Anyone want to posit why it’s called “Slapstick”?
Episode #34: “Slapstick”
“…while you’re waiting for moments that never come.” – Freamon
A Barksdale crew member violates the long-standing but unspoken Sunday morning truce when he tries to kill Omar. There is increasing discontent among the co-op over the Barksdale/Stanfield turf war. The deacon convinces Colvin to introduce public health programs in the tolerant zones and the Western District officers are dismayed at the apparent permanence of the endeavour. A murder takes place in the “Hamsterdam” tolerant zone and Carver moves the body out of loyalty to Colvin. Carver’s partner Thomas “Herc” Hauk reaches breaking point and calls the press about the tolerant zones. The Major Case Unit begin to build probable cause for their wiretaps but are worried that the dealers change phones too frequently. Roland “Prez” Pryzbylewski shoots another officer in a case of night time mistaken identity. Carcetti finds a potential ally in State Delegate Odell Watkins and organizes state funding for witness protection.
Deceased:
Officer Derrick Waggoner
Episode #35: “Reformation”
“Call it a crisis of leadership.” – Proposition Joe
The Barksdale/Stanfield war continues to intensify with deaths on both sides. Avon refuses to accept Stringer’s advice to follow the co-op’s proposal for a truce. Brother Mouzone returns to Baltimore on a mission of revenge and casts a wide net in his search for Omar. Omar has his own plan for vengeance against Avon. Carver gets some frank advice about his failings as an officer from Colvin. Colvin convinces the reporter that Herc has spoken with to hold his story on the tolerant zones. Colvin finally reveals his actions to his superiors. Burrell is incensed and takes the information straight to Mayor Royce. Royce is reluctant to shut the project down because of its success in reducing crime. When their first wiretaps go dead after just a few days the Major Case Unit are dismayed. Lester Freamon overcomes the problem by organizing to supply the Barksdale Organization with pre-wiretapped phones. Cutty opens a boxing gym for local children but finds his poor equipment and their behaviour difficult to deal with.
Deceased:
Devonne
Prez is obviously in a lot of trouble for shooting a police officer and I am interested to see what happens to him. I think that the issues of race in the situation involved in discussions with Daniels and some of the other officers is necessary. I remember in New York about ten years ago in When Amadu Diablo was Killed by four white New York City police officers. He was unjustly shot 41 times and it brought a lot of racial controversy in the city. Several members of the black community protested and protested against Mayor Gulliani for supporting the police officers. I think that this is even more serious in Baltimore because of the percentage of black people in the city. This is bad and he is in serious trouble. Prez killed a man and it seems that it was unjust. I think that there’s a good chance that he goes to jail and I am interested to see how this situation plays out.
Okay, the Bush/Cheney thing was a kind of ridiculous stretch – I take it back. But I still think the drug war that shapes season 3 borrows quite a bit from the contemporary situation in Iraq. The season began with a pair of towers falling, with obvious visual references to the World Trade Center. The imploded housing project towers lead to conflict over drug slinging real estate as Barksdale’s crew spreads out around town, which doesn’t have anything to do with the claims about weapons and terrorism that led the United States into Iraq, but both wars are sustained by zealous single-mindedness more than logic and agreement. The way Avon persistently justifies the violence in terms of traditional rules of the game, some kind of gangster ethic, and his own pride and legacy calls to mind some of Bush’s more horrifying explanations of his faith and its relationship to his policy (“God is on our side” and all that). In both cases there is also the question of war as a tactic in the bigger picture. In the “War on Terror” the US has employed old tactics to confront a different kind of enemy (attacking a country when “terror” represents a concept), and done so with the disapproval of most of the rest of the world. Similarly, Avon defies the other drug dealers in the co-op to pursue vengeance against Marlow regardless of whether it’s doing more harm than good to his organization in the long run. Stringer persistently tries to explain to Avon how the game is changing, and how co-operation with other dealers can mean more profit for everyone. In other words, all this shooting is going nowhere and causing a lot of unnecessary damage. Sound familiar?
We have been introduced to a fascinating new character: G-O-D. He’s kinda like Avon Barksdale; they both run the show and they’re both rather wrathful.
The writer’s reveal Maurice Levy’s religion early in the first season (as if his last name alone isn’t obvious enough). “I’m missing Friday night dinner. Yvette made brisket.” Friday night dinner=Shabbat dinner, brisket=traditional Jewish food (my mom’s specialty too). These are all pretty blatant signals, plus the fact that he is a lawyer, a stereotypically Jewish profession. As the rapper Jim Jones says in “Baby Girl:” “Jewish lawyer n—— so you know I beat the charges.”
