DOUQUAN ‘DUKIE’ WEEMS: THE WIRE
Mar 15th, 2010 by Conor McCabe
My obsession with this show is reaching Trekkie levels, I know.
At the end of episode twelve, season four Dukie is told that he’s moving school and there’s a scene where he’s sitting at the computer and looking around the classroom, knowing that it’s the end of what had become a safe haven in his life. For a split second the camera falls onto the PC screen before Dukie turns it off, but the entire shot is too quick for us to notice anything. We always see Dukie at the computer, but we never observe what he is doing, so we presume he’s just been on the internet or playing games.
One pause button and screenshot later, and we can see that Dukie has been working on a classroom newsletter.
Given Duckie’s story in The Wire, it’s a heartbreaking piece of detail.
Spotted a nice one today, episode 1 series 5 [20mins). Probably covered in class 101 of the trekkie guide to the wire, but I enjoyed catching it second time round.
After Rawls breaks the budget cut news to Daniels, the camera switches to Dukie and Co.’s living room, with CSI Somethingorother playing on the TV in the corner.
I’m half-way through season four at the minute, having finally got my hands on the DVD collection. Not sure what episode the clip below appears in, but it was emailed it to me as another blink and miss it reference. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwUQXMLzizU
Wow. That’s some sharp viewing. Took me a couple of looks but finally got it. The clip’s from season five, episode seven “Took”.
In an episode in series one (or two-not as eagle-eyed as ye) McNulty had a 1916 proclamation pinned up up on his desk.
I became addicted to The Wire for a three month period in late 2008. Brilliant show.
If you get a chance, you should read Richard Price’s ‘Clockers’. A 1992 novel that “centers around the workings of a local drug gang and the dynamics between the drug dealers, the police and the community.” Some of my favourite moments from The Wire are directly taken from it e.g. when the two cops and two kids bump into each other in the cinema with their respective dates.
Price later became one of the writers for The Wire.
(He first novel The Wanderers (1974) is a greaser, rock ‘n’ roll cult classic. It was adapted into an ok movie in 1979, released at the same time as The Warriors)
I haven’t read any Richard Price, but definitely over the Summer.
Just noticed recently in the episode with the hungerstriker poster, Clay Davis refers to Bond in the courthouse scene as Prosecutor “O-bond-a”
Clay Davis is such a fantastic character. Oozes charm and corruption in equal measure.
David Simon’s cameo…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4HtVuBFCLA&feature=related