Great Scene: The Wire
This is a little different than the usual great scene. Okay, a lot different. First, it’s from a TV series, one of the all-time great police dramas “The Wire” on HBO (This episode is from Season One). The second thing that’s different is that I’m not including a script. There’s a reason for that — and that’s the third thing: The scene doesn’t need a script. Basically once Bunk and McNulty (two homicide cops) enter the crime scene to rework the evidence, every word they use is the F-word or a variation of the F-word. Literally three minutes and twenty seconds of nothing but F-bombs. And yet, Bunk and McNulty are carrying on a ‘conversation.’ There is actual content that plays out up top — their frustration, confusion, then insight and finally satisfaction at figuring out the mystery. And there’s subtext, too.
The episode was written by series creator David Simon, who wrote the non-fiction book “Homicide: Life on the Streets” which became the TV series (Simon was a writer and producer on that series as well).
[BTW, Simon is at work on his newest HBO project called “Treme” and set in New Orleans. ]
If you didn’t see “The Wire,” all 5 seasons are out on DVD. Highly recommended. A brilliant series where the quality of the writing was evident in almost every episode.