Recapping 'The Wire': Episode 1
Hey, this show The Wire? It is kind of cool. I think. I don't know if you heard about it—it started on the TV back in 2002, five years before the launch of Tumblr, four years before the launch of Twitter, so I'm not sure how you would have heard about it really? Anyway, I've only watched one episode so far, so here are some first impressions. So: in episode one, a homicide cop named Jimmy (played by Dominic West, who is actually ENGLISH, and who has a delightfully wrinkly forehead), accidentally starts an investigation into a big-time drug lord in Baltimore.
Everyone at the police station is really mad at him for making them do more work, and they swear at him LOTS. He gets partnered up with a narcotics cop, named Shakima—and at the end of the episode, you learn she is a lesbian when she kisses her live-in girlfriend! Anyway, everybody is sort of not mad, except Jimmy, about the fact that this guy named D'Angelo Barksdale gets off on a murder rap, because of totally obvious witness intimidation. D'Angelo gets released and goes back to the streets, demoted to supervising drug sales in the lowrise projects. The thing is, he is also the nephew of the big drug lord around town!
At the end of the episode, D'Angelo sees that the one guy who did name him as a murderer at his trial got killed. There is a long camera shot of him walking away from seeing the body, during which you have lots of time to presume that he is having second thoughts about what he is doing with his life. And at what cost, and like that. And all the cops have a meeting about their investigation, and decide that it'll only take a month to get D'Angelo's uncle and his outfit. I bet that's not true though, because there are 59 more episodes to go!
All told, I thought this was a better-than-okay procedural TV show kind of thing, and its upside and downside were the same: the luxurious pacing of just having people talk about stuff and also the not totally over-indicated plot notifications that you usually get on the TV. Like, that is good because it's more like life? But it's annoying a little too, because it's so much easier when the TV just tells you what to think. Like on the CSI.
But we'll see! Stay tuned for when I watch EPISODE TWO, whenever I next have an hour to kill.
So why did you use a cap from Season Five? Irony?
I FOUND IT ON THE INTERNET.
DON'T SPOIL IT FOR ME.
Seriously stop reading the internet now. If you want to be unspoiled for the Wire's following 59 episodes, that is. Worth it? Yes.
It's too late for a live blog, isn't it?
Damn.
OK, so, you have not met him yet on The Wire, but I would still like to know how Michael K. Williams is in The Road. Hmm?
Oh he's good in The Road!
Oh, I am glad! And not glad! I mean, I want him to be cast in every movie ever, but also it is looking like I will have to go see The Road.
Sounds pretty good. When is it on?
Is Balk still on his "I DON'T HAVE TIME TO COMMIT TO THE HIGH MINDED WORK OF DAVID SIMON?"
Also: Do you ever think for a moment any one is acting in episode 1? How does he get these hyper real performances??
You will be hooked by the time to you get to episode 5 or 6 followed by a series of 7-8 hour long benders of watching the show obsessively. Guaranteed.
Totally. I tend to hate cop shows but The Wire is something else. I got to the point where I was literally watching an entire season in one sitting.
me too! sickly addictive. like crack. its the cliff hangers, they're so damn good at it!
I lost about 2 solid weeks of work watching the show obsessively from beginning to end.
As at latecomer, I was avoiding my mailbox on days when I knew new DVDs from Netflix would be arriving b/c I knew I would do nothing else until I watched each disk.
The Wire is best accompanied by Foucault.
Le pouvoir! C'est partout!
Talk about Dominic West more and his AMAZING acting! And Rawls! YAYAY!!
Lester Freamon FTW.
Ok, my all-time favourite scene of The Wire has to be from season 2 when McNulty goes to the whorehouse. It's mind-blowing to think that as an english actor (schooled at Eton no less!) Dominic West can convincingly play a Baltimore cop who, in turn, has to affect a lame cockney accent. Sometimes the best travesties are the pathetic ones.
Was going to mention this!
Are you kidding? This show is probably the BEST show I have ever watched, and I've done a lot of watching in my day. I CANNOT believe it never won a major award. I swear it is because of the racial thing. Once you are hooked you will absolutely love it. I'm gonna start again.
Can you do this for Homicide: Life on the Street, while you're at it?
As long as you are recapping dead police dramas and all.
Homicide is so so so very good. Andre Braugher AND Richard Belzer?!! MAN.
Is Braugher's new show with Ray Romano any good? I know the sentence doesn't look promising but I have hopes.
I just read the WashPo review….and Shales said it was very good. But Braugher is now fat.
(I'm beginning to wonder if you and I have the EXACT same taste in TV. Did you watch FNL last week? So good. And Minka Kelly returns!)
I could love a fat Braugher. Lots actually. Also, KYLE CHANDLER. Do you have direcTV? I am waiting on NBC :(
I do have DirecTV so I will shut my mouth now and not spoil it for you.
Don't forget to remember EVERYTHING. We will discuss in 2010.
They're batshit over this show at Pajiba – recently featured 100 Greatest Quotes from 'The Wire'.
A few great quotes from episode one were missing from that vid. Forgive the paraphrasing.
"This is America, man" – does anything sum up the show like that one exchange?
"So the guy has a runny nose one day, and for the rest of his life, he's known as Snot Boogie"
"You used your service weapon on a mouse?"
They put up another 100 quotes. Like I said, crazy.
Also did you know (as I just realized last night [which probably means that I'm publicly confessing to having just watched it {listen, the Netflix Instant catalog is an inaesthetic cesspool of straight-to-DVD editions of "American Pie" you never even knew existed so this is like a fucking gem in comparison}]) that Seth Gilliam aka Detective Ellis Carver starred as Sugar Watkins in "Starship Troopers"? The talent David Simon can command–astonishing!
I noticed this for the first time yesterday, too! Also the medical examiner with the cane in CSI was the multiple amuputee induction officer.
I'm ambivalent towards Carver. He gives me the most sense that he's acting. But then it could be because his character is so awk? Until Hamspterdam.
Choire = Late bloomer. Delightfully.
Or else it's a business strategy: "Livecapping the Recession: Reruns from 2002." No cable bill that way.
I thought West was Australian. I got a kick out of imagining how hard it was for him to do dialogue.
Also, for backstory, watch The Corner. That's pretty much where the series came from, spiritually if not actually.
For about two seconds I thought you meant the National Review group blog.
In all honesty though, season two is the only one that doesn't really fit. However, season four is hands down, the finest run of televised drama in the entire history of TV.
Yes. Heartbreaking and infuriating.
I actually liked season 2. But four made me want to go blow shit up.
to agree
Season Two was AMMMMMAAAAAAAAAZING and is my favorite.
(Also, those guys totally come back. And you meet ______ – no spoilers. It fits beautifully!)
I'm not saying season two was bad, there were no bad seasons, only that the second season didn't fit as well with what I felt was the larger arc. You'll notice with all the other seasons, we would return to those characters and themes down the road. Season two felt kind of hermetically separated from the rest of the story. It was strictly a structural/narrative problem for me. But truthfully, a very minor quibble.
I mean, I hear ya, sure.
But! [SORTA SPOILERS] Season Two introduces Beadie.
And Serge & the Greek come back later, right?
And Valchek!!!
Episode one is not that great!
It gets really good about the middle of the first season, Choire.
I think true genius is first revealed during the "Motherfucker" scene.
You mean the 'fuck' scene, reviewing the homicide at the apt in the 'burbs, where the only dialogue is 'fuck' spoken with different intonations for about 10 minutes?
It is genius. And solidified my love of the Bunk.
DK is right, you must slog through the first chunk. Like 'Emperor's Children'. Remember the first 35 pages were like "wha? who cares about an Australian diner party?"
But it is sooo worth it.
Season Two is the best.
YES!
You are my soul's mate, NVC.
Luv your Manteeth
IS IT??? GAH. I put it down. man i'm crap at books.
Holy shit! No one in my universe has ever heard of that book much less read it. I am so moved to see an offhand reference to it here. Bootie wins!
@ formerly, etc.:
Yes, exactly. Wrong curse word.
Ha! We were both right:
The scene begins with McNulty, Bunk and the apartment's Super entering the vacant apartment of Diedre Kresson. They walk towards the kitchen. Bunk pulls out the crime scene photos of the deceased victim and looks them over.
Bunk: (slightly sympathetic) Awe…fuck.
He shows the photos to McNulty with a knowing look.
McNulty: Motherfucker.
They walk into the kitchen and put down their bags. Bunk begins to place the crime scene photos in position on the floor.
Bunk: (under his breath) Fuck. Fuck. Fuckin' fuck.
Meanwhile, McNulty takes out the crime scene police report, a marker and a tape measure. He looks over the police report and sees that the victim was 5' 3" and age 20.
McNulty: Fuck.
Cut to Bunk still arranging the photos.
Bunk: (under his breath) Mmm, fuck fuck…Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Quick cut to the janitor looking puzzled.
Cut to McNulty looking at more crime scene photos. He sees the bullet wound entered the victim's upper chest but exited through her lower back.
McNulty: (curious) Fuck?
Bunk lays out photos by the kitchen window where a bullet hole was. McNulty begins to measure something on the floor but it recoils and jams his finger.
McNulty: (in pain) Fuck!
Bunk marks the bullet hole on the window. McNulty extends the tape measure and tries to determine how a bullet actually entered so high on the body and exited so low. Bunk helps him by grabbing the tape measure. McNulty gets on his knees, which seems like a more plausible position for this wound.
He begins looking on floor for clues – bullet marks, a shell casing, anything.
McNulty: Fuck.
Bunk turns to the window notices something on a crime scene photo – pieces of glass on the inside of the window.
Bunk: (exclaims) Mother-Fucker!
McNulty looks at the photo.
McNulty: (astonished) Awe fuck….Awe fuck.
They realize the shooter was probably not in the apartment but standing outside the kitchen window. Bunk puts his gun where the bullet hole in the window is. McNulty leans in near the gun to determine the entry/exit wound. They follow the trace of the path of the bullet and check the kitchen wall.
McNulty: Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck…Fucker.
They walk towards the rear of the kitchen and scout the wall by the fridge for the bullet. McNulty feels around on wall.
McNulty: Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.
Bunk: Awe fuck.
They find nothing and examine a particular photo which seems odd to them. Bunk notices something odd. McNulty notices it too.
Bunk: (stunned) Mother fucker.
McNulty opens the fridge and immediately finds a spot inside the door that has been spackled.
McNulty: (shocked) Fuckin-A.
He picks off the spackle while Bunk hands him some pliers.
McNulty: (straining, using pliers) Fuuhck.
McNulty digs inside and pulls out the bullet.
McNulty: (decisively) Motherfucker.
Bunk takes the pliers from McNulty and looks at the bullet.
Bunk: (taken aback) Fuck Me.
Realizing that they're onto something, the pair head to the backyard of the apartment to search for the bullet casing….
[Correcting botched posting] To me, this sequence is a classic. It is unbelievably clever and fun to watch, and it is only one of many that this show gave us.
Choire: Prepare to have your heart stomped by season 4.
Won't someone think of the children? Forreals.
Choire, you've really opened the floodgates on this one. Guaranteed to be the most commented post of the week, and it's only Monday!
I HAVE READ 'HOMICIDE' !!!
Landsman has a big part in it. It's great, LIKE 'THE WIRE'.
Listicle without comment – Best Wire Characters:
5. Dookie
4. Slim Charles
3. Omar
2. Clay Davis
1. Jay Landsman
NEVER
1. McNulty
2. Sobtka
3. Landsman
4. Prezbo
5. Snoop
1. Freamon
2. Omar
3. Landsman
4. Dookie
5. Weebay
I am trying to give everyone the benefit of the doubt here and all that, but where the hell is Bubbles on these lists?
Myself, I am a Stringer Bell girl.
Bubbles definitely needs to be on this list somewhere.
1) Omar
2) Snoop
3) Bunk
4) Bodie
5) Stringer Bell
Honorable mention: Brother Mouzone. I always wanted more Brother Mouzone. Also, I thought his name was Brother Moves On until long after watching show.
1. Wallace
2. Wallace
3. Wallace
4. Wallace
5. Wallace
Karion, is right. Bubbles is dope. So is Stringer and CARCETTI!!!
Here's Bubbles: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huggy_Bear
He's just had what power he had taken away.
Snoop in the Home Depot is the best season premiere ever.
Remember realizing that Snoop is a girl??! Mind? BLOWN.
1. Cedric Daniels
2. Chris and Snoop (they're kind of one!)
3. Scott Templeton
4. Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski
5. Omar Little
Hard to keep it to five! and didn't even make it to McNulty and Bunk, and Rhonda, my real favorites. Now I'm sad.
SO true about Brother Mouzone.
AGREED.
Choire do you want to suck on Dominic West's face? Because I do!
Mostly yes.
May or may not have watched an otherwise horrific Sandra Bullock movie because it features both him and his accent.
Fun fact: Detective Ed Norris (often featured complaining about how the police department is run) is played by real person Ed Norris (the former Baltimore Police Commissioner who was run out on allegedly politically trumped up charges).
Insidery irony. (Yes, I'm an obsessed fanboy.)
Also! The real Jay Landesman plays a character as well. Except he doesn't get to play himself, because Simon didn't think he did himself good enough.
And Kurt Schmoke turns up in Season Three during those cityhall round tables about spinning Hamsterdam up.
And the real Stringer Bell (Choire! Also English!) plays the minister.
The Wire Forensics!
Oops, mean that Idris Elba (Stringer) is English. There's a great moment in the commentary where Simon complains about how attractive he is, and then he starts talking and has this English accent that makes just about genetically perfect for any woman alive.
He's also a deejay!
Man is a TALENT.
I loved it so when he went to school.
Remember that thing that happens at the end of Season Three? The Honey met this dude at a party about 2 episodes into that season. AND DUDE TOTALLY TOLD HIM ABOUT IT!!
Can you imagine? Waiting ALL SEASON for that happen and KNOWING about it?! Nuts.
Dennis Lehane also does some writing for the show.
UH, HELLO, SPOILER ALERT!?
SDLKFJSDJFLKSDKFJ SORRIES.
Pretty sure this is targeted at me.
I am clutching season 5, unwatched, like the last unopened letter from a loved one lost at war.
Since I came to the show late, well after the final season aired, so I never got to chat about it online. I suspect many people did the same, as the ratings for the show were always terrible.
Perhaps a Footnotes on Madmen/Re-watching the Wire column would be in order?
Seconded?
I would immensely enjoy a NVC vs. MHKC chat-style Wire recap.
Chats make my head hurt. But something like NVC's Footnotes would be nice. I'd play along!
Every time someone re-recaps this series, I have to immediately pop in my homemade DVDs and watch the whole thing. So, thanks for taking 60 of my hours out this week, sir.
You know what I most look forward to is Choire's take on Omar. That guy is adored by Wire fans. But I find him to be largely unbelievable and without much complexity. Robin Hood type versus the Noir moral puzzle of a Sobtka or McNulty.
What? With a character like Bubbles floating around you'd question Omar instead? Damn.
Damn.
It's his voice. Magical. Just the way he says, "Indeed," even.
Really, he's just an incredibly charming sociopath. I don't love him so much as find him incredibly entertaining.
DUDE, it is so WEIRD that you are doing this now. I just started FINALLY watching The Wire this weekend. I am three episodes in. I look forward to your commentary on how fucking scary Matthew Abbadon is, even when he's playing a relatively unfuckingscary character.
1.Omar
2.Bubs
3.Michael
4.D'Angelo
5.Dookie
More like D'AngeNO
Hahahaah I'm sorry, I'm very proud of that.
so many comments to enable your (I THINK?!) meta-enabling! the thing about this show is that, like so many glacially paced HBO dramas, it's delightfully boring for long stretches, making you feel really smart for sticking with it. And then — BANG! — you're hooked on a cultural phenomenon.
THIS IS THE BEST SHOW THAT HAS EVER BEEN ON TELEVISION!!
i gave up after the first episode because i couldn't deal with all the swearing [i'm very sensitive] and violence [very sensitive!!] and cop swagger. but good friends with good taste insisted i persevere. and so i did, and it was the best 60 hours of my life spent in front of a glowing screen.
1. Daniels
2. Dukie
3. Bubs
4. Bunny Colvin
5. Carcetti
And Bunk and Rawls and Bodie and Wallace and need to watch it all again now.
Oh, Wallace! Now I am tearing up.
NO SPOILERS IN THE COMMENTS!!!1
For Choire, yanno.
I think Wallace is a part of the collective unconscious.
You guys. I can't believe I'm going to admit this. But I won an evening of drinks with Rafael Alvarez, one of the writers of the Wire and Homicide, in a silent auction. I NEVER do stuff like this. It is mind-bogglingly nerdly. And I love the Wire, but I'm not a collector of minutiae like SOME people here have expressed. Mostly I am concerned that the three people coming with me are going to be totally embarrassing with their fanboydom. But it will also be awesome? It's in Greektown! (part of Bmore) Alvarez was a Sun reporter before going into tv. This part is what interests me most – the documentary quality of the show. Love that. Also, love Stringer Bell. Rawr.
Do you think live-blogging this would be inappropriate?
If there's consensus among the Awl powers-that-be, I'd say it's possible. I don't know that they have wireless internet in Baltimore, though. Hey-o!
I want to hear all about it!!
Who's Micheal.K.Williams?
http://9jakonnect.com/international-updates/
I'm just starting season 3 of The Wire right now and I'm scared to read the comments. When I watched The Sopranos, some stupid magazine told me about people who got whacked and I was sad.
Don't shoot me. But I cannot concentrate when an actor's original accent pokes through. Dominic West was appalling. I watched the series and winced throughout as his British/Irish accent reared up on numerous occasions, diminishing his performance. Equally painful was the Irish actor who played Carcetti. In one particular episode, he delivers an exaggerated southern accent for no apparent reason.
Idris Elba is magnificent; an Englishman who stayed in character with a flawless "American urban" accent.
You're right, but the difference between me and you is that I could overlook it.
Several Bmore friends of mine have said there's no one on the show with a legit Bawlmer accent.
that lady pricipal sounded pretty legit
I thought there were lots of folks who sounded legit, including already-mentioned lady principal, who maybe actually is Baltimorian. I think I saw that in the extras on the dvd. I'll check the google.
Anyone else find it weird that Season 2 gets totally glossed over whenever there's a recap of the show? It wasnt my favorite season but it was a great story. Also, this show kicks ass so hard.
To me, this sequence is a classic. It is unbelievably clever and fun to watch, and it is only one of many that this show gave us.
You are so lucky to watch it for the first time. Me, I would like not to have already seen it, so that I could spend the rest of my life saying to myself that I still have to watch the Wire. It is that good. Enjoy.
At least once a week I say this.