• 24Aug 08

  The Wire: The Great American Novel in Convenient TV Form

  I finished watching The Wire last night. I just wanted to share a few quick thoughts. There are spoilers here for the entire run of the series.

  The Wire is a different kind of show. Most programs that we enjoy provide a specific kind of satisfaction. We know that, ultimately, Jack Bauer is going to defeat the terrorists, avenging all of the innocents who died during the previous 23 hours and 59 minutes. We know that Dexter is going to get away with killing killers who are preying on the innocent. But The Wire isn't like that. It doesn't give a damn about satisfying payoffs. It will often present you with the exact opposite outcome you want to see, because that's the more truthful. I wanted so badly to see Omar Little exact his vengeance on Marlo Stanfield, to make Marlo pay for his arrogance, his evil, for the lives of Butchie and the drugstore security guard and oh for the love of God Prop Joe. The murder of Prop Joe, who I respected for his no-nonsense, co-op minded business ethic, was perhaps the most infuriating, cold-blooded betrayal I've ever encountered in fiction. And even after everything he does, we don't get the satisfaction of seeing Omar blow Marlo away. We don't even get the satisfaction of seeing him get put away for the rest of his life. I tell you right now, if I ever see Marlo Stanfield on the street, I will drop him myself. He got to go. (And speaking of unsatisfying, the fearsome Omar Little could not possibly have met with a more ignoble, unsatisfying demise. But as he was fond of saying, it's all in the game.)

  If any Wire watchers have any thoughts on this issue, I'd love to hear them. In season five, to get money flowing for an investigation to put a stop to Marlo Stanfield, Jimmy McNulty fabricates a series of murders. At first, I was appalled by his actions. I thought he'd lost his moral compass entirely. But I eventually came around. In my mind, Marlo Stanfield is such a force of evil, that if good people need to make some compromises to bring him down, well, I'm okay with that. And so the series end left me with ambiguous feelings about Kima Greggs, who had always been one of my favorite characters. I can understand why she did what she did, but I think the more moral choice in that case, the choice that serves the greater good, would have been to look the other way. I think the police institution was failing society by not providing necessary funding for the Stanfield investigation, and McNulty and Freamon did what they had to do, given the inability of the legal institution to deal with this particular problem.

  And that's what is most admirable about The Wire, the way it truly holds a mirror up to the crucial institutions and aspects of our society--the law, the economy, our political leadership, our schools, the press--showing how they interlock, how failures in one area contribute to failures elsewhere. Season four, with its look at schools, was the most hard-hitting and personal for me. I saw so much of myself as a first-year teacher in Los Angeles reflected in Pryzbylewski's experiences, it was almost painful. The accuracy of its portrayal of the problems affecting our schools was truly remarkable. No other depiction of what our inner-city public schools are like today comes nearly as close to the truth, and there is no more important institution in our society. When we fail our children, they, and we, will pay the price for years and years to come.

  I know that The Wire is going to stay with me unlike any other TV show, that in the years to come, I'll constantly be reminded, by experiences in my life, by stories in the news, of issues raised by The Wire. But it also works purely as a character drama, and I know I'll miss the people who populate it, too. The characters I love on that show are too numerous to mention, but let me rattle off a few names anyway. Bunk. Cutty. Colvin. Freamon. Gus. Bubbles. Bodie. Beadie. Herc. Carv. Yeah, these people and so many more will stay with me. Right now, what most saddens me is that I'll never again get to hear Jay Landsman deliver another one of his stirring eulogies. But in the series finale, he saw Jimmy McNulty out proud. "Natural police," indeed. God rest ye, Jimmy.

  • Posted Aug 24, 2008 1:23 pm PT
  • Category: TV
  • 5 Comments
  • Tag
  • Print
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Digg
• 17Aug 08

  Swingin' old school 'cuz I'm an old fool

  ""I'll talk about a person which I've met when I was young."

  Bionic Commando, NES, 198X

  "Let me tell you about the man I met when I was still young..."

  Bionic Commando Rearmed, 2029

  Like Super Joe, who oddly refers to himself in the third person in the intros to both the original NES and newly revamped versions of Bionic Commando, I was still young when I first met Nathan "Radd" Spencer. I'm not so young anymore, but Rearmed, which I finished on the normal difficulty tonight, reminded me of what games were like when I was younger. The final all-new level is pretty diabolical, a lengthy level filled with situations in which you either just barely make it or don't make it at all, and should you somehow manage to survive all the hazards, and finally make it to the dramatic boss confrontation, and then die, you get to do it all over again. Yep, that's how games used to roll, all right. I'm surprised this game is as challenging as it is. I really would have expected them to make it considerably easier. I'm glad they didn't, though. Swinging through the air just isn't quite as exhilarating if the threat of death isn't constantly imminent, and finishing the game feels like something of an accomplishment.

  

  Red skies at night, red skies at night, Wo oh, wo oh oh oh oh oh oh oh

  I really love the look and sound of this game, too. GRIN made a conscious decision about a very distinctive aesthetic they wanted to go for, and I think it's terrific. The air in the game is so thick with color, it looks like you could cut it with a knife. I also enjoy the way that, if you go through a door, you might hear the muffled bass of the stage's music, as if it really is being pumped in to the level.

  I'm not thoroughly convinced that the swinging mechanic can be implemented as successfully in a 3D environment as it was in the original Bionic Commando, but I'm definitely looking forward to finding out when Bionic Commando Rearmed 2: The Game Bionic Commando Rearmed is Basically Just an Advertisement For comes out.

  • Posted Aug 17, 2008 12:42 am PT
  • Category: Games
  • 10 Comments
  • Tag
  • Print
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Digg
• 13Aug 08

  Back in the swing of things

  I'm of the opinion that Bionic Commando on the NES is one of the best games of all time. I love the heck out of it. I used to beat that game for breakfast. So I was pretty excited for the release of Bionic Commando: Rearmed. And having spent a bit of time with it this morning, my first impressions are very good. It's very faithful to the original, which, as a diehard fan of the NES game, pleases me (and, I suspect, other fans of the cIassic), but it also adds enough new elements to make playing it again feel fresh and rewarding. The swing mechanic is the same as I remember it, but the challenge rooms introduce plenty of puzzling new elements to consider around it. The database of game elements that constantly expands as you encounter new stuff in the game is very cool. And, of course, the visuals are gorgeous. I can't wait to get further into it and see more of what it has to offer. It's already apparent that it's an outstanding value for your ten hard-earned dollars.

  I will say, though, that as cool as the new helicopter pilot, Haley, is, part of me can't help wishing that, instead of a tough-as-nails chick (and I'm normally a big supporter of tough-as-nails chicks), you got a slovenly helicopter pilot who responded to your requests to fly to a new area with a roll of the eyes and a reluctant, "Okay, we'll move." I always got a kick out of that line in the original.

  • Posted Aug 13, 2008 12:29 pm PT
  • Category:
  • 4 Comments
  • Tag
  • Print
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Digg

See Previous Blog Posts