These episodes ramp up the intensity toward the climax…
Episode #11: “The Hunt”
“Dope on the damn table.” – Daniels
While Greggs’ life hangs in the balance, Daniels is ordered to raid the Barksdale operation. The detail’s hand is forced and a series of city-wide raids and arrests are made to appease the Commissioner’s desire for “dope on the table.” Bubbles unwittingly implicates himself in the shooting.
New Characters:
Commissioner Frazier
Lt. Torret
Assistant State’s Attorney Ilene Nathan
Episode #12: “Cleaning Up”
“This is me, yo, right here.” – Wallace
Avon and Stringer meet with their attorney, Maurice Levy, to discuss a potential leak in the wake of the raids. Wallace goes back to the pit and asks to be let back in but Stringer has another plan. With the loss of their wiretaps the detail takes a fresh approach and installs a camera in Avon’s club. They catch Avon discussing a drug run with D’Angelo and arrest him en route.
New Characters:
Brianna Barksdale (D’Angelo’s mother and Avon’s sister)
State’s Attorney Steven Demper
Deaths:
Wallace
Little Man
Nakeesha Lyles (security guard from D’Angelo’s trial)
In a word: wow.
“The Hunt” is a particularly amazing episode. Right from the get-go it picks up with the chaotic aftermath of the last episode with a dizzying array of investigators. Despite all of the camera movement on the show, there tends to be very little hand held camera work, so the cold open shot through the crowded crime scene stands out as particularly disorienting. The crowd and commotion at this murder scene stands in contrast to most of what we have seen on the show, with one or two detectives and little fanfare. Clearly the value of life is higher when there are cops involved.
A few scenes in this episode blew me away, but of particular note is the tape review scene in the hospital. A group of powerful, stubborn men – typically in control – stand there and listen to a woman try to take action on their behalf. Every actor there gave a great performance, with subtle gestures and expressions conveying the agony of not being able to change the course of what just happened as they hear things going awry. McNulty physically jolts at the sound of the gunshot, wrecked with guilt. Very little “happens” in this scene, but it conveys so much about each character (Daniels’ intense focus, for instance). It’s far more powerful than showing the action at the scene in full.
I love the following exchange between Rawls and McNulty, as well. Here is another instance of the show refusing to allow any one character to be entirely good or bad. Rawls is perhaps the show’s most loathsome character, so it was uncomfortable at first to see McNulty in such a position of weakness with him. Rawls could very easily have stuck it to his insubordinate detective and exploited his deepest anxieties, but he played it like a decent guy, even using their antagonistic relationship for McNulty’s benefit.
Speaking of “drugs on the damn table”… this look familiar?
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-bust0220,0,831554.story
Brett, that photo is almost too funny considering the camera shot at the press conference in this episode. Pretty amazing coincidence?
It’s obviously hard not to enjoy these two episodes. There is so much that develops with the characters and plot which is rewarding for the viewer, who has now been through a full 12 hours of time with the show. I think Daniels’ progression is perhaps the most drastic from the beginning until now. His involvement and interest in the case has had an inverse relationship to that of McNulty. Perhaps it is simply Greggs’ hospitalization or the success of the fine policework they have accomplished but Daniels’ is finally able to stick up for his work on his own, without persuasion from his crew. His interaction with the Senator is the epitome of this. It would be all too easy to leave the paper trail of money alone but just as Lester said initially, the money is just as important.
As a viewer it is not only rewarding to see Daniels’ character come almost full circle into the spectrum of good, but the beginning of the money trail immediately excited me for the next season. I’m not sure if this is something which happened to the viewers who watched the show as it originally aired because I’m not sure if it was known whether or not the show would be picked up for a second season, but as for the show’s later audience, the conclusion of one season is always linked with the beginning of the next one. New discoveries at the end of a season open up the off-season for a million new questions and hypothesis. Luckily we only have to wait a few days before we begin being rewarded again.
On a different note, one thing which stood out to me in this episode was one specific cut between scenes. If I had to guess I would say it should be accredited to the writer and not to the editor but I still really liked how it worked. The cut the one immediately following the scene between Avon, Stringer and Levy the lawyer in Orlando’s. Levy is having Avon make a list of anyone who could give him trouble down the line and after coming up with a few names, the scene ends by someone asking “who else”? Immediately after the question, the scene cuts to a shot of Commissioner Burrell. Burrell is talking to Daniels’ about who from his detail should be pulled off. I just found this cut to imply something and I’d have a hard time believing it wasn’t intentional. Whether or not Burrell is directly linked to Avon’s crew (which i doubt) this cut links the scene in which Avon is thinking of names to be “pulled” as well as Daniels’. The fact that Daniels’ holds his tongue and doesn’t speak his mind about who he wants is the icing on the cake. Just as Lester told McNulty not to speak up about where he would want to be reassigned, Daniels’ manages to trick Burrell and is allowed to keep Lester and Prez. His smirk says it all.
