The Wire 4x13 Reaction

No reaction to Landsman cutting bubble loose?

This was my favorite season! I loved the emotions you expressed in this reaction.

Finally had time to catch up on these reactions, life took a crazy turn for me these last couple of weeks but now things have settled, just in time to wrap up this season. As depressing and draining as this season was I will say this season (as well as the last) were the only two seasons to me that was perfect from start to finish and even though I couldn’t take what it was that I was watching without crying, it was a story that needed to be told. I will never hold any other characters in my heart as much as I hold these kids. They brought out a protective side of me that I never usually have for fictional characters, the reason being that they are just too dangerously close to family members and friends that I grew up with and love. I look at these kids and I see characters that resemble too much of the world I know and it breaks me every time. There are no words to describe this season, it’s genuinely the most important piece of medium in all media to me and definitely deserves to be seen and studied by everyone. Season 5 is my least favorite season of The Wire but honestly it’s because I couldn’t get past the importance of this season, and I held this season with me the entire time I watched S5 but I can’t wait for you ladies to see it and get your takes. You’ve made it through this season just like us, I know it was rough but we did it together, lol. Now onto S5!!!!!

The quote in the first episode of season 4 foreshadowed the entire season, “lambs to the slaughter” 💔. Great reaction ladies 👏🏾

In light of the talk about how bleak and punishing this season is, thought I would share this old interview with David Simon, which ran at the end of Season 4. (There are very light spoilers for S5, including what the focus of the season will be.) "There were no models for us in TV... Instead, the impulse on my part is rooted in what I was supposed to be in life, which was a journalist. I’m not interested in conducting morality plays using TV drama—in stories of good versus evil. I’m not interested in exalting character as a means of maintaining TV franchise. Most of TV works this way: You try to get something up and running, and once you do, you just try to keep it going, because there’s a lot of money involved. That’s not in my head. What’s in my head is what I covered, what I saw as true or fraudulent, what made me smile, as a reporter. I’ve been mining that ever since... I don’t consider myself to be a crusader of any sort. I was bystander to a certain number of newspaper crusades. They end badly, in terms of being either fraudulent or by inspiring legislations that makes things worse. So, I regard myself as someone coming to the campfire with the truest possible narrative he can acquire. That’s it. What people do with that narrative afterward is up to them. I am someone who’s very angry with the political structure. The show is written in a 21st-century city-state that is incredibly bureaucratic, and in which a legal pursuit of an unenforceable prohibition has created great absurdity... In our heads we’re writing a Greek tragedy, but instead of the gods being petulant and jealous Olympians hurling lightning bolts down at our protagonists, it’s the Postmodern institutions that are the gods. And they are gods. And no one is bigger." https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2006/12/interviewing-the-man-behind-the-wire.html

Only found out about you guys recently, I subscribed to Patreon just for your reaction on this show. Thank you for giving the most ground-breaking (& heart-breaking) season of TV the attention and justice (ironic) it deserved.

I loved how quickly Dennis sat up in his bed just hearing Bunny mention Namond’s name…showed how much he cared about the kid.

"I feel old" is always the craziest line coming from bodie man, shit hits

I can’t wait to hear y’all review and overall reaction to this season

Lola’s sign of the cross after hearing that the patient next to Dennis gets more television channels because he has insurance….poor Lola.

Oh, and Herc: Remember five years ago when we first started watching this season and Herc was just a loveable idiot who didn’t know what to do when he witnessed a mayoral blowjob? How things changed…

The best episode of The Wire? Possibly. So many great lines and moments. Where to start? Bubbles: How tragic. We go from seeing the ties hanging on the wall to Bubs hanging from the ceiling. Great segue and instant foreshadowing. Then we see him break down in the mental hospital in front of his sponsor. Somehow, the subtitles which have served as mini spoilers throughout your reactions didn’t show his words at that moment: “I don’t want to feel anything. I don’t want to feel nothing.” Heartbreaking. 😢 Bodie: “I feel old.” I felt that line. He’s trapped like a piece on a chessboard with Chris and Snoop coming at him from either side before O-Dogg takes his life. Let’s see if J. D. Williams (the actor who portrayed Bodie) will comment on your reaction. I know he’s aware of your channel. Namond: That scene with Bunny and Wee-Bey is incredible. The pitch by Bunny was absolutely perfect. And then you have Wee-Bey to DeLonda: “My word is still my word. In here, in Baltimore, and in any place you could think of calling home, it’ll be my word that finds you.” That’s a helluva thing to say. 👀 Randy: You called it early on. What a depressing ending for him. Made sadder with his recognition that Carver tried to help him. Michael: “No matter who he is or what he’s done you can look him in the eye.” Further confirmation that Chris and Mike have suffered an abusive past. In the montage is Mike dreaming about what his life with Bug could have been like in an alternative future? Only 10 more episodes to watch with you. And that's a bit sad too.

Carver flipping up the mirror in his car because he can’t stand to look at himself is one of my favorite pieces of acting ever.

You nailed it with Carcetti. He’ll do whatever is in his self interest to keep advancing and keep forgetting why he started in the first place the higher he goes. They showed his early idealistic side a bit, and I’d bet even Royce and Clay Davis were idealistic and wanted to do good at one point too, all for naught. It’s how it goes.

