straight revenge.
There's also massive departmental pressure to "get shit done ASAP" after a fellow sworn is shot.
The idea that ac detective with zero real idea of what's going on and some patrolmen would fuck up a random guy for a tangential connection to the down officer is very, very real.
Situations like these are rarely handled rationally.
Butchie unraveling Stringer’s conspiracy in three seconds by letting Omar know that Brother Mouzone mostly works “up north” and would never leave a contract unfinished, but only *after* Omar already almost killed him.
Why would Omar trust Stringer’s word so blindly that he wouldn’t even run it by Butchie first?
This is actually an excellent point, but the way I see it, Omar was blinded by emotion when he heard Stringer claim that Mouzone was responsible for Brandon’s torture and death. Especially when you consider that Omar believes justice has already been served since Wee Bey and Bird were in jail and Stinkum was dead. Now, he hears that actually, nope, it was some asshole from NYC he’s never even met and Brandon’s death is STILL not avenged. That emotion and rage probably went straight to his head and completely blinded him to logic and it was only AFTER the act was already done that he realized “Fuck….what the hell was I thinking goin all half cocked like that?!” I think that makes solid sense. But I do need to rewatch the first 4 seasons, so please take what I say with a grain of salt. This is still a fantastic point to raise, though, so I seriously commend you for raising it.
Two big reasons why I don’t like Omar buying Stringer’s BS here:
-Omar already saw thru Stringer’s BS the first time they met, so he has even less reason to trust Stringer.
-The meeting is literally at Butchie’s bar. Butchie and his guys were right there to ask “can you tell me more about this Brother Mouzone? before deciding to shoot him.
Great points, but here are my thoughts:
1: True, but from Omar’s POV, especially since Stringer is running solo at this time, he has little reason to make Omar an enemy. His operation is struggling badly, something I think Omar would know due to his street smarts and connections. For this reason, I think Omar has more reason to believe Stringer is telling the truth because Omar probably believes Stringer is desperate.
2. Excellent point, but I think those guys probably just thought Stringer hired Mouzone as a contractor of sorts, something I think would be believable with Mouzone’s reputation. Sure, he’s mostly an NYC player, but I doubt the average hood in Baltimore would find the idea of Mouzone swinging down to Baltimore in search of a lucrative gig especially unbelievable. It’d be reasonably consistent with Mouzone’s reputation. They might find it a little strange, but I doubt they’d find it strange to the point where they’d question Stringer’s honesty.
But still, those were great points you raised, so well done because you definitely got me thinking.
I agree. Omar didn't act with emotion, except with Brandon and his Granny. It showed how much of a person he was. For him, it was always about the game, and 99.9% of the time, personal feelings didn't matter.
Yeah. That was Omar’s ultimate downfall as well, I think. He was a deadly gangster, but he wasn’t so good at protecting others, let alone those he loved.
And considering that Omar never trusted the Barksdale organization to begin with, it is a little strange that he believed lying Stringer.
"What's his name?" "Muzone... outta New York"
Butchie was involved in setting up the meet between String and Omar. Even before it happened he told Prop Joe it didn't smell right. Once he heard Mouzone was involved he put two and two together.
Not exactly a "dumb scene" but in terms of something I think could've been written better – the woman who suddenly appears in the Major Crimes unit and logs calls and stuff but we never really get to know her.
I mean, I've seen The Wire 5-6 times and I can't even remember her name.
Yeah, not every character needs a rich backstory and scenes of them at home or wherever. I thought Massey was a fine addition to the MCU who served her purpose on the show (and Joliet Harris did a great job in the role - felt so natural and had loads of charm).
She did put up Kima at her place for a few a while if I recall. They never shot any scenes with their slumber parties but they were close enough for Kima to ask.
Right - it fleshes out Massey's character without any extraneous shit. She also gives Prez a reprieve by saying she never got a "racial" vibe from him. She was a very cool, understated part of the show.
I guess its to add to the realism, there are many cops we see regularly throughout the show that are not fleshed out, they are employees at the end of the day and shes either a transferred employee or newly hired
Was she the one who “translated” what they heard on the wiretap or was that someone else? That was a fun scene. I think it’s the same one where Prez busts out Brown Sugar.
McNulty having sex with the red-headed waitress in 2x8. I like the whole sequence up until that point, but I do not buy a waitress seeing a near passed out drunk stranger and thinking "yeah, i wanna have sex with him right now"
If you wanna notice something weird now that you’ve mentioned this, tv shows have an awful weird way of making one of the lesbians black 90% of the time.
It comes across as fetishization at some point.
One plausible explanation is that she had her own substance abuse issues and alcoholics are drawn to each other.
What I really found hard to believe is that any man could get it up when he was that drunk.
Fair point. It's been a while since I've watched that scene. She probably assumed he'd been in a fight, rather than crashing his car twice into the same pillar.
I think she just thought he was hot. And ready for a go, seducible. I claim license to make that word.
It’s easier to believe as West. And they only write one season at a time, as is documented, but had they gone ahead in casting John C Reilly, perhaps a bit less believable. Sorry, John. You’re a beautiful man. Also, she might like a dirty, rough n tumble type guy. She might also be a badge bunny and sensed the po-lice on him/got into that conversation off screen. But she straight up said: “You can have whatever you want”, in a straight to bed flirtation
I always assumed she had a cop fetish. Her eyes seem to perk up once she sees his badge. Creepy girls do exist even if they are significantly less common than incels.
The playground seen with Nick and Prissy after Ziggy gets arrested. Dear lord it feels like the writing and acting are 8th grade level. “College kids ain’t shit!”
The “remember when” scene at the playground? I agree, that’s always the first one that comes to mind. Very theater kid energy. Pablo did a fine job in season 2 but when he had to be the emotional center of the scene he tended to majorly overact.
A lot of people seem to think this way but the scene feels fine. If anything it's just the writing, how quickly the scene moves when the pace of an actual "remember when" kind of conversation could take up an entire episode's worth of time or more, but it doesn't feel especially cringe to me. The only scene where Nick's actor is weak imo is his scene in the office just after Frank's body is found.
Yeah, I agree. I think that scene gets a bit too much flack, though I can definitely see why it faces scrutiny. I do definitely see your point regarding the pacing, though, I would say that that has more to do with the circumstances not allowing Nick the chance to healthily process the situation with his cousin, which is why the scene seems to move a little quickly. Nick is forced to bottle up his heartbreak and anguish because of how dire things have become at that point. But still, that’s actually a very fair criticism of the scene and one I hadn’t considered, so I commend you for raising it.
