... and all the pieces matter.

so the 101 is showing "the wire" in its entirety on sunday nights. wendell never saw the first several seasons, so when i found out it was being rebroadcast, that joint went in the *manage recordings* file toot sweet. (yes, i know it's tout de suite. bite me!)

sitting here smoking a fat, tasteeeee spleeeeef of the purple moonshine, listening to "the fall" on repeat. heart is indeed breaking. lester freamon, greggs, marlo, omar, bunk, stringer bell... d'angelo barksdale... bubbles. especially bubs. *le sigh* even jimmy, manufacturing whole cases not just evidence, sticking random pussy and out on the tiles. i miss them all. 

i am not a young black man, obvs. i wouldn't pretend to know the experiences of one from west bawlmer, so i don't know if it's as realistic as it seems. but i do know it was the most unvarnished look at life anywhere in the united states that i've ever seen in something that's obstensibly entertainment. the best show ever broadcast. 

everything about the show was perfection.

 the way things developed slowly, seemingly in real time. it demanded that you pay (fucking!) attention, even as it knew you'd be watching it again to pick up on all the shit you missed the first time. the shit you missed the first time when you were sprawled out on your couch, slackjawed. "did i just fucking see that?! on TELEVISION?!?!?" 

the characters, "good" and "bad". all of them were both. there was jimmy and his shenanigans, all five seasons worth. a good pOlice who was indeed a bastard. and d'angelo barksdale. a drug dealing, murdering thug, who in some ways was the fucking conscience of the first series. him teaching the thugs beneath him in the pecking order in the pit how to play chess was one of the most sublime parts of the superlative first season.

the music. the blind boys of alabama are doing their version of the tom waits classic "down in the hole" this season. the music, score and pre-recorded stuff both, are the work of one hell of a music director. the man who wrote the song i'm listening to. this song is everything it should be for a show like this. it's inspiring. it's sentimental. it makes my head go back and forth, eyes closed. (oh and hey... my hair's starting to get pretty long!). it definitely has a groove.

the cast. omG! i watched every season of it, and i swear, i never saw someone miscast. and the regular players were all just jawdroppingly good. wendell (HA!) pierce has been one of my favorite actors for a long time. i liked him in the shit he made before "the wire", but fuck. he was born to play bunk moreland. and i REALLY fucking dig it that so many people from so many of the david simon/ed burns joints were on the show. (like wendell pierce had a huge role on the next of simon's projects, the kick-ass "treme", and so did clarke peters, who played lester freamon).

sorry. it's not hard for me to get all purple and squeeeee about that show. i'd totally have 10,000 of "the wire" 's babies. praise the PSM for HBO for making it.