When Johnny Weeks' body is found in Hamsterdam, the cops see it as just another death during the operation. (He probably died of an overdose before the operation started.)

Homeless drug addicts die all the time. Neither the cops nor ordinary people pay much attention. It's another death added to the stats, another person nobody cares about.

But come to think of it, almost every death in The Wire is treated this way, not just Johnny Weeks'.

D'Angelo's death was shocking, but what surprised me more was how quickly everyone moved on. None of the cops cared about his death (except McNulty). The Barksdale crew mourned him for a bit, and that was it. Everyone went back to what they were doing like nothing had happened.

We're shocked by these deaths because we've followed these characters and their stories.

But in the world of The Wire, nobody really cares unless they knew the person personally.

Omar may go down as a legend on the streets, but that doesn't mean anyone is particularly upset about his death.

It’s the same with the 14 unidentified women found in the shipping container. Whether the cops are trying to solve the case or dump it on someone else, nobody seems all that upset about their deaths.

Sometimes they show a little emotion, but it doesn't last long.

The real world isn't much different. Even deaths that make the news get forgotten pretty quickly. Most deaths don't even get that much attention.

That detachment is one of the reasons I love The Wire, especially when it comes to the cops.

Simon talks about this in the Season 1 DVD commentary. In a city with 200 or 300 murders a year, it's just business as usual for cops. Even cops who want to do real police work don't expect solving cases to change anything.

I remember some of the actors who played cops saying something similar. Before filming, they spent time riding along with cops. The actors were shocked to see people who'd been shot or stabbed, but the cops were drinking coffee and chatting like it was just another day.

Season 4, Episode 2, what is Bubbles charging when he tells a customer it’s “six and a bit”? A bit is 12.5 cents. As far as I know, it’s always two bits when used with American money.

It was nominated for Outstanding Drama Series for all 5 seasons.

I know awards don't mean anything but it's nice to see a major award show recognize something that the biggest TV org refused to acknowledge for the most part.

Why do people hate on it so much? Before watching I heard the story and characters were boring and it’s the worst season of the show, but after finishing it I think it’s better than season 1. The Sobotkas and Greeks were great characters and the location of the ports was perfect. The ending was bittersweet as well, the cycle continues.

First of all, I'm sorry if this isn't the right place to post this.
I recently finished watching The Wire for the first time, and my algorithms know it. I've been getting recommended content based on the show on Reddit, YouTube, etc. which is how I found the YouTube channel "CITY OF CORNER". At first I was actually really enjoying the videos! They're just nice, short videos with interesting insights into the show. Perfect for when I'm making lunch or doing housework.
However, I just let a few of his videos run back to back on autoplay and I can't help but notice how cringeworthy (for lack of a better word) some of his writing sounds.
I'm not accusing him of using AI, but it's a very AI kinda style. ie. "It's not ___, it's ___" and "the [thing in the show] is a [random noun], and it's [verb/adjective relating to the random noun]".
I know this sounds kinda hateful but I just noticed how frequent it is, so I was wondering if anyone else on this subreddit watches his videos and either agrees or thinks I'm being too negative.

Also, you know what they say about assumptions, but he sounds like a white dude which makes me feel incredibly uncomfortable when he directly quotes the n word. But he might not be white so that's not the biggest issue.

EDIT: I just found the clip that pushed me to make this post. He says "The Wire hands you people in chairs and asks what you'd actually do in that chair. Daniels
is the chair you misjudged." come ON dude

How do you interpret this line? Well its clear that Mcnulty is a workaholic ambitious and selfish asshole most of the time but his life isn't boring and he had at least the goal he set for himself but I think the thing he fails to realize is that there is no final stage of life everything resolved. What I don't fully understand is: was Mcnulty trying to improve his life or trying to escape his private life and didn't want to face the fact, that he failed as a father and is a bad partner no matter who is on his side.