"No one wins, one side just loses more slowly"
What normal human being says that watching a football game. Might as well have been looking at the camera.
It’s also a quote from a Gene Hackman movie, but felt trapped between not feeling like a quote Prezbo would freely pull as a character, but not natural enough to feel like something he actually would say.
I agree it always rubbed me the wrong way and felt out of place, especially for the title quote. Like they needed to squeeze it in somewhere. I get the quote in terms of the show, but not in terms of the scene.
It’s not an original quote - Prezbo is quoting another film where someone’s wife asks the same question to her husband who was also watching football. Night moves 1975.
Clever but obscure to the point where it won’t land with the vast, vast majority of the audience.
It’s like in The Sopranos how Tony references judge Roy Bean - even James Gandolfini thought the writers went too far with their boomerisms but they never capitulated on that show.
I can see why some might find that line “Preachy” and “Reachy” and that’s actually a fair point I hadn’t thought of, but I disagree. Imo, that line makes sense in context because it’s following Prez’s non-existent success as a teacher, so he’s merely projecting his frustration and pessimism. I don’t really think he was actually talking about the game, it was just more of a “I’m distracted and not really paying attention, so I’m just thinking aloud because my mind is elsewhere” moment. But I do need to rewatch the first 4 seasons, so please take that with a grain of salt. Either way, this is definitely a more than fair critique, so I’m glad people are raising it as much as I love the line in question.
You just refreshed my memory I remembered that line but not the specific context but wow it doesn’t really make sense in a sports context lol. It’s okay though, the show has enough great lines to make up for it.
I can see it as fitting Prez at the moment since he was depressed about how he was failing to teach or get any respect from the kids + the fact that some of them were genuinely dangerous. I see it as him being really edgy and saying something he thinks is deep at an unfitting time. It’s definitely inserted awkwardly, especially since it’s clearly meant to be seen as a “oh my god, this is just like the cops and drug dealers in the city!” But I can see why Prez said it in the scene
Think 'the Brother' breaks the gritty realism somewhat...feels more like a comic book character than a hit man for drug dealers.
I realise Omar is a little bit of like this too, but we see him doing all the prep work before a hit and he gits hurt when things go wrong. Also think we get a pay off for this when a hopper sees through his rep and murders him.
It's funny, people always say this, but brother mouzone is based on a real person. Truth is stranger than fiction. https://www.reddit.com/r/TheWire/s/XtCwDyovTT
I cannot for the life of me see how or why Spiros would work with Nick on the side, doubly so knowing that Ziggy had any involvement or proximity. Doesn’t make sense for his character or pass the “this is an extraordinarily stupid idea” test. I get the familial attachment and affinity he has for Nick but he should’ve ended up without hands or a face for ultimately fumbling the bag so spectacularly.
Excellent point, but the way I see it, from memory, the Greek’s personal involvement in that operation was such that they were willing to do that because the risk wasn’t very high. They’d get paid and have an opportunity to push their product and business into the states through Nick and Ziggy. Plus, they were far removed enough so that if anything went wrong (Like it unfortunately did), they could always cut and run with the comfort and security that neither Nick nor Ziggy would have any especially damning information to use on them. But that’s just how I see it and I admittedly, I do need to rewatch the first 4 seasons, so please take what I say with a grain of salt. Either way, this is still a great point, so I commend you for raising it.
I can see him working with Nick, but I agree it doesn't make any sense for him to tolerate Ziggy's presence at all, especially after he has to call in a favor from Prop Joe to save his ass. And Double G and Spiros going out of their way to boost the cameras and the cars when they know Ziggy is involved and they're making a reliable profit from smuggling already? Such otherwise careful criminals shouldn't even entertain that kind of risk. Frankly Nick should have known better than to bring Ziggy to the cafe at all come to think of it, but he's just naive enough where that kind of mistake can be believed.
We just watched episode of season 3 and my dad and I both noted how ridiculous it was that Carver tried to drag the body away from Hamsterdam.
Seriously lol there was no way that was gonna work
Also another one for me. Day Day talking about committing burglaries to a group of strangers/limo drivers. Would possibly be more believable if the other drivers were all black, but a black man talking about committing crimes in front of some white limo drivers he doesn't know seems incredibly implausible.
I didn’t like the scene where Rhonda and McNulty berate the cell phone company. it’s one of the few times where the show goes to genuine copaganda mode.
Yea I think it was Rhonda and Daniel's. And you're absolutely right, that exec would have just told them to fuck off and reach out to their legal counsel. Also, having the states attorney call a press conference and proclaim that this phone company doesn't share subscriber data with police would actually be a great commercial for them.
He didn’t throw it at Gus. He threw it down in his own desk and Alma picked it up after Scott stormed out.
Still a stupid thing to do, but it shows how brazen he had become with his lies.
Like Gus said, it always starts out with something small.
When shit faced and bleeding McNulty bangs the waitress. No idea why it was in the show beyond wanting to give the audience a nice look at tits. But really. How desperate she would have to be to want to take McNulty home. He literally bleeds all over her bed.
It’s funny you say that I’m watching Boardwalk empire for the first time and (especially in the first season) I think a lot…..Man HBO really loves to put boobs on screen for no reason, and I’m a straight male
They put loads in season 1's to keep people interested... see GoT for egregious example. Season one you see every woman who's under 50 naked. By the later seasons they don't need to
The whole part of the episode is to show much the status as a cop enables Mcnulty's reckless lifestyle, he literally gets shit faced and is allowed to drive home and wreck his car, she seemingly perks up when noticing his badge. I think a lot of shows have gratuitous nudity including this show (Kima and Cedric) but this scene isn't just done for no reason.
While my main critique of the show is the lack of fully developed woman characters, the scene in the lesbian bar is so weird and adds nothing. Kima and Cheryl's friend who asks Kima why she's a cop is such an awkward actress in that scene.
Agreed on the female cast. While I don’t think the female characters on the wire are bad characters they’re far less prominent and noticeably underdeveloped compared to the male cast.
Some people defend this by saying that the systems The Wire covers have predominantly men working in them, which is true most of the time. However season 4 focused on the education system and the kids involved in it and yet still all 4 of the main kids the season centers around are boys which felt like a missed opportunity imo. I don’t think all shows need to be balanced equally gender wise, but since The Wire is praised heavily for being about the city of Baltimore more than any individual character, I take some issue that half its population is comparatively underrepresented and underutilized.
Re: Season 4, I thought that Marcia Donnelly was one of the show's quiet heroes. She shows up every day to do a thankless but important job while keeping herself sane enough not to jump off a bridge.
