For me, this is when the series starts to transcend television. (Not that there’s anything wrong with television…)
Episode #32: “Back Burners”
“Conscience do cost.” – Butchie
Daniels sees the reason his unit was reassigned from Pimlico and tells McNulty he will have to leave as he cannot trust him. The unit find that the drug dealers are using disposable phones and begin to formulate an investigative strategy. Marlo dispatches a drive-by on a Barksdale corner from the calm of his pigeon coop. Carcetti pressure the mayor over witness protection. The Western District officers begin to become dissatisfied with policing Colvin’s tolerant zones.
New Characters
Bernard
Squeak (Bernard’s girlfriend)
Detective Michael Crutchfield
Deceased
Rico (Barksdale soldier)
Episode #33: “Moral Midgetry”
“Crawl, walk, and then run.” – Clay Davis
Carcetti flaunts his advisors counsel and pressures Burrell over witness protection. The Major Case Unit track the buyer of phones for the Barksdale Organization. Brianna and McNulty sit down for a heart-to-heart. Avon dispatches the troops to track Omar and tries to ensnare Marlo in a trap. Avon is wounded when Marlo senses the trap and then wrestles with a revelation by Stringer. A local deacon helps Cutty to plan a new life and is dismayed at the standard of life for drug users in Colvin’s tolerant zones.
New Characters:
Roman (community organizer with The Deacon, played by Clarence Clemons!)
Dee-Dee (drug customer in the car, played by Richard Price’s daughter Genevieve)
Deceased:
Tater (Barksdale soldier)
It’s been interesting this season to see Omar off-balance. “Back Burners” shows him at his most vulnerable, guilt-stricken by Bunk’s speech in the last episode. We’ve seen in previous seasons that Omar has a strong code, and with the events of this season, he’s been forced to reevaluate it.
McNulty faces another pissed off superior, but he doesn’t seem terribly concerned. Since Daniels appreciates good police work, it may be that Jimmy’s banking on turning in a good case.
I forget if it was this episode or the last when Daniels says as much to Ronnie, but it was an interesting, if on-the-nose, discussion. It also raises doubts about his and Ronnie’s relationship, which puts him in league with McNulty and Kima as cops with tumultuous/in-flux relationships.
We’ve seen that in the past with McNulty, but this season seems to affirm the thesis that Clockers makes with Rocco: cops are pathologically unable to participate in healthy relationships. It will be interesting to see where that goes in future episodes.
Holy crap! Season 3 is by far the best season so far! I’m seriously thinking about suing for emotional damage after watching the last two episodes and then being forced to wait a week and a half to continue! It’s sincerely inhumane.
I’ve loved Avon Barksdale from the beginning of Season 1. He carries himself with such swagger, confidence, and style, its hard not to like him. Not to mention, he’s always willing to rise to the occasion and get shit done when it needs to get done. However, since Avon’s release and reassertion of power over the “business,” I’ve lost some respect, or at least some affinity for him. Stringer Bell handed Avon an almost flawless business where they could make a shit ton of money and be relatively under the radar to the cops because of how much legitimate money they were making, and because of the pacifist scheme all of the drug dealers adopted thanks to Stringer. Avon, just getting out of jail, refuses to break from his soldier roots and let’s his pride take over rather than his mind. Instead of relishing in the businesses’ success and profits, Avon goes to war; steering the police’s attention back on them, catalyzing more deaths, and disrupting the lucrative business plan.
It’s actually frustrating to watch sometimes.
Lastly, Stringer Bell is the absolute man. I think he’s more “hard” than Avon because he can value a life, and he can take a life when it absolutely needs to be taken; even if there are emotional ties. I can’t wait to see if Avon respects Stringer for taking care of Dee, or if he comes at Stringer with all of his force! The Wire is officially better than Friends.
So I am just writing to analyze this whole “time off” thing. I am accustomed to watching old episodes of television shows on the internet recently, as I have been catching up on Lost and How I Met Your Mother, and therefore am not used to this prolonged wait. It feels weird because we have been watching episodes so rapidly in succession that we have had time to think, but haven’t been kept in suspense this long… And right now I am not appreciating it very much (though I know there is no other alternative since I don’t want to get ahead or spoil it for myself).
The show is very enthralling and I have been raving about it to everybody who will listen, but I have also been complaining about how unbearable it is not to continue. I guess we are spoiled into watching ever other day or every three days, and the ten day wait has been pretty brutal.
That is all. See you all Monday.
