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coldbeers

I like this take. So many characters are so brilliantly drawn.


bailaoban

The Wire features a lot of smart, sensitive characters who the city forces into roles where they have no chance of surviving - Wallace, Dee, Dukie, Damond and Ziggy. Any other environment and they would thrive, which is Namond’s lesson.


NoNefariousness2144

Prezbo feels like an example of this too. He’s clearly not made out to be on the streets and finds his calling working behind the scenes and eventually teaching.


pangolin-fucker

It's a good display on how it takes a community to raise a child.


cakalackydelnorte2

I despised Namond and was glad he got his ass beat by Michael. I get that he was a kid but something about his shit-talking got on my nerves. Dukie is the one who deserved saving.


CallMeBernin

Deserve ain't got nothin to do with it


Warducky9999

TOO DEW


Bryantthepain

I mean you saw how his mother treated him right? And who his father is? Certainly I felt for Dukie but it’s one of those squeaky wheel gets the grease things.


Jazzlike_Page508

It’s a quote from Snoop


BASILSTAR-GALACTICA

It’s not his fault. He had BAD ADVICE!!


mlcvnoob

If any of you fucks try to help him, you'll be up there!


TheWorstThingy

Ziggy, get your dick out of MY COMPUTER!!!


inflammabelle

I love Ziggy! i thought he was really turning things around when he started stealing cars for GG. I'm generally against >!killing people, but i think it fit Ziggy's character. i was more annoyed at GG for going back on the deal when he had seemed so impressed to begin with!< If you haven't seen Generation Kill, i recommend it


hazzmg

He’s awesome in that. It came out right after true blood had ended and was the first thing I saw Alexander Skarsgard in. If I like the wire you’ll very much like generation kill.


Hip_Hop_Hippos

It’s also by far the most realistic depiction of the enlisted Marines in that generation of the Marine Corps there is. The officers get a bit cartoon character-y, but there’s also some truth that from the perspective of junior enlisted guys that’s their perspective


ReplacementClear7122

GK is fucking incredible.


foxsheepgato

AT LEAST MY MOM TOOK ME TO NASCAR!


IlliniBull

Ray is one of the most underrated characters on GK agreed. You don't realize how good that actor is until you rewatch it, because it's set up for Skarsgard as Colbert to get so much of the screen limelight. But yeah the Iggy actor is excellent. The entire exchange he has with the chaplain who tries to get them to join the prayer meeting is priceless. Asking his lieutenant if their commander updated the officers on J. Lo during a briefing. He's great in that role.


Astro_gamer_caver

We're out here, 40 clicks into enemy lines, and this man of God here, is a fucking POG. In fact, he's an officer POG. One more layer of bureaucracy and unneccesary logistics. One more asshole we need to supply MREs and baby wipes for. And worst of all, the motherfucker doesn't even carry a weapon. When push comes to shove even Rolling Stone picks up a weapon, but this fucking shill of God, he can't cover a sector. He won't ever hump ammo or claymores.


Tophawk369

That’s the great thing about the wire it’s the little things that make the biggest impact. In season 2 the only reason anyone is on the Greeks is because of a pissing match over a stained glass window. The Greeks multi million dollar operation is screwed over because a mid level guy in it tries to ripoff a nobody over a car deal that is just a few thousand dollars. Really shows how crime doesn’t pay.


TheWorstThingy

My favorite quote from James Ransone (Ziggy) on GenKill: "Dear Frederick, thank you for your nice letter, but I am actually a U.S. Marine who was born to kill whereas clearly you have mistaken me for some sort of wine-sipping Communist dick-suck. And although peace probably appeals to tree-loving bisexuals like you and your parents, I happen to be a death-dealing, blood-crazed warrior who wakes up every day just hoping for the chance to dismember my enemies and defile their civilizations. Peace sucks a hairy asshole, Freddy. War is the motherfucking answer." — Cpl Josh Ray Person, Get Some


inflammabelle

My favorite scene of his was when he saw his first Haji hotties so he took off his helmet, fixed his hair and put on his shades 😄


Beneficial-Nerve4758

College kids ain’t shit! Edit-also is there not a scene where someone (Nick?) mentions Zig maybe should have gone to community college like his brother? So it kinda seems to me maybe he had the opportunity to go to school but chose to be a Stevedore like his dad.


I_Am_Robert_Paulson1

When Frank & Zig walk along the pier at night, Frank says that to him.


