Gotta wonder how much safer Baltimore would be without Herc!
Episode #46: “Know Your Place”
“Might as well dump ’em, get another.” – Proposition Joe
Bubbles identifies a witness for Herc but Herc fails to return the favor by protecting him from his tormentor. Colvin offers an incentive to his class. Old Face Andre turns to Proposition Joe for protection after his ineptitude in the framing of Omar. Joe ingratiates himself with Marlo by handing Andre over to Chris and Snoop. Marlo finally joins the Co-Op and his enforcers begin to take on the New York drug dealers. Carver warns Namond about his drug dealing. Carcetti restricts commissioner Ervin Burrell’s authority and insists on a promotion for Daniels. Michael takes his problem with his step father to Marlo. Omar plans revenge on Marlo and Proposition Joe.
Deceased:
Old Face Andre
Episode #47: “Misgivings”
“World goin’ one way, people another.” – Poot
Burrell’s new mandate for quality of life arrests is met with civil disobedience and political maneuvering. Chris takes cares of Michael’s problem. Marlo has a member of Bodie’s crew killed after he is interviewed by Herc and orders word spread about Randy for the same reason. Carver arrests Namond and he reaches out to Colvin for help. After another beating, Bubbles gets revenge for Herc’s continual betrayals by setting him up to arrest a minister. The teachers are pressured to teach test material despite their recent successes.
Deceased:
Little Kevin
Bug’s father
Both of these episodes deeply frustrate me. There appears to be such a disconnect between the all of the institutions in communicating. In other words, there are countless examples of unequal information and dramatic irony. First, Little Kevin gets killed because Marlo fears that he had snitched when, as we know, he did little more than make Herc angry. Second, Randy receives negative attention for alleged snitching when we know that he said almost nothing that could indict Chris, Snoop, Marlo, or even Little Kevin. Third, when Prop Joe tries to call Herc’s phone, members of the BPD transfer his call several times because of the slow bureaucratic process of updating his working profile. Fourth, Bubs receives a merciless beating because of seriously bad timing on one occasion and because Marimeaux shouts him down for wanting to answer his phone on another occasion.
Some of my frustration I can clearly attribute to the exhaustive nature of this season in general. The school is always a heartbreaking failure. When students are so close to succeeding, one thing or another always holds them down. The season champions the devastation inherent in the forces of evil trumping the forces of good people and good intentions. The most recent episodes have epitomized the lack of communication and inequality of information in urban America.
Randy, our tragic hero. Randy is a nice character to the extent that a viewer should like him: he smiles, he jokes, he is friendly, not overly consumed by the street Game and even cops like Carver seem to like him. We are beginning to see Randy’s fall because he helped himself by snitching both to Mrs. Connelly about the alleged rape and to the cops about the body in the vacant. We witness the events and position that pushed Randy to protect himself with information and his informing would appear to be something morally commendable in the eyes of the viewer and the cop/justice system but it is projected as the most sinful of crimes in the eyes of his peers and the Game. This opposition, shown through Randy’s experience, between the Codes dominating the Street reveal what Colvin, Prez, the other teachers, and ultimately the police and judicial system, are truly up against: the attempt to socialize the students and get them to function within the confines of the social system is entirely at odds with their day-to-day street experience.
For further reference, the theme of snitching in The Wire is directly inspired by an infamous unofficial campaign in Baltimore in 2004 of witness intimidation entitled Snitches Get Snitches. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Snitchin‘
I’d like to agree with Addi…but my beef is with Officer Walker. We’ve certainly seen our fair share of corrupt individuals within the world of The Wire, but I’ve been hard-pressed to find a character capable of such inexcusable transgressions (with NO redeeming qualities whatsoever) as our friend Eddie. So far we’ve seen him take Randy’s $200 (albeit drug money), Omar’s ring (albeit stolen already from Marlo, who acquired it himself from Old Face Andre), some of Bubbles’ merchandise (albeit illegal DVDs and sold by an unlicensed merchant) and break a few of Donut’s fingers (albeit after he sent the officer on a goose chase after stealing a car and wreaking havoc on a quiet block). Even though all of Officer Walker’s responses are to an extent justified, to me he doesn’t seem any less of an asshole. The way he conducts himself with characters that we’ve become sympathetic with is a hard thing to watch without emotional reaction. While he doesn’t have to be so foul about it, he is technically doing his job. This, I think, shows the Wire’s artistry in its depiction of the moral conflicts that arise day-to-day on inner-city streets between the enforcers and the enforced.
Matt, I agree with your characterization of Officer Walker. He is a total asshole, but it almost seems like he is filling the corrupt cop role on his own. Sure we see other cops “knock heads” but no one else stoops to Walker’s level of corruption. Breaking Donut’s finger’s was what put him over the edge for me. He is character with absolutely no redeeming qualities, which makes him somewhat unbelieveable to me (maybe I’m being naive here). I would think that the corruption would be spread out among the police forcem not all concentrated in one character. Perhaps this is an instance of the sacrifices or summarization required of a work of fiction. The show does not have time to devote to a vairety of cops exhibiting corruption of the type that Walker exhibits, so it uses Walker to represent this type of corruption.
I definitely agree with Addison and Matt—these two episodes have frustrated me too. This season has just seemed to get progressively darker, and these two episodes really hit me harder than most. The comic relief prevalent in earlier episodes has nearly disappeared. The foreboding nature of these two episodes is reaffirmed by the episode titles—“Know Your Place” and “Misgivings”. Yet again, attempts at reform seem destined to fail.
Still, despite the negativity and frustrating nature of these two episodes, there are still some high points that keep us thinking better times might be coming. Michael is beginning to find the father he never had in Chris. McNulty and Baker successfully bring in the perpetrator of the church burglaries. Carcetti still seems committed to achieving some successful reform within the political sphere and the police department. And Prez and Daniels are still refusing to cave in to the pressure of juking the stats within their respective institutions. I’m still left feeling that at least some positive reform will come out of this season.
Certainly agree with Matt that Officer Walker is one of the more despicable characters in the show. It is interesting that the show has Walker portrayed as the one of few brutal and shady officers in Baltimore. Maybe Ed Burns and David Simon saw more violent patrolman, who were black, during their stint in Baltimore. Seems that maybe the shady patrolmen like Walker are camouflaged in way because they are African American. A white officer policing the way Walker does in a ghetto would be subjected to all racial, stereotypes, and stigmas. We see this a little bit with Herc in his pursuit of the camera where he is abit over aggressive with the priest and now finds himself in jeopardy of losing his job. There is little refrain in Dozerman’s policing and wishes he was policing the “Old Western District” way. With Walker being black, the racial politics are muted. Seems like Walker has a working class background and has achieved his status by avoiding the temptations of the street life and keeping a moral code. I think he has developed this contempt for the underclass which is not really seen in anyone else. From his perspective, if he can do it, these kids should be able to make something of themselves. It is easier for black cops to heap this contempt on the underclass than white cops who are considered outsiders. It may be that police brutality may not be linked to racism but to classism.
Yeah I hate Officer Walker as well. Seeing his actions these past few episodes reminded me of the basis of the UMD guy’s original research project. If a family member was assaulted and you were in jail, what would you do? The one belligerent kid that was interviewed just yelled that he would kill the guy. But what the researcher was getting at and asked him in the end: would you go to the police? It is because of policeman like Officer Walker that maybe this kid or others would not think to consider the police. There is an extreme disconnect between much of the population of West Baltimore and the 5-0. Even though there are great, friendly cops on the beats such as McNulty, it is the people like Officer Walker that stand out.