The Polish church in season two serves as the arena for the Sobotka/Valchek rivalry. The priest asks, “When was your last confession, Francis.” Frank laughs (if I remember correctly).
Brother Mouzone, who must have somehow managed to reconcile in his own conscience his Islam and his profession. Religion is complicated for everyone, believer and non-believer both, but it must be especially problematic for any thoughtful gangster like Mouzone.
And, of course, there is the Deacon. It is particularly ironic that Melvin Williams is playing a religious role model, being that he . We see the Deacon’s secular role in the community, as an advisor and philanthropist. And once, when there is a close-up of his cross, he attempts to convert Cutty.
In the last episode, we have the brilliant introduction of the “Sunday Truce.” This is another example of street ethics. Omar does not turn his gun on no citizen, and neither does anyone order a hit on a Sunday. It’s just another example of the alternative moral code of the streets.
We have seen the Church as a political entity, as well. The black ministers are important allies for a city politician, and we see a Reverend exercise his influence by calling in a favor for Cutty. Organized religion is powerful in inner-city Baltimore.
Yet despite all of these peripheral religious elements, there is no main character who is deeply religious. I would particularly like to have seen a religious street character, who must grapple with the values that his lifestyle compromises. Just another angle. I certainly hope I’m not forgetting something.
Ben, Did you notice that Melvin Williams was alluded to in this episode? When Avon tells String that he hired “two eastside niggas” on retainer he mentions a “Melvin” that gave him their names.
Episode 35 is one of my favorites.
Cutty’s attempts to start a gym, Carver’s basketball “program” and Carcetti’s scoff at an “education ticket” all converge upon the Deacon’s advice as to not losing sleep over how to deal with inner-city kids since “nobody else can.” In the scene directly preceding the Deacons’s advice, The Wire shows off its penchant for irony when “The Detail” listens-in to a conversation between Boddie and his grandma. She seems to know exactly how to deal with Boddie. This isn’t the first time that The Wire depicts a female authority figure who can handle “corner kids” better then anyone (even a police major flanked by most of his district, think gymnasium scene). Considering the scene in Hampsterdam when Cutty get’s a corner boy to stand up–only after he questions the kid’s masculinity by looking around and announcing “I won’t hurt you”–in conjunction with the way’s that female characters deal with “corner kids,” it seems that The Wire is making a point about gender roles in education.
Another scene from this episode also implicitly comments on the methods of educating disaffected, “wild” inner-city youth. Cutty is having a conversation with the boxing coach from the other, much better appointed, boxing gym. The other coach exclaims something along the lines of: “I just don’t let them fail…If you just keep trying to help them, it messes with their head.” That line was simply heart-wrenching.
Towards the end of episode 35, I noticed an interesting subtly in Burrell’s dialog that says worlds about differing institutional pressures. When “Bunny” is talking about the letter’s praising the drop in crime, he uses the word “citizens” while Burrell uses the word “voters.” Bunny is playing into Burrell’s quest to make Baltimore a better place for it’s inhabitants. Burrell is playing into Royce’s quest for votes. Unfortunately for the people of Baltimore, it’s institutions are more interested in saving face then serving the city’s actual needs.
I also noticed Burrell used the word “voters” to describe the people who wrote Major Colvin letters about how happy they were with the cleaning up of their corners. I feel like the distinction between citizens and voters is not only important to Mayor Royce, but to Commissioner Burrell as well. He knows that Colvin’s “experiment” could do serious damage to his career, and is making every effort to put a positive spin on it. The mayor could fire Burrell at any time, and if the mayor believed that Burrell was hurting him in the polls (due to the experiment or anything else involving crime), Burrell would be unceremoniously dismissed. As such, the commissioner is trying to spin the experiment to the mayor as a way for him to garner more support from the voting population.
Another thing I appreciated about this episode was the portrayal of Carcetti. His conscience hadn’t yet been seen in as great of an extent that it was when he was lying in bed with his wife talking about Gray. He doesn’t want to sell out his oldest friend, but needs to if he wants to be mayor, and is greatly conflicted over what to do. It humanizes him (much in the same way his interactions with his children do) and shows there is more to him than the schemer we have seen in previous episodes.
