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Bushgjl OP t1_j5hr22n wrote

Reply to comment by Artistic-Toe-8803 in I like The Wire but it's seriously flawed by Bushgjl

Unlikeable characters without redeeming qualities is a flaw to me.

Even Tony Soprano does seem to legitimately care for his family, and the show makes it known that somewhere within in him there is still good although much farther down than the bad.

Almost all the characters in The Wire are underwritten the the only things that stick out are the bad and unsympathetic moments.

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Artistic-Toe-8803 t1_j5hso8l wrote

All the good we saw from Tony was very clearly shown to either contradict/betray his true nature, be a facade, or have limited reach. Loving your biological children is not some saintly characteristic, we are literally programmed as humans to do so. The character protrait that the Sopranos managed to paint of Tony Soprano is one of the greatest feats in television history for sure. But if you found him 'likeable', yet can't empathize with any of the Wire's major characters, then idek what to say. That's just very strange.

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Bushgjl OP t1_j5ht726 wrote

I can only assume that the characters in The Sopranos are just far better written and acted.

I didn't find The Wire characters compelling for the most part so maybe that makes their worse attributes stick out more.

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Artistic-Toe-8803 t1_j5i0ou4 wrote

What made the side characters in the Sopranos more compelling to you? Apart from Paulie, Silvio, Chris, Bobby, Junior, Janice, Patsy, Phil (who was only introduced in the 5th season), and Adriana, most of them are not very distinct or memorable imo. Even out of those characters, several don't show that much growth throughout the series or have all that potent of character arcs.

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Bushgjl OP t1_j5ig0rd wrote

All those you listed are the main side characters though....

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addwood5 t1_j5l3wkp wrote

You seemed to have failed to notice the main character of The Wire… Baltimore Itself. How is an environment so terrible going to create these great humans? It doesn’t. They are all flawed and that’s what makes them interesting.

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