The Wire, 20 years later

Why always Boris?

Seriously, dude, S2 was tops.

 

Namond>Ziggy, aight?

 

Ethnicities in drug/gang television

1. Mexicans in Breaking Bad/BCS
1a. African Americans in The Wire
3. Italians in Sopranos










99. Greeks in The Wire

 

Point of order - The "Greeks" mock the fact that they're not Greek, that's simply what the drug dealers and the dock workers think they are.

Spiros: He knows my name, but my name is not my name. And you... to them you're only "The Greek."
The Greek: And, of course, I'm not even Greek.

 

And they both got away with it and continued getting away with it. Seems effective.

 

I am pretty sure on HBO Max, when they spoke in native tongue, the subtitles said they were speaking in Greek.
Regardless, they were a complete bore in Season 2.

The dock workers, the 'Greeks', Ziggy, the backfighting with groups trying to curry favor with the church (including Presbylewski's father in law police chief) was merely decent at best TV. That compares unfavorably with the rest of the characters on the show.

 

I’m pretty sure “The Greek” himself was not Greek, but the rest of his organization was.

Most of his lackeys had clearly Greek names. And obviously they spoke the language.

 

I kind of agree about S2, but I also think it's what enables the rest of the series to soar. If we had five seasons just about the cops and drug dealers, I think the show isn't as distinctive. Part of what I love about The Wire is that it shows you how all these different institutions - the cops, the drug dealers, schools, politicians, journalists, dock workers - all interact with one another, in direct and indirect ways.

 

The middle school was a stroke of genius.

 

Simon has said that showing the decline in good blue collar jobs like those dock workers had played into the rise of the drug trade. I thought that the biggest problem was that the actors who played Nick and Ziggy weren’t great (the actor who played Frank was fantastic) and the interactions with the Greek didn’t work that well for me.

 

Season two was a sharp turn from the first season and while it took me a while to warm to it, I think it held up very well overall.

Also, without Nicky in season two there is no Nicky's Girlfriend in season two. And that would be a shame.

 

Somewhere on this board is a manifesto from Double Down about how great Season 2 actually was.

I found myself agreeing with every word, even though at the time I thought it was the weakest season.