4 ms·
> If you're not naturally interested in Baltimore's police and drug gang subcultures, you may find the first season a bit slow and much of the dialogue full of
by wutbrodo 6y ago
> If you're not naturally interested in Baltimore's police and drug gang subcultures, you may find the first season a bit slow and much of the dialogue full of seemingly unnecessary detail. I would recommend sticking with it through at least the beginning of the second season, which is mainly about longshoremen and unions, before passing judgment.
I usually recommend people make it through season 2 before deciding they're in it for the long haul (bearing in mind that 2 seasons is already quite a haul, especially for such a dense show). It's my experience that people get turned off by the jump from the expected gangsters-and-cops to the more "boring" Longshore men storyline (though like many, I appreciated season 2 a lot more in retrospect).
- acjohnson55 6y agoI think the key to season 2 is to simply internalize that it's not season 1. Enjoy it for its own brilliance, and don't worry, the season 1 vibe will be back.
- meekrohprocess 6y agoIt's kind of funny how so many people instinctively dislike season 2. "Blegh. Unions. Politics. Yawn." But it makes sense, right? Real corruption and crime isn't always about drugs and shotguns.
- pimeys 6y agoAlso how poverty drives people into crime. How the longshoremen were thinking of being above the black gangsters, except when the money runs out, and people want better life. It's an essential season of The Wire.
- wutbrodo 6y ago> But it makes sense, right? Real corruption and crime isn't always about drugs and shotguns. I think the reaction is just that it's unexpected. Everyone expects there to be crime and corruption in unions, but they don't consider it to be as glamorous or interesting as the gangsters-and-cops tropes that they're used to, and that The Wire seemed to many to be about until season 2. In the context of Simon's slowly-expanding lens of the American city, it makes complete sense, but most viewers aren't aware of that right at the beginning.
- Exmoor 6y ago> though like many, I appreciated season 2 a lot more in retrospect I just finished my third rewatch last night and I honestly like season 2 more each time I watch it. It might be my second favorite season after season 4.
- pimeys 6y agoFunny thing is now I started liking season 5 after my last watch.
- Exmoor 6y agoI also have an improved opinion of season 5 after the latest re-watch. It always seems like it goes off the rails in the early in the season, but those story lines come around and resolve themselves in reasonable ways.