Post by jamtomorrow on Jul 12, 2013 7:38:40 GMT -5
I don't know if I'm guilty of some sort of sacrilege in starting a thread here, but there were one or two things I wanted to say about this episode...
Firstly, The Wire. Stick with it, Ted! It really is as good as people say it is. Much as I've enjoyed The Sopranos, Dexter and Breaking Bad, compared to this series, they just seem... I don't know, thin. Perhaps that's best illustrated by the way in which you can reduce each of the three aforementioned to a kind of two-second pitch in the format of "it's about an x who y", but you just couldn't do that with The Wire. For instance...
The Sopranos: "it's about a mob boss who has domestic problems"
Breaking Bad: " it's about a high school teacher who cooks crystal meth"
Dexter: "it's about a serial killer who hides in plain sight"
Now I know each of those series has its own range of spiralling plotlines and arcs, but once you hear that initial statement, you've basically got the idea of the series. The Wire is different, and that's what makes it less easy to get into, but ultimately more satisfying. Also, there's something a little cartoonish and removed from reality about the first three series (Breaking Bad and Dexter would basically never happen, and the life of a mafia don is very much removed from everyday reality) whereas there are scenes in The Wire that are lifted straight from reality.
Secondly, Cloud Atlas. Read the book, it's fantastic; you're right to be nonplussed by the film.
Thirdly, a Mary Sue is a ridiculously over-powered character, who rushes around implausibly solving problems/ coming to the rescue whilst those who one would suppose to have the skills/expertise to succeed fail (in order to make the Mary Sue look good).
Fourthly,milk floats. Milk floats are a means of transporting milk around urban environments in Britain and Ireland. Making use of anti-gravity technology reverse engineered from crashed UFOs, they literally float the milk above the ground. Sadly, they are not yet capable of warp speed.
Firstly, The Wire. Stick with it, Ted! It really is as good as people say it is. Much as I've enjoyed The Sopranos, Dexter and Breaking Bad, compared to this series, they just seem... I don't know, thin. Perhaps that's best illustrated by the way in which you can reduce each of the three aforementioned to a kind of two-second pitch in the format of "it's about an x who y", but you just couldn't do that with The Wire. For instance...
The Sopranos: "it's about a mob boss who has domestic problems"
Breaking Bad: " it's about a high school teacher who cooks crystal meth"
Dexter: "it's about a serial killer who hides in plain sight"
Now I know each of those series has its own range of spiralling plotlines and arcs, but once you hear that initial statement, you've basically got the idea of the series. The Wire is different, and that's what makes it less easy to get into, but ultimately more satisfying. Also, there's something a little cartoonish and removed from reality about the first three series (Breaking Bad and Dexter would basically never happen, and the life of a mafia don is very much removed from everyday reality) whereas there are scenes in The Wire that are lifted straight from reality.
Secondly, Cloud Atlas. Read the book, it's fantastic; you're right to be nonplussed by the film.
Thirdly, a Mary Sue is a ridiculously over-powered character, who rushes around implausibly solving problems/ coming to the rescue whilst those who one would suppose to have the skills/expertise to succeed fail (in order to make the Mary Sue look good).
Fourthly,milk floats. Milk floats are a means of transporting milk around urban environments in Britain and Ireland. Making use of anti-gravity technology reverse engineered from crashed UFOs, they literally float the milk above the ground. Sadly, they are not yet capable of warp speed.
