re: Ranking seasons of The Wire (FULL SPOILERS st. Pg 4)- Final bump

4

3

1

5

2

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How about watch all the seasons and figure out how it all circles back to the importance of season 2.

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Ok...I plan to. Obviously you know that I've only seen the first 2 seasons so I can't form an opinion on anythign besides that.

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Of all the despicable and low life characters on the show, why does Ziggy piss you off the most?

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who said he pisses me off the most? I just said he's a shitty person.

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Because he isn't as cool as the others?

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Lol, cool has nothing to do with it. If you're asking "why do you think ziggy is a shitty, unlikeable character" then I'd be curious how long it's been since your last viewing. I don't know how it'd be possible to watch S2 and come away with any other opinion than that. There is a laundry list of reasons.

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to you and sfp and others, what is it about 2 that would have you elevate it above 1? Granted I know that the thread has been spoiler-free thus far so it might be hard to stay within those confines but maybe try your best, or if you do put spilers at least give plenty of advanced wwarning ha.

I enjoy 2 a lot but itd' be hard for me to put it above 1. Also I hate ziggy and I dont' think I'd call him "misunderstood" at all. All of us have known a ziggy at some poitn in our life and no matter their motivations or underlying interanl traumas, your actions define who you are. Ziggy is constantly posturing like he's bigger and badder and cooler and smarter and harder than he actually is. He's a fake. He's pretend. He sucks.

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Season 2 did several things for me. I find organized crime and its consequences on "every day" society and on the political landscape interesting. Then you throw in the union aspect. It connects back to the first season to explain the level above the street for distribution and it sets up/connects to the future seasons in a similar manner. The "Greeks" are the single most fascinating group in the entire show to me and a lot of that is how little we know about them.

I find Nicky, Frank and Ziggy to be very well written and very well acted. You hate Ziggy because the actor absolutely nails the character. We did all know that guy. It shows you the thin line between what seems like a decent person (Nicky) and him needing to make money to get by through less than honest means.

Let me further say like others have, I enjoyed all seasons. Even 5. 5 was just out there with the main storyline.

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See here we go. It gets exhausting.

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Yes, I'm sure it is exhausting, because it's such a bad take. Hell you can google list of best The Wire characters and he doesn't even appear on most of them. Much less near the top/viewed as a good character. It's not that 99% of the population "misunderstands" him, it's that the majority "just don't like" him.

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For you (and any others) currently watching for the first time, bump this thread as you go along. I'd love to see your thoughts on certain events as you watch them.

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This mornign I debated starting another thread with spoilers to document the journey but didn't wanna be a thread starting whore since it'd be so similar to this one.

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what makes 5 so universally the worst?

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The biggest problem with S5 is the theme Simon was going for doesn’t quite come across. The overall theme of the show is how various institutions affect people and how most of them are failing. The point he was going for in S5 is the paper missed all the big stories:

SPOILERS

the mayor was elected promising reform on crime yet is back to forcing the police to “cook” the stats.

The schools teaching to test questions to improve scores even though kids aren’t learning

Major criminal investigations and prosecutions are under cut or abandoned

A major drug trafficker is murdered, buried in the paper

An ambitious critique but just doesn’t quite work. It’s 5th of the wire seasons but overall I like it better than most, i think it’s way better than most of the dreck on tv/steaming now

I can’t really discuss the problem with S5 without Spoilers

I’m surprised at the number of people who disliked Season 4 and thought season 2 was the best, especially at the start of the thread.

I thought Season 3 was almost universally considered the best by fans and critics.

I love Season 4 and would go 4, 3, 1, 2, and 5 with all but 5 being really great

I thought the consensus view was 3 and 1 were the best and 5 was by far the worst.

I also really liked We Own This City, a 6 episode limited series that ran on HBO in either 2021 or 2022 and starred several Wire alumni.

It was certainly strange seeing Marlo play a mild-mannered cop on that show

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I thought Season 3 was almost universally considered the best by fans and critics.

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I thought s4 had the highest overall rating by one of the aggregator websites.