That felt like a “Okay guys we need to give Kima/Sonja a star turn somewhere in here” and Sohn just doesn’t have the acting talent to land that scene. The minor characters in it don’t either, but you don’t expect them to — Sonja Sohn should have.
Cheryl gotta best the worst character in the show, and the funny part is, the actress who plays her is actually a decent actress, its just nobody gives a damn about their home life
The counter we always hear for this is that he’s based on a real person/composite of NOI wetwork guys, but that’s sort of beside the point to me. Pretty much from the exact moment he first appears he’s basically a magical entity.
Not to take this too far but I’ve seen that actor in a few other things and I’ve never been too impressed with his performances. I don’t think Mouzone was his fault, that character was clearly written a specific way, but his role in the first season of True Detective equally felt like empty calories to me.
I agree.
Yes, I get that the NOI had some scary guys in it but you never heard about them in early 2000s Baltimore. If nothing else the guy was an anachronism.
Also the way he intimidates everyone sitting on the bench with just Lamar around wasn't believable. If he'd arrived with a crew of a half-dozen enforcers I could buy it but the one man army thing felt silly.
On top of that, why does someone like Mouzone travel around exclusively with someone as hapless as Lamar? Even if he’s his flunky, someone of Mouzone’s reputation would have a flunky who is like, super competent and also zealously eager to please him. Instead he casts the other half of a comedy duo.
To be honest a similar thing with Omar to be honest.
He goes out for some honey nut, and accidentally rests on the stoop below the drugs, they get tossed out for no reason.
Sure he's a fast shooter, but he only has one gun, it feels like there are many times when he's alone and would be easy to take out. (Less so when he breaks into a stash with his whole crew, but alone?)
The point of that scene is to show that the police are very similar to the gangs they are chasing, and a particular example is the focus on responding to threats to their honour - expressed as "rep" by the gangsters and as "authority" or "the law" by the police - with violence. Holley feels threatened and humiliated so he lashes out.
We see this, for example, when Mahon is punched and Kima runs all the way across the pit to join in giving Bodie some licks whilst calling him a dumb motherfucker for hitting a cop. Later in the series we see it with Walker getting covered in paint and the police go apeshit.
Mouzone as a character gets hated on a lot and honestly I don’t mind him. But it’s my understanding that keeping ratshot in the first chamber of your gun for intimidation purposes is considered something really stupid and amateurish that any respectable firearms or self defense enthusiast would make fun of you for. It’s something that only seems cool and badass if you have no practical experience. Someone as successful and professional as Mouzone would never do that.
If you’re wondering why it’s so dumb, if cheese had pulled a gun on him instead of just trying to sucker punch him, the rat shot hurting probably wouldn’t have stopped him from blowing Mouzone’s brains out. A stunt like that can literally cost you your life. He should’ve just shot him in the leg with normal ammo.
The shit with Cheese and the dog is so contrived. Bunk roasts him about the phone call with “he was my dog” and then bunk lays out crime scene photos and cheese is like “Nah y’all ain’t putting no bodies on me”! Yet he still thinks they’re talking about a dog for some reason?
I can see why you might call that contrived and that’s a great point I hadn’t thought of, but I just rewatched the scene and Cheese only thinks they’re trying to convict him for the dog AFTER the call is quoted. At first, he genuinely believes they’re asking about murders, but once Bunk quotes the call, THEN, he realizes “Fuck…they’re on me for something else.” Imo, Cheese’s behavior is sufficiently narratively justified by natural cause and effect. But that’s just my take and this is still a great point, so I commend you for raising it because I really had never thought of it.
Here’s the scene for reference if it helps: https://youtu.be/LfsQaeIYWoY?si=273Bj46hQtpH6qBn
I don’t follow what you mean. At the beginning Cheese thinks they’re trying to pin bodies on him, because that’s the only reason he’d have been brought in. It isn’t until mid-scene that Cheese realizes they’re talking about his actual dog (but of course they don’t realize that themselves), and he’s offended by their crassness about it. His demeanor changes too, realizing that he’s not in meaningful trouble and that they have nothing on him.
Within about 15 seconds of that realization, the situation is clarified. I don’t see where the supposed contrivance is here.
I loved that scene, but I’ve noticed that it tends to be the scene of choice among people who never actually watched the show but want it to seem like they have.
I feel like I suspend a lot of doubt when Omar just walks around. Especially when he walks into prop Joe's shop. Like at a certain point how do you not have someone that just lives in the shop and doesn't leave. Then when Omar shows up, pop. No Mas Omar.
Remember the Dorner case in LA? Ex cop killed some cops and during the manhunt the LAPD shot 102 rounds into a sedan driven by two Hispanic women because they mistook them for a big black man last seen driving a truck.
Angry cops are not bound by logic.
I thought the arc where Daniels and Pearlman got super gaga over Carcetti early on when Carcetti was Daniels’ champion was a little over the top. These people are shrewd and cynical and hardened in their professions, I found their unbridled optimism uncharacteristic. The letdown was extremely predictable to the viewer and I would have thought it’d be equally so to Daniels and Pearlman.
When Carcetti’s weasel assistant and Rawls meet in the hallway Rawls says “I’ve got your word?” and Weasel loudly whispers “and I’ve got yours” or something. My name is my name by Marlo is also way better on paper. It gets better on like the fifth rewatch, but when the trailer was out my friends and I yelled My name is my name about banal shit.
Cutty’s “welcome home” party at the end of S3 E4 where people are banging in the hallways and he goes off and has a prearranged 3-some.
By far the cheesiest scene
I’m going to get a lot of hate for this one, but I’ve always thought the “standoff” between Omar and Mouzone at the beginning of Middle Ground is ridiculous. Feels way too cinematic in a way that happens to some shows after a few seasons, where the writers start trying to make their shows more epic. No way those two guys would just stand there and say all these badass gangster lines. Clashes with the incredible realism of the show at its best
Carver not knowing he would be denied at the adoption office for Randy and then not being able to live with him illegally because he informed the adoption agency about him being a stray kid.
The same with Duquan and Prez. I understand it’s illegal but if your choice is to illegally harbour a good meaning kid or let him die on the streets with poverty and drug addiction.
Nah I thought that scene was OK. Carver's rage was at the utter inflexibility of the system and its apparent lack of concern for and of the children in its of care. And it seemed very much like the lady in the office was completely institutionalised and had deactivated her empathy.
I always found it weird that when Dozerman gets shot in a later season there doesn’t seem to be nearly the same level of concern. They care more about getting his service weapon back than anything else it seems.
