A man's gotta have a code

[Raistlin]

Idris Elba is really good in The Wire; I would argue it's his best performance. His character, Stringer Bell, is among most people's favorites in the show.

Happier because we live in a society that can create such art openly. Sadder because the rot of our politics and government is exactly what inspires such art.

Agreed completely.

Interesting bit of trivia: I recommended to my mom recently that she watch The Wire and gave her a synopsis. She said it reminded her of a 90s TV show that she loved called Homicide. The other day I looked up the show, and found out that it was inspired and heavily influenced by a nonfiction Baltimore crime book by David Simon, who later went on to co-create The Wire. I may have to give the show a watch.

[The Captain]

Homicide was basically a dry run for The Wire in many ways. The gallows humor was much the same, though it was much more squarely focused on the cops. The first few seasons were great.

The Wire actually came out of a mini-series Simon made for HBO called "The Corner" which was about, you guessed it, the drug trade in Baltimore. Also worth checking out.

Take care all.

[Raistlin]

I watched a little of Homicide last night and today. As Cap'n said, it is focused on the cops. I was mildly disappointed at first and hadn't fully gotten into it, but the last episode I just watched over dinner wowed me with something not even seen on the Wire but is all too real: insane interrogation tactics (besides just beating them). False confessions or other false incriminating statements occurred in about 25% of all DNA exonerations by the Innocence Project, and these false confessions happen because police will brutally interrogate someone for 8, 12, even 18 hours at a time. In this Homicide episode, the detectives locked up a poor old man suspected of murdering a child in the interrogation room for 12 consecutive hours of grilling, yelling, threatening, and manipulation. The only reason they would make themselves stop at 12 hours was because they knew the judge would throw out a confession after that point (which may be true for some judges, though it's not constitutionally required). I rarely rooted against the cops so hard even on the Wire (except for Walker on season 4, who Namond accurately described as "evil"). I have never seen such a horrifying yet honest and realistic portrayal of such an interrogation in any other TV show or movie. It was absolutely brilliant.

A Homicide newbie who was involved in the above interrogation also, just a couple of episodes previous, had (justifiably) blasted his more experienced partner for tricking a suspect into not remaining silent and dissuading him from getting a lawyer after the suspect started to ask for one. Which he was 100% right about, but then he later goes on to do worse. It just goes to show that truly good guys generally don't last for long in urban law enforcement.

Regarding the rest of the show, it's not episodic at all, and realistically presents cases. They come and go, with most of them lasting many episodes. You get to see a realistic variety of Homicide detectives, and the story doesn't focus on any one. Of course, it's also not the Wire. At least so far, there's no thorough exploration of Baltimore, from the drug trade to homelessness to politics. It's very cop-centric. And it doesn't have some of the truly great characters like McNulty or the Bunk, but still has some promise. Overall, so far I think it is well worth a recommendation for people who finish the Wire wanting more (which should be everyone).

Also of note, Detective Lewis, one of the main eight detectives, is played by the guy who played Gus, the City Editor in season 5 of the Wire.

[McLovin']

When does season 1 get good? On the second episode, but never continued out of boredom.

[Raistlin]

Season 1 is a great season, but you do have to give it more than one or two episodes for it to fully develop. The plot is deep and complex, and season 1 also sets things in motion for the rest of the series. It starts really paying off midway through the season.

I just glanced at an episodes list, and it looks like the 3rd episode introduces Omar Little, the best character on the show. You at least need to watch that far for him! Additionally, the fourth episode contains a classic scene between McNulty and Bunk showing detective work at its finest.

[Raistlin]

I have watched more of Homicide: LotS, and it has turned disappointing. The first season was only 10 episodes, and the second was only four due to worries about cancellation. Those seasons were overall very good for a cop show.

The third season came back with over 20 episodes, and I soon realized why: they turned it into a generic, mainstream cop show. Gone was the detailed, multiple-case approach of the first season, and it was replaced with an episodic, one-case-in-one-case-out approach that involves the sort of cases you only find on TV. Serial killer? Check. NSA involvement? Check. Very generic commentary about a particular issue only relevant for one episode? Check. It's probably still better than most cop shows, but at this point it's nothing special. The only reason I'm still watching at all is because I read that David Simon started working on the show full time in later seasons, so I'm hoping it changes.

In other news, I have got my mom obsessed with the Wire. She apparently does nothing after getting home from work except cook/eat dinner and watch the Wire nonstop until she goes to bed. She's early in the fourth season now and will probably finish everything in a week or so. That is what the Wire does to you.