Marlo: His jail cell scene was GREAT. One of the scenes that I've replayed a few times since finishing. I loved seeing him lose his cool and raise his voice for the first time, the cell went completely quiet. "MY NAME IS MY NAME". And then his final scene was almost just as good. Walking out of the business meeting onto the corner and physically taking it on his own and drawing blood for the first time. (Without Chris, I'm not sure he'd really make it. I think Chris might as well have been in charge of the whole thing tbh). Marlo's resolution was one of my favorites
Bubbles: Another perfectly done one. His speech at the meeting was one of the best and his segment in the final montage where he walked up the stairs and ate dinner with his sister was probably the best moment of the montage. Glad he got a happy ending
Michael and Dukie: Ughhh their final scenes together. So sad. Saddest part of them BY FAR was Michael not remembering the piss balloon moment. By far. That elevated the tragedy of not just Michael but all four boys really. The Michael and Snoop scene was good. I didn't know it went down that way, I thought Snoop was gonna die because of a hit put on her, not the opposite. I wasn't nuts over the death itself or her final line like others appear to be. Snoop was a meh character. I cared very little for her and I didn't think her final line was very special. I only liked what the scene did for Michael. Michael as the new Omar.....eh! I looove the concept because I love full circle shit like that, but I'm not sure it worked. It felt extremely forced, like they thought of it late in the season. Dukie shooting up also did nothing for me because I never really cared for him. I only felt for Prez during the money moment. Liked seeing Namond being successful, did NOT like the lack of Randy!
Omar: I didn't talk much about his death. I WILL SAY, Omar's final moments might've been my favorite Omar tbh. It was really sad seeing him limp around the city and shout to no one in particular. Of course Omar dies 20 minutes into my favorite Omar episode
Police: Uhh...don't really have much to say honestly. McNulty's best moment all season was hearing the FBI profile about himself. Him refusing to force all serial killer confessions out of the crazed homeless man was cool. I thought him with the homeless man at the end was stupid. I think it might've been a cool statement if he was never able to find him in the sea of homelessness again. The "let's go home" line was kinda cheesy. I wish he said LET'S GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE while looking at Baltimore. I did like the final shot of the city though
Bunk, Kima, Lester, Sydnor, Carver, Herc, Daniels...not much resolution that I cared for really. Apparently Bunk and Kima were investigating a body on the same corner where Alan Gant was found. I didn't catch that, but I love it. Kima being the one to spill on the serial killer stuff was whatever. I've really never liked Kima at all. She hasn't been involved in anything too great since her shooting in season one. Sydnor as the new Jimmy...lel. That was forced and lame. Carver being the new Daniels was actually good. Carver was one of my favorites. He had one of the smoothest arcs throughout the whole series. Daniels quitting was sad, especially since VALCHEK gets to become commissioner...good GOD! I'm glad we never got a glimpse of the Valchek era. Pearlman as judge and Daniels as lawyer was kinda lame. FUCK Herc! He was always funny, but fuck him for spilling to Levy. I can't tell if he realizes the consequences of his actions or if he's just an idiot
Carcetti: Pissed that he turned into a dick since I liked him, but the show kinda tricked me. I believed for awhile that he'd be a good character who would really try for some change, just like the people who elected him likely believed. But by the end I was duped and he was just a schmuck. Sad. I hate that smarmy guy who works for him too. SO much. I loved Daniels basically telling him to fuck off @ juking the numbers
The Sun: This did very little for me altogether. I thought it was a tremendously wasted opportunity. The Newspaper as the fifth institution to focus on could've been really great. It's a really cool perspective on the city, so I dunno how they fucked it up so bad. There weren't enough instances of the paper effecting the police and the streets effecting the paper etc etc etc. Other seasons did it perfectly, this dropped the ball I thought. Other seasons introduced the new institution/the new characters that came with it and made me care about those new characters. I didn't care about ANY Sun characters whatsoever. Gus was fine but boring. Fletcher's friendship with Bubbles was cool. That's about it. I agree with the criticism Simon gets for using (wasting) the final season's major storyline as a commentary on his old job and bosses and all that. Pretty lame overall. Maybe things would've been better if the newspaper story was another season and another angle was used in season five? The kids to finish maybe?
Three moments of glorious payoff:
1. Jimmy laying into Scott and the look on Scott's face
2. Kenard in handcuffs
3. Slim killing Cheese. This was the best of the three and one of my favorite scenes of the finale. Slim is easily one of my favorite secondary characters, something about him. Him being the one to kill Cheese and getting payback for Joe was so sweet. And that head nod he does immediately afterwards is the best. It makes me laugh every time
Final montage: Meh! Not my favorite (I think 1 is). I'm VERY mad that Avon wasn't included! They could've done a lot more with that montage and it would've said a lot more about the series as a whole imo. They should've tried to show as many people as they could've. Literally EVERYONE who has mattered and where they ended up...within reason, some would be boring. A quick shot of all of the major and some minor players throughout the whole series would've been so cool. There were a few moments in it that I liked, but not enough. My favorite montage was actually 60 minutes into the 90 minute episode, when they showed those great shots of different locations throughout the city. All were locations from previous seasons. That's the way to do it
Final episode was overall average. Not my favorite series finale by any means. It didn't feel like a book end on the series to me. That's probably what they were going for? Things go on etc. That's just not the type of finale that I like at all
Final season was average. Not just for the series but for any of my favorite shows. I know some say that season five sucked but it's still better than any season of anything else. DISAGREED! All in all, I didn't love this season and didn't think it was too strong as a whole
Michael and Dukie: Ughhh their final scenes together. So sad. Saddest part of them BY FAR was Michael not remembering the piss balloon moment. By far. That elevated the tragedy of not just Michael but all four boys really. The Michael and Snoop scene was good. I didn't know it went down that way, I thought Snoop was gonna die because of a hit put on her, not the opposite. I wasn't nuts over the death itself or her final line like others appear to be. Snoop was a meh character. I cared very little for her and I didn't think her final line was very special. I only liked what the scene did for Michael. Michael as the new Omar.....eh! I looove the concept because I love full circle shit like that, but I'm not sure it worked. It felt extremely forced, like they thought of it late in the season. Dukie shooting up also did nothing for me because I never really cared for him. I only felt for Prez during the money moment. Liked seeing Namond being successful, did NOT like the lack of Randy!