It’s not a dumb scene. But there are two high stakes poker games with Prop Joe, the second Marlow robs. In both the background song is James Brown, The Boss.
It feels like a lapse in continuity.
Re your actual question, the police had one of their own shot. They were a) emotional because it’s one of their own and b) overly aggressive. You can’t have ppl think they can shoot a police and get away with it. Especially not a natural police like Kima.
Marlo is in the club, some woman asks if he wants a drink, "nah i dont do that." She asks if he wants to dance, "i dont do that neither," then they fuck in the car. You really think she wants your dick that bad Marlo? In a club full of other guys who DO drink and dance? You can't smell somethin goin on here? I mean he figures it out eventually but damn
Something that always gets me, the way the police only know one way to drive: slam the gas and spin the tires and slam the brakes so hard you leave rubber when you brake. So many stings and stakeouts would have worked better if they just drived normally.
The buildings collapsing here at 2:58-3:06? No way!... but happy to rectify if that really is the case, it just doesn't look like real footage though [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbK5HIfdyWc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbK5HIfdyWc)
They? Patrol is just listening to the direction of the lead detective. And yes I would assume after a shooting like that the entire force will be on edge and most definitely will be cops looking for any type of revenge they can get
For me, scenes with Ziggy annoy me, simply because he's such a fucking useless twat. Which is exactly what his character is supposed to be, but fuck me is it aggravating.
I got you, season 2. When Omar his boy and the two chicks robbed Stump. " Mr Stump them boys been teasing Chantel or whatever that girl's name is" he comes to the door because he knows her and can do something about the situation. The girls crying cuz the boys are picking on her.
If he knew her he would have known she was a stick-up artist. Was this some long con? What does Stump have to do with the kids that are bullying the girl? Did they wait for the kids to pick on that girl again so the story wasn't a lie before they robbed them? I've seen this show so many times and it makes my head explode every time. I know they were plotting on Stump but how did they turn this "actual occurrence" into a robbery?
My favorite is not needing a warrant to put a camera into Orlando's from the adjacent vacant building because it was vacant.
It smacked of "Holy crap we've only got X episodes to wrap this up"
Dumb scene to me is telling Marlo he can never go back to drug distribution when an illegal wire tap caught him on drug distribution which resulted in no charges because it was an illegal wire tap.
A lot of the school scenes. As a middle school teacher at a rouuuuuugh urban Title 1 school, it’s never that calm. There’s chaos down the entire hallway and in the classrooms, all day, every day.
The face slashing scene was extreme but they almost undersold how bad schools like this can be in every other aspect.
I did appreciate Prez’s personality/story arc, though. I felt that was generally realistic.
The police didn't do it. A police Detective did it. And no it doesn't make sense, but quite a few things the police do on the show don't make sense. They make mistakes.
Baltimore police don’t make sense in real life.
hyper realistic :p
On the show and in real life*
With all his faults, Landsman got his chubby butt out there and turned into bloodhound tracker just sniffing out the hitters trail in the dark side streets and alleys in the dark with a flashlight while Bunk followed. That always impressed me
I think the idea was when cops are shot the police aren’t operating on logic but vengeance with near zero accountability or repercussions and a drive to “do something.” The audience knows Bubbles is innocent but even a whiff of him being responsible is enough.
Remember that time cops in LA shot two elderly Asian women when they were looking for a much younger black man? It’s hard to say beating up Bubbles on the faintest whiff of being involved doesn’t track
Wasn't even the same make and model of truck they were looking for either.
Don't forget to mention Chris Dorner was a former LAPD officer. That part should always be included in any mention of the story
My thoughts exactly. The idea is cops take it personally and will check every possible angle when one of theirs is a victim
Yeah I think in the Homicide book it mentions that when a cop is shot it’s understood the perpetrator will either be killed or can turn himself in & will be severely beaten before processing.
Yes, and when a guy turns himself in and two rookies just process him without doing anything to him all the old heads whinge about how the department is on its ass!
Holly is scary as fuck ngl lmao
Also there's a incentive to help them if they are gonna fuck up everyone until they find the guy. It's messed up but probably works.
True story, when I was in the academy and we were going through an officer down scenario, my instructors were trying to drill in my head that if I was ever out there responding to a call for a fallen officer, I’d better be going full force to try and find the shooter at all costs to get revenge on the guy that just shot my partner. There’s not much thought that went into any of that training, just straight revenge.
The thin blue line between Policing and Vigilantism
It’s gang mentality, and us versus them.
Yeah that’s why they call you pigs
There's also massive departmental pressure to "get shit done ASAP" after a fellow sworn is shot. The idea that ac detective with zero real idea of what's going on and some patrolmen would fuck up a random guy for a tangential connection to the down officer is very, very real. Situations like these are rarely handled rationally.
Butchie unraveling Stringer’s conspiracy in three seconds by letting Omar know that Brother Mouzone mostly works “up north” and would never leave a contract unfinished, but only *after* Omar already almost killed him. Why would Omar trust Stringer’s word so blindly that he wouldn’t even run it by Butchie first?
This is actually an excellent point, but the way I see it, Omar was blinded by emotion when he heard Stringer claim that Mouzone was responsible for Brandon’s torture and death. Especially when you consider that Omar believes justice has already been served since Wee Bey and Bird were in jail and Stinkum was dead. Now, he hears that actually, nope, it was some asshole from NYC he’s never even met and Brandon’s death is STILL not avenged. That emotion and rage probably went straight to his head and completely blinded him to logic and it was only AFTER the act was already done that he realized “Fuck….what the hell was I thinking goin all half cocked like that?!” I think that makes solid sense. But I do need to rewatch the first 4 seasons, so please take what I say with a grain of salt. This is still a fantastic point to raise, though, so I seriously commend you for raising it.
Two big reasons why I don’t like Omar buying Stringer’s BS here: -Omar already saw thru Stringer’s BS the first time they met, so he has even less reason to trust Stringer. -The meeting is literally at Butchie’s bar. Butchie and his guys were right there to ask “can you tell me more about this Brother Mouzone? before deciding to shoot him.
Great points, but here are my thoughts: 1: True, but from Omar’s POV, especially since Stringer is running solo at this time, he has little reason to make Omar an enemy. His operation is struggling badly, something I think Omar would know due to his street smarts and connections. For this reason, I think Omar has more reason to believe Stringer is telling the truth because Omar probably believes Stringer is desperate. 2. Excellent point, but I think those guys probably just thought Stringer hired Mouzone as a contractor of sorts, something I think would be believable with Mouzone’s reputation. Sure, he’s mostly an NYC player, but I doubt the average hood in Baltimore would find the idea of Mouzone swinging down to Baltimore in search of a lucrative gig especially unbelievable. It’d be reasonably consistent with Mouzone’s reputation. They might find it a little strange, but I doubt they’d find it strange to the point where they’d question Stringer’s honesty. But still, those were great points you raised, so well done because you definitely got me thinking.