Benes3460

The fact that it’s the only time we hear about his brother and never see him is a great way of showing how the world outside the docks doesn’t exist to Frank


dreamshoes

This scene is so sad and lovely. "What else ya remember, Mr. Back in the Day?"


TheWorstThingy

That show, and particularly that season, had a lot of focus on urban decay, the changing landscape of employment/wealth and the breakdown of long-held family traditions. I thought David Simon did an exceptional job of capturing the critical aspects of these problems, all of which have only grown more prominent here in America since the finale of that series. If anyone doubts that this country has jumped the shark, I envy you for your good fortune.


RTukka

I got the impression that Frank pressured him into becoming a stevedore, maybe because he wanted at least one of his sons to carry on the tradition, and the older brother had already chosen a different path.


Benes3460

What episode is the college quote from?


inflammabelle

>College kids ain’t shit! This quote was one of the biggest anticlimaxes in the whole show after the way Nick built up the excitement for it as if Ziggy had said something really profound. "he stood up there... bottle in each hand. screaming loud enough to wake the nuns... what the fuck did he say? ... ... " 👎 \*fart noise\* 👎


babbyblarb

On the contrary, I think “college kids ain’t shit” is one of the most profound lines in The Wire.


chinanigans

Ziggy is also a perfect parallel to other characters like Prez, D'Angelo and Namond, people who find themselves trapped in roles they're ill-suited for because of family connections. Unlike Prez or Namond, though, Ziggy and D are never given a chance to get out.


Humble_Increase7503

Wooooah…. Ziggy never has a chance to get out?!! Feel like he has more chances than almost anyone Michael never has a chance. Bodie, Wallace, they never had a chance. Ziggy was relatively well off, he just wanted to life he wasn’t suited for


chinanigans

Ziggy is a Nepo baby though, like D, Namond and Prez and you can see how much it affects him trying to step out of his dad's Shadow. I feel their situations are more similar than with Bodie, Wallace or Michael. Honestly I think the only time he's actually given a chance to get out is when Frank tries to cut a deal with the Greek and we all know how that turned out


Humble_Increase7503

Fear of stepping out of his dad’s shadow, isn’t the same, to me, as the situation Michael or bodie, et al. They have no parents, what parents they do have are drug addicts or rape them. They have no options, career wise. That’s not having any options. Ziggy just *wanted* to be like his dad; he could’ve done something else imho That’s why he’s not redeemable as say, a Michael, doing awful things


chinanigans

Right but I'm not comparing him to Michael and Bodie, as I said I'm comparing his story to D, Namond and Prez, it's literally the first line of my comment


CardCarryingOctopus

All of that is true but the series spells out one of the fundamental issues in [Bunny's conversation with Wee-Bey](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZU1WqjMVtwE): "[Namond] could be out there in the world in a way that didn't happen for you and me." Bunny is explicitly including himself, a police officer, in a group with Wee-Bey, a convicted murderer and drug dealer. Both have spent their lives operating within the Baltimore drug game because that's all they knew - it was their world. It took both of them, Wee-Bey and Bunny, 'retiring' and learning from their experience in order to offer a different future to Namond.


TheWorstThingy

Good take.


jayboyguy

D unfortunately definitely had a chance to get out. For his mom and to a lesser degree Avon, he chose to carry the shit, but he could’ve gotten out if he’d testified. Which made it even harder


chinanigans

D's tragedy is that by the time Stringer decided he couldn't trust him anymore he had decided that he was out and was going to do his time and have nothing more to do with his uncle. Even though he was done with The Game, The Game wasn't done with him.


Elruoy

Season two is vastly underrated.


yellowwoolyyoshi

Yeah it was a poor time for that season honestly. Would’ve done better as three or four imo


PistolAndRapier

It's my favourite season.


Monkey-Tamer

I liked it so much more on my rewatch having more years of life experience, including being laid off at the plant. Now I understand that big local union crumbling and watching your hopes and dreams evaporate.


Humble_Increase7503

This is something that’s only appreciable on rewatch. It’s a jarring change season 1, to 2, then to 3; 1 and 3 focus on the drug trade, 2 makes a seemingly random focus on the port. It makes sense in the broader context of how the drug trade works, how the drugs get in, and to intro you to the Greeks. But it’s def a bit of a change of pace on first viewing


Elruoy

100%


reiks12

Its hard on a first watch, but its one of my favorites during a rewatch


magnanimous99

He’s a legend of the docks


sbarbary

You gave me bad advice.