In response to Shane’s post, I have to agree that season three certainly possesses a level of intrigue and excitement not present at this point in the first two seasons. More to the point, however, I think that Shane has touched upon an important contrast between Stringer and Avon. While his business partner did time at “Jessup,” Stringer was hard at work, creating an legitimate drug-money empire that protected both himself and Avon from any potential illegality. Now that Avon is back, however, Stringer’s viewpoint regarding the best practices for advancing the Barksdale business (it is important that we remember who truly wields power among the muscle and underlings and should thus refer to the Stringer-Avon partnership as the “Barksdale” crew or business) no longer dominate the administrative discussion. Stringer hopes to advance his legitimate business holdings and appears to me making a political move. Avon clearly has an agenda revolving around street toughness and traditional drug game tactics.
The Stringer-Avon feud, or the discomfort that Stringer’s irregular maneuverings creates, mirrors some of the tension in the Baltimore Police Department, particularly within Bunny Colvin’s jurisdiction. We get a firsthand glimpse of the frustration that Hamsterdam causes among the lower-level detectives and officers first from Herc and Carver, and later from McNulty, Kima, and Sidnor. The sea-change of tactics employed by Stringer on one side and Colvin on the other smacks of irony, if not tragedy. One can’t help but feel that each man will face a comeuppance within their respective realms for having drastically violated the norms and expectations of their worlds. Colvin essentially legalized drugs as Stringer legitimized himself. A drug police has separated his unit from the persecution of drug dealers and a drug dealer has insulated himself from legal persecution.
This season, there’s also definitely been a growing moral impulse, though its proper direction is uncertain. Councilman Carcetti’s political campaign, for example, has no room for personal niceties or petty morals – only large-scale, macroscopic reform. In one scene in episode 32, Carcetti describes Theresa D’Agostino advice to approach the mayor directly about the witness assistance program as a “win-win” situation, to which his wife replies, “Unless you’re the witness.” At this point D’Agostino says, “I know, but he’s taking on a two-term incumbent,” her response unrelated to Jen Carcetti’s moral concern for the specific individual and instead focused on the political platform’s success.
In regard to the law, Colvin’s crusade to lower crime rates has reached to such absurdity that he actually reacts positively to Carver’s sarcastic idea of converting criminals into police. As Deacon says, Colvin has become the “mayor of a village of pain,” the crime not solved but simply swept into a corner. Hamsterdam becomes a dark, terrifying landscape even to Bubbles, himself an addict; each of the zombie-like characters he meets is disturbingly shot from a fisheye POV. That the drug zone has been reduced to such a zoo-like experiment where dealers are unmonitored and human lives are openly wasted away is an inversion of justice. Cutty, Roman, the health services that Deacon entreats and even Carver offer a degree of hope for transforming the community, though, by educating and interacting with the young loiterers.
Just as Carver forces the dealers to pay the kids psuedo-unemployment insurance, so does conscience also cost for Omar. He clearly has been affected by Bunk’s past lecture on the moral lapses and violence in the Baltimore ghetto communities and, despite Butchie’s warning that he should play for himself and not for others, decides to make amends by returning Officer Dozerman’s gun.
Shane and Addison,
I have to completely disagree with you guys. I have lost a lot of respect for Stringer this season while I continue to admire Avon with the highest standards. Stringer is the one who has violated the code of the game. Last season Stringer had D killed and took his girl. This season he, in my opinion, naively believes he can become a major player in the real-estate business by involving himself with shady politicians and contractors. Avon Barksdale is not pretending to be something he is not. He is “just a gangster, I suppose.” I believe one of the themes of The Wire is the reason why people get in the game. It is not necessarily about flaunting your wealth (even though that helps) but about the prestige and respect that rings with your name. Avon Barksdale is not about to sacrifice the corners that he risked his life for and share them with east side and Marlo. He knows how the game is played, and this co-op thing is most likely a temporary system, more of a utopia, that will disappear once someone else makes a power-grab. I believe Avon understands the way people work.
Also, I see an interesting comparison between Avon now and Ziggy of last season. Nick wanted to do all the work and just give Ziggy his cut. Even though Avon is a genius and Ziggy was pretty much just an idiot, both were not content just to sit back and make money. It’s all about the game baby!
Baird, I respectfully disagree with your respectful disagreeance. In your loosing respect for Stringer Bell in this episode, I have consequently lost all respect for you. We are no longer friends. Serendipitously, our friendship ends the day season 3 of The Wire ends…its quite an emotional day.