Welcome to the Inanimate Blog watchalong for The Wire. Every week all summer we’ll be watching two episodes and posting our thoughts. We’re not recapping each episode in detail; that’s what Wikipedia is for. This week is Season 1, Episodes 7 and 8.
S01E07
Sam: Shit gets real in this episode. At least, in the one storyline we both expressed so much apprehension for last week. One word: Wallace.
Welcome to the Inanimate Blog watchalong for The Wire. Every week all summer we’ll be watching two episodes and posting our thoughts. We’re not recapping each episode in detail; that’s what Wikipedia is for. This week is Season 1, Episodes 5 and 6.
S01E05
Sam: I’m going to start this one. It’s taken me five episodes to remember to write it down to comment on, but I did: I hate the fake quotes at the beginning. I get what they’re doing and that’s fine, I just have a personal hatred of quotations attributed to fake people.
Emily: It’s so self-important and The Wire doesn’t need to quote itself. It’s plenty good enough on its own.
Welcome to the Inanimate Blog watchalong for The Wire. Every week all summer we’ll be watching two episodes and posting our thoughts. We’re not recapping each episode in detail; that’s what Wikipedia is for. This week is Season 1, Episodes 3 and 4.
S01E03
Emily: We get the fallout of the previous episode with almost no consequences because Pryzbylewski is married to the major’s daughter or something.
Sam: Yeah, that was pretty frustrating (as it was supposed to be). They can just blame it on the impoverished, disadvantaged people living in the towers and point the finger and say “They started it!” even though that’s total bullshit.
Emily: Fortunately, there are better things to follow. The kids in the courtyard owned this episode. Especially D’Angelo.
Welcome to the Inanimate Blog watchalong for The Wire. Every week all summer we’ll be watching two episodes and posting our thoughts. We’re not recapping each episode in detail; that’s what Wikipedia is for. This week is Season 1, Episodes 1 and 2.
S1E01
Sam: Before watching episode 1 last Sunday, I knew all of three things about The Wire: 1) Everyone says it’s the greatest thing ever, 2) There are characters called Stringer Bell, McNulty, and Omar, and 3) It takes place in the city of Baltimore. And yet, when the show started and they said something happened on the “west side,” I instinctively wondered what city it was and whether that was a valid comment for a real city or if they’d fictionalized an existing city. And then I went OH. RIGHT. That’s this show. Got it.
Emily: Going in, I knew pretty much the same amount about The Wire as you did. The other major thing I knew about was that each season took a look at the problems and corruption in different institutions in Baltimore, and the first season focused on the police department.
Sam: Right! I had a vague notion that each season had a different topic, and that it was notoriously hard to follow. I will admit to watching the first episode with a kind of hyper-vigilance to make sure I was paying attention to everything that happened so I wouldn’t get lost. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it actually isn’t bad at all; they don’t spoon feed you anything, but it’s not hard to figure out what’s going on from the context. What a novel concept- plot development through what the characters actually do and say and who they do and say it with. Good job, David Simon!
I’m probably being more than a little hyperbolic but I truly believe that the Tony awards are the best awards show. You have a bunch of people who are used to performing live on stage performing live on stage. No brainer. You could argue that the Grammys have a similar advantage but the difference is that the Grammys opt to give out a lot of their awards in a pre-show ceremony or during commercial breaks. They’re pretty much a glorified concert at this point. The Tony awards strike a good balance between an entertaining show and handing out awards. Plus, they can do things like this.
Now, Neil Patrick Harris isn’t hosting this year but Hugh Jackman is and he’s proven that he is also quite capable of putting on a great show. Plus, Harris will still be there because he’s currently starring in Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
AMC’s Halt and Catch Fire premiered last night. It takes place in the early 1980s at a the fictional Cardiff Electronics in Texas. It stars Lee Pace (Pushing Daisies, Guardians of the Galaxy), Scoot McNairy (Argo, 12 Years a Slave), Mackenzie Davis (That Awkward Moment), and Kerry Bishé (Scrubs, Argo) Continue reading
This summer, we will be watching The Wire. Each week, we will watch two episodes and will post about them over the weekend. This week, we will begin with episodes S01E01 and S01E02 and will post about them on Sunday, June 8. Please join us. Nothing says summer fun quite like a crime drama that investigates institutional dysfunction in Baltimore.
The Wire is available for streaming through Amazon Prime and for digital purchase from iTunes and Amazon.
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