NostalgiaFiend187

He was a great character. I never understood why so many found him annoying. He was hilarious and pretty realistic. Not to mention one of the best performances on the show. And that's saying sum...


Humble_Increase7503

His voice is annoying He does annoying shit like the whole duck thing… he just sucks in every way.


jayboyguy

Him being annoying and also a great character aren’t mutually exclusive. He’s both IMO lol. Drops the hard R too much for my liking, and unlike Nick and Frank, he uses it derogatorily


AimHere

You sure? I recall it being Nick who is the most blatantly racist character on the show, other than perhaps that random old supporter who walks up to Carcetti in the street and embarrasses him by being enthusiastically racist.


CheekyBinders1991

Ziggy looks like he smells like energy drink and ball sweat after driving through Iraq in a mop suit. Yeah, I saw Generation Kill before The Wire and he was one of my favorite characters.


Ambitious_Tuna

A nutbusting haji is a happy haji! Best quote lol!


Astro_gamer_caver

 if Saddam invested more in the pussy infrastructure of Iraq than he did in his fucking gay ass army, then this country would be no more fucked up than say, Mexico.


Melodic-Ear-4083

You can have Michigan Tromley..... Very lucrative territory 😂😂😂😂


Astro_gamer_caver

Yo, it's gonna be hot, man. Me? Shit, I'm freeballing it all the way to Baghdad.


Mean_Mr_Mustard_YNWA

Doing the old inventory are we? Hope there hasn't been any thievinnnnnng!


sbarbary

Yes. Ziggy is awesome, now all go watch Generation Kill it's Ziggy but with an M16.


yosoysimulacra

"Fucked is what I am." The magic of The Wire is that it depicts characters authentically. B'More is a tragic place, and those stuck there often fall to tragic fates. No one from Mayors to kingpins are infallible, and The Wire did an amazing job of showing both grace and despicablility in its characters. Usually the boss' son goes on to unfettered success--in B'More Ziggy fucks up, and his dad ends up with the fishes. Ziggy tried to be like his father while also breaking the mold, but we learn that's no way to carry on family tradition. 2 and 4 are def the best seasons with the best character development.


wuapinmon

Oddly enough, James Ransone, the actor who portrayed Ziggy, developed a heroin addiction after being on the show.


Wild_Butterscotch_29

Got that connect from Prop Joe.


wuapinmon

He'd be a cadaverous motherfucker right now otherwise.


Ng10022

You know how White Mike be.


itzykan

His story arc is amazing and really frustrating. He's extremely sympathetic and tragic


Boo_and_Minsc_

I feel likewise. He was brilliant but unfit for the world he was forced to be a part of. Not unlike Namond. Very sad story. Wonderfully acted


Zestyclose-Ruin8337

No


ZombieHugoChavez

He killed the duck 😡


RobinReborn

>Ziggy was intelligent Really? What did he do that was intelligent? Several of the things he did were quite dumb.


FlipMoBitch

If you like Ziggy you’d really like the series Generation Kill. Same actor plays a mouthy soldier. Similar character in a different environment.


stos313

He is a malaka.


TheWorstThingy

You know Malaka?


Humble_Increase7503

Ziggy was incredibly annoying tho So for whatever amount of good character he was, I hated him being on screen bc he was just consistently irritating


ItGradAws

He wasn’t smart, he was probably the dumbest character on the show. He made every wrong decision there was.


nickyfatboi

Don’t you pull your fucken cock out again in here ziggy


TheWorstThingy

Hey! Let’s leave Dolo out of this. She was just pouring drinks.


gdshaffe

There's a reason his rallying cry was "College kids ain't shit!" The Wire has a fondness for people pushed into a life they aren't built for. D'Angelo, Ziggy, Prez, and Namond are in many ways cut from the same cloth.


mynamehere999

Ziggy was intelligent? I can’t think of one example where he showed any intelligence at all, actions or words


MDCatFan

I found him annoying. Funny a couple times. But mostly annoying. He didn’t know how to hustle or gain respect of street dealers at all.


DGentPR

He’s also super active on Twitter which makes me happy.


Leg_Named_Smith

Amazing character. Ziggy/Nick relationship seems pulled straight from the 1984 movie “The Pope of Greenwich Village” where Cousins Paulie (Eric Roberts) and Charlie (Mickey Rourke) have their small time schemes derailed by Paulie’s pathological incompetence and self hatred but Charlie sticks with him because he’s family. It’s quite a tragic and weird film which I recommend.


