Norm is awesome. His best moments are whenever he is guest on Conan's show

Hamsterdam was a pretty big reach because it seems unlikely that an administrator would ever sign off on it, and also that it would go so long unreported. On the other hand since nobody seems to give a **** what goes on in the inner city maybe it is possible.

The newspaper arc was good but it is inextricably linked to the serial killer thing. Obviously both arcs were vehicles to deliver various social arguments, but I would like to think that they could have come up with something more plausible than they did, especially with the SK.

In any event, Gus was a well done hero and Scott was a pretty solid villain.

Yeah pretty much.

They get moved to an area of largely abandoned houses though, and it fills with junkies and gangbangers - not exactly the demographic to go to the media.

Though yes, nobody would ever sign off on it and even if they did one of the low ranking cops involved spills the beans within a week and the chain of command there comes down on it like a ton of bricks.

The shows writers took a liberty to make a pretty interesting point.

I also tend to defend the serial killer thing. It was a clever plot that tied in a lot of aspects of that season and also produced a lot of really hilarious scenes. It was almost like a screwball comedy plot. I can see why people wouldn't want that kind of thing in a show like The Wire but I enjoyed it.

For me that pretty much redeems the implausibility.

If the SK plotline had happened earlier in the series run it probably wouldn't have gotten near the hate it did, but as people tend to do they look for signs of fatigue in shows they love. Plus they introduced a whole bunch of new characters in a shortened season and weren't able to develop them as much. Plus, a lot of the new characters were white, and as S2 seemed to prove new white characters that weren't involved in the street weren't received very well.

Just lots of reason to nitpick S5 so I went into it with low expectations knowing that everyone seemed to hate it, and it was much better than I expected. Plus I thought it was a pretty strong final episode.

One reason Hamsterdam/SK get a lot of hate is because they run to counter to the myth that The Wire has documentary-type verisimilitude.

Wire trivia which may or may not be relevant, one of the guys in the "public health" meetings about Hamsterdam was played by the former mayor of Baltimore who got in deep **** for (perhaps facetiously) suggesting something very much akin to Hamsterdam.

Lol I just saw someone order a double glinlivet on the rocks with a drop of water, emphasis on drop.

So, when are we getting the NFL mock draft started up?

Since it needs no structuring (assuming we're just disallowing trades) I'd be more than game to start the interest thread and get the ball rolling.

Was there a specific time it usually gets started?

nice word

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...6&postcount=44
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...4&postcount=48

Hey, you cant expect everyone to know that ice is made of water

I don't think the serial killer plotline would have worked in an earlier season, because it's necessary for us to see how broken-down and bureaucratic all of these institutions are before the show can plausibly demonstrate how such a thing could happen.

Haha that's great

Right, and you don't believe McNulty as a character either, if that's one of the first things you're presented with. You have to see the spiral first.

Question for the local hipsters; Nath, Pudge et al:

How long until the following song becomes too main stream to not being likable anymore:

Somebody that I used to know-Gotye

???

Songs been out for a while. Never really liked it much anyway.

Fwiw, when I first heard it, I was sure I was listening to some 80's tune; and I actually like 80's music.

(FTR: I am an 80's/90's kid)

I was asking local hipsters, not local emo's.

It's on the radio here all the time, I can't stand this ****ing song

never heard it. peter gabriel called...

someone took latin

pudge prob saved it

If you're a 18-21 yr old girl, the last 6 months? By far the most posted song by girls on FB for that range.

this is blowing my mind. norm is the best.