Welcome back from break! You might be interested in the little blurb this course got in the Baltimore Sun – a bit condescending, but all press is good press, right?
Episode #31: “Homecoming”
“Just a gangster, I suppose.” – Avon Barksdale
Stringer gets an education in construction management and explores the opportunities of Colvin’s new drug tolerant zones. Meanwhile Avon initiates a war over territory with Marlo but is dismayed at the ineptitude of his people when several are killed while attempting a drive-by shooting. Cutty finds that he has lost the ability to kill and leaves the Barksdale Organization with Avon’s blessing. A frustrated Colvin unleashes the troops on the corner boys ignoring his new edict. Carcetti manipulates another councilman into joining the mayoral race in order to divide the votes while concealing his own intention to run. McNulty and Greggs are ready to give up on targeting Stringer when the new violence gives them another reason. However, they must go behind Daniels’ back to have the unit reassigned as he is angry about their disloyalty to date.
New Characters
Snoop
Deceased
Chipper and Country (Barksdale enforcers)
Boo (Marlo’s young drug dealer)
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)
So it’s been about a week and a half since our last Wire screening, and I feel like I’m getting a taste of what it’s like to watch the show in its original weekly time-frame. Perhaps it’s because I’ve been on Spring Break, or maybe we’ve just hit a bit of a lull in the season, but I’m amazed at how few details I can recall from the last few episodes. Avon came home, Stringer basically jumped to the top of everyone’s favorite character list, and Bunny is doing his thing in the projects — that’s about all I got. I cannot, for example, remember what Prez or Herc and Carver are up to. Of course I could check previous blog summaries, and I’m sure things will return to me once we start watching again, but that’s not the point. For only the second (and last?) time this semester, we’re experiencing the show in its original pacing. As such, our hiatus and my poor memory highlight a crucial difference between consuming televised media “live” and at home in rapid succession. We can imagine what it is like to have to wait for that next episode, but it is difficult to imagine forgetting certain details or story elements. In general, The Wire seems to have far fewer redundant plot instances (designed to bring the viewer up to speed) than other more conventional shows, so I’ll be interested to see how tonight’s episodes work to re-orient me within the season.
I was really surprised to see Cutty let go by Avon so easily in “Homecoming”, I thought that there was no way to get out of the game but low and behold Cutty some how managed to do it. I guess this goes to show that if you are loyal enough in the game there is a retirement plan. I could have just as easily believed that Avon would shoot Cutty right there on the spot but I think Cutty was just as surprised as I was that Avon let him of so easily.
I liked the scene where Poot almost gets shot by Marlo’s hitwoman. As a side note- the drive-by on a motorcycle was in fact pretty bad-ass, a nice new touch. I really thought Poot was dead for a moment as the show usually gives the audience that close-up shot of dead characters that were important. I thought for sure he was a gonner, but I find it hard to believe that the girl on the bike would just sit there shooting into thin air after they hit the ground. Poot sure did luck out in this scene.
I was noticing the exact same thing as Jared. It had only been a week and a half since I had last watched an episode of The Wire, and I had already forgotten so much of what was going on. I spent most of the first episode just trying to remind myself of what everyone was doing.
What I find really interesting is that the character’s seem to have memories that are just as bad. No one seems to remember shit right now. Like that scene where McNulty, Kima, and Sydnor spying on what was happening on the corner, and they identify someone. I didn’t immediately recognize the name, so I strained for a moment to see who it was in long shot. And then I realized they were talking about Bodie. I expected there to be a little snatch of dialogue reminding the characters (and the audience) about how the detail know Bodie. Kima saying something like, “Yeah, he’s that punk who knocked Mahon on his ass.” But they didn’t. They acted like they’d never seen Bodie before. And then there was Herc, who didn’t even remember Avon’s name.
This seems really strange to me, because I expect all the major characters to know everything about each other, so they can remind me, because I might forget. (Thank you Cutty, er, Dennis for reminding me that whats-his-name, Marlo’s lieutenant, had stolen from you, because I had straight up forgotten.) I expect these sorts of things, because characters on other shows have encyclopedic memories when it comes to the past, always there to hold the audience’s hand with some convenient exposition. But the Wire isn’t doing that. And I can’t exactly fault it for that, as it does improve the viewing experience. It’s so much more satisfying to go back and see something that you hadn’t caught the first time and see how it’ll be relevant later on; it takes some of the fun out if the characters are always giving you everything you need to know.
And it’s also just more realistic. There’s no reason for the Detail to remember Bodie. Bodie was a pawn back in Season One, and they haven’t been keeping track of things. We may have seen his rise through the ranks (he’s like a bishop now!), but there’s no reason for the cops to be able to keep track of the constantly shifting membership in the Barksdale crew and remember one guy whose managed to last this long.
Even Herc makes sense, no matter how silly it may seem to forget Avon. He doesn’t give two shits about who he’s bringing down, he’s just about the cracking skulls and cuffing bag guys. Maybe he should remember the name of the target of a major operation like that, but he’s not a “taking names” kind of guy.
The Bishop! Don’t kiss the ring, Vic!
On a more related note, I like how Sydnor has begun to develop into his own character. Up until now he was just kind of the low-level cop who was good at it, but now we’re beginning to see some of his motivation and his desires. I liked seeing him clash with McNulty, Kima, and Daniels, and hope that he gets more to do as he goes on – he was one of season one’s most underused characters, and I’m glad he’s back.
I think that Cutty is going to develop as a particularly interesting tool to explore the eternal question “is it possible to get out of the game?” He talked about it straight-up, saying that the game was no longer in him. And Avon seemed to respect it. What is it that separates Cutty from guys like Wallace and D’Angelo, who were more seen as liabilities once they tried to exit? I think it is the fact that Cutty put 14 years in for the company and because of that, Avon would need some serious stones to assert that he would be anything other than tight-lipped when it came to the cops. The fact that he also had no charge on him made them less likely to suspect him. A person will be willing to do more if he is facing serious prison time (like D was). Cutty had no reason to betray the Barksdales, and he HAD done his time without snitching. So we see that there are certain things that are respected in the game – prison time, especially. And indeed, 14 years behind bars without rolling over on someone is pretty admirable.
I liked that way that Omar’s character became infinitely more complex in his interaction with Bunk during the past episodes. We see a different side of