Congrats on surviving season 4! Watching their reactions hammers home how rough it is in comparison to the other seasons. Still think this is one of the best episodes of the show though. Bodie and McNulty is one of my favourite scenes, period. Hopefully this last episode made Bubbles story with Sherrod clearer. Ultimately Bubbles could never be the father figure he wanted to be while he was still using. It was Bubbles hitting bottom, and also Bubbles recognizing how he could hurt others even when he had the best intentions. Interested to see what they think about season 5 now. I have a feeling they will be more positive on it than the general perception. Sad to think we're approaching the finish line.

I don't say this lightly but I do think this is as close to a flawless episode of television as you can produce. Dark, hard to watch uncompromising to be sure but such a perfectly executed conclusion to everything that led up to it. I've always found it clever how they have the bodies from the vacants going to a closed down school. Schools are closing, there are homeless everywhere while thousands of houses sit vacant and instead they're filled with dead bodies which then complete the cycle by ending up back at school. To hinge an entire season of tv on child actors is usually an act of lunacy but they blew it out of the water on this one. Every single one of the kids was phenomenal and carried what is often considered to be one of the greatest seasons of any show ever. Their stories didn't end up in a good place with the exception of Namond but sadly that is the truth of it. The Michaels and Duquwans of this world find it incredibly hard to break the cycle and get out without serious support which is what Namond found in Bunnie and Randy missed out on with Carver despite his best efforts. Duquan was great with computers and while he could probably go on to to be very successful realistically he is never getting the chance to do so in all likelihood. Randy has been a victim of every system he's encountered. Even when he's tried to do the right thing it's come back to bite him. Screw Herc for the shit he did, in my opinion he's directly responsible for what happens to Randy. The next season will be a lot easier for you I'll say that much and while it's considered one of the weaker seasons mostly due to being rushed when they were cancelled it's still high quality television and I think you'll still find plenty to love and discuss. I hope that you don't let the way the season made you feel get in the way of appreciating the craft and story they told here. It's an important one if not an easy one to watch

What a fucking episode and what a fantastic reaction. I'll come back later to post some thoughts. Before you do your review it may be worth looking at the end of season montage which offers clues as to who/what will feature in the final season.

something about bodie’s last look at poot gets me, that however how futile it is he’s going to stand for his corner and the last vestiges of the era they were brought up in. that’s all he’s ever known…

Couple of small things: always loved that Prop Joe, while getting scammed by Omar, finds a way to scam the people in the co-op by telling them it was 30 cents on the dollar instead of 20, so he can at least make a bit of the money back. Also love the small parallel in the scene where they visit Bubs in the hospital, how Kima can't bring herself to go in and see him because of the guilt she feels, in the same way Jimmy couldn't bring himself to go in and see her. And third, as hard as it is to see Jimmy clearly making a bad decision by going to Daniels and asking to be put on the case, it's cute how they have Jimmy say what Daniels said to him when they first met in season 1 'Maybe we do it fast and clean' and Daniels replying with what Jimmy said back to him 'You do the case right or you don't do it at all'

The Lord of the Ring : Old Face Andre -> Marlo -> Omar -> Officer Walker -> Michael

I'm not the first to point it out, but the fact that Bodie was stuck on his corner unable to move like a pawn, while his attackers came at him from angles like bishops and knights is too poetic to not mention.

The show is great and I have been enjoying your comments just as much. I watched the wire when it came out and I still remember the story of all the kids and Bodie to this day. Take your time, get well and then share your thoughts and know they are appreciated.

And so the most devastating and greatest season of television comes to an end. It hits you in the gut and gives you a little bit of hope. I always gotta give respect to the child actors who carried this season. They acted brilliantly with some help from the older actors, especially Robert Chew, Prop Joe's actor (RIP).

Incredible episode. The scene with Wee-Bey and Colvin is probably my favorite scene in the whole show. He finds common ground with Wee-Bey. And us as the audience end up cheering for Wee-Bey of all people as he makes the right decision. Fantastic writing.

At least namond got saved

At the end, Dennis was hanging out with the nurse that criticized him earlier if you hadn't noticed lol

“Do we know him?… I don’t think we know him” ….. Yeh that is Walon, a drug rehab counselor and bub’s sobriety sponsor… He appeared several times in series 1.

Someone should send them a "I survived season 4 of The Wire" t-shirt

I’m just sad looking at the thumbnail 😢

Ultimately the buck stops with Carcetti and nobody is buying all his self-rationalisations, but Steintorf is what Bunk would call a special kind of asshole. "Kids don't vote" 😐

Never met her personally, but I can tell Miss L has a heart the size of Alaska.

Ah, poor Lola. That episode was very hard for her to watch. She's so empathetic.

think you guys are really going to enjoy season 5

the term ‘gut-punch’ was invented for episodes like these

Yeah.. I can tell by those faces in that thumbnail that this wasn’t a good time. But hey.. on the bright side you got to experience peak TV so called it a fair trade maybe? :P

Oh, God. That cold open. Showing us Bubs' absolute lowest moment through the eyes of Jay Landsman, of all people. And Jay shows depth and understanding, making him funnily enough the perfect person for Bubs to encounter at this moment.