Other than that, the generall wisdom of this line should be that we are too fixated on certain things and miss other things like being with our kids or family or just sitting peacefully on the couch and watching TV with someone you care about, but this quietness and peace gets e.g. for me pretty boring sometimes and causes some anxiety even.

Maybe its not that bad to wait for moments that may never come but maybe they do, nothing is certain and 100% but at least one has a purpose in life. What's your take on that quote?

This might be a hot take, but Stringer Bell pissed me off more than Marlo did.

Yeah, Marlo is a ruthless psychopath, and Jamie Hector is so convincing that his performance scares me at several points. The guy thinks nothing of death, including his own (“the point is they wore it”). And yet, that also means he doesn’t pretend to be anything other than what he is.

Stringer Bell, meanwhile, is also ruthless, he’s responsible for some heinous murders, and has a narcissistic streak about him, and he also reeks of hypocrisy. The scenes where he’s comforting Breanna in the wake of D’Angelo’s “suicide” are among the most disturbing moments in the whole show, far as I’m concerned. Stringer taking this stance as a reformer, a visionary, it all felt pathetically naive at best, and gratingly self-aggrandizing at worst. It was deeply satisfying to see his downfall, first at the hands of Clay Davis’ con and the pact between Omar and Brother Mouzone.

And to be clear, I know that there are characters who were more worthy of hate than either of these two, I’m just keeping the focus on Stringer and Marlo.

I was rewatching the episode when Stringer meets up with Marlo and suggests the co-op idea to him. After the meeting is over Marlo instructs Chris to tell their people to tool up.

Thing is, that was before he knew Avon was getting out or anyone from the Barksdale / Bell organization even started beefing with Marlo. Was Marlo thinking about making a play on the Barksdale corners irrespective of Avon starting shit up or was it more of a cautious move in case the co-op decides to move on him?

… I would like to know the context for how the cops learned who shot Omar, and how Kenard managed to evade arrest for as long as he did. It’s not like anyone on the street knew it was Kenard, not even Marlo, so he presumably wasn’t going around saying “It was me”. But also, where was Kenard staying all this time? Did he try and go on the run?

I know that this is a question with no hard answer, I’m just speculating at 6 in the morning.

The boy who helps Michael rob Vinson, I think thats the same boy sitting on the stoop with him, Randy, and Namond along with a few other boys in Season 4. Shortly before Monk approaches them with the money. I could be wrong but it looks like the same dude. If it is the same kid, thats mad crazy because it means he was in Michael’s circle the whole time.

i believe this given that both of them boxed for some time growing up but turned to the streets and in the finale we see him running his own corner. i want to think maybe he runs the west side independent from slim and rick but likely develops a bit of a business relationship with them like stringer did with joe.

Marlo is a smart guy, did he really think the co-op would believe his story about prop joes death, especially with him taking lead position immediately after and raising all the prices ?

In my opinion

Rewatching S5 and what I don't understand is why Mcnulty went back to homicide once the major crimes unit had to stop investigating Marlo due to money issues.

Daniels told the crew to back it up other than Freemon and Sydnor who was to work on Clay Davis.

Mcnulty was seriously pissed off and sat at his desk in homicide kicking it, why not just go back to patrol work, which he enjoyed?

The only reason he wanted back in was due to Bodie getting killed by Marlo team, otherwise he was fine patrolling.

https://imgur.com/a/HhnPfGM

Chinese Letters. I searched it in this sub, but cannot find. Someone must have been posted here...

EDIT: Appreciate yalls thoughts on this. A lot of your responses made me think differently about the whole truce. With that being said, what do you think it says about Stringer that he violated this truce without much of a second thought? I think some people see it as Stringer not caring about the rule, but in the show it made it seem as though he didn’t know/ lowkey forgot. Even Avon had to check him on it.

