http://readjack.wordpress.com/2010/11/10/homicide-the-wire-and-being-very-gentle/

No worries, man. I was reading ‘Homicide’ at the same time as watching season one of ‘The Wire’, and it gave me this very weird and interesting reverb effect, with fictional characters and real people overlapping and interacting as parts of the book made it into the show.

It made me very aware of the choices behind the characterisation and writing, which fascinated me.

–
Patrick

No lack of appreciation — perhaps a different kind of admiration, but it’s still there. The writer still has to be diligent, and still has to capture those moments. That’s writing, ultimately. Even the stuff we make up is stuff we’ve heard, or said, or experienced — it’s just mished and mashed into our thing. The fact that he took it, verbatim, still doesn’t change the fact that he chose it for a reason, that he applied it to these characters and this show. It’s not crammed in there; it’s a perfect fit. That takes an eye. That takes a level of appreciation and understanding.

(I’ll add that usually, “verbatim” doesn’t necessarily mean verbatim. Writers are thieving magpies, but they also can’t help but put their own stamp on it. And they don’t even realize it.)

Thanks for the info, Patrick. That’s pretty cool.

– c.

I really like this scene, too, and I agree with a lot of what you’re saying about how the dialogue illuminates the characters and their relationship.

Here’s the thing, though – this interchange wasn’t written for ‘The Wire’. This is a verbatim lift of a drunken conversation between two real cops as reported in ‘Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets’. Spur-of-the-moment stuff that Simon wrote down and decided to reuse in the mouths of two fictional characters (although the character of Bunk is apparently pretty closely based on the cop in question).

Does that affect your appreciation of the scene? Of the script? Of the scriptwriting? Of the intent behind the writing? These are not trick questions; I’m really keen to hear what you think.

–
Patrick

I am just going to say, far more than the last clip, this is a brilliant piece. Everything from composition to delivery fucking nails it home – even so much that people mistake it for ad-libbing. More than anything, I think that alone shows how well it was written; you could swear that no one wrote it, and that it was spontaneous.

Thank you, sir, I appreciate that. No apologies are necessary. Just know that writers are cranky; we spent most of our lives with people telling us our career choice is poorly thought-out and unnecessary, so we bristle.

Anywho — this dialogue is why I think The Wire deserves study, and since none of us Cheap Bastiches are going to Haahvaaahd, we can bat it around here like cats with yarn. Each piece of dialogue contains so much more going on — not to elevate it to holy levels, mind. I don’t think The Wire is the only show doing this. But it serves as an elegant example.

– c.

So I think you’re on to something with how they chose the metaphor of being fucked and connected it w/McN’s initiation into being a good police. I hadn’t thought of it quite that way, but it dovetails so perfectly, that I can only nod with great respect toward your observation and toward the writers here. SO many levels going on in The Wire at all times!

Makes me want to watch all five seasons again.

Looking back on the scene, and reading Dan’s comments, I put 2+2 together. Bunk has no problems telling McN the raw truth. McN could be alluding to the first time this happened somewhere down the line that may have saved McN’s ass.

I completely take back the idea that this may have been improvised. There’s far too much thought and intent behind these lines for that to have happened. I have seen the light, and it is really cool. My apologies to the writers and to you, good folk.

Chuck…not a blog goes by that I don’t learn something new. Keep it up. This is great.

Well-said.

You and @Dan might be right — it might be just a scene where these two guys are expressing admiration and love the only way they know how. Bunk initiated McN into that world, and that’s all this is.

But I can’t help but feel that something a little more is going on here. The police force is highly, highly dysfunctional. It’s all about suction. One-upping everybody. Cases played against cases. Numbers against numbers. It’s this intensely political realm of self-destruction, and in the very next episode we see our two dudes — McN and Bunk — equally caring for one another and dicking each other over.

So, I don’t think it’s that Bunk fucked McNulty over, per se? I think he taught him how to be police. But being police in the city of Baltimore (slurredBallmore) means fucking and getting fucked.

Or, it might just be that they want to bang each other.

– c.