This new storyline with Prez has made me realize how much his character has evolved throughout the series. In the beginning Prez was simply an inept violent cop who blinded a young kid and now this whole situation is simply sad and surprising. This transition speaks to the writers ability to show all sides of characters and multiple sides of police work. Prez was bad at police work on the streets but had a gift for the paper trail. He shot Wagner partially because he was poorly trained- he gave no warning, he did not shout police, and did not give Wagner a chance to identify himself as a cop- he simply shot. It is interesting to hear the homicide cops talk about what a screw up Prez is when compared to Wagner. The detail and the audience have seen Prez progress but on paper he is still an inept cop saved by his familial connections.
The racial component of this scenario is extremely well handled. Prez’s response to Daniels- “you never know what shit is in your head” is truly honest and speaks to the fact that people grow up around racism. It is clear that Prez is not actively discriminatory- Lester and Caroline attest to this- but I can’t help but wonder as Caroline does if Wagner would have been shot if he were white- because of the racialized environment of crime and violence in Baltimore if nothing else. I hope Prez lands on his feet and the situation is not politicized to make him out as a racist.
Brett, your parallel with the Bush administration and the political aftermath of 9/11 is really thought-provoking and I enjoyed it a lot. You’re right, it’s really vital to remember that the season started with the towers falling – an event which was included in the season intro or teaser, and not just within any episode, which makes it all the more relevant and symbolic – and the parallels between Bush’s logic of domination (oil-related, or cultural, or democratic, or cultural-democratic, or whatever) and Avon’s business model are indeed fascinating and purposeful, I’m sure. Also, I realized for the first time in “Slapstick” that Season 3 was broadcast during the 2004 presidential elections, and in this sense it is very telling that the focus of the season is on politics and elections.
Like I mentioned in one of my previous blog entries, I really appreciate the paratextual knowledge that we have due to the nature and depth of this class. While these interesting tidbits of trivia are by no means indispensable to understanding the plot and the main themes of the series, I feel that they enrich our comprehension of the show and augment our appreciation of its intricacy. For instance, I’m sure that most regular viewers don’t know that the Deacon is played by Melvin Williams (or even if they do, unless they’re from Baltimore, they might not even know who Little Melvin is) but the fact that we know adds an additional layer of meaning to the storyline and to the role of the Deacon within it. Other examples might be the funeral party for Ray Cole in the bar, or even McNulty mentioning Ed Burns in his “who else can do what we do?” speech in this episode.
The situation with Prez shooting the cop, and the aftermath of the incident at the station, really reminded me of Ziggy’s fate last season. While the circumstances were rather different – since Ziggy knew exactly who he was shooting and why, while Prez made a mistake in misidentifying his victim – the personas of these two young men, and their reactions to their own deed, were strikingly similar. Both had fucked up in the past, and both knew this was the end for them. Both were ready to admit their folly, and embarrassed at how this latest mistake might confirm to others that they were, and always had been, fuck-ups.
Also, when Prez was talking to Daniels at the station, in the aftermath of the killing, he says “Tell Lester I’m sorry…”, which made me think about the relationship between Ziggy and Frank, and how Ziggy, most of all, was afraid of Frank’s reaction and could not look his father in the eye when he came to visit him in jail. I felt it was similar for Prez and Lester – the embarrassment and the fear of disappointing those who truly care- and only then did I come to realize what a close connection had developed between Prez and Lester, and how Lester has been such a stimulant and a role model to Prez, turning him from an inept wimp into an ardent disciple.
The entire storyline with the Barksdale gang shooting Omar and his grandma on their way to church was also really interesting, and I would be curios to know more about the unwritten laws of street warfare, like the Sunday truce. This made me think about this class that I took at Middlebury, which was called Ethics and War, and was all about the informal laws of armed conflict. We learned that throughout history, starting from the the early tribes, Mesopotamia, Ancient Greece, etc, each civilization has had its own rules about the gentlemanly conduct of warfare, and it is fascinating, I think, to consider how the most inhuman interactions must necessarily be grounded in some sort of social order and respect. You wouldn’t think that contemporary gang warfare would still abide to such self-created laws, and in this respect it was enlightening to see what happens when such rules are broken.
