Reform is the watchword.
“The gods will not save you.” – Burrell
Major Colvin attends the weekly comstat meeting, where another Major is fired as a result of Carcetti’s pressure to reduce crime. Carcetti then uses the press to defer heat from the police department onto the mayor, to test his tenacity. Colvin looks for areas where he can turn a blind eye to drug dealing, unbeknownst to his superiors. Omar and his crew scope out a Barksdale stash house, and decide to attack it despite its heavy fortifications. A shootout ensues, with deaths on both sides. When the Major Case Unit is instructed to pursue a new, unrelated target McNulty refuses to divert his attention from the Barksdale Organization. Cutty visits an old flame. Bodie’s crew are beaten for encroaching on Marlo Stanfield’s territory.
New Characters:
Gerard and Sapper (Barksdale enforcers)
Kenard (One of the young kids playing “Omar” who will return)
Jen Carcetti
Jeff Price (reporter for The Baltimore Sun)
Grace Sampson (Cutty’s old flame)
Deceased:
Tank
Tosha Mitchell
Ray Cole
Episode 29: “Hamsterdam”
“Why you got to go and fuck with the program?” – Fruit
West Baltimore residents get some surprising straight talk from Major Colvin at a community meeting. Colvin has little success convincing area drug dealers to relocate to his tolerant zones. Carcetti reveals his mayoral political ambitions and pursues a campaign manager. Cutty gives up his attempts at straight work and joins the Barksdale Organization. Avon Barksdale is paroled despite the Major Case Unit’s previous work against him. Stringer continues to invest in property development.
New Characters:
Spider (a young hopper)
Theresa D’Agostino
I’d like to start this post by saying that I love Season Three. It’s really living up to it’s hype and I am really intrigued by what is beginning to unfold.
In Episode 28, we really focused on reputation as an important factor in people’s actions. In the first scene, we see the commissioner make a show of punishing the major whose district remains crime-ridden. Though many districts are still full of felonies and murder cases, the commissioner is making a show in order to maintain his reputation. If he fires the man that seems to be responsible then he will be said to be doing all that is in his power to stop crime from rising. He knows full well that crime and drug-dealing are unstoppable as institutional forces in the Baltimore system, but saving face is important to him so that people remain fearful of him and chain of command is maintained.
Later in the episode, when Colvin tells the people under his command to leave the drug dealers alone as long as they’re in the free zone, the officers aren’t just perplexed, but worried. They seem to fear that they will not be taken seriously on the streets anymore because they will have to maintain a passive stance. Carver says “They’ll shit all over us” and, despite the fact that it’s a new, and seemingly good, strategy, the lower level cops are more interested in their tough reputations.
Finally, when the mayor finishes his conversation with Burrell and the man from the courts, it is recommended to him that he fire Burrell because crime is not getting lower and he needs to look like he’s doing something about that. I feel that most people higher up in power are interested in their career above all else, and assume that others do the same. Therefore, they think that the mayor will not care about loyalty when it comes to people thinking less of him because the police force isn’t being successful.
Reputation seems to be a very prominent theme in this season. When Cutty returns to the game and Bodie meets him and finds out he’s a soldier, he automatically begins to treat him with the utmost respect, making sure he treats him right at the party.
P.S. Did anyone else notice the interesting and somewhat uncharacteristic point of view shots in the bathroom at the party scene? What did you think?
Loyalty seemed to be a reoccurring theme in the “Dead Soldiers” episode. When Burrell walks in late to a meeting he sits down and whispers in the ear of the guy next to him (can’t remember who) telling him about how Carcetti threw him under the bus. He then says, “Where’s the loyalty.” Also when Burrell is in a closed meeting with former Mayor Clarence Royce, Royce says, “I value loyalty, don’t you?”
With all this talk of loyalty we get a sense of what Carcetti is really about. He seems to have fun putting Burrell in the hot seat. At one point Carcetti also says, “You want friends, get a dog.” Carcetti is obviously all about making moves and lives by a dog eat dog world mentality.
I also found Bunnie Colvin’s “hands off” approach to the drug problem very interesting. Listening to him explain how the police would “lay low” once the trafficking moved to the vacant homes and then spring into action once the dealers were comfortable gave me deja vu from when Stringer spoke to Avon about “parlaying” on Omar, letting him come out of his hole and get comfortable, then killing him.
We are just about halfway through the The Wire, and up to this point, we have seen many events unfold—serious, comical, intense, etc… That said, after viewing “Dead Soldiers” and “Hamsterdam,” I left screening for the first time ever, feeling very upset by what I had just seen. Whether or not the writing team intended to elicit such a reaction from viewers is, of course, unknown; however, I could not help but feel frustrated by two scenes in particular. First, I found Cole’s wake to be highly disturbing. Whether or not this is considered to be tradition in Baltimore, I do not see how celebrating the life of colleague can be considered respectful when he is eulogized by belligerent drunks. Is drinking oneself to the point of sickness an honorable way to say goodbye to Cole, or is it just an excuse to drink away the difficulties of the job? Was anybody else upset by this scene? Do you think this was a purposeful decision by the creative team? Because I was so disappointed by the wake, I think the end of “Hamsterdam” had a stronger impact on me than may be typically expected. I really wanted Cutty to move forward and forget about the game. I had faith in his ability to do so, and thus, I was shocked and saddened by the effect that “peer” pressure had on his decisions. Nobody within the Barksdale organization has successfully exited the game to date—that is, of course, without consequences. I have to say, thought, that I felt much better at the end of “Homecoming” yesterday because Cutty came to his senses. Hopefully he will exit the game unscathed.
On a somewhat related note, we have discussed the fact that, traditionally, viewers of The Wire watched episodes on a weekly basis. Said differently, on a typical viewing schedule, the audience enjoys the opportunity to decompress and internalize the content of an episode. By following a more consolidated schedule, I feel that the world of The Wire, in many ways, seems worse than it actually is in the sense that our emotions are always elevated given that we are rarely provided the opportunity to step back from the action and consider the events that have transpired. Would people agree with this statement?
In response to Andrew’s question:
The show does tend to make Baltimore look extemely crime-filled, but this is because they usually only show certain parts of the city. Also, when they have episodes that feature several characters having similar problems (relationships, alcohol, bosses, etc.), it does make the world seem worse. Watching the episodes is such quick succession does some other things for me as well. It attaches me to the characters a bit more because of the heightened emotional investment that Andrew was talking about. Also, my sense of time becomes a bit skewed, especially between seasons. When Characters refer back to the events of the first season, they mention that it was two years ago, which is not what it seems like when watching all of the episodes in quick succession.