Wire Weekender
THE WIRE WEEKENDER
20 – 21 SEPT
Curzon Soho

MEMBERS PRIORITY BOOKING UNTIL SATURDAY – IN PERSON AND BY PHONE ONLY
Tickets £60.00 / £50.00 Curzon Members
Box office: 0871 7033988
Ticket price includes a copy of the book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon (£12.99 RRP), and is for the whole weekend.

A Screening of all 10 episodes of the fifth and final season of The Wire, plus creator David Simon, actor Dominic West (Officer McNulty) and special guests in conversation. In partnership with Canongate Books and HBO.

Widely hailed as one of the greatest television series ever, The Wire has gained a reputation as a challenging and uncompromising drama. The New York Times has described it as, “Unquestionably one of the best and most original series on television.” Variety sums it up nicely: “When television history is written, little else will rival The Wire.”

Set in Baltimore, it is a rich, sprawling portrait of the city that documents the war on drugs being waged by the Baltimore Police Department. It illuminates the character traits shared by the police and drug dealers, good and bad: from the womanising, alcohol-abusing Officer McNulty, who can’t let a case lie, through the impeccable and intellectual crime boss Stringer Bell to the charismatic, Robin Hood figure of ‘stick-up boy’ Omar. Creator David Simon took a sabbatical from The Baltimore Sun to spend a year with the Baltimore Police Department. He went on to write Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, a true crime classic that Martin Amis has hailed as ‘A Masterpiece’.

On Saturday 20 September, Episodes 1 and 2 of Season 5 will be shown back-to-back, followed by a discussion between David Simon and author Misha Glenny about Simon’s writing, including Canongate’s new edition of Homicide. Following the conversation there will be screenings of Episodes 3, 4 and 5. On Sunday 21 September, the remaining five episodes will be screened, with Q&A’s in-between; the first between Simon and crime writer Mark Billingham, and another with Simon, Charlie Brooker and some of the stars of the series including actor Dominic West. This will be a unique chance to catch the whole of Season 5 before it is released on DVD, and a chance to meet the man behind one of the finest TV series of recent years.
David Simon
Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets will be published by Canongate in September. HBO will release the DVD of the fifth and final series of The Wire on 22 September.

The Wire Weekender Schedule

Saturday 20th September
10.30am
Ticket collection, coffee and croissants available at special rate.
11.00am
EPISODES 1 and 2 plus Q&A # 1 – David Simon and Misha Glenny on crime writing
3pm
EPISODES 3 and 4
5.30pm
Episode 5 Short intro by David Simon
6.30pm
Book signing by David Simon and informal drinks at the Curzon Soho bar

Sunday 21st September
9.30am
Ticket collection, croissants and coffee available at special rate
10am
EPISODES 6 and 7plus Q&A # 2 – David Simon Mark Billingham
2pm
EPISODES 8 and 9
4.15pm
Q&A # 3 Dominic West and David Simon in conversation with Charlie Brooker (Brooker tbc)
5.30pm
EPISODE 10
7.00pm
DVD signing and informal drinks at the Curzon Soho bar.

Gah! So I'm over-excited and incredibly eager to start the 5th season and what does Netflix do? They send me the 3rd and 4th disc and not the 1st and 2nd. Thanks, Netflix.

Okay, I've just finished season 5, after spending the last seven months slowly watching from the beginning (and avoiding this thread like the plague!), and I'm just so blown away. So much has been said about this series already that I don't know where to begin. Season 4 is easily my fave, but the last two S5 episodes were immensely satisfying. The way that S5 storyline was going I was worried it all would spiral out of control, but that's the way this show always goes, it's so well written that the last four or five episodes of each season always, always tighten up...when watching on dvd, you're stuck watching four or five hour marathons, you cannot pull yourself away.

Absolutely the greatest show ever. Hands down.

I'm close to the end. I'll be watching the final two episodes tonight.

Well, I finished Season Five tonight and I'd be lying if I didn't say I was more than a little bit disappointed. Seasons One through Four are hands-down the very best TV I've ever seen, full of the kind of complex and thorough exploration of theme and character typically found only in novels. Every episode felt right, every episode added something new, something essential, to the series, to the characters, to the themes.

Season Five really doesn't need to exist. This was not a story that needed to be told and characters are taken places that are simply not interesting. Season Four has that ambiguity, that "I wish I knew what happens next" of a great film or novel. Season Five is the step too far, the extra 100 pages that tell you exactly what happens next and makes you realize that the real joy was in wondering.

