Scots Taffer on 9/9/2009 at 09:16
Yeah, Brother Mouzone... yeesh, whose bright idea was he?
The only thing that doesn't thus far gel about Marlo's rise to power and continual dominance is that he'd have next to no loyalty in his minions given the willingness with which he has them executed. That sort of code-less murdering doesn't engender the "family" approach that the Barksdale crew took and I can't imagine anyone "taking time" for Marlo or his crew.
Also, the invincible boy + boy (sorry, girl) hitmen duo of Marlo's are also getting a little bit old in the tooth too to never get capped in any of their intense fracas.
I must disagree with docfrog though, this series is capitalising on so much that has gone before it that it makes for criminally compulsive viewing.
Thirith on 9/9/2009 at 09:34
Quote Posted by Scots Taffer
Yeah, Brother Mouzone... yeesh, whose bright idea was he?
Thing is, I could imagine that Brother M. was a real person (I don't see David Simon just making up such a character, unless he had a *really* bad day) but perhaps he was mythologised too much in the telling. It might also be one of those cases of reality simply not being very believable. In any case, he sticks out like a sore thumb, especially compared to Omar, who is also larger than life but you can still imagine him existing (and if he doesn't, he should).
Muzman on 9/9/2009 at 13:35
I didn't mind Marlo and crew being a bit tough, because they're mean't to be an evolution on previous styles. They show how just a subtle change in motivation and method can really impact older players who are a bit stuck in their ways, cops and robbers alike.
I think we're meant to take it that Omar falls for their trap because he's not used to people being as patient as he is. They played that set up the same day after day without ever catching sight of him. Barksdale-ers would have got bored and given up, or gone back to what they were doing.
It worked on me anyway. The Stansfield crew are scary. They're like the Khmer Rouge out in the jungle. They rule through terror. Barksdales were easier to relate to; at the end of the day what they wanted was to be rich. These guys don't even seem to want that.
I think it is a bit difficult to relate to the no snitching aspect of urban black culture. It wasn't loyalty that necessarily kept the Barksdales safe, but community. Stansfield's sheer terror in that situation grows out of it, but it doesn't shift it. It's made fairly plain in s4 that quite a few people know what's happening with the bodies, but it takes ages for the cops to break through.
fett on 9/9/2009 at 13:42
I got the sense that they needed someone badder and scarier than Omar to bump off Stinger, so the writer's came up with the Brother M./Omar combo. The set up made perfect sense, but I didn't get the character at all. Seems like he should have been more of a Marlo type - quiet, brooding, dangerous.
Thirith on 9/9/2009 at 13:50
Quote Posted by fett
I got the sense that they needed someone badder and scarier than
Omar to bump off Stinger, so the writer's came up with the
Brother M./Omar combo. The set up made perfect sense, but I didn't get the character at all. Seems like he should have been more of a Marlo type - quiet, brooding, dangerous.
I think it's that he feels like he walked in from a different (and, most likely, lesser) series. On the whole,
The Wire goes for a very realistic, almost documentary feel, and Brother Mouzone is way too stylised (and, in his way, cartoony) to fit in.
Rug Burn Junky on 9/9/2009 at 18:58
Have you ever met a member of the Nation of Islam or a 5 percenter in real life?
Many are just as cartoony and stylized - the suit, the bow tie. Take a walk down 125th in NYC and you'll see a half dozen on any Sunday afternoon. I don't know that many of them are secretly gangbanger hitmen on the side, but he felt right at home to me.
Scots Taffer on 9/9/2009 at 23:48
Quote Posted by Thirith
On a different note: which version of the title theme did you like best? It's Tom Waits' version that's stuck in my head most
I must admit, despite hating it at first, I slowly came around to appreciate it - this was probably quite aided by the fact that after the first two seasons the other variants on the cover were pretty fucking terrible.
Quote Posted by Muzman
I think we're meant to take it that Omar
falls for their trap because he's not used to people being as patient as he is. They played that set up the same day after day without ever catching sight of him. Barksdale-ers would have got bored and given up, or gone back to what they were doing.
It worked on me anyway. The Stansfield crew are scary. They're like the Khmer Rouge out in the jungle. They rule through terror. Barksdales were easier to relate to; at the end of the day what they wanted was to be rich. These guys don't even seem to want that.
Good points, however I guess that keeps us at arms length to the Stansfield crew from a certain respect because without a true understanding of their motivations (and it is hard to fathom them entirely) then it seems as though Marlo is simply a power hungry maniac who just has a need to control everything through sheer force.
fett on 10/9/2009 at 02:20
Come to think of it, there was a Nation of Islam guy on the first season of Weeds that was over the top too IIRC. What's with that?
june gloom on 10/9/2009 at 02:54
Considering that Nation of Islam adherents think white people were invented by an evil scientist to rule over blackfolk for 6000 years, I don't think presenting these people as "cartoonish" is too over the line.
Glasmand on 10/9/2009 at 12:38
"The Wire"... what a show. I've watched seasons 1-3 and look forward to 4+5. In the meantime, I'm watching "Oz" seasons 1-7... now THAT was a great show, perhaps even better than "The Wire". Both shows are HBO and a bunch of actors feature in both.