The aspect of “The Hunt” which I most enjoyed was the conglomeration of all of the show’s major characters into one story line. The unifying affect of Greggs’ attack is as impressive as it is satisfying. It was refreshing to observe two characters such as Major Rawls and Sergeant Jay outside of their usually restrictive, one-dimensional and bureaucratic environment. I loved seeing Landsman in hot pursuit of the perpetrators’ footprints, alongside Bunk. I loved seeing Major Rawls show a shred of compassion towards McNulty, which, for a moment, softened is hard-ass, shallow façade. This episode really captured some significant character development, not only of the major characters, such as Daniels, but also for some of the characters on the periphery.
Another aspect of these episodes that I loved was its portrayal of the characters’ vulnerability. The hospitalization of Greggs has really humanized many of the officers who have otherwise been portrayed as unrelenting bad-asses. The best example of this is when McNulty vomits in the hallway trash can after listening to the tape recording of shooting. He is so crushed by the event that he is literally brought to his knees and made physically sick. Another example of this occurs when Carver has to speak with Greggs’ girlfriend. He can not physically articulate what has happened and is left speechless when trying to explain of the attack. These two episodes do a fantastic job of adding depth to many of the characters, both major and minor.
Excerpt from the article: “‘The stash location is usually — with that amount of drugs in question — it’s usually out in the suburbs,’ Marcinko said.
Marcinko said local police departments occasionally make such large busts through ‘a lot of hard work and a little luck.'”
This is an almost perfect description of the events that we’ve seen on the show, and perhaps evidence of why Baltimore police generally approve of the way the show depicts them.
I agree that the convergence of the different characters’ story lines in this episode is satisfying. While the preceding episodes have often employed a lot of scene switching between various elements of the plot, Episode 11 used this tactic almost exclusively. As Matthew pointed out, almost every scene change took us to another character in another part of the city. There was even a seamless switch to the next morning as Lester examines Little Man’s can of Orange Slice. In addition to providing narrative juxtaposition like the scene in Orlando’s cutting to the scene in Burrell’s office, the fast switches raised my level of excitement and anticipation, something the writers clearly hope to accomplish this close to the end of the first season.
I though that the introduction of Commissioner Frazier in a very small role helped to demonstrate the actual role that the commissioner has in the daily functioning of the police department as well as the overall aspect of the chain of command. The commissioner first appears in the hospital after Greggs has been rushed to the hospital and his detachment from the department is really displayed when he doesn’t even know who Lieutenant Daniels is. So the role of the commissioner is more political and dealing with the press as can be seen during the press conference when they are showing the drugs that they were able to seize from Barksdale’s main stash.
The scene where the BPD were holding a press conference in order to announce that if a police gets shot then they will be able to respond by putting “dope on the table”. This was solely a publicity move and just to demonstrate that Greggs was shot while working a case that provided a lead to the stash house of Barksdale’s crew. I thought that one of the more interesting scenes was when the press conference was going on the camera flashed to a TV in the basement where the investigation has been happening. The commissioner was talking about how real police work was what helped them put all the dope on the table but when in fact by “putting the dope on the table” they put an end to the investigation because the wires had become useless.
Yeah I really loved the McNulty and Rawls interaction especially since it gives a least a little bit of heart to a character that we all haven’t liked at all up until this point. But I also think that the writing is particularly clever in that Rawls is still swearing up a storm and saying some pretty harsh things to McNulty but at the same time comforting him and trying to get through to him that Kima’s injuries are not his fault. It just shows the art of their writing, that they can have Rawls say fuck a couple times each sentence but still have him reach out to make McNulty feel better. I thought it was just great.
I was also really moved by the fact that no one could refer to Kima’s significant other as anything but her roommate. I mean Kima took bullets for the job for crying out loud. They can’t have the decency to call her girlfriend what she is rather than making her to be a roommate because they are uncomfortable with the fact that she is gay. Then Commissioner Frazier turning down speaking to Kima’s girlfriend is also upsetting, again after Kima sacrificed her life he can’t so much as tell one of her next of kind how sorry he is and how she is doing. No one would think twice about informing someone’s husband or boyfriend if it were a heterosexual couple. This is a clear example of the Wire exploring issues of homophobia or at least discomfort surrounding that topic.
