ggl - hickcity......

"Wire" Ep. 5: "No... »
..Prezbo's student Senobia (well that's how Mr. Prezbo wrote it on the chalkboard while giving her detention) states with believable angst as she pushes her school books on the floor: "I don't want no damn welfare pencil." She's frustrated with her inability to do the assignment, but then artfully turns the table on her shame by transforming it into social shame. Brilliant all around.
..As Randy's flashlight flickers Dukie suggests:"Bulb might got too hot." Michael responds "Or, the batteries' dying". What's intriguing, is that despite the lowly status that Dukie has among his peers (even further down the poverty chain, no clean clothes), his instincts for facts (homing pigeons have a band) are solid. At first Michael's catchall sensible solution - low batteries, seems superior, until the frightening realization that Dukie probably lives in a world where even electricity is not a given, and that his theory - bulb too hot, is not actually weird, but true to his experience.
This episode was a monster of complexity. In it's 50 or so set pieces of dialog, the story is pushed through in a subtle yet ponderous arc, where nothing big happens, but a grocery list of plot and narrative devices are artfully turned into a nourishing yet delicious meal. I can't recall an episode of the Sopranos (as great as it can be), that delivered the goods like this.
HBO is doing for TV, what Bob Dylan did for popular music.
And it's odd to realize, I don't even miss McNulty.
Posted By: hickcity | October 12 2006 at 11:40 PM

The reason why "The Wire is better than "The Sopranos" is because we care about the characters.
Posted By: sonofabastard | October 13 2006 at 12:03 PM

Hickcity: You are no hick. Your de-con is brilliant, truly thoughtful, insightful, even literarily critical. Your mini-thesis on the bulb and its relation to a boy who lives without basic amenities was spot on. Goodman, you have real competition :=).
..I know the writers of this show mean for it to be like a novel, but with characters and stories as rich as we see here I find myself wishing I could read more about them, volumes about them (though of course I’d want the books to be as first rate as this medium).
I agree with Hick too about The Sopranos never delivering goods like this, The Wire’s creators/authors obviously plan ahead more than any other serial makers, including David Milch.
I too don’t miss McNulty, though love when he ‘visits’.
Yeah, Goodman——Bunk dancing to “Backstabbers” was a joy to see. Little scenes like that make me admire really fine actors.
Posted By: Veneziana (an alias) | October 13 2006 at 10:34 AM

Thanks Veneziana. I watched episode 5 again when Tim's motor was a little sluggish and found out for myself how hard it is to pull back and bang out a cogent overview. Once Tim posted I thought it only fair to invest the time to support him and The Wire.
Bunk is the Man. And it was great to see his unselfconscious dancing to Backstabbers. I was moved also by seeing Wendell Pierce on Spike Lee's New Orleans documentary "When the Levees Broke".
Posted By: hickcity | October 13 2006 at 04:24 PM

Re. Hickcity's mention above: Wendell Pierce talking about his father getting ripped by the insurance company should break anyone's heart. "Levees" is an excellent documentary, and not unrelated to the world of The Wire (e.g., the insidiousness of institutional shortcomings).
Posted By: Veneziana (an alias) | October 14 2006 at 04:07 PM

I don't know why we insist on comparing The Sopranos with The Wire. Each series is brilliant in its own way. The Wire is masterful at understatement-- eg. when the three eighth-graders go into the washroom for sex and Randy stands guard. How ironic that Bunny, who is on the lookout for this kind of thing, walks by that closed door.
Oh I could look at Bunk (dancin' or not) and listen to that sexy voice all day....
Posted By: FanOmine | October 14 2006 at 06:19 PM


Man down. "Wire" de-co delayed.
Just a little somethin' while our Cultural Commissar digests his Golden Bowl.
-Herc is a cheese face bitch dumbass.
-Lester the puppetmaster points Kima's soft eyes in the right direction.
-Omar to Bunk (or The Bunk): "A man got to have a code."
-I suppose the Cutty 'haters' owe the man an apology. Just the women folk, no youngins.
-Namond: "School gotta have rules."
Posted By: hickcity | October 29 2006 at 09:34 PM

dusted - Also did a double take thinking one of Butchie's Boys looked like Paul Mooney. That would have been perfect, given the fact that Mooney penned one of Richard Pryor's most poigniant lines:
"When a (brother) goes down to the Court House to find Justice...that's what he finds - JUST US."
Alas, another mistaken identity regarding a brother in jail.
Posted By: hickcity | October 30 2006 at 11:05 PM

Get well soon, Tim, because hickcity's posts are so spot on, he might be gunnin' for your job...
Posted By: gauchodebruin