Angel Dust on 8/1/2008 at 00:40
That's probably why I thought the show was bad. I only saw a couple of episodes and didn't understand characters motivations etc. Some characters (which I thought were only in for that episode) seemed to not be given their due but it appears that I would need to watch subsequent episodes. I'll give it another go if it appears on TV here again.
Mr.WaeseL on 8/1/2008 at 12:01
Why is this thread not about Deal or no Deal?
demagogue on 8/1/2008 at 16:04
Quote Posted by Muzman
By now the show has dozens and dozens of threads and back stories that stretch out across the whole show.
Heh, sounds like Twin Peaks. The thing about that kind of show is you really need to see a good number of consecutive episodes to get a feel for what's going on ... easier said than done.
But maybe like Twin Peaks, I can predict that sooner or later I'm going to be roped into some weekend marathon through the episodes eventually anyway, if it's as you say. At least, I can say that going through that kind of series in a consecutive way really brings the threads to the fore so you can catch a lot of the subtleties (if they're doing it right and there are interesting subtleties to catch).
Rug Burn Junky on 8/1/2008 at 16:40
I think Twin Peaks is selling it short. What a lot of shows do is to compartmentalize the threads. You have one MacGuffin to give the show cohesiveness ("Who killed Laura Palmer" "Will Jack Bauer find the terrorists?" "Why did the plane crash on the Island?"), used as a framework from which to hang a series of shorter set pieces. That's one of the things that frustrated me with Lost the most.
Even the Sopranos is guilty of this, there were things that popped up repeatedly, but most of the story arcs were contained in little 4 episode runs, even if they tended to overlap a bit. That's not the case here at all.
That's not to say that this is a sprawling mess. But the comparison to a novel is apt. Each season plays out like a book, and each episode is a chapter which builds that story, rather than anything self contained, and the arc builds over the course of that season, with threads that also carry over from one to the next to link the show as a whole. The only other show that I think does it close to as well is The Shield*, but that "reads" like a pulp cop novel, whereas this reads like literature.
*And Carnivale, but that had its own foibles that knock it down a few pegs, even if I was enthralled by it
And the little subtleties really are what makes the show, and rewatching them drove that home.
Little things like Omar, the stick-up artist, saying "A man's got to have a code" to one of the detectives in order to play on his conscience for help, which that detective had said to him years earlier.
Or one that really hit home, when Bodie, the street level drug dealer, and ultimately one of my favorite characters, is speaking to McNulty about "The Game" and saying how it's rigged, and comparing himself to "Those little white pieces on the chess board," the derision is palpable.
Going back, I caught the scene in the first season where he learns about chess, having it compared to the drug trade to explain it, and he's FASCINATED by the idea of the pawns (again being compared to himself) moving across the board and becoming a queen. You can see his mind whirring and even when he's warned that the pawns get beaten down first, he says "Not if it's one bad ass pawn."
That one line in the second conversation encapsulated the character and how he'd grown perfectly. It works on so many levels, because you can see where the unbridled optimism he'd started with had just deteriorated, and it gives an insight to what he was thinking (obviously, the conversations he'd had with his mentor in the first season were weighing on him now) without ever once stating it.
Little things like that, because they're handled so delicately, are what take the show to another level.
SubJeff on 9/1/2008 at 00:10
I've wondered how this stayed under the radar for so long too. My brother introduced me to it early in summer last year and after only seeing half of the first series I've been trying to convince people to watch it. I finally got through to someone who is now seeking series 2 onwards and thanking me greatly for the intro. What's bizarre is that I know it won awards but it was only this Xmas when I saw any DVDs in shops and no one else I know but my bro and this convert friend of mine have ever even heard of it. Everyone knows what Heroes, Lost and The OC are though.
Note: I don't know about the rest of The Wire but so far I'm liking the "no music unless there is actually music in the scene" thing.
Scots Taffer on 9/1/2008 at 00:42
Got the first season, will give it a spin tonight - wish I'd watched it last night instead of playing poker. :(
ataricom on 9/1/2008 at 00:46
I don't get HBO and can't afford any more DVD's.:(
Muzman on 9/1/2008 at 09:23
Don't people rent things any more?
My usual recommendation is to watch the first two episodes of season one or two. If after those two hours you find yourself wanting to stop well, I guess it's not for you. If you're at least vaguely intrigued enough to continue to episode 5, you won't be able to stop.
This show will appeal to anyone who likes extremely knotty, character driven crime, spy and political fiction, from Hammett to Le Carré. And there again, going to literature for comparisons says a lot by itself.
Scots Taffer on 9/1/2008 at 09:29
I rent space on my hard drive.
Muzman on 9/1/2008 at 09:37
heh, well there's always that. But people talk like it's either that or buying it sometimes. Maybe it is if you don't have a decent video library nearby.
