from a message board i post on occasionally. might as well, right? my diary is still my diary.
spoilers like whoa so Bryce et al stay away
1. Favourite season.
i find myself defending season 2 all the time, so i feel like i should say that but i can't dismiss the others at all really, it's just, g'ah season 2 was way better than people think. seasons 3 and 5 were the weakest in my opinion, and season 1 to my memory had a bumpy beginning but right around when kima got hurt it got AMAZING and probably had the best moments of all, so it's hard to say. lots of people talk about how season 4 is the best, and it is probably the most masterful...but i was pretty soul-hurt by that point, i don't know. i need to rewatch it all, g'ah.
maybe something like:
1st place: 3-way tie between 2, 1, and 4
2nd: 3
3rd: 5
2. Favourite Scene(s).
wallace, wallace, wallace
cutty jogging on election day to "move on up" and mentioning offhand to the campaigner he can't vote
dukie and prez
michael and snoop
bubbles on the bench the first time he gets clean
dukie looking back and michael already gone
chris and wee bey!
bodie listening to a prairie home companion
frank walking to his doom in season 2, everything about how that was edited was great, really arresting and heart-breaking
when bunny takes the kids to ruth's chris, including the next day in class
the ongoing thing they do, which is maybe arguably too pat but it gets to me so, where someone you've come to care about in an earlier season is mentioned offhand in a totally throw-away way later--clay laughing about stringer bell being had as if his name means nothing, carcetti's aide telling him nick sobotka is "nobody", etc. just to hit home the point none of these individual people really matter in the grand scheme of things, they just get chewed up by the machine and forgotten.
the use of food and interiors to tell you things and contrast or connect people/scenes, particularly in the earlier seasons. i loved it. i hated rhonda for like 3 solid seasons almost entirely because of the early lunchtime sushi scene.
i also love the moments with ambiguity that feels reasonable, earned, like how people quibble online over poot's intentions in the wallace scene or whether michael really didn't remember dukie's summer scene or was just shutting him out, etc.
clay davis mispronouncing aeschylus
when nick doesn't flinch or think twice, even after everything else has gone to hell and he's said everything, about denying horseface's involvement in things. to the very end.
the expression on both bubbles and prez's faces when they see each other at the school
poot and bodie running into herc and carver with their dates at the movies
bodie at the funeral parlor picking out d'angelo's arrangement
Prez getting excited and less demoralized when he finds the sheet of paper with the problem worked out...and then the very next desk he looks at there's the "Fuck Prezbo" carving. spot on.
3. Favourite quote(s).
"cadaverous motherfuckers"
"but then i would've had a wife"
"tweedy impertinence"
"they're kinda hot with their clothes on"
"thus far, i'm undecided on fake tits"
"I'm working Homicides." "So if the bad boy happen to kill me, you can help me out then right?"
"i'm thinkin' 'bout some pussy" "me too"
"you should meet my partner. you'll like her!"
"hey, do you have one of these for asses?"
"what about these little bald-headed bitches right here?"
"hamilton ain't no president"
"i see you dress left!"
"whether you squat in an alley or sit on a porcelain throne, don't really change the moment now do it?"
"fuckin' huxtables and shit"
"chair ain't recognized your ass"
"then one day it's 'you should have a regular job' and 'you need to be home at five o'clock'" "'you need to stop fucking waitresses'"
"better to be lucky than to be good"
"I said 'Mr. Mayor, that's a good strong dick you got there, and I see you know how to use it!'"
"...of pepper, pepper, and bayleaf"
"he mean lexus, but he ain't know it"
"you'd rather live in shit than let the world see you work a shovel"
"i'm late for soccer practice" "suck what?"
"they fuck up, they get beat. we fuck up, they give us pensions"
"i almost got one to swear the docks are actually near the water"
"you know what they call a guy who pays that much attention to his clothes right?" "mmhm. a grown up."
