Monday, October 09, 2006

Wire week 6 talk for the On Demand'ers

Talk about episode 6, "Unto Others," here until the review goes up on Sunday night.
Posted by Alan Sepinwall at 8:03 AM
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8 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Margin of Error" was very entertaining. I was more interested in the mayoral race than anything else this time.

I didn't expect Carcetti to win and almost shed a tear when he found out he beat Royce and Gray. I was pleasantly surprised to see him stay faithful to his wife at the end of the night. We'll see how long that lasts.

The scene of Carcetti clapping and swaying his body to the singing and music in the black church was funny. That guy can be so awkward and gangly.

Despite the goals Namond's mom has set for him, her character has quite a screen presence. I love hearing and watching her talk. She's quite animated and amusing (in a dark way).

Landsmen's gluttonness habits are a little off-putting. Eeek.

Does anyone know why homocide detectives wear suits on the job?

4:49 PM, October 09, 2006
Anonymous said...

I'm just wondering if anyone else (particularly pro critic Alan) thought this was perhaps the worst (and worst-produced) episode of the Wire perhaps ever. The show seemed to lack its unique manner of execution tonight; it seemed very mundane and much like a normal show. Morever, characters seemed ... out of character. There were more bad actors in small roles than usual (there are typically a few here or there, but there was some real bad acting in this one, even from some of the cast members). I feel like the editing was strange too and the writing lacked it's trademark subtlety. I talked to some friends afterward who completely agreed with my assessment. Does anyone here? Perhaps it was a bad director?

8:41 PM, October 09, 2006
Anonymous said...

Mike, can you provide examples of where you felt the writing, acting and editing was poor? I'll keep it in mind during my second viewing.

I will say I was less intrigued by the educational, drug, police storylines during this episode. But, my thought was that it was due to the tension of the mayoral race.

11:09 PM, October 09, 2006
A.H. said...

I thought it was absolutely up to the standard of this season

and I'll go further and say that the sudden cut from the mayoral party to Omar, head in hands, was one of my favourite shots of this year

there have always been some bad actors in small roles (Colicchio -- I think that's the name -- should never be allowed on screen).

7:10 AM, October 10, 2006
Anonymous said...

I thought the episode was fine, and did a lot to advance the plot, but I did notice the audio mix wasn't the best I've ever heard. There were a couple of occasions when I needed the closed captions' help to decipher simple lines.

As far as the acting goes, I haven't been that impressed with Sandi McCree (De'Londa Brice), she really sounded like she was reading lines this week. The actor who plays Old Face Andre isn't going to win any emmys either. But With all that aside, I still thought it was a fine episode, definitely one of the best of the season.

8:00 AM, October 10, 2006
Anonymous said...

I think The Wire really does play best on DVD, without a week between episodes. To that end, I kind of agree with Mike about this episode, but have a feeling if I was watching it sandwiched between others, I wouldn't notice.

For me, the scenes with Cutty seemed off. And thats because this side of his character is new to this episode, previously he's primarily been the dedicated coach. Now, as a development, him getting around with neighborhood mothers makes sense. He had offers previously, and of course he'll take them up. But because its concentrated this week, it felt off. I have a feeling that, it would play more naturally in the flow of the whole season. Aside from that, his conversation with Michael confused the hell out of me, anyone else? Of course, I only watched the episode once... Cheers!

9:45 AM, October 10, 2006
Anonymous said...

I did get the sense that they skimped on some of the other storylines in order to focus mainly on Carcetti. I also noticed that some of the dialogue was uncharacteristically muffled and unclear.

One thing that's really popped out at me this season is the "hydraulic" aspect of the show--its tendency to have one character drop a certain behavior or trait only to have another character pick it up. Last night's example: Carcetti declining Teresa's seductive overtures while Cutty starts bed-hopping with his students' moms. (Earlier we saw Lester taking up Jimmy's "troublemaker" role even as Jimmy was settling down into his new laid-back & hassle-free persona. And before that, during last season, Kima took up Jimmy's carousing, adulterous habits just as Jimmy was beginning to outgrow them.) Apparently, this "handing off" pattern is common among drug-addicted families, wherein one member kicks and another starts up again. I wonder if Simon & Burns are trying to make some larger point with their frequent use of this dynamic.

12:47 PM, October 10, 2006
Anonymous said...

Beyond belief!

I contacted the BBB about the problems I've had with the advance On Demand programming for The Wire. I just heard back from them and Comcast and even the Area President of Comcast (central California) does not know about the 7-day advance On Demand screenigs for The Wire! She said the "new" episodes for each week are available OD the Monday AFTER the episode airs on HBO!

Arrrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhhhh!

4:05 PM, October 12, 2006

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