The Wire - The Complete Second Season
by Ernest Dickerson
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DVD details
Actor: Amy Ryan, Chris Bauer, Dominic West, Idris Elba, Paul Ben-VictorDirector: Ernest Dickerson
Brand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0; Greek (Original Language); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 720 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-01-25
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: HBO Home Video
DVD Reviews of The Wire - The Complete Second Season
DVD Review: Quick Delivery!
Summary: 5 Stars
Instead of waiting weeks for my DVD set order, it arrived in a matter of days. In perfect condition, no less. I would highly recommend these folks to others. DVD Review: Excellent
Summary: 5 Stars
When The Wire started it was easy to see it as just another cop show, until its overwhelmingly high quality lifted it onto another level. After all, the narrative of Season 1 was simply that of cops versus drug dealers, with some murky political dealings on the side but these were left relatively unexplored. Season 2, however, shows creator David Simon's real plan: he is trying to craft the definitive portrayal of the turn-of-the-century American city. Like a Grand Theft Auto game, progressing onto Season 2 'unlocks' another chunk of the city, this time the docks and a new cast of characters, including Eastern European criminals, the unions and their families, and introduces an important new thread to the tapestry of the show.
At the end of Season 1, Lt. Daniels' unit successfully cracked the Barksdale case, but political infighting between different police departments saw arrests made prematurely. Whilst Avon and D'Angelo were sent down, the evidence against Avon was flimsy and his time inside was limited, whilst back on the street the formidable Stringer Bell has been put in charge. Meanwhile, Daniels has been booted down to work in the evidence lock-up and McNulty has been sent over to the harbour patrol, to his extreme annoyance, whilst Freamon and Bunt are working in homicide. When McNulty fishes a body out of the harbour and port authority police officer Beadie Russell uncovers thirteen corpses in a freight container, the police's attention is turned to the harbour. This garners the interest of Commander Valchek, who is anxious to bring down the head of the stevedores' union, Frank Sobotka, after his union raises more cash for the local church's new stained-glass windows than Valchek's.
Season 2 of The Wire sprawls slightly more than the first season, a result of the story having to incorporate a large number of new characters and locations whilst at the same time keeping tabs on the characters from Season 1. The project gangs, Stringer Bell, Omar and so forth are firmly on the back-burner for the season, with their story forming a subplot that clears up some loose ends from the first season and sets up the events of Season 3, where they return to prominence. Whilst characters such as Omar and Bubs get limited screen time as a result compared to the first year, at least they don't vanish altogether. Luckily, the new characters are a good match for the originals. Union politics and the gradual loss of American industry and hands-on labour are covered in a fascinating manner. Frank Sobotka (played by Chris Bauer) is the character whom the season's themes centre on, showing how an essentially decent man who values loyalty and fair play is gradually morally eroded, ground down by the city institutions and effectively destroyed, whilst the start of the same process is shown happening to his nephew Nicky (Pablo Schreiber). On the law-enforcement side, Amy Ryan makes a good impression as Beadie Russell, the working beat officer who is pulled into the detective unit formed to investigate the port situation and finds herself out of her depth, until she steps up. On the street side of things, the fascinating character of Brother Mouzone (Michael Potts) is introduced very late in the season, as more pieces are set up for the third year.
The Wire remains dramatically intense, with several deaths (one in particular) and shocking plot developments meaning you don't know who is safe, or who can be trusted. The show's black sense of humour is retained (the entire investigation starts due to a personal feud between Valchek and Sobotka over whose union gives more money to their local church), the fascinating investigative tactics used by the police are expanded upon and the increasingly bleak portrayal of the modern American city is balanced by a few decent characters and moments of hope.
The Wire: Season 2 (*****) takes slightly longer to get going than Season 1, but remains gripping, intelligent and adult television and the climax is much harsher.