This is not to say the season is entirely useless. It has some very interesting ideas. The material with Marlo, Prop Joe, Cheese, etc, was interesting. The material with Carcetti was as strong as the previous two seasons. The material with the newspaper was interesting but undercooked and made me wish David Simon had decided to make a newspaper series for HBO instead of one about the war in Iraq.

The homeless murder material was completely out of step with the rest of the series. Hamsterdam was out-there, but the writing and the plotting and the characters made it work. The homeless murder stuff doesn't work, not with the reality of the show and not with the quality of the characters. It seems the writers knew this in the very beginning and even tried to undercut any criticism of the absurdity by having Bunk repeatedly say how ridiculous it is and how McNulty must be out of his damn mind. But it's the writers who were out of their damn minds. McNulty was always a buffoon, but they turned him into a cartoon. The rest of the cast is left reacting to absurd plot points that feel contrived, springing forth not naturally from the characters but unnaturally from the writers.

Omar being killed is not in and of itself an unforgivable development. It's that it happened in the way that it happened in a season that just doesn't feel right. Season Five is certainly entertaining and better than most television, but it doesn't feel like The Wire. Or if it does, it's more like a reunion season ten years after cancellation. It lacks the detail and density of previous seasons. It lacks much of the poetry. And when I rewatch the show in future years, I'll be skipping it.

BINGO. It taints the series.

I just took Seasons 1 and 2 out of the library. Hope they're as good as advertised.

They are. Season 3 might be even better though.

Picking up season 4 this afternoon.

Still 5.9 and 5.10 to go for me but the discussion of Omar's death being random is way, way off. There's a clear foreshadow in season three where The Bunk sees Kenard 'playing Omar; in the street and even in the episode before he kills him we see that a limping Omar disappoints him by looking as 'gimpy as a motherfucker'. That's not even to mention that Omar is not taking the precautions that we saw from him in previous seasons all the way throughout five and was prepared to to drop his guard at the store.

That's not even to mention the similarity between Kenard c. 2008 and Omar c. 1985

just wait until you see some of the developments in that last episode, re: comparisons and similarities.

omars death was great because he gets too caught up in hubris and passion to be thorough and professional

Another reason why Season 5 sucks. None of the characters seem the same. They do things that betray their previous behaviour - and not in a good way. See Detective Greggs the "snitch", and McNulty the guy who fabricates a serial killer.

Greggs was not a 'snitch.' She was a true believer who consistently played it by the book, except at home. McNulty, like someone said upthread, was still McNulty--just to a cartoonish extent.

Greggs isn't the same in any season. Her character progresses/changes a lot throughout the entire series. I don't even think that's totally against the general character they built up for her. She was friends with McNulty, but she always loved the force more than anything(as evidence by what happened with her relationship with her girlfriend and the kid that was going to be her child). Seeing it being taken for money/made look foolish, she did what she did.

Not really an un-McNulty like thing to do either. A bit extreme, but the show he was always about either getting things for himself and his buddies by any means necessary, or by screwing the higher ups. Seems to fit in line with everything he's done previous to S5.

hey everybody!

Let's keep arguing the same things over and over with Montana!

What show did you watch? She worshipped McNulty, even took on his cheating behaviour.

Worshiped till he bastardized the one thing she really held near and dear.

Now you are reaching, just like Season 5.

Don't see how, it's the thing she chose over her wife and kid, went back to after getting shot up and almost dying- she obviously loved working for the Baltimore PD more than anything otherwise she wouldn't have eaten so much shit for it.

Whatever. You liked it, you didn't like it-- I enjoyed season 5 for the most part. Some minor problems with it(I think it seemed a bit rushed at times), but I enjoyed it. That's really all I give a shit about.

David Simon Talks About The Wire and Journalism



1 hr 22 min

Finished Season 4. Show always manages to keep me hanging for the first seven episodes or so, wondering if the season is really top quality. Then those last 5-6 episodes as everything starts coming together, they hit me like a truck every time.

I just re-watched Season 1, last time i watched it was 5 yrs ago in College

I am ready to go to the 5 at a time on Netflix and get the rest of these asap
I wish HBO on Demand would have these available.

Its weird that during the periods when I had HBO, the Wire wouldnt be in its cycle, then when i got rid of HBO, the Wire would start a month later

i guess its a good thing that i can watch the whole series straight thru.