The piss balloon part tore me up the first time I saw it. One of the best moments of S5 to me. I also thought Snoop's death was one of the best moments tho! Like you I never cared much for her either (especially after she was so hyped by people on FI before I started watching) but that was one of the best death scenes to me. Not just for Snoop but for Michael too, the whole scene in general. "How my hair look Mike?" "You look good girl" is easily one of the most memorable exchanges to me
Also agreed about Michael/Sydnor in the finale. I think I liked the CONCEPT of the ending a lot more than the actual execution. Michael's development was kinda a leap, but Sydnor's is the one that felt really, really forced
favorite character: tie between McNulty/Stringer/Avon/Omar. Frank and Nicky are up there too. I CAN'T DECIDE!
favorite scene: first scene of the series is up there tbh. Where's Wallace ofc, Randy's "You gonna look out for me?" scene, and the whole ending of 2x11: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UluX8EfUM-4
2 > 4 > 3 > 1 >>> 5
best line is probably between "A life Jimmy, you know what that is? It's the shit that happens while you're waiting for moments that never come" and "You come at the king, you best not miss". But there's probably a couple other contenders that I'm forgetting
No scene hit me as hard as Where's Wallace. I've watched it dozens of dozens of times. I know every BEAT to that scene now and every mark is hit so perfectly. I remember my jaw dropping the moment D dared to open his mouth about it, it was huge
Next favorite scene is a tie between 'You gonna look out for me?' and probably the S3 Avon/Stringer scene, "I'm just a gangsta I suppose...and I want my corners"
One line delivery that I absolutely love was from Prez. When Daniels visits him after the cop shooting and urges him to call a lawyer, Prez's "No sir" delivery is PERFECT. "No sir...I'm done." It always sticks with me
favorite characters? Stringer was the heart of the show for me for most of the first half, especially in season 3. THE BUNK for sure. Such a joy to watch. Like Bunny and Lester, he was strong in his MORALS even if his personal failures would crop up from time to time. Bodie was great too, pretty much the perfect working man of the series. Frank, D'Angelo, Wallace, Carcetti, and Daniels are up there. I had a lot of affection for Prop Joe despite how often his actions negatively impacted the others. Dukie was actually my favorite of the kids, if only because like every scene of his made me wanna cry. I know he wasn't too developed in comparison to the others, but his story was so affecting. and Jimmy!
I haven't watched for a couple years but I think Ziggy might come off as better on rewatch.
Seasonal ranking would probably be
3
4
2
1
5
Season 3 and 4 are both the peak of the show for me. They go into so many different facets of the show's world, and they tell self-contained, tragic stories. Unlike with season 2, which is also tremendous, there's no STUMBLING. From the start, they just cook.
2 is probably the season I think about the most tho! I think the first few episodes are a bit weak. They hadn't quite mastered the format yet, but it's a very bold move cutting away from the great characters of season 1.
I feel like 1 is a very good debut season. The show felt fully formed from the start, but the depth that came from later seasons definitely outshine it.
5 is the weakest! Conceptually interesting but the main story is kinda lame and dull and even the exciting street stuff has to take too much of a backseat to the journalism commentary. That said I absolutely love the last three episodes, especially the finale. The sendoffs are perfect to me, and I think the finale is among the best I've seen! Which is why I'm a little curious you didn't like it too much, Curtis.
Unlike say Breaking Bad or I dunno Lost, there's not really a singular story being told with the Wire. They consciously broke away from the expected ending (finally nailing the Barksdales) in season 3, so they couldn't quite do that. And by the end of season 5 the show was too sprawling for any one perfect moment of closure. I always felt like the first hour of the finale was closing up the season story, while the last half hour (beginning with McNulty's wake, I think) was about closing up the show. And just about all the scenes in that are perfect. Dukie taking Prez's money, the wake, the shots of Baltimore, Cheese's death, Marlo leaving the party... it's all just so satisfying.
Favorite scene is Michael not remembering probably. I love the steakhouse scene in season 4, with Bunny taking the kids out to eat. Lester discovering the bodies is another fantastic moment, as is Randy's yelling at Carver. this scene
cemented my love for Bunk. All of the Stringer business meetings.
The finale was just...typical I guess? It was a standard Wire finale and a standard Wire episode really. I think it's probably my least favorite of all the season finales
There was nothing gripping or emotional or even terribly entertaining in it for me. Nothing STOOD OUT. The only two scenes that I recall loving were Marlo's final scene and the quick shot of Bubbles walking up the stairs. And Slim killing Cheese