DVD Review: Expanding the story
Summary: 5 Stars
I've heard people harsh on the second season, but I actually like it better than the first (if only because we aren't force-fed the excruciating D'Angelo loss-of-innocence story). This is The Wire, so social issues are relevant, but by expanding the story and showing how the problems aren't just black people in the ghetto helps give it a much wider feel. It's not just that we get white people and their connection to the drug trade, but that it expands into what used to be the middle class, and the negative effects that the entire problem have. We still have Stringer and Omar and McNulty and all our favorites doing what they do, but the way that the drug-war damage is shown to not be contained, to not just be easily-identifiable "those people" is what makes this season so successful.
Like my old chemistry professor would say "Everything is connected to everything else." This season puts that in the spotlight.
DVD Review: I love DVD...one season DONE in 3 days.
Summary: 5 Stars
I couldn't imagine waiting weeks from beginning to end-no way. S%$t like this gives me faith in humanity-no small task. Genius. So good it's scary. Perfection. My wife wants sex, but I tell her to go to bed alone-I have a show to watch and beers to drink...the Alpha-Male of television IS THE WIRE...
...and how is Omar NOT one of the best characters ever??!!
DVD Review: Best Show on TV Ever - Good Season, But Behind S4, S3, S1
Summary: 4 Stars
The Wire Season 2 is a good season with a really good story line. It follows the drug trade and how it impacts the working class - and crosses racial lines to the white working class. David Simon has proclaimed that the intent was to show the degradation of the working class, the impact of gentrification and capitalism, and that the drug trade impacts all classes and all races. While I personally disagree with Simon's interpretation and social-political views, the story line he crafts to tell this tale is amazing and entertaining. You do end up sensing the desperation of the working class.
Absolutely a must watch from beginning to end. It is still full of all of the subtleties that The Wire is known for, the character development, and all that. This season is also full of the details and characters that, after watching the whole season, you'll want to watch again and again - and debate over and over.
If you loved any season of The Wire, this one cannot be missed - SHOULD NOT be missed.
Description of The Wire - The Complete Second Season
(HBO Dramatic Series) The most unvarnished uncompromising and realistic police drama ever returns for another hard hitting season. McNolty has been demoted to harbor patrol Daniels is in the police archive dungeon Prez is chafing in the suburbs and Gregs is stuck behind a desk. Meanwhile on the docks of the Baltimore harbor the rank and file scrounge for work and the union bosses take illegitimate measures to reinvigorate business but a horrific discovery is about to blow the whole port inside out. While the detail is on ice a new case begins...Running Time: 720 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre:?DRAMA UPC:?026359235825 Manufacturer No:?92358It hardly seems possible, but The Wire's second season is even better than the first. The "visual novel" concept of this masterful HBO series is taken even further in a rich, labyrinthine plot revolving around the longshoremen of Baltimore's struggling cargo docks, where corruption, smuggling, and murder draw the attention of detective McNulty (Dominic West). What follows is a series of events which at first seem unrelated (including 13 bodies found in a cargo container), and then the ongoing effort to topple the drug empire of "Stringer" Bell (Idris Elba) and the imprisoned Avon Barksdale (Wood Harris), whose business is suffering from short supply, high demand, and disruption of distribution. The dutiful diligence of a Marine Police Patrol Officer and the moral outrage of the longshoremen's union leader are also factored into the suspicious goings-on at the loading docks, and what unfolds in these 12 episodes is an American crime epic easily on par with the Godfather saga. Yes, it's that good.
Detailed synopsis is pointless; The Wire must be seen, heard, and absorbed to fully appreciate the way in which over 40 characters are flawlessly incorporated into a sprawling but tightly disciplined plot that deals, in the larger sense, with the deindustrialization of America and the struggle of longshoremen in a changing economical climate. Offering a privileged and occasionally frightening glimpse of the inner workings of shipping ports and cargo transports, The Wire is also a detailed expos? of organized crime and blue-collar corruption, and an authentic, well-informed study of political maneuvering among police and city officials. There's not a single false note to be found in the cast, direction, or writing of this phenomenal series, hailed by many critics as "the best show on television." With all due respect to HBO's other excellent series, The Wire tops them all. --Jeff Shannon
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