Being a student means that I had to download season 4. Will start watching that tonight.

I started watching The Corner this week(3 eps in, probably just finish tonight or Sunday). Crazy seeing Freamon and the Carcetti's aide(forget his name) as junkies and Syndor as a youthful borderline corner kid. Really good though, as expected. I find myself being a lot more immediately bummed by this though- seems like every episode gives you just a little bit of hope for the characters, then immediately takes it away. I guess that's what happened in The Wire too, but it drew out the hope more. This doesn't have the time to do that.

Great stuff though. I still haven't seen any of Generation Kill yet, either.

Just finished Season 3, not sure if i liked it more or less than Season 2, but still great.

The character development of Omar was incredible. Seeing him vulnerable over brandon, his gma, and the other girl in his gang was incredible.

Season 4 is in the mail!

EDIT: Nevermind, wrong thread

Just finished season 4 last night Hero.

Absolutely incredible. I honestly have never seen a better run of episodes than in the last 3-4 in my life. Season finale is just "...".

I never thought anything would be better than the montage at the end of Season 2, but Season 4 might just have topped it.

finally just finished all 5 seasons.

Season 5 seemed to get a lot of love from the cast, but it was my least fav by far.
i feel pretty partial to the Season 2: the Docks, and season 4 was incredible as well.

what really killed me on how great the writing: the character of Carcetti.

When he's campaigning for mayor, as a viewer i believe in him and want him to win.
Every word he says feels like the gospel, but when he gets in and all his promises turn to garbage, its just brilliant.
Just how we are fooled by politicians in our lives, the characters get fooled as well w/ the viewers.

the redemption of Bubbles was something i was rooting for the entire time. Very pleased to see that




edit: are we doing spoiler tags for all discussions? My thoughts were if a show has already aired (unlike the Lost talk) than it should be free grounds to discuss.
If u havent watched the Wire, read at your own discretion.

That's my take on it, too.

Considering Hero didn't watch it when he was on, I'm sure he'd have loved me to spoil it a week ago when he was posting here.

loved Season 4. loved loved loved it

i've tried to read thru a lot of the thread and i see a dislike of Season 5 by some, and i can understand that it wasnt up to par as the others, but IMO still better than 98% of what else is on tv



who's he?

i asked a Q if we needed spoiler tags, u can say yes or no please. no need for snoodyness friend

Obs should be 'it'.

The point was when you catching up on it you'd not have been too pleased to have it spoilt for you. So I'd imagine that anyone else catching up wouldn't want to read spoilers either. So yeah for the benefit of people who might want to read the thread without knowing that Kenard shoots Omar dead

I wouldn't say comparing it to Lost is a good idea, one is a cable show the other a network show.

i compared it to Lost as people discuss the rumors and what is going to happen that hasnt aired

my bad if this has already been posted

the one video store i know of around me that carries the entire series is missing season 3 disk 4 and says it probably won't be replaced anytime soon. so i haven't seen the show in months

Netflix it

edit: disc 4? is that the last one? i have no patience to space out the seasons. I'm always staying up til 2am watching that stuff

Just received the email:

Watched episode 8 tonight. Incredibly engaging season so far, though it feels more like a television show than the first two seasons, if that makes sense. More humor, more fleshed-out characters, more straightforward plot. The first two seasons seemed more like documentaries of Baltimore, like we were peaking into snippets of these people's lives, not watching TV.

had some wire flashbacks as the mayor was on scrubs tonite

Scour your local libraries. That's how I saw Seasons 1-3.

Want some rundown old sets from The Wire?

Stringer Bell is joining the cast of the office.

wow. this warrants its own thread. perhaps its own board.

Idris Elba would make a damn fine action hero, btw.

Awesome, would love to see them throw in a "alright, now take your glasses off and give Michael a look that suggests you're gonna set Wee-Bey on his ass" scene.

Word is Stringer will be playing Michael's boss, in the job formerly occupied by Jan and Ryan at corporate.

Oh this Stringer shit's awesome, I enjoy The Office from time to time but now I'll have to make an effort to watch it. Hell, is he in tonight's episode?

Just bought the complete Wire series. 82 bucks on Amazon today.

Thanks for the heads up! I thought after I missed out on that Best Buy deal I was screwed.

Yea. I've been watching the used market all week hoping someone would slip and have one under 100, then amazon threw it up for 82. I kinda flipped out.