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
I thought it was very interesting that Little Kevin took the fall during this episode and it actually made a lot of sense to me. I think that Kevin should have realized how it looks to Marlow if a simple order to send Lex to his death went wrong because Kevin decided to delegate it to Randy. In the old Barksdale crew, Randy most definitely would have take the fall for this, which Bodie and Poot refer to when discussing the late Kevin. In Marlow’s world Randy gets a free pass, most likely because he knows that there’s no sense in killing a young prospect for his corners. Had Kevin just gone on with business as usual I highly doubt there would have been any suspicion whether he snitched or not. This is always a question when someone is released by the police, but I think this is proved by what you do rather than what you say.
I also feel the need to mention that it was surprising that Bug went to Marlo for help with his father. This shows just how much he hated his dad being around his family and the length Bug was willing to go to get his father away. As for the scene itself I was quite surprised that Chris put such a hurting on him…wasn’t he just supposed to scare him off? Then again, when has Chris ever gave anyone a free pass. Chris definitely showed his true colors in this episode and will has my vote for most bad-ass character thus far is the show.
I think that Bug’s father got a hurting from Chris because Michael alluded to the fact that he sexually abused him. He didn’t even need to say it to Chris but with the look he gave Chris he knew what the father had done to Michael. If you look back a few episodes back you get the feeling that Bug’s father sexually abused Michael especially when Bug’s father touched Michael in a creepy/gross way.
After this episode you now understand why Michael rejects Dennis’ offer to train him, because he mistakes his friendliness for a desire to sexually abuse him. But I think the point of having Chris beat the daylights out of Bug’s father is to show that Chris acknowledges that kind of behavior as crossing the line, not only does he brutally beat him but he spits on his corpse so as to say abusing children is beyond the game.
Although it is kind of odd that Chris has a code of some sort considering he cruelly murders even the innocent like the security guard from the mini-mart or drugstore. He has no problem with cold blooded murder but sexual abuse crosses the line. I guess you have to draw that line somewhere.
I thought the scene with Namond and the other students at the restaurant with Colvin to be particularly moving. They were completely fish out of water, not understanding the difference between a hostess and a waiter or offering to order the specials thinking they were cheaper. It brings up the discussion of culture and norms of behavior. These kids are not accustomed to someone offering to take their coat or pull out their chair, it is completely foreign to them to be weighted on.
This reminded me of when I lived in the Dominican Republic and I worked with poverty stricken kids. And we took them to the capital to a brand new high tech beautiful science museum. When we got on the escalator and all the kids’ faces lit up, they were laughing and joking. I was so confused and asked them to explain what was so funny and all of them replied that they had never been on moving stairs, or what we all know as an escalator. The idea just baffled them. I grew up in a world where an escalator was something that just existed without any awe of it but to them it was a huge difference, like the kids from the corner they were fish out of water. And I am sure for most of us the concept of having a hostess and a waiter isn’t foreign as it was for the corner kids. It was also interesting to see how hurt and embarrassed they felt after the experience but when they arrived in the classroom they played their dinner up to be the best experience. Probably to hide their insecurity of feeling out of place and to make the other jealous. But I thought it was a clever move of the teachers to use the restaurant experience to teach the kids social skills to order food or ask for help in an office setting.
Oh, also one last thing, sorry I didn’t include this in my last post but what do we think the Wire is trying to say about parents? I mean how do you help someone like Namond with an awful mother like that? Instead of embracing her son and being concerned for him she scolds him for not being man enough to handle baby booking. Can you reach parents like that? You can only do so much in the classroom and then if they go home to someone like that does the good work done in school get undone?
I guess I am hoping Colvin adopts Namond, Presbo adopts Dukie, Randy goes into witness protection with Ms. Ana so Marlo doesn’t kill him for being a snitch. And Michael doesn’t get sucked into being Marlo’s muscle because he owes Chris and Snoops for taking care of Bug’s father and so he escape that and goes to college and is able to get he and Bug out of poverty and into a safe drug free neighborhood and away from their sorry excuse for a mother. One can dream right?
haha, yeah and then everyone rides off into the sunset and goes to eat ice cream.