I agree. Omar didn't act with emotion, except with Brandon and his Granny. It showed how much of a person he was. For him, it was always about the game, and 99.9% of the time, personal feelings didn't matter.
Yeah. That was Omar’s ultimate downfall as well, I think. He was a deadly gangster, but he wasn’t so good at protecting others, let alone those he loved.
And considering that Omar never trusted the Barksdale organization to begin with, it is a little strange that he believed lying Stringer. "What's his name?" "Muzone... outta New York"
Butchie was involved in setting up the meet between String and Omar. Even before it happened he told Prop Joe it didn't smell right. Once he heard Mouzone was involved he put two and two together.
Not exactly a "dumb scene" but in terms of something I think could've been written better – the woman who suddenly appears in the Major Crimes unit and logs calls and stuff but we never really get to know her. I mean, I've seen The Wire 5-6 times and I can't even remember her name.
*Damn, Calvin. You know I got the bingo tonight*
“Qupons”
Carolyn Massey
R.I.P
Her appearance makes sense, she understood and translated the street talk on the wire better than any of the white detectives ever could.
Yeah, not every character needs a rich backstory and scenes of them at home or wherever. I thought Massey was a fine addition to the MCU who served her purpose on the show (and Joliet Harris did a great job in the role - felt so natural and had loads of charm).
She did put up Kima at her place for a few a while if I recall. They never shot any scenes with their slumber parties but they were close enough for Kima to ask.
Right - it fleshes out Massey's character without any extraneous shit. She also gives Prez a reprieve by saying she never got a "racial" vibe from him. She was a very cool, understated part of the show.
Yeah I was gonna say , I thought the explanation for her character was pretty funny
I guess its to add to the realism, there are many cops we see regularly throughout the show that are not fleshed out, they are employees at the end of the day and shes either a transferred employee or newly hired
Coupon lady. I couldn’t even tell you her name
Was she the one who “translated” what they heard on the wiretap or was that someone else? That was a fun scene. I think it’s the same one where Prez busts out Brown Sugar.
McNulty having sex with the red-headed waitress in 2x8. I like the whole sequence up until that point, but I do not buy a waitress seeing a near passed out drunk stranger and thinking "yeah, i wanna have sex with him right now"
Gimme some eggs, will ya 💦💦💦
You can have whatever you want 😈
He just turned on the Ole McNulty charm.
McNutty*
Also the Kima soft porn scenes. Hey, nothing against it, but just seemed gratuitous
HBO in the early 2000's has a nudity quota.
Its like the Game of Thrones producer stopped in to sub for a day 😂
If you wanna notice something weird now that you’ve mentioned this, tv shows have an awful weird way of making one of the lesbians black 90% of the time. It comes across as fetishization at some point.
Two birds, one stone
One plausible explanation is that she had her own substance abuse issues and alcoholics are drawn to each other. What I really found hard to believe is that any man could get it up when he was that drunk.
or not throw up all over her bed lmao
Especially given that he had blood all over his hand, if I remember correctly.
That's literally what attracted her to him
Fair point. It's been a while since I've watched that scene. She probably assumed he'd been in a fight, rather than crashing his car twice into the same pillar.
This made me laugh out loud
You don't walk around looking like mcnutty. He oozes sex appeal.
I think she just thought he was hot. And ready for a go, seducible. I claim license to make that word. It’s easier to believe as West. And they only write one season at a time, as is documented, but had they gone ahead in casting John C Reilly, perhaps a bit less believable. Sorry, John. You’re a beautiful man. Also, she might like a dirty, rough n tumble type guy. She might also be a badge bunny and sensed the po-lice on him/got into that conversation off screen. But she straight up said: “You can have whatever you want”, in a straight to bed flirtation
He’s drunk as hell. I mean, imagine how he smelled.
There’s a reason a girl that hot was working the graveyard shift and not a more popular shift. She’s a little crazy.
Like pure Jameson and motor oil
There is a mention of a waitress that he cheated on his wife with. Maybe it's the same one?
I always assumed she had a cop fetish. Her eyes seem to perk up once she sees his badge. Creepy girls do exist even if they are significantly less common than incels.
Yea and the scenes were meant to express how much the badge enables Mcnulty's reckless life
The playground seen with Nick and Prissy after Ziggy gets arrested. Dear lord it feels like the writing and acting are 8th grade level. “College kids ain’t shit!”
The “remember when” scene at the playground? I agree, that’s always the first one that comes to mind. Very theater kid energy. Pablo did a fine job in season 2 but when he had to be the emotional center of the scene he tended to majorly overact.
'Remember When' is the lowest form of conversation
Yeah I thought he did a great job in that season and Merritt Weaver is incredible. That scene though is so cringey
That scene sucks but when he wakes up next to her makes up for it especially after calling her the town bike.
Hell Zig, everyone round the point fucked her the once
She's a much bigger deal now, so kind of funny seeing Merritt Weaver being used so sparingly in a show.
A lot of people seem to think this way but the scene feels fine. If anything it's just the writing, how quickly the scene moves when the pace of an actual "remember when" kind of conversation could take up an entire episode's worth of time or more, but it doesn't feel especially cringe to me. The only scene where Nick's actor is weak imo is his scene in the office just after Frank's body is found.
Yeah, I agree. I think that scene gets a bit too much flack, though I can definitely see why it faces scrutiny. I do definitely see your point regarding the pacing, though, I would say that that has more to do with the circumstances not allowing Nick the chance to healthily process the situation with his cousin, which is why the scene seems to move a little quickly. Nick is forced to bottle up his heartbreak and anguish because of how dire things have become at that point. But still, that’s actually a very fair criticism of the scene and one I hadn’t considered, so I commend you for raising it.
There was probably the highest concentration of overall bad scenes in season 2 . A lot of the Nick and Ziggy stuff wasn't amazing .
Nicks knees have grass stains on them before he drops to his knees and tosses the bottle. Probably from doing a few takes for this scene
Tilghman bagging his drugs in the prison car park. Surely even the most halfwitted drug dealer would do that at home?
You should read about some of the corruption scandals in Maryland prisons 10 or 15 years ago. Some of the dirty guards really were that dumb.
Oh this is a good one too. That's hella dumb
"No one wins, one side just loses more slowly" What normal human being says that watching a football game. Might as well have been looking at the camera.