"bubbs got some problems, but insincerity ain't one of them"
"You're the perfect bait. They will view you as conflicted, your homophobia is so visceral." "See that. I haven't even walked in the place yet and you're already calling me a cocksucker."
"Ain't enough y'all done violated the Sunday Morning Truce. No. I'm standing here holding the torn-up church crown of a bonafide coloured lady. Do you know what a coloured lady is? Not your moms, fo' sho'. 'Cause if they was that, y'all woulda known better than that bullshit."
"Listen up, you mutts, this is complicated. I mean it isn't complicated if you went to college or, I don't know, your mothers actually stopped drinking while they were pregnant, but for Baltimore city police, this is complicated."
"You know, fun things like, tickling your partner." "Tickle my nuts!" (all because of Prez's face)
"I plead the fifth commandment!"
"that's protestant whiskey"
"you really see him shoot the man?" "you really asking?"
"jimmaaaaaaay!"
Bubbles calling Jimmy "McNutty"
"i hear that wmd is the bomb!"
"i'm an XL" "no doubt"
"I'd like to think that until the handcuffs actually fit, there's still talking to be done"
"i don't want no damn welfare pencil!"
"Man, you need some Day of the Jackal type motherfucker for that kind of shit"
"like big paws on a puppy"
"Out of respect for that man's skill set, I'm gonna take myself out of the lineup"
"where am i gonna find homeless people?" "not at home i imagine"
"A good churchman's always up in everybody's shit"
"it's ok to hold onto grief, but you have to make room for other things too"
"You're not killing them yourself McNulty, at least assure me of that"
"Man, why didn’t you say something before, they probably wouldn’t be tearing these towers down now. They’d go put a big ass sign in front that says 'here is where Malik Carr first got his dick wet'"
"i can't WAIT to go to jail"
the oft-mentioned "how my hair look, mike?"
and i totally agree about the 40 degree day speech, BNBG, and "you want it to be one way, but it's the other way" which is yes, probably the best encapsulation of the entire show. and yes to slim charles.
4. Favourite character.
not possible. one of the masterful things about the show is how much you give a crap about people you fucking hate at first. prez is the obvious one, but i don't even mean like that. if you'd told me i'd be upset about proposition joe in season 1 i would've laughed. crazy. some more characters who had moments that made me not hate them, shockingly: wee bey (after that party...jesus), vondas (i loved him, which i really shouldn't do of course). i found chris fascinating (for similar reasons as vondas maybe, i guess i just like understated characters).
wallace, dukie, and frank broke my heart hard, but i'm sure that goes without saying at this point.
people complained that nick had the weakest acting. i didn't think so--there wasn't anybody who pulled me out, it was a great revolving ensemble cast.
the only character i didn't like or find compelling in any way was beadie, i just thought she was annoying. i mean, so was donette but she made sense to me. ditto nereese. i just have some irrational personal dislike for beadie i guess, it can't really be explained.
one of my only legitimate-feeling beefs with the show characterization-wise is levy, and i haven't read much yet obviously but am very curious to see if anyone else mentions this because it seems like it'd be impossible not to. they make a big fucking deal out of him being jewish, and then he's possibly the most vile person on the show in a rather antisemitic sort of way--money-grubbing and powerful, clever and sneaky with a cultured sort of aura. i dunno. it sort of itched at me the whole time but then that scene where he's beaming at herc and all "yvette's making brisket!" just put it way over the top.
i was also disappointed at the way kima was a great fully fleshed out character early on and then it's like they let all the air out of the pump or something.
and a little more in response to stuff:
Yeah! I almost included his "Why always Boris?" lament as a favorite quote.
Another scene I'd forgotten that is just great was in season 1 when Bubbles goes through all the details of why Sydnor's undercover junkie outfit isn't good enough. A lot of people talk about the chess scene (which at the time I found way too heavy handed) or the one where Kima beats on Bodie as being what sealed the deal for them, but I think for me it was that one.
Oh, and another moment of earned ambiguity: in the scene where Avon and Marlo are talking in jail, it's unclear (well, people argue about it anyway) whether Avon is truly pathetic or knows exactly what he's doing.
