[jdoe]

It doesn't get much bleaker than the Wire, though. A dystopian fiction series would be a bit redundant, not to mention less relevant.

I've been watching Rome and Band of Brothers. Rome's alright. It's picked up as I've approached the end of the season. The show goes through these very slow, plodding sections that are too soap-operatic. I could do without the Atia plotline. Titus and Verenus, the two "everyman Romans" who get involved in most of the major historical events, carry the show.

Band of Brothers is great. I put a notch below the Wire and Deadwood, but it's still better than most of the top tier television series.

[jdoe]

But Band of Brothers isn't interested in being an extended, novel-like series. Rather, it's capturing the terrors of war and how those events bring the men involved together. The episodic nature suits that purpose well. I don't see how a tight, focused storyline would supplement its agenda. And even still, it still has an overarching plot.

Creating an immersing, intricately woven series like the Wire is very, very hard for television. It requires weeks of planning, writing, and devotion that very few series are willing to invest. It's a lot of work that alienates the audience (who are now expected to watch every episode on a regular basis). It speaks a lot about this level of writing when the Wire is the only show on television that really succeeds on an intelligent level.

[jdoe]

[jdoe]

[jdoe]

I agree a lot with your points, Broco, but I can't simply equate Sobotka down to a metaphorical force that is only harming Baltimore. He and the dock community are all humans. Is his right to fight for his own survival wrong? As much of a detriment they may be to the city's advancement, to ask them to simply cut off their support systems for the greater good seems draconian. One of the minor points of the season is that there is no room for them in Baltimore anymore beyond the docks. The end of the season shows their inevitable downfall, and it's anything but an improvement.

And I do no agree that Sobotka and Avon are parallels. A younger, less powerful Avon, maybe, but the Avon we see is far from a willfully ignorant pawn along the lines of Frank. He's shown sympathy and there is a certain tragedy with his fall from power, but his reasons for keeping the drug institution alive is not survival (this is season 1, not 3 when there is a threat). His instinctive need to conduct murders to show his power is evidence.

I may write more later, I've got to go.

[jdoe]

[jdoe]

[jdoe]

[jdoe]

I know Lost isn't particularly loved here (and perhaps rightfully so), but the past four or five episodes have been surprisingly good. Each has had a focused plot, flashbacks that don't act as the singular cause for a character's angst, and a higher emphasis on the stronger cast members. It's sort of reversal from the first half of the season, when the show had become some sort of delusional mess of plot points. I had forgotten that while Lost is no Wire, or even a Rome, it can still be very entertaining.

[jdoe]