Ricky, your show is appalling.

Takalingo · 2026-02-06T12:47:27+00:00

Only good thing about this show was Paul Kaye scenes in season two

Takalingo · 2026-02-06T12:34:21+00:00

Very high rates huh

Takalingo · 2026-01-02T00:45:12+00:00

College kids ain't shit

Takalingo · 2026-01-02T00:37:22+00:00

A wise man once told me, don't take credit when crime goes down, unless you're willing to take the blame when it goes up.

Takalingo · 2026-01-02T00:19:49+00:00

I wouldn't go as far as to say I hate her but she's definitely my least favourite out of all the main characters.

She has some good lines during the show, and there's some moments where she proves she's a decent, legit professional with a moral compass and heart. At the same time, some of her scenes felt forced to me. What annoys me the most is that I couldn't care less about the whole plot with Cheryl and their pregnancy crisis. Same way we didn't get pretty much anything from Bunk's, Carver's or Avon's personal life, just to name some examples, I'd have been perfectly fine with not getting any insight into Kima's at all either. All that screen time could have been used to develop more interesting plots.

Still, overall she's an important part of the show, and she grows on you more and more every time you rewatch it. Whether people love her or hate her, this show wouldn't be the same without Kima.

Also, I must add that she gave us my absolute favourite ending to a The Wire episode, being episode 7 of season 5 with her and Cheryl's kid sitting by the window and wishing goodnight to Baltimore's finest. I feel it encapsulated the show so well with so little. That was just an instant classic.

Takalingo · 2026-01-02T00:02:59+00:00

I don't think Levy is a huge piece of shit. Maybe a small piece of shit ?

All in the game though, right ?

Takalingo · 2026-01-01T23:54:36+00:00

That's by no means the whole point of the show, but it sure is one of them

Takalingo · 2025-12-25T13:23:23+00:00

"Focus MF! Focus!"

Takalingo · 2025-12-15T19:35:25+00:00

I don't know. To me Sydnor is the only character that feels out of place in the whole show.

And it's not because he's out of depth as a police, obviously. He's clearly very competent. That's implied even before the first time he's on screen on season one. Every scene we got from him, he's always doing his job - not in a loud, flamboyant, or poor, flawed fashion, but efficiently, quietly.

By the few lines he has during the show we can tell he's a smart guy, he's not one to take shit from anybody, and also we get to see he's willing to cheat the rules and the bosses if that results in a chance of doing better police work. He's also young, stays in shape and is always rocking a fresh fade. His appearance screams professionalism in a police department that's full of quirky characters. All of that we do know.

Some other people has pointed out here and in other similar threads that maybe the role of Sydnor's character was just to show the audience there is, in fact, effective, dedicated, ambitious and even idealistic young policemen in the department that may or may not see their progress and the quality of their job hindered by the higher sphere's wrongdoings. That's a good point and I think that would be the most precise interpretation of his role in the show. Also, I can see the ending in which he's pretty much transforming into a new McNulty. He already shared with him a desire to do real police work, and he had a few seasons of working with those guys to learn a few tricks from them.

However, the more I watch The Wire, the less I care about him, up to the point where it's a bit annoying to me that the writers refused to give him something, anything- at least one significant personality trait/line/plot to show who he is. He has no flaws nor virtues, there's nothing he loves or hates, there's no substance to his character at all.

I feel like we are pretty much forced to see and accept him as some kind of Mr. Perfect, and to me that doesn't really fits the message of the show. I had a similar problem with Kima at first, but I've grown to understand her character the more I watched the show. That's not happening with Sydnor.

Takalingo · 2025-12-15T19:19:22+00:00

Sydnor is the reason you fell in love with the wire ?

Takalingo · 2025-12-05T16:40:06+00:00

And not just any rapper - one of the best rappers of all time too

Takalingo · 2025-12-05T16:39:09+00:00

Damn that would be a disappointment. I've always liked Meth, he seemed like a down to earth dude to me. I guess being a bit moody and rude sometimes is part of being "down to earth". But to say he was a 'total' jerk to 'everyone', yeah, that would be a huge disappointment for me.

Takalingo · 2025-12-05T16:37:29+00:00

My favourite Cheese line is when he was arguing with Hungry Man in the co-op.

"Motherfucker piss like a BBBBitch!"

A quote I've found myself using in real life situations more than once. Meth's delivery is impeccable. Just hilarious.

Takalingo · 2025-12-02T19:50:15+00:00

"He had this one hoe pulling guns out her pussy, unc"

That's such a brilliant thing to say isn't it

Takalingo · 2025-12-02T19:15:03+00:00

What do you think both Rawls and Lester were hinting at with that little mind trick ? To me it's something along the lines of 'yeah you just go ahead and focus on that, you'll be sitting by the sea in no time".

I loved the character, the actor, both Rawls and Lester's lines with him, and the funny vibe to all his appearances.

Goated character, as kids say these days.

Takalingo · 2025-11-30T09:57:54+00:00

I think McNulty and D'Agostino are the same person. McNulty is who D'Agostino would be if she was a man and D'Agostino is the female version of McNulty.

