Sadly, I've just come to the end of the greatest TV series known to man, The Wire. In honour of the fine undercover PO-lice work of Freamon and McNulty, I've set up my own wire tap on an e-mail conversation between myself and my brother (yeah OK, just go with me on this), as we muse on some of the highlights of the past 5 seasons and what TV life there is after The Wire:
PHIL: What did you think of the last series then and the end of series 4? McNulty's story in that last series was amazing, loved the way he wouldn't play ball with Rawls when he wanted to dump the rest of the murders. Colvin proved a great character in Series 4 as well.
DAVE: Season 4 was superb - without it I don't think the Wire would have the same depth, because you have to look at how the education system fails each of the four characters. The most intelligent Dukie ends up a junkie, the most businesslike Randy ends up a tough guy in a home and the most talented of them all, Michael, ends up on the streets - whereas the dumbest and most arrogant Namond is just plain lucky to fall under Bunny's wing.
Colvin is a maverick that doesn't fit into the system and so ends up getting spat out, just like Freamon and McNulty do in season 5. They're the best characters because they know that to achieve the best results they need to be creative and play by their own rules - although McNulty does take it too far with the homeless murders.
Just gutted it's all over really - what can follow that?
PHIL: I've started it all again. NTL were showing series 1 so I started with that and now I'm on to series 2, you appreciate it a lot more. Forgot just how good series 1 was, it has some of the best scenes too - D'Angelo and the Chess scene, Landsman going to defend McNulty to Rawls, Bunk and McNulty doing the crime scene only saying 'f*ck', 'motherf*cker' or 'f*cking hell', the Greggs shooting and Omar shooting Wee-Bay.
Agree on series 4, on reflection it's probably the greatest achievement of all of the 5 series by the producers even though I found series 3 more enjoyable. To follow Series 3 with a lot of the best characters gone (Stringer, Avon, Mouzone, looked like Colvin as well) was extremely tough and like you say it gave the show a lot more depth as well. Some of the scenes were well emotional as well - Randy telling Carver it'll be ok he did his best, Colvin going to Wee-Bay to save Namond from his mother and the life he had.
If I could recommend a series to watch it'd be Rome. Think the pair of you would like that, I've got series 1 of 2 if you want to borrow it. Another HBO show as well, like the Wire, Sopranos & Curb your Enthusiasm.
DAVE: Yeah, might borrow Rome off you, thanks for the offer. Hired another HBO show, OZ, from my LoveFilm but just thought it was cliched, laughable rubbish. Also been thinking about The Shield or Deadwood, but don't think anything will compare - I'll probably just end up watching the Wire for a 3rd time! Or going back to Sopranos or Six Feet Under.
Agree season 3 is the most entertaining - Shakespeare would have been proud of the conflict between Stringer and Avon, especially near the end when they're reminiscing and pretending to be brothers but secretly working to eliminate the other. Also for me the most powerful scene in the whole of the Wire is between Bunk and Omar in season 3 ("The fat man's given me an itch I can't scratch"). Bunk ends up being one of my favourite characters.
PHIL: Agree on the Bunk and the Scene, 'How far we done fall'. Bunk would be in my top 5 easily with McNulty, Colvin, Stringer and Omar.
The Shield is quality, I've only got one season on DVD though, think it's season 5 where Forest Whitaker plays an Internal Affairs man trying to take down the main character Vic Mackey. Same as you I'm thinking of getting into Deadwood, most people rave about it.
PHIL: What did you think of the last series then and the end of series 4? McNulty's story in that last series was amazing, loved the way he wouldn't play ball with Rawls when he wanted to dump the rest of the murders. Colvin proved a great character in Series 4 as well.
DAVE: Season 4 was superb - without it I don't think the Wire would have the same depth, because you have to look at how the education system fails each of the four characters. The most intelligent Dukie ends up a junkie, the most businesslike Randy ends up a tough guy in a home and the most talented of them all, Michael, ends up on the streets - whereas the dumbest and most arrogant Namond is just plain lucky to fall under Bunny's wing.
Colvin is a maverick that doesn't fit into the system and so ends up getting spat out, just like Freamon and McNulty do in season 5. They're the best characters because they know that to achieve the best results they need to be creative and play by their own rules - although McNulty does take it too far with the homeless murders.
Just gutted it's all over really - what can follow that?
PHIL: I've started it all again. NTL were showing series 1 so I started with that and now I'm on to series 2, you appreciate it a lot more. Forgot just how good series 1 was, it has some of the best scenes too - D'Angelo and the Chess scene, Landsman going to defend McNulty to Rawls, Bunk and McNulty doing the crime scene only saying 'f*ck', 'motherf*cker' or 'f*cking hell', the Greggs shooting and Omar shooting Wee-Bay.
Agree on series 4, on reflection it's probably the greatest achievement of all of the 5 series by the producers even though I found series 3 more enjoyable. To follow Series 3 with a lot of the best characters gone (Stringer, Avon, Mouzone, looked like Colvin as well) was extremely tough and like you say it gave the show a lot more depth as well. Some of the scenes were well emotional as well - Randy telling Carver it'll be ok he did his best, Colvin going to Wee-Bay to save Namond from his mother and the life he had.
If I could recommend a series to watch it'd be Rome. Think the pair of you would like that, I've got series 1 of 2 if you want to borrow it. Another HBO show as well, like the Wire, Sopranos & Curb your Enthusiasm.
DAVE: Yeah, might borrow Rome off you, thanks for the offer. Hired another HBO show, OZ, from my LoveFilm but just thought it was cliched, laughable rubbish. Also been thinking about The Shield or Deadwood, but don't think anything will compare - I'll probably just end up watching the Wire for a 3rd time! Or going back to Sopranos or Six Feet Under.
Agree season 3 is the most entertaining - Shakespeare would have been proud of the conflict between Stringer and Avon, especially near the end when they're reminiscing and pretending to be brothers but secretly working to eliminate the other. Also for me the most powerful scene in the whole of the Wire is between Bunk and Omar in season 3 ("The fat man's given me an itch I can't scratch"). Bunk ends up being one of my favourite characters.
PHIL: Agree on the Bunk and the Scene, 'How far we done fall'. Bunk would be in my top 5 easily with McNulty, Colvin, Stringer and Omar.
The Shield is quality, I've only got one season on DVD though, think it's season 5 where Forest Whitaker plays an Internal Affairs man trying to take down the main character Vic Mackey. Same as you I'm thinking of getting into Deadwood, most people rave about it.
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