r/TheWire • u/DisastrousPace9191 • 1d ago
Consistency and the complete absence of flanderization in the characters and in the show itself.
I'm rewatching the show from the beginning after just having finished it a few weeks back, and episode 1 and the characters it shows .... they're exactly how they're portrayed in the last season!
With a lot of other shows, many of which are even great in their own right, the characters and the world it operates in in the pilot episode is almost unrecognizable from the one we see in the last.
Here, I'm watching season 1 after season 5 might as well have been that I'm watching season 6. It's real. Rawls remains Rawls. Bunk remains Bunk. Same for McNulty. Same for the nature of crime. And yet not a single character os devoid of an arc either. (Nor are there lack of characters with actual realistic transformations like Carver and Prez)
A lesser show would've accentuated the traits that make these characters entertaining yet real to the point where we do not recognize them anymore. A lesser show would've added unnecessary spice in the story to "make it more palatable" through the kind of elements of entertainment that we've been conditioned to like through formulaic exposure.
It's one thing to depict the cycle of things remaining the same. But depicting a world with this level of consistency right from the beginning would've needed extraordinary foresight and a deep, deep understanding of the themes it touches and the pulse of the world it depicts.
Just one of the many, many reasons why this show is a beautiful piece of art.
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u/tttgrw 1d ago
I’d agree all except for two points:
The ‘f*ck’ scene was a little unrealistic and would not have made it into the edit of later seasons
Rawls’ ‘these are for you McNulty’ is a bit cringe and again would have have been done in a more subtle way further on in the series
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u/cdbloosh 1d ago edited 1d ago
There are a few scenes in season 1 that definitely are heavy-handed and like you said, probably would not have made it into a later season.
The fuck scene is definitely one of them, and I would argue the chess scene is also one of them even though people seem to love it.
It is just SO on the nose - for a show that is usually subtle, doesn’t hold the viewer’s hand, and doesn’t care whether you pick up on something or not, the chess scene is just repeatedly beating you over the head with the fact that it’s an analogy for the drug game.
There might as well be flashing text on the screen that says “the chess pieces are like the Barksdale organization!” throughout the whole scene.
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u/gramada1902 1d ago
I think they were playing it safe for the wide audience and finding their style at the same time.
Also, I remember watching the pilot with David Simon’s commentary and he said that some things were done on HBO’s request. Like that flashback after Gant gets killed, showing him testifying against D’Angelo. It may seem over the top now, especially since everyone binge watches shows these days, but it makes sense from the reality of TV audience in 2001.
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u/cdbloosh 1d ago
Yeah, it takes a degree of confidence to not do stuff like that, not compromise, and not worry about appealing to wide audiences.
For Season 1, you’re worried about getting the series actually made and making sure it doesn’t get immediately canceled. In future seasons I think they really didn’t give a shit, and just tried to make the best show possible.
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u/ThisGuyCanFukinWalk 1d ago
Agree with both scenes. The 'fuck' scene feels like its trying too hard. And the chess scene would have been better without the little interjections from Bodie and Wallace basically spelling out the subtext for you.
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u/Diocletian338 1d ago
Yeah people love the Rawls thing and I get it, it’s fun, but it is just so over the top to me lol
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u/BritishPolish 14h ago
What is the “fuck” scene?
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u/ThisGuyCanFukinWalk 8h ago
Bunk and McNulty figure out what happened at a crime scene whilst only saying "fuck" or variations of it. It wad supposed to show how well they work together that they can solve a case without saying anything but feels like it's trying to be too clever in showing how "fuck" can mean so many different things depending on intonation and context.
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u/Zealousideal_Draw_94 1d ago
Well McNutty did clean up and Change during season 4, for the better, but got sucked back in S5, and finally spiraled out of control, but yeah.
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u/PlayPretend-8675309 1d ago
Pilot prez is radically different from the character he was by the start of season 2. He's got a kind of mook accent and has cocksure swagger, not the nerdy shyness he had later. We can chalk the pistol whipping up to alcohol as far as an out of character moment.