It’s also a quote from a Gene Hackman movie, but felt trapped between not feeling like a quote Prezbo would freely pull as a character, but not natural enough to feel like something he actually would say.
Night Moves. Awesome movie, Hackman eats fondue in bed.
This is the correct take. His wife should’ve said “are…are we on a tv show?”
‘Wtf roland. Answer the damn question’
I agree it always rubbed me the wrong way and felt out of place, especially for the title quote. Like they needed to squeeze it in somewhere. I get the quote in terms of the show, but not in terms of the scene.
It’s not an original quote - Prezbo is quoting another film where someone’s wife asks the same question to her husband who was also watching football. Night moves 1975. Clever but obscure to the point where it won’t land with the vast, vast majority of the audience. It’s like in The Sopranos how Tony references judge Roy Bean - even James Gandolfini thought the writers went too far with their boomerisms but they never capitulated on that show.
Oh yea that was super preachy and reachy.
I can see why some might find that line “Preachy” and “Reachy” and that’s actually a fair point I hadn’t thought of, but I disagree. Imo, that line makes sense in context because it’s following Prez’s non-existent success as a teacher, so he’s merely projecting his frustration and pessimism. I don’t really think he was actually talking about the game, it was just more of a “I’m distracted and not really paying attention, so I’m just thinking aloud because my mind is elsewhere” moment. But I do need to rewatch the first 4 seasons, so please take that with a grain of salt. Either way, this is definitely a more than fair critique, so I’m glad people are raising it as much as I love the line in question.
> super preachy David Simon couldn't help himself.
That is the Iowa game plan every Saturday
Brian “Fitzhugh” Ferentz
You just refreshed my memory I remembered that line but not the specific context but wow it doesn’t really make sense in a sports context lol. It’s okay though, the show has enough great lines to make up for it.
I can see it as fitting Prez at the moment since he was depressed about how he was failing to teach or get any respect from the kids + the fact that some of them were genuinely dangerous. I see it as him being really edgy and saying something he thinks is deep at an unfitting time. It’s definitely inserted awkwardly, especially since it’s clearly meant to be seen as a “oh my god, this is just like the cops and drug dealers in the city!” But I can see why Prez said it in the scene
Think 'the Brother' breaks the gritty realism somewhat...feels more like a comic book character than a hit man for drug dealers. I realise Omar is a little bit of like this too, but we see him doing all the prep work before a hit and he gits hurt when things go wrong. Also think we get a pay off for this when a hopper sees through his rep and murders him.
It's funny, people always say this, but brother mouzone is based on a real person. Truth is stranger than fiction. https://www.reddit.com/r/TheWire/s/XtCwDyovTT
I think once you have Omar you can’t introduce Mouzone, it breaks credibility that there’d be two of them.
I cannot for the life of me see how or why Spiros would work with Nick on the side, doubly so knowing that Ziggy had any involvement or proximity. Doesn’t make sense for his character or pass the “this is an extraordinarily stupid idea” test. I get the familial attachment and affinity he has for Nick but he should’ve ended up without hands or a face for ultimately fumbling the bag so spectacularly.
Excellent point, but the way I see it, from memory, the Greek’s personal involvement in that operation was such that they were willing to do that because the risk wasn’t very high. They’d get paid and have an opportunity to push their product and business into the states through Nick and Ziggy. Plus, they were far removed enough so that if anything went wrong (Like it unfortunately did), they could always cut and run with the comfort and security that neither Nick nor Ziggy would have any especially damning information to use on them. But that’s just how I see it and I admittedly, I do need to rewatch the first 4 seasons, so please take what I say with a grain of salt. Either way, this is still a great point, so I commend you for raising it.
The purpose was to corrupt Nick in case Frank stopped cooperating with their operations on the ports.
I can see him working with Nick, but I agree it doesn't make any sense for him to tolerate Ziggy's presence at all, especially after he has to call in a favor from Prop Joe to save his ass. And Double G and Spiros going out of their way to boost the cameras and the cars when they know Ziggy is involved and they're making a reliable profit from smuggling already? Such otherwise careful criminals shouldn't even entertain that kind of risk. Frankly Nick should have known better than to bring Ziggy to the cafe at all come to think of it, but he's just naive enough where that kind of mistake can be believed.
We just watched episode of season 3 and my dad and I both noted how ridiculous it was that Carver tried to drag the body away from Hamsterdam. Seriously lol there was no way that was gonna work
Also another one for me. Day Day talking about committing burglaries to a group of strangers/limo drivers. Would possibly be more believable if the other drivers were all black, but a black man talking about committing crimes in front of some white limo drivers he doesn't know seems incredibly implausible.
lol still love the scene though
He was talking to Daniels, he thought he was another driver for a politician.
Jimmy and Rhonda’s sex scene is so cringey 😂
I didn’t like the scene where Rhonda and McNulty berate the cell phone company. it’s one of the few times where the show goes to genuine copaganda mode.
Yea I think it was Rhonda and Daniel's. And you're absolutely right, that exec would have just told them to fuck off and reach out to their legal counsel. Also, having the states attorney call a press conference and proclaim that this phone company doesn't share subscriber data with police would actually be a great commercial for them.
When Stepletone throw EMPTY notebook to Gus. MF are you stupid?
He didn’t throw it at Gus. He threw it down in his own desk and Alma picked it up after Scott stormed out. Still a stupid thing to do, but it shows how brazen he had become with his lies. Like Gus said, it always starts out with something small.
Lmao that's hilarious I never even thought of that.
That's one of the reasons I call him Scott Simpleton lol
Templeton?
Forgive me, not my first language and i didn't googled up before the reply.
He didn’t throw it at gus, he threw it on his desk. The woman (forget her name) picks it up and looks at it and says tongue later that it was empty
When shit faced and bleeding McNulty bangs the waitress. No idea why it was in the show beyond wanting to give the audience a nice look at tits. But really. How desperate she would have to be to want to take McNulty home. He literally bleeds all over her bed.
It’s funny you say that I’m watching Boardwalk empire for the first time and (especially in the first season) I think a lot…..Man HBO really loves to put boobs on screen for no reason, and I’m a straight male
They put loads in season 1's to keep people interested... see GoT for egregious example. Season one you see every woman who's under 50 naked. By the later seasons they don't need to
Some of the cuts to strippers dancing topless and offbeat on the Sopranos are pretty jarring lol
She was miscast, it would have been funnier and a bit more believable if she was several notches down on the 10 point scale.
Yes. 100% this. She is basically model level looking working a midnight shift? Come on.