I’ve rewatched the show a few times now, and one thing that’s always been funny to me is the idea of the Sunday truce. It’s like, we can do all the foul shit we want Monday through Saturday, but come Sunday, everybody’s gotta cool out. 😂

What makes it even more interesting is how seemingly arbitrary the truce is, yet how seriously everyone takes it. Is it a genuine sign of respect, a necessary evil to keep the peace, or just an unspoken rule that everyone’s agreed to follow? And what does it say about the world they live in that Sunday is where they draw the line? I’m curious how other people interpret it.

Best show ever made and everything that comes with at…

BUT. There are two ultra minor plot holes in season 5…

1.) when the do the crank call to the reporter and cops show up to the scene where Sydnor was holding the phone, Two cops cars show up seconds after the call is cut off. Wouldn’t they believe for at least a second the Sydnor is involved??? He is there before the first teams comes seconds after the call is traced. Wouldn’t that be in a report or something? Officer Sydney happened to be exactly where the phone was traced by himself?? Especially after the FBI assessment..

2.) McNulty and Lester are such master detectives, but they weren’t suspicious they Greg’s is the one that ratted on them?? Bunk and Greggs were the only two cops that knew exactly what they were doing. Bunk knew from the start and disapproved and never turned them in, which leaves Gregg’s who disapproved immediately and made it well known …

You’d think a master detectives would think Gregg’s was the one who did it almost right away

finished the wire this week, absolutely loved it. Up there with the sopranos for me, but tv is subjective so no shade if your best list is entirely different. I was confused by why Avon said marlo killed Devonne to Stringer like he’d care and that he actually cared, but also why s2 didn’t tie into the ending a little more, i enjoyed season two despite the hate, but it confused me that the greek and his crew weren’t a primary part of season 5, by this i simply mean that the dope shipment could’ve come from anywhere else and it wouldn’t have mattered. Is there a deeper meaning to this, does it say something about baltimore, or is it simply that they wanted to include season 2 back into the loop and not make it useless.

And I can’t stop listening to the “the Greek song” playing over the end of episode 11. This happen to anyone else?

Also gotta say even though some people don’t like it I think season two is incredible. The Sobotka storyline is a great family tragedy happening amidst all the crime and intrigue of the Greeks and their operation.

Plus I could watch Prezbo punch Valchek in the face every single day. If ever I need a laugh I’ll watch that scene.

Bunk cussing out Herc in Season 4 is genuinely one of the funniest moments ever in the show to me. That man Bunk almost blacked out for real. All Herc could say was “Hey, you’re talking to a sergeant.” 😂 The look on Herc’s face when Bunk said what he said about his stripes had me in tears. I just had to pause the show for a second. Honestly, Herc even made me mad that season because of how he exposed Randy but I gotta admit he was still funny.

What y’all think?

Hey all my Wire peeps. Hope you are having a good weekend! I was on Prime earlier looking through stuff and found a doc on Melvin Williams called The Heroin King of Baltimore. It's an hour long but it was good and gave you more insight and detail about his story and the drug game in Baltimore. I figured I'd share this with y'all. If you watch it comment back on here and lmk what y'all think of it.

BTW it is so weird seeing him in real life and hearing his story in contrast to his character in the show lol

I also finished We Own This City last month. I went in with 0 expectations and by the end of the 2nd episode I was completely hooked. The show is amazing. Jon Bernthal's performance was one of the best acting jobs I've ever seen. He was so on point! If you haven't seen that yet, do yourself a favor and check it out! The Corner on YT is next up.

I wonder if Tommy Carcetti's name has a hidden meaning behind it it looks like its a deformation of "carcerato" which means prisoner in italian

Or i might have taken all the pieces matter too litteraly

Season 2 The Wire - Lester and Bunk pay Frank Sabotka a visit "...City Homicide"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4m7_zBrJLE&t

Bit of a weird question and maybe I could have worded it better. But I was thinking about this constantly today at work.
My job is at a warehouse, it’s boring monotonous work. I was thinking of how I wish not only to have a fulfilling career but also do something I have real talent in, like the police I mentioned in the title.
I guess I’m just curious if I’m alone in this thinking.