1. Favourite season.
i find myself defending season 2 all the time, so i feel like i should say that but i can't dismiss the others at all really, it's just, g'ah season 2 was way better than people think. seasons 3 and 5 were the weakest in my opinion, and season 1 to my memory had a bumpy beginning but right around when kima got hurt it got AMAZING and probably had the best moments of all, so it's hard to say. lots of people talk about how season 4 is the best, and it is probably the most masterful...but i was pretty soul-hurt by that point, i don't know. i need to rewatch it all, g'ah.
maybe something like:
1st place: 3-way tie between 2, 1, and 4
2nd: 3
3rd: 5
2. Favourite Scene(s).
wallace, wallace, wallace
cutty jogging on election day to "move on up" and mentioning offhand to the campaigner he can't vote
dukie and prez
michael and snoop
bubbles on the bench the first time he gets clean
dukie looking back and michael already gone
chris and wee bey!
bodie listening to a prairie home companion
frank walking to his doom in season 2, everything about how that was edited was great, really arresting and heart-breaking
when bunny takes the kids to ruth's chris, including the next day in class
the ongoing thing they do, which is maybe arguably too pat but it gets to me so, where someone you've come to care about in an earlier season is mentioned offhand in a totally throw-away way later--clay laughing about stringer bell being had as if his name means nothing, carcetti's aide telling him nick sobotka is "nobody", etc. just to hit home the point none of these individual people really matter in the grand scheme of things, they just get chewed up by the machine and forgotten.
the use of food and interiors to tell you things and contrast or connect people/scenes, particularly in the earlier seasons. i loved it. i hated rhonda for like 3 solid seasons almost entirely because of the early lunchtime sushi scene.
i also love the moments with ambiguity that feels reasonable, earned, like how people quibble online over poot's intentions in the wallace scene or whether michael really didn't remember dukie's summer scene or was just shutting him out, etc.
clay davis mispronouncing aeschylus
when nick doesn't flinch or think twice, even after everything else has gone to hell and he's said everything, about denying horseface's involvement in things. to the very end.
the expression on both bubbles and prez's faces when they see each other at the school
poot and bodie running into herc and carver with their dates at the movies
bodie at the funeral parlor picking out d'angelo's arrangement
Prez getting excited and less demoralized when he finds the sheet of paper with the problem worked out...and then the very next desk he looks at there's the "Fuck Prezbo" carving. spot on.
3. Favourite quote(s).
"cadaverous motherfuckers"
"but then i would've had a wife"
"tweedy impertinence"
"they're kinda hot with their clothes on"
"thus far, i'm undecided on fake tits"
"I'm working Homicides." "So if the bad boy happen to kill me, you can help me out then right?"
"i'm thinkin' 'bout some pussy" "me too"
"you should meet my partner. you'll like her!"
"hey, do you have one of these for asses?"
"what about these little bald-headed bitches right here?"
"hamilton ain't no president"
"i see you dress left!"
"whether you squat in an alley or sit on a porcelain throne, don't really change the moment now do it?"
"fuckin' huxtables and shit"
"chair ain't recognized your ass"
"then one day it's 'you should have a regular job' and 'you need to be home at five o'clock'" "'you need to stop fucking waitresses'"
"better to be lucky than to be good"
"I said 'Mr. Mayor, that's a good strong dick you got there, and I see you know how to use it!'"
"...of pepper, pepper, and bayleaf"
"he mean lexus, but he ain't know it"
"you'd rather live in shit than let the world see you work a shovel"
"i'm late for soccer practice" "suck what?"
"they fuck up, they get beat. we fuck up, they give us pensions"
"i almost got one to swear the docks are actually near the water"
"you know what they call a guy who pays that much attention to his clothes right?" "mmhm. a grown up."
"bubbs got some problems, but insincerity ain't one of them"
"You're the perfect bait. They will view you as conflicted, your homophobia is so visceral." "See that. I haven't even walked in the place yet and you're already calling me a cocksucker."