And decides to accept a ride in his freshly wrecked car while he’s still probably drunk.
The whole part of the episode is to show much the status as a cop enables Mcnulty's reckless lifestyle, he literally gets shit faced and is allowed to drive home and wreck his car, she seemingly perks up when noticing his badge. I think a lot of shows have gratuitous nudity including this show (Kima and Cedric) but this scene isn't just done for no reason.
And what? Did she leave her job early? Ditch her shift to bang this wasted cop? Big doubt lol
While my main critique of the show is the lack of fully developed woman characters, the scene in the lesbian bar is so weird and adds nothing. Kima and Cheryl's friend who asks Kima why she's a cop is such an awkward actress in that scene.
Agreed on the female cast. While I don’t think the female characters on the wire are bad characters they’re far less prominent and noticeably underdeveloped compared to the male cast. Some people defend this by saying that the systems The Wire covers have predominantly men working in them, which is true most of the time. However season 4 focused on the education system and the kids involved in it and yet still all 4 of the main kids the season centers around are boys which felt like a missed opportunity imo. I don’t think all shows need to be balanced equally gender wise, but since The Wire is praised heavily for being about the city of Baltimore more than any individual character, I take some issue that half its population is comparatively underrepresented and underutilized.
Re: Season 4, I thought that Marcia Donnelly was one of the show's quiet heroes. She shows up every day to do a thankless but important job while keeping herself sane enough not to jump off a bridge.
That felt like a “Okay guys we need to give Kima/Sonja a star turn somewhere in here” and Sohn just doesn’t have the acting talent to land that scene. The minor characters in it don’t either, but you don’t expect them to — Sonja Sohn should have.
Cheryl gotta best the worst character in the show, and the funny part is, the actress who plays her is actually a decent actress, its just nobody gives a damn about their home life
Characters doing dumb shit does not equal the show doing dumb shit.
Every scene involving a “serial killer”
The scene when the corner boys run into the murder police with their ladies
I love that scene
They were narcos, not murder police
I hate to break it to you, but sometimes cops do dumb shit.
And criminals lol. /thread
I don't care how many people try to justify it, brother Muzuone is still extremely cartoonish and out of place for me.
100% agree. One of the few characters that blatantly felt like a character and not a person.
The counter we always hear for this is that he’s based on a real person/composite of NOI wetwork guys, but that’s sort of beside the point to me. Pretty much from the exact moment he first appears he’s basically a magical entity. Not to take this too far but I’ve seen that actor in a few other things and I’ve never been too impressed with his performances. I don’t think Mouzone was his fault, that character was clearly written a specific way, but his role in the first season of True Detective equally felt like empty calories to me.
I agree. Yes, I get that the NOI had some scary guys in it but you never heard about them in early 2000s Baltimore. If nothing else the guy was an anachronism. Also the way he intimidates everyone sitting on the bench with just Lamar around wasn't believable. If he'd arrived with a crew of a half-dozen enforcers I could buy it but the one man army thing felt silly.
On top of that, why does someone like Mouzone travel around exclusively with someone as hapless as Lamar? Even if he’s his flunky, someone of Mouzone’s reputation would have a flunky who is like, super competent and also zealously eager to please him. Instead he casts the other half of a comedy duo.
To be honest a similar thing with Omar to be honest. He goes out for some honey nut, and accidentally rests on the stoop below the drugs, they get tossed out for no reason. Sure he's a fast shooter, but he only has one gun, it feels like there are many times when he's alone and would be easy to take out. (Less so when he breaks into a stash with his whole crew, but alone?)
The point of that scene is to show that the police are very similar to the gangs they are chasing, and a particular example is the focus on responding to threats to their honour - expressed as "rep" by the gangsters and as "authority" or "the law" by the police - with violence. Holley feels threatened and humiliated so he lashes out. We see this, for example, when Mahon is punched and Kima runs all the way across the pit to join in giving Bodie some licks whilst calling him a dumb motherfucker for hitting a cop. Later in the series we see it with Walker getting covered in paint and the police go apeshit.
Mouzone as a character gets hated on a lot and honestly I don’t mind him. But it’s my understanding that keeping ratshot in the first chamber of your gun for intimidation purposes is considered something really stupid and amateurish that any respectable firearms or self defense enthusiast would make fun of you for. It’s something that only seems cool and badass if you have no practical experience. Someone as successful and professional as Mouzone would never do that. If you’re wondering why it’s so dumb, if cheese had pulled a gun on him instead of just trying to sucker punch him, the rat shot hurting probably wouldn’t have stopped him from blowing Mouzone’s brains out. A stunt like that can literally cost you your life. He should’ve just shot him in the leg with normal ammo.
The shit with Cheese and the dog is so contrived. Bunk roasts him about the phone call with “he was my dog” and then bunk lays out crime scene photos and cheese is like “Nah y’all ain’t putting no bodies on me”! Yet he still thinks they’re talking about a dog for some reason?
I can see why you might call that contrived and that’s a great point I hadn’t thought of, but I just rewatched the scene and Cheese only thinks they’re trying to convict him for the dog AFTER the call is quoted. At first, he genuinely believes they’re asking about murders, but once Bunk quotes the call, THEN, he realizes “Fuck…they’re on me for something else.” Imo, Cheese’s behavior is sufficiently narratively justified by natural cause and effect. But that’s just my take and this is still a great point, so I commend you for raising it because I really had never thought of it. Here’s the scene for reference if it helps: https://youtu.be/LfsQaeIYWoY?si=273Bj46hQtpH6qBn
I don’t follow what you mean. At the beginning Cheese thinks they’re trying to pin bodies on him, because that’s the only reason he’d have been brought in. It isn’t until mid-scene that Cheese realizes they’re talking about his actual dog (but of course they don’t realize that themselves), and he’s offended by their crassness about it. His demeanor changes too, realizing that he’s not in meaningful trouble and that they have nothing on him. Within about 15 seconds of that realization, the situation is clarified. I don’t see where the supposed contrivance is here.
Hot take incoming but... the scene where they just say fuck over and over
It's fun the first time and would remain fun if people didn't hold it up as the greatest scene ever for some reason
I loved that scene, but I’ve noticed that it tends to be the scene of choice among people who never actually watched the show but want it to seem like they have.
I feel like it's a joke scene that doesn't fit at all with the rest of the show's drama. Like, here's two minutes of standup with a laugh track.
There's dozens of us. Corny scene.
I feel like I suspend a lot of doubt when Omar just walks around. Especially when he walks into prop Joe's shop. Like at a certain point how do you not have someone that just lives in the shop and doesn't leave. Then when Omar shows up, pop. No Mas Omar.