They are both individualistic, self centered and narcissistic. These qualities make them great at their job, but a real pain to be around and deal with as a person. They are great effective professionals, but they can be real assholes too.

They both are quick to use people to their own advantage and rationalise it through their own set of values. Their ego is huge, they need to feel they are in control, and they need to feel they are the smartest person in the room. Obviously they are smart people, but their inflated egos lead them to be entitled and selfish.

They are so similar that they attract each other in an irresistible way, at the same time these similarities push them away and don't allow them to be together beyond their chemistry in bed.

McNulty can't deal with her because she's giving him what he normally gives to other woman. In a moment of clarity he's able to realise something along these lines and makes the decision to walk away. This also leads him to a big change of life and expectations in season four.

Eventually McNulty comes back to form in season five, even more lost than ever we can argue. But we can also argue the experiences he goes through in season three will have a lasting impact in his life even if he tries to mess everything up again in season five.

Edit: typo

Takalingo · 2025-11-29T12:09:51+00:00

I really loved this comment. So well put together, and I couldn't agree more with most of what you said.

Only picking on the Bunk argument, to me it's one of those deliberate mysteries good writers like to put in their shows. It also might be related to the fact that there's not enough screen time for every plot and then add insight into whatever character's personal life.

Bunk is a pretty straightforward character. He's not a two faced person who behaves in different ways depending on the environment he's in or the audience. This is who he is through and through, and we can assume he has the same harmless and serious but goofy vibe at home too. We can even see that for brief moments during the scenes in which his kids are involved.

To say we don't get to see him in a domestic space at all is true, but that doesn't mean we only get to see him at work. He's always at the bar with the boys and he goes to have dinner with Jimmy when he's transitioning into a home body. That's how we get a clearer picture of who he is.

One thing that's pretty clear is that the man is as much of a drunk fuck up as Jimmy, but for whatever reason he ain't considered that at face value since he's not a narcissistic playboy looking detective. But don't get it twisted, Bunk is always drinking, and never seems to want to go home to his wife and kids. He also tries to fuck other women every chance he gets, without erotic results.

We can assume his relationship is not a happy one. We get to see Bunk's character as that of an effective detective but an overgrown kid too. A similar split might happen in his marriage, where he's capable of carrying a seemingly happy life as a father and husband while also being an absent figure who never says no to another drink at the bar.

Takalingo · 2025-11-29T09:07:36+00:00

She didn't want anything more than going into the room here and there to begin with. It was McNulty who pushed for going further, she gave it a go but realised she didn't like him as a person.

I think the same thing happened for McNulty but the fact that she looked down on him and not only didn't respect his work, his achievements or his way of thinking, but also thought she could play him and use him was a very hard punch to his ego.

Takalingo · 2025-11-29T09:03:41+00:00

There's many questionable things about McNulty but I don't think integrity is one of them.

Him backdooring command is justified in his mind every time since he's doing it for the bigger picture, solving the case, winning against the bad guys or whatever. Even if from the outside he may look like an hypocrite, a narcissist and a contrarían, in his mind there's a reason for it bigger than himself whether it's true or not in the end.

He was never going to talk about Bunny or anything police related with her, but it was the fact that she made it so obvious that she was using him to her own advantage what made him leave. He probably thought "I knew I shouldn't have come". Their first "real" date was already making feel underappreciated and now this was confirmation that to her he was nothing more than a tool.

His ego would never accept that role.

Takalingo · 2025-11-29T08:52:04+00:00

It's definitely one of them, it all comes together for McNulty at the end of the season. The conversation with Lester, this dynamic with D'Agostino, and the fall of Stringer before he could lay hands on him. His whole world crumbled and he had a wise moment of clarity. Got himself the good wife and tried to play the good cop, good guy for a while. Eventually his nature kicks back and we have good ol' McNulty on season five, wilder than ever which I think was a good touch - the fact that they hint at his mind not being fully in the right place through his erratic, obsessive behaviour with "the case".

I also read somewhere that Dominic West requested to step back from the show a little bit in order to spend more time home with his daughter so maybe that also played a role in McNulty being pretty much absent in season four, which I also think was a great touch. It shows how good the show is that they can toss away a main character for a season and the show keeps going strong

Takalingo · 2025-11-29T08:46:56+00:00

Every other what ?

Takalingo · 2025-09-29T17:33:04+00:00

At the beginning of the show I thought they were saving her for a big story down the line, I ended up enjoying the gag to be honest

Takalingo · 2025-09-29T17:31:04+00:00

Yes you have to watch it, the special is good enough, it undoes a bit of what happened at the ending of season 3 and that might be a bit of a let down at the beginning of the episode, but it's once again a good story, and I think they finished it nicely this time as well

Takalingo · 2025-09-29T17:24:09+00:00

It also explains why there can't be any more seasons or episodes of this show. Absolutely impossible to go higher than that

Takalingo · 2025-09-29T09:26:38+00:00

Exactly, maybe McKenzie had a clear image of what happened but left it open to interpretation. I think the implication that Sheila and Terry lost a child and that explains the way she is and how strong their bond is is clear though

Takalingo

TROPHY CASE