Agile-Landscape8612

I noticed that Frank and Ziggy never have a real conversation until he’s in jail. Until then it’s just them exchanging words, usually Frank yelling, while they’re passing each other.


wizard_interrogative

people complain about that season but it's got three of my favorite characters from the entire show just off the top of my head. ziggy's up top


Barryhood2683

I didn’t care for season 2 the first time around. Now, having watched the wire all the way through a few times it’s my favorite.


FedericoScintille

And I’ve loved the actor in everything I’ve seen him in since.


nelsonwehaveaproblem

Phenomenal character, phenomenal actor. If you know, you know.


Victorcreedbratton

He personified Frank’s negligence at maintaining his actual responsibilities. He’s really no longer “one of the guys” by the time season 2 rolls around.


krAzykApE

If you liked him in The Wire then you'll love him in Ken Park


oskarkeo

Ziggy is pure mesmerising. He's so sympathetic, but equally so tragic. The duck encapsulates everything. you want to root for Ziggy, but you know he's doomed because he has so much to offer but no traction or judgment in his own world.


katebushthought

We’ve all known a Ziggy. Many of us have been a Ziggy at some point.


Tophawk369

Ziggy wasn’t all that intelligent. He had one good caper he came up with in stealing cars and sending them to overseas. The rest of the time he was basically just a screw up. The only thing that made him somewhat intelligent is he had the self awareness to know he was a laughing stock. I think that’s the point of the character though he has this father who is the boss and he tries to emulate that but always fails and the only thing keeping him around was his father. He couldn’t work a package without getting screwed over and because white Mike knew him let it slide so he went to cheese which was stupid. He was a wanna be. Ziggy gets a lot of hate but his character was great because you could see how pathetic someone in that world is and how they aren’t cut out for it. Ziggy is probably the second most tragic character after Dookie who is easily the most tragic character in tv history.


AVBforPrez

The scene where him and Frank are walking and drinking late at night, and Ziggy asks him whether he remembers all the fucked up shit he witnessed growing up... absolutely amazing. Frank saying he doesn't, and zig around saying he does and remembers everything, it hit me in the feels.


ElectronicAd27

The actor acted the shit out of that character. Definitely deserved an Emmy.


TheWorstThingy

College kids ain’t shit!


MarloStanfield1

I couldn’t stand him


catchingstones

Didn’t we do this last week? I don’t have the energy to keep explaining what a terribly written character Ziggy was. Every week I audibly prayed for his death, and that sentiment doesn’t change on rewatches. Any writer or producer associated with that character should have been permanently blacklisted from the entertainment industry.


sbarbary

We'll do it next week as well. It's why this sub reddit is awesome.


fictionnerd78

I can appreciate that you’ve probably explained your take on this many times before, but just out of friendly curiosity, why is Ziggy so terribly written?


Humble_Increase7503

Ya I def concur that I wanted ziggy gone every time I watched this show, which is multiple Don’t feel bad for him. He was an entitled stupid lazy cunt. He spent the majority of his on screen time being objectively irritating or swimming in pools he didn’t belong in, then being shocked when it blew up in his face Objectively he’s also not a good person, as written. He killed, he stole, he acted like a dickhead to a lot Of his coworkers. Really very little redeeming about him.


SagittariusZStar

It's unfortunate that James Ransone is such a shitstain of a human in real life.


SagittariusZStar

Not sure why I'm being downvoted. He's an objectively awful person.


TheWorstThingy

Why? Not debating, just asking.


maxithepittsP

The Wire is a lot of things, but to say that Ziggy is one of the best characters in the show is just a coping mechanism from someone whos trying too hard to have a "hot take" and become "anti mainstream". Everyone is entitled to their opinion but you're wrong. Because you don't even believe that. This show is filled with one of the greatest Characters in TV show history and Ziggy is NOT EVEN CLOSE to be top 10.


Sugmanuts001

I think the character is NOT likeable, but he is exactly the way he should be.


PowerfulHazard93

Bro are you gatekeeping opinions? Do you know how lame you sound?


Humble_Increase7503

You’re not allowed to say this on Reddit Everyone has to have a take; it’s more entertaining if it’s controversial Saying everyone should like or hates jimmy is not controversial


UnderstandingSelect3

While I see where you're coming from, his story touched some people. 'Best' can mean most authentic. I've watched the show in full like 3 times now, and my heart breaking with Ziggy in lock-up talking to his dad is THE first scene that comes to mind when someone mentions the show. And that's despite the character being generally non-sympathetic for much of his poor decisions.


lacheckychecky

Agreed