"Ain't enough y'all done violated the Sunday Morning Truce. No. I'm standing here holding the torn-up church crown of a bonafide coloured lady. Do you know what a coloured lady is? Not your moms, fo' sho'. 'Cause if they was that, y'all woulda known better than that bullshit."
"Listen up, you mutts, this is complicated. I mean it isn't complicated if you went to college or, I don't know, your mothers actually stopped drinking while they were pregnant, but for Baltimore city police, this is complicated."
"You know, fun things like, tickling your partner." "Tickle my nuts!" (all because of Prez's face)
"I plead the fifth commandment!"
"that's protestant whiskey"
"you really see him shoot the man?" "you really asking?"
"jimmaaaaaaay!"
Bubbles calling Jimmy "McNutty"
"i hear that wmd is the bomb!"
"i'm an XL" "no doubt"
"I'd like to think that until the handcuffs actually fit, there's still talking to be done"
"i don't want no damn welfare pencil!"
"Man, you need some Day of the Jackal type motherfucker for that kind of shit"
"like big paws on a puppy"
"Out of respect for that man's skill set, I'm gonna take myself out of the lineup"
"where am i gonna find homeless people?" "not at home i imagine"
"A good churchman's always up in everybody's shit"
"it's ok to hold onto grief, but you have to make room for other things too"
"You're not killing them yourself McNulty, at least assure me of that"
"Man, why didn’t you say something before, they probably wouldn’t be tearing these towers down now. They’d go put a big ass sign in front that says 'here is where Malik Carr first got his dick wet'"
"i can't WAIT to go to jail"
the oft-mentioned "how my hair look, mike?"
and i totally agree about the 40 degree day speech, BNBG, and "you want it to be one way, but it's the other way" which is yes, probably the best encapsulation of the entire show. and yes to slim charles.
4. Favourite character.
not possible. one of the masterful things about the show is how much you give a crap about people you fucking hate at first. prez is the obvious one, but i don't even mean like that. if you'd told me i'd be upset about proposition joe in season 1 i would've laughed. crazy. some more characters who had moments that made me not hate them, shockingly: wee bey (after that party...jesus), vondas (i loved him, which i really shouldn't do of course). i found chris fascinating (for similar reasons as vondas maybe, i guess i just like understated characters).
wallace, dukie, and frank broke my heart hard, but i'm sure that goes without saying at this point.
people complained that nick had the weakest acting. i didn't think so--there wasn't anybody who pulled me out, it was a great revolving ensemble cast.
the only character i didn't like or find compelling in any way was beadie, i just thought she was annoying. i mean, so was donette but she made sense to me. ditto nereese. i just have some irrational personal dislike for beadie i guess, it can't really be explained.
one of my only legitimate-feeling beefs with the show characterization-wise is levy, and i haven't read much yet obviously but am very curious to see if anyone else mentions this because it seems like it'd be impossible not to. they make a big fucking deal out of him being jewish, and then he's possibly the most vile person on the show in a rather antisemitic sort of way--money-grubbing and powerful, clever and sneaky with a cultured sort of aura. i dunno. it sort of itched at me the whole time but then that scene where he's beaming at herc and all "yvette's making brisket!" just put it way over the top.
i was also disappointed at the way kima was a great fully fleshed out character early on and then it's like they let all the air out of the pump or something.
and a little more in response to stuff:
Yeah! I almost included his "Why always Boris?" lament as a favorite quote.
Another scene I'd forgotten that is just great was in season 1 when Bubbles goes through all the details of why Sydnor's undercover junkie outfit isn't good enough. A lot of people talk about the chess scene (which at the time I found way too heavy handed) or the one where Kima beats on Bodie as being what sealed the deal for them, but I think for me it was that one.
Oh, and another moment of earned ambiguity: in the scene where Avon and Marlo are talking in jail, it's unclear (well, people argue about it anyway) whether Avon is truly pathetic or knows exactly what he's doing.