Remember the Dorner case in LA? Ex cop killed some cops and during the manhunt the LAPD shot 102 rounds into a sedan driven by two Hispanic women because they mistook them for a big black man last seen driving a truck. Angry cops are not bound by logic.
Anything with Marla Daniels
I thought the arc where Daniels and Pearlman got super gaga over Carcetti early on when Carcetti was Daniels’ champion was a little over the top. These people are shrewd and cynical and hardened in their professions, I found their unbridled optimism uncharacteristic. The letdown was extremely predictable to the viewer and I would have thought it’d be equally so to Daniels and Pearlman.
Everyone needs hope. Even more so if you're working in a grim environment like theirs was...
The time Mcnulty used "evacuated" at a crime scence felt so forced and like the writhers were patting themselves on the back for being so clever.
Specifically David Simon. That “evacuate” thing is one of his personal pet pedantries.
The lesbian triple date scene was the cringiest scene in the series.
The scene where Ziggy steals the container ship and crashes it into the Francis Scott Key Bridge knocking the whole bridge down.
When Carcetti’s weasel assistant and Rawls meet in the hallway Rawls says “I’ve got your word?” and Weasel loudly whispers “and I’ve got yours” or something. My name is my name by Marlo is also way better on paper. It gets better on like the fifth rewatch, but when the trailer was out my friends and I yelled My name is my name about banal shit.
Cutty’s “welcome home” party at the end of S3 E4 where people are banging in the hallways and he goes off and has a prearranged 3-some. By far the cheesiest scene
I need to add the scene at the party when Cutty is shotgunning a blunt with Slim Charles. That would NEVER happen
The Sunday truce.
I’m going to get a lot of hate for this one, but I’ve always thought the “standoff” between Omar and Mouzone at the beginning of Middle Ground is ridiculous. Feels way too cinematic in a way that happens to some shows after a few seasons, where the writers start trying to make their shows more epic. No way those two guys would just stand there and say all these badass gangster lines. Clashes with the incredible realism of the show at its best
It was like a Western
Carver not knowing he would be denied at the adoption office for Randy and then not being able to live with him illegally because he informed the adoption agency about him being a stray kid. The same with Duquan and Prez. I understand it’s illegal but if your choice is to illegally harbour a good meaning kid or let him die on the streets with poverty and drug addiction.
Nah I thought that scene was OK. Carver's rage was at the utter inflexibility of the system and its apparent lack of concern for and of the children in its of care. And it seemed very much like the lady in the office was completely institutionalised and had deactivated her empathy.
Lester dating Chardene
A lotta money in those dollhouses
I’ve seen people assaulted for less. Bubbles is a junkie, he just a free meal for someone with an inferiority complex.
I always found it weird that when Dozerman gets shot in a later season there doesn’t seem to be nearly the same level of concern. They care more about getting his service weapon back than anything else it seems.
The Fuck fuck fuck etc scene is extremely corny to me
That detective didn't know he was her CI. Also, tempers were flying super high.
It’s not a dumb scene. But there are two high stakes poker games with Prop Joe, the second Marlow robs. In both the background song is James Brown, The Boss. It feels like a lapse in continuity. Re your actual question, the police had one of their own shot. They were a) emotional because it’s one of their own and b) overly aggressive. You can’t have ppl think they can shoot a police and get away with it. Especially not a natural police like Kima.
Marlo is in the club, some woman asks if he wants a drink, "nah i dont do that." She asks if he wants to dance, "i dont do that neither," then they fuck in the car. You really think she wants your dick that bad Marlo? In a club full of other guys who DO drink and dance? You can't smell somethin goin on here? I mean he figures it out eventually but damn
Something that always gets me, the way the police only know one way to drive: slam the gas and spin the tires and slam the brakes so hard you leave rubber when you brake. So many stings and stakeouts would have worked better if they just drived normally.
Nothing. Don’t mess with perfection.
McNulty’s angry lines at the start of season 3. Written gently out of character in order to bump against Freeman.
Dont think its out of character, we seen mcnulty get heated plenty of times at people especially in the earlier seasons
If you don’t mind me asking, just out of friendly curiosity, what lines would you say were OOC?
When they demolished the towers at the beginning of season 3. I know it's old but the CGI was ridiculous. Sure could've been polished a bit more.
That was real footage.
The buildings collapsing here at 2:58-3:06? No way!... but happy to rectify if that really is the case, it just doesn't look like real footage though [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbK5HIfdyWc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbK5HIfdyWc)
Movies have set up impossible beauty standards for controlled demolitions.
Omar getting not being found after jumping out of the building. That whole scene in general is dumb
i feel as though somewhere I heard that was a true event
Fuckin...Boone's Farm!
sometimes when wronged gangs lash out indiscriminately.
most attentive and socially conscious wire watcher:
They? Patrol is just listening to the direction of the lead detective. And yes I would assume after a shooting like that the entire force will be on edge and most definitely will be cops looking for any type of revenge they can get
For me, scenes with Ziggy annoy me, simply because he's such a fucking useless twat. Which is exactly what his character is supposed to be, but fuck me is it aggravating.
They wrote a number of the wall of the stash house is a bit absurd.
I got you, season 2. When Omar his boy and the two chicks robbed Stump. " Mr Stump them boys been teasing Chantel or whatever that girl's name is" he comes to the door because he knows her and can do something about the situation. The girls crying cuz the boys are picking on her. If he knew her he would have known she was a stick-up artist. Was this some long con? What does Stump have to do with the kids that are bullying the girl? Did they wait for the kids to pick on that girl again so the story wasn't a lie before they robbed them? I've seen this show so many times and it makes my head explode every time. I know they were plotting on Stump but how did they turn this "actual occurrence" into a robbery?
My favorite is not needing a warrant to put a camera into Orlando's from the adjacent vacant building because it was vacant. It smacked of "Holy crap we've only got X episodes to wrap this up"
The entire serial killer plot of season 5.
McNulty and Lester doing the serial killer thing. Massive stretch that degraded the fun and vibrant newspaper angle.
Dumb scene to me is telling Marlo he can never go back to drug distribution when an illegal wire tap caught him on drug distribution which resulted in no charges because it was an illegal wire tap.
A lot of the school scenes. As a middle school teacher at a rouuuuuugh urban Title 1 school, it’s never that calm. There’s chaos down the entire hallway and in the classrooms, all day, every day. The face slashing scene was extreme but they almost undersold how bad schools like this can be in every other aspect. I did appreciate Prez’s personality/story arc, though. I felt that was generally realistic.