With regards to parents I thought the scene where Michael asks Dukie about calling social services was really interesting. Michael thinks about phoning social services before he goes to Chris but the suggestion is shot down by Randy who says if he calls social services then he’ll just end up in a group home. Is this a suggestion that the system doesn’t work? Would “The Wire” portray social services as a failing system? I mean, all the other systems are working, right? Bunny did say the system was great…
Anyway, Michael having (or ‘choosing’) to go to Chris does say something about solving bad parenting. The earlier series had a strong family theme running through them, but this ‘family first’ attitude has played less of a role lately. With Chris and Michael there is a suggestion that the street still has your back; it’s a system that works, well it provides a quick fix, you know, like killing your step-father. But the show seems to say its a better fix than social services, and it’s sad but it does make me love Chris and Snoop even more!
But it is an interesting question, is it possible to help the kids when the parents remain an unsolvable problem?
On a separate note, it is so good to have Poot and Bodie back in action. Now that Barksdale and Bell is no more and we’re seeing less of Carver and Herc’s enabling relationship, it’s really nice to see characters pair up together again. I’ve noticed pairing character’s is something the Wire does really well, especially in relation to humour.
I’m becoming incredibly fond of Chris and Snoop (whether that was the intention of these last episodes or not) but their dialogue a few episodes back when they were trying to work out whether someone was from NY or not was fantastic. Snoop acts as a great comic relief to Chris’ solemn presence, I don’t think either character would be as likable (or as strong, if you don’t think likable is appropriate) without the other. Similarly the return of Poot has opened up Bodie’s character again, the conversation about global warming reminded me very much of Wallace’s ponderings over chess and chicken nuggets, and I love that sort of stuff. The lines are always delivered as throw away lines, just casual street chat but so much of the random shit that gets said on the street (particularly by character’s like Bodie) is incredibly loaded and often painfully poignant.
I’m impressed with how The Wire has handled violence and murder this season. For starters, Chris and Snoop have been dropping bodies left and right, but we rarely see it happen. We saw them murder that first victim in the vacants (in the season premiere, I think). But every other vacant-murder is only implied – we see Chris nailing up the plywood, or Snoop carrying the dreaded bucket of lime. The fact is, we dread the implied murder just as much as actually seeing one happen – perhaps it’s worse because The Wire leaves the details to our imaginations.
Also, I’ve really appreciated (if one can even say that) the business-like approach Marlowe and company take to murdering someone. When Chris and Snoop calmly walk their victim to his execution chamber, it’s twisted and chilling. But it also speaks volumes about their perspective and attitudes — for them, closing up a loose end or making a snitch disappear is not about vengeance or sending a message, its simply business.
Now such killings stand in sharp contrast to Chris’ handling of Bug’s father last night. Business be damned – the savage beating we saw in “Misgivings” was pure punishment. Thus, The Wire – particularly in this season – tailors the way it doles out its violence to reflect the emotions and states of mind of the characters involved. The vacant killings are cold and matter-of-fact because, for the people involved, they’re just business. Bug’s Father’s death is particularly brutal and gruesome to reflect Chris’ anger and passion at his victim’s transgressions.
It’s poetic really, in a dark, disturbing sort of way.
** MARLO and company — Sorry, I’ve been reading Chandler…
It was interesting for me to see the way in which Bug’s Father was killed. The rage, and brutality involved in this murder was so uncharacteristic of the coldly calculated executions that we have come to see as the trademark of Chris and Snoop. I agree with what Antoinette said about sexual abuse of a child being viewed as the one crime that is intolerable in the street. I think that the rage displayed in this murder is clearly evidence of not only this attitude about sexual abuse, but also Chris’ attitude towards the people in his community that are not intrinsically tied to the game. Despite the brutality of this killing I did not feel disgusted or repulsed by the scene. Since I developed a disdain for Bug’s father, I was happy to see him get what he deserved.
While I thought that our in class discussion was awesome yesterday, I thought that we over-emphasized the child abuse angle in characterizing Michael and Chris’s relationship. It seemed that the classes’ consensus was that sexual abuse was the overwhelming factor in the emotionless temperaments of both characters. To be clear, I did agree with the implicitness of both men being sexually abused but not with it’s primacy in explaining their behaviors. Consider Michael’s ‘family life,’ if you can even call it that. His mother is such a fiend that she can even be trusted to ‘hold’ their welfare card. Worse yet, she routinely sells their food for drugs. Michael is surrounded by depravity of all kinds, both inside his home and within his neighborhood. Growing up, he has never had a safe haven or an authority figure whom he could trust. He has constantly witnessed ALL of the worst aspects of human nature. It should be no surprise that he is able to fuck people up without flinching.