The Wire (TV Series) Bad Dreams (2003) User Reviews

There are different kinds of wrong

[snoozejonc · 10/10 · 28 April 2022]

Daniels and his team try to corner the Greeks, whilst Frank's world crumbles.

This is a compelling episode with a mostly excellent plot and memorable character moments.

Frank Sabotka is key to this story and his portrayal by the writers and Chris Bauer is riveting throughout.

Similarly, the police, FBI, State's Attorney's pursuit of the Greeks and port union has some of the show's most thrilling moments of investigation and pursuit. You do though have to suspend your disbelief and accept that these authorities would repeat a similarly grave error they made in the first season. If you can get past this contrivance, it is a flawless episode.

Omar makes a classic appearance and his scenes not only define the character, but lay a lot of great foundations for what comes in later episodes. Michael K Williams is brilliant as always and shares a fantastic scene with Michael Potts.

There is no more I can say without spoiling, other than to commend all performances and the visual storytelling for making it so cinematic.

It's a 9.5/10 for me but I round upwards.

What, the hell, was that!

[itsmadmadmadabtin · 10/10 · 6 March 2024]

Dear lord, this was DARK! Let me start by saying that, movies and tv shows they don't really make me cry, there have been time where i cried to them, but not much. This episode, for some reason, punched me in the face. This was BRUTAL.

There's no winners in this game, no point, it's a circle of violence all over.

Frank steals the show here, our fellow detectives don't carry any big emotional rule here, it's Frank's family.

There's just so much moral dilemmas in this show. You really don't know what to hope for, who to side with, all these people seem victims. The system is corrupted to the core.

'Greek' tragedy

[edantheman · 12 April 2011]

'The Wire' isn't episodic television like most shows, but if I had to pick a favourite episode this would be it. It is the payoff of my favourite season, with more drama coming out it's ass than Lawrence Olivier. The first time I saw it I was almost dizzy with the rush of it as I had grown particularly close to the men on the docks and their troubles (though the second time 'round I had an even greater affinity with the newspaper staff).

Perhaps this is because I am also from an old shipbuilding town, which saw it's last ship sail long ago. Unlike Baltimore, Newcastle doesn't see any roll-on roll-off cargo and Northeast England's old port towns have all since been revitalised a la New Westport. The Millennium bridge physically and symbolically heralded a new era, so no ships could come up the Tyne river even if they wanted to nowadays. In fact, I would say local politician T Dan Smith was something of a Clay Davis/Stringer Bell in that his efforts to modernise the city by giving his own painting and decorating firm more than half the redevelopment contracts would provide a canny strong HBO UK series. But I can only dream of what 'Way Down in the Hole' sung by Cheryl Cole (not really) would sound like...

Anyway, Ziggy has been arrested and now his dreams of becoming a feared criminal face the reality of being a prison bitch; Frank's dreams of dredging the canal and rebuilding the grain pier are but a memory; Major Crimes' dream of catching the real crooks and putting a lot of dope, guns and prostitutes on the table also. Truly, they all had 'Bad Dreams'.

2x11

[formotog · 8/10 · 19 August 2020]

Really good episode. Seeing Omar trying to work things out with Stringer was great, and then seeing him go face to face with Brother Mouzone was even better. I keep saying it but the dialogue in this show is truly exceptional. The use of music this episode was especially good, particularly the final scenes with the Greek music playing. The set up for the finale has been done very well. Frank looks like he's probably been whacked, Stringer's plan really didn't go well, and just when the detail was so close to solving the case, they've had the rug pulled out from under them. This was definitely the best episode of the season and it's looking like it will finish very strongly

Mid 8

Exceptional episode with one huge mistake

[drbodarobert · 9/10 · 16 June 2020]

The only reason I didn't rate this episode 10/10, is Vondas's "Hungarian" passport. First of all, Janos Kovats is not a Hungarian name, it's supposed to be János Kovács. There is no Olaf Avenue in Budapest. At 'mother's name' it says only Nagy, which is only a surname. There are so many grammatical errors on the passport, that it would be easier to count the correct words. Some words are unrecognizable, the whole thing looks like gibberish.

I'm only upset by this because I'm Hungarian, and I'm a little offended be the lack of effort the creators put in the authenticity of this passport.