This is minor commentary but I really loved the scene in episode 11 when D’Angelo goes with Weebay and he is sweating like mad because he thinks he is going to have to kill someone but instead Weebay turns on the lights and shows him his exotic fish collection. “These are my tetras” Weebay tells D’Angelo as he names all his fish, all lovely and adoring female names of course. But I just thought it was a really good build up because I was worried for D’Angelo that he was going to have to do some of the dirty work for Avon but instead all he has to do is feed some fish. That is what I love about the Wire just when you think you’ve got the writers figured out they throw you for a loop. It is also funny because Weebay has killed several people throughout the first season, I mean he is a cold blooded murderer and yet we find something so human about him, he loves these fish and is really concerned for their care. I guess you just never picture someone who kills people as a “career” to be so warm and lighthearted at other times.
I also found that scene to be particularly revolting. For one thing, Frazier, who is at least the public figurehead of the BPD, doesn’t have the decency to comfort Kima’s obviously emotionally-shattered girl.
From a critical standpoint, this scene and those leading up to it, serve as an important metaphor for the institution/individual binary that we discussed in class. Rawls reminds McNulty that Kima took “two bullets for the company.” He is implying that Kima’s sacrifice and subsequent suffering played an important role in accomplishing an “institutional task” of the BPD. At the same time, Kima’s role as a sacrificial lamb is not considered important enough to justify that the commissioner so much as looks at Kima’s “roommate”–who’s personal relationship with Kima is obviously important enough for her that she travels to the hospital to bear witness to such a depressing scene.
Eleven and twelve have proven to be my favorite episodes from season one. Levy’s complicit role in the Barksdale syndicate’s murderous penchant is confirmed. While conversing with Avon and String in Orlando’s, Levy reminds them that “Product and money can be replaced. What you need to worry about now is any ‘loose ends’….” This statement becomes FUCKING CHILLING only after bodies start to drop. Also, McNulty’s monologue outside of Levy’s office has managed to imprint itself in my memory. “Everybody stays friends, everybody gets paid and everybody’s got a fucking future.” Now that’s great writing!
Wow, the intensity of these two episodes has been completely overwhelming! Although I still have issues with the rationale behind the undercover operation involving Kima, the way its aftermath played out in Episode 9 was brilliant and very exciting. I liked seeing the different reactions that the members of the detail had to Kima’s situation, ranging from McNulty’s guilt to Daniels’ tactfulness to Carver’s self-isolation, and so on. I also really enjoyed seeing all the Police Department bigwigs gathered at the hospital, trying to act compassionate, which somehow seemed to go against their inner nature. In the scene where they were all gathered around the tape recorder listening to the recording of the incident, for instance, it was wonderful to observe the different facial expressions of the suited officials who had stepped right out of their “8th floor offices” into this very human, very intense situation which seemed to make them as uncomfortable as it made me as a viewer.
This scene impressed me too, and I think it is this precise depth of character and carefully-crafted humanity of the protagonists that makes the show so endearing and enthralling.
I for one thought that Wee-bay perhaps had orders to shoot D’Angelo (because D’Angelo DID disobey Avon and act shady with the whole Wallace situation) and I figured that’s why Dee was so nervous and tormented on the way. In any case, I don’t think anybody could have predicted the real reason of the visit, and when the fish tanks are revealed it is indeed a moment when you take a step back and just marvel at the craftiness of the writers.
My apologies for the tardy response, I’ve been grieving since this episode having lost my favorite character, Wallace. I thought that this was the height of this season in terms of its emotional impact. I have never really felt the way that I did in this show in the moments leading up to Wallace being shot. Maybe because he’s my favorite character I felt this moment was so powerful, but from class discussion I think that it was a significant moment for most other people as well. This definitely took me off guard, and even in the talk leading up to it with Stringer and Body in the car as well as when Body, Wallace and Poot were eating together, I couldn’t help but think that he might somehow get away. I thought the did a great job shooting this scene because they made the audience really feel Wallace falling deeper and deeper into the hole of no return, in combination with the guilt that Poot has towards the situation. As the walls seemed to be closing in, it made it clear to me that Wallace was doomed.
The impact of him being shot changed my perspective of the show. It also heightened my expectations of the show to a great extent. I suspect this could be one of the reasons why Professor Mittell told us that people did not enjoy the second season as much as the first because of the high expectations that this episode left me with. But I’ll write my thoughts on other reasons for this in the next few blogs.
D. R. Ellis
Very interesting observations about cuts Matt. I think that you are definitely onto something when it comes to that specific scene. As for the show as a whole, I do look for connections in editing from scene to scene as well and I think that the wire has tried to do this a great deal. I think that a good show usually does do this kind of editing and this seems to be something that separates this serial genre from its soap opera cousin. Either by physical gestures, objects or metaphors in speech, I think The Wire ties each scene together. Although I will admit there have been times where I could see no other connection than an advancement of time.
-DrEllis