And finally, did we just see Rawls at the gay bar that Lemar visited in search of Omar? I think so!!! The shot lingered on him for a couple of seconds, but it was not enough for me to see who he was with or what he was doing. I just know that it was indeed Rawls. I really don’t know what to think about this – while on the one hand, it somehow (in the most Freudian of ways) makes sense that the screaming-and-fuming-big-dick-attitude Rawls would in fact be homosexual, I just don’t believe that he would go looking for action in a sleazy, all-black gay bar somewhere in the projects. I mean, not only would he not risk being seen in a gay bar, considering his professional position and visibility, but even if he owuld decide to do so, he would probably choose a more upscale or intimate or exclusive gay bar or even escort service. Would he really wanna fuck the “black scums” he’s trying to lock up? That’s really twisted even for Freud.
Ioana,
We had a really interesting discussion about the way in which the information about Rawls was introduced. Some of us felt like the information was presented in sort of a “gotcha” way, with a quick camera shot that glazed over him, which is sort of inconsistent with the style of the Wire. Others felt like the information added a whole new level of depth to his character, and also setup his use of the word “cocksucker” later in the episode.
Personally I’m still bothered by the way in which the information was introduced to us, but I suppose its in “The Wire’s” style to keep us all on our toes. Not that I don’t think it makes Rawls more interesting, but just that I wasn’t expecting us to see character development in that form. I really like the character scenes that are placed for the sole purpose of adding depth, thus when it’s done in an off-hand manner like it is with Rawls, I just think its more of a missed opportunity. Like you said, the whole thing is a little bit twisted and I’m hoping that the show expands on it more soon or else I think its not really “value-added” information for the story, but instead another piece of evidence demonstrating the hypocritical homophobia that goes on in the police department.
We continue to see the separation between the characters of Avon and Stringer. Avon lives by the rules of the game while Stringer is trying to become a legitimate businessman. This separation between these two is most clearly depicted by Stringer’s choice to try and get Omar on a Sunday morning. Stringer made the decision based on the fact that he heard Omar’s name and didn’t even consider that it was a Sunday morning. While we see the reactions of Omar, Slim Charles and Avon to the fact that Omar and his grandmother were shot at on a church day. These three characters represent the game and they each respect the rules of game that have been around longer than each of them have. String is strictly about business now and getting results no matter if he breaks rules to get these desired results. This is also the same way in which Stringer is trying to become a legitimate businessman. He is climbing the ladder quickly due to his connection with Senator Davis and the fact that he is using his money to bribe many different officials. But there is a quote that Avon says that describes the difference between these two, “I bleed red, you bleed green”.
I was also interested in the Ed Burns call out but didn’t want to post this until we all saw the finale for the first time. As happy as McNulty must have been to have gotten laid on Friday night while remembering where he parked his car the next morning, he is not usually one to compliment anyone, let alone the detail. Yet, he still can’t think of anything to do but go to work on Saturday. I thought that the Ed Burn’s Reference marked an explicit divergence from The Wire’s normal narrative idiom, designed to make us perk-up and listen to him talk about policing as an an occupation, embracing the banal, and what it might mean to be a “real police.” The Beaty pic on the fridge, coupled with the fact that we were suddenly exposed to the detail’s almost homely kitchen, added a mimetic undertone to both McNulty’s idealistic monologue and Lester’s reply.
By Prez’s feelings in the aftermath of the shooting, I think he realizes that he is pretty much cursed when it comes to the field. I think that he feels so bad because he knows that this is probably the worst thing he could have done as an officer. I definitely thought that he would take the time no matter what, since he was not looking for a lawyer. But by the more recent episodes I guess it is revealed that his father in-law must have stepped up for him somehow or that lawyer did a good job as he has moved on to a different profession, one where he won’t have to raise a weapon…except for maybe a ruler. Hopefully he doesn’t kill a student by accident, or who knows where he’ll end up. Maybe he will even find his way back to the squad somehow, I think his skills are well missed at the detail.
My favorite dynamic of this episode takes place between Stringer and Avon and their different beliefs on breaking the Sunday truce. When Stringer is asked what they should do about putting a hit on Omar outside of church, Stringer order them to go and execute. However, as we find out later, this is against the rules as it breaks the truce of killing on Sundays. First, I’d like to comment on the fact that this truce is a symbol of respect that the people in the game have. Avon, being the man he is, cannot believe that Stringer executed the hit. This shows the contrast between their two personalities. Avon, a man of the streets, respects the rules of the game and will not break them. Stringer, on the other hand, can be perceived as a corrupt member of the game as he breaks the rule in hope of prospering in the game. He will go to any measure to succeed, even if he breaks the rules.