In his new post, Bill Simmons mentions an e-mail exchange between him and Jason Whitlock about the greatest scene in the history of "The Wire." The Avon/Stringer balcony scene from Season 3 is mentioned, as is the Marlo/Avon jail scene from this year. Simmons asks for further suggestions, so I of course had to send mine in. Both involve Omar Little, the Robin Hood of Baltimore. Just in case my suggestions don't make it into a Simmons' mailbag (likely), here are my two suggestions, along with video.
1) Season 2, when Omar appears in court to testify against Bird, and he drops that amazing line on Levy: "Just like you, man. I got the shotgun, you got the briefcase. It's all the game though, right?"
2) Season 3, when Bunk is trying to find Dozerman's gun, and he and Omar have that great exchange on the bench, before Bunk tears into him: "And out where that girl fell, I saw kids, acting like Omar, calling you by name, glorifying your ass. It makes me sick, mutherfucker, how far we done fell."
There's obviously many more, and I'd love to hear what other people have to say. As a sidenote, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has declared that "The Wire" is his favorite show, and that Omar is his favorite character. Cosh and I have been laughing about this, enjoying the idea of Obama as President, walking down a hallway to meet some delegation from a rogue nation, smoke in his hand, whistling "Farmer in the Dell," and having everyone freak out. "Obama's coming!" "Look out, yo! Obama!" If I was an American, I'd vote for him just for this reason. I mean, who wants to mess with a President who smokes and loves "The Wire"? It ain't this guy.
I'm now off to watch Episode 3 of Season 5. I'm terrified to watch it, after what happened last week with Jimmy.
The 6-1 Suns have too many deep-seeded problems with chemistry and defense
ReplyDeleteAh well, at least they've pretty much locked up a playoff birth. Also, it's unlikely that a bunch of their best players will decide to flaunt the league rules like they did last year.
/pedantic language guy
Interesting article about "The Wire" and newspapers in the Washington Post.
ReplyDeleteI was expecting to come here and read an article about how world-class cities at the top of the global urban food chain all have gold-plated sports arenas but can't afford to run public transit after 10 p.m. Disappointing.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favourite scenes featured Bunk and McNulty examining a crime scene for about 3 minutes and just using the word "fuck" to communicate. Priceless.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah! Wasn't that the first scene in the very first episode? Fantastic.
ReplyDeleteBodie and Jimmy in the park late in season four when Bodie tells Jimmy that he's tired. I'm pretty sure that's when he says, "the game's rigged", too.
ReplyDeleteI thought of that when Jimmy said it in Ep 2 of S5.
I must say that I didn't think a whole lot of the scene where Avon subs in for Sergei and surprises Marlo. Sure, it was cool to see Avon but nothing about that scene did it for me.
What's "The Wire"?
ReplyDeleteThe scene in season 4 where Omar goes to get a box of cereal in his bathrobe, and some dealers throw two G packs at him when he leans against their stash house to light a smoke.
ReplyDeleteSean M totally picked my scene. But one that hasn't been mentioned is when bodie, his boy and their women walk out of the movies and run into a double date of herc and carver. That cracked me up, showing, that yeah, we all in the game, but there are some timeouts.
ReplyDeleteThe end of season 1 when Daniels and McNulty bust Avon. The entire Baltimore tactical squad are sitting outside Avon's stripclub (ready to go in guns blazing) when McNulty and Freeman saunter up and knock on the door, which is promptly opened. Stringer tells Avon to open the safe: "No point in wasting a good safe." I always thought that was a great scene.
ReplyDeleteAnd I have to agree with the Omar testifying against Bird scene, fucking awesome.
I won't ruin it for anyone who hasn't watched it, but the final scene of the third episode of season 5 is pretty damn intense. You just KNOW Marlo and Omar are going to war, and hard.
The end of season three after Stringer had been killed and McNulty was left wandering Stringer's empty apartment wondering "Who the fuck was I chasing?".
ReplyDeleteI would have been content had the entire series wrapped up there.
Slipper, I'd forgotten that scene, good call.
ReplyDeleteS3 is the only one where I haven't seen the eps at least twice. I've had a lend of both S1 and 2 on DVD so I've seen those eps numerous times, ie S2 is my fave. I taped S4 four so I've watched them a couple of times as well.
But S3 is something I've got to buy or rent I guess. Thinking back to that season, what about when Bodie and Co take the newly released Cutty to that party? The pace slows down and the lights are brought up and you can see that Cutty's like a fish out of water.
Favorite Wire scene for me is one episode in season two, somewheres around the middle of season, where Frank Sobotka is waiting for Nick to return from meeting the Greeks, and Frank finds out the Greeks asked for another shipment. Franks tells Nick to do the deed, and Nick looks at Frank saying (not word for word here) "Uncle Frank, the writing is on the wall". Frank stops, looks back at Nick, and says "Fuck the wall", then proceeds to walk away. You knew just then and there that things were going to go downhill for the boys at the port.
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