Indeed.
No one can touch Omar for awesomeness, it’s true. Maybe Bunk.
@pattonoswalt: Pres. Obama reveals his favorite WIRE character was Omar. Romney says his favorite was Goldie Hawn.
Omar was the best, no doubt, but both Snoop and Marlo were pretty close. Omar just had the Robin Hood bump, is all. I just rewatched the whole thing and I’m still most impressed by Marlo’s character, he’s like a shark. No emotions, just pure predation without remorse.
H.
For my money, if it ain’t Omar, it’s Stringer Bell.
That’s because you can’t separate stringer from the awesomeness that is idris elba. He probably wasn’t even acting. Y’know, besides the accent.
I have bought two additional copies of the first season and given them to friends. They won’t/don’t watch it. It baffles me.
As far as Treme goes I think it may actually be more brilliant, but it suffers because you need at least a cursory understanding (which is all I have) of the culture and history of New Orleans. I am intentionally vague so I don’t spoil anything, but the scene in which the woman is looking across the lot of refer (as in refrigerated) trailers is brilliant. It is very simple and very poignant. I tear up and want to hang my head and weep while at the same time I want to gut some corrupt officials with a butter knife.
Heh. Listening to the BS Report right now and went straight to The Wire thread. Indeed, Qt3, indeed.
Truth. And if it ain’t Stringer, it’s Clay Davis.
Clay Davis is a one-trick character and Stringer was probably the best piece of acting on the show, but the character himself wasn’t as downright captivating as Omar or Marlo.
I found String captivating. Just the whole thing with him desperately trying to guide himself and his organization out of the game, to turn drug riches into wealth…to work the system the way the socially acceptable criminals in our society work the system, the real estate guys, the lawyers, the financial guys, the CEOs.
But stymied by the lack of vision of his own comrades, including his closest friend. Stymied by his lack of experience in an arena with a different type of predator than the one he knew. Stymied by the cops who had no idea it was probably in their best interests to back off and give him space to work. And ultimately undone by how own scheming, necessitated by trying to work his way around all the aforementioned, not to mention the terrifying intelligence of Brianna Barksdale.
As far as trying to work a complex agenda, truly alone, with even his nominal allies working against him, I find String a great, Shakespearean tragic figure.
Except right near the end, when he finally shows something behind the mask. It’s telling that when I think of The Wire, a show with an almost endless supply of incredible images and scenes, that’s the thing I think of.
Jamie Hector’s performance as Marlo is simply amazing. To have a character be essentially one multi-season long slow burn, to reveal almost nothing to an audience until the absolute end, is just incredible. Obviously helped by the writing, and the rich irony of Marlo succeeding where Stringer failed but not caring at all about it.
Fuck me, I should rewatch The Wire.
What are you talking about, when he makes his attempt to move in better society, but ends up going back into the hood?
Specifically the scene in the holding cell, when he finally raises his voice.
That scene was certainly a great scene, but Marlo isn’t captivating before that. He was certainly acted well, but he’s not exactly complex. I think in some ways he was a bit too one-dimensional. Ultimately it doesn’t end up being a big problem because Marlo is a symbol for the end-game in this gang culture, stripped of any devotion to history or family or rules.
But… the lollipop and the security man.
Okay, this one.
I think that I’d need to watch this show about 50 times to feel like I finally understood everything that was going on. Part of it is the nature of the dialogue; I always feel like I didn’t quite catch about every fifth thing that was said.
To be fair I wasn’t thinking of that scene either when I read madkevin’s post. It’s been a year or two since my 4th or 5th watching of the entire show.
All I’m saying is that I couldn’t look away from Marlo. He seemed to always be dancing on the edge of insanity. Not the “nervous breakdown” type but the “Silence of the Lambs” type, as though it was taking a lot of effort to maintain a human face. Stringer I understood, he was tired of the game and trying to get out or change it into something sustainable for older age, which was what any of us would be doing in that situation so he wasn’t as arresting to me as Marlo.
Fuck stop bumping this thread guys, you’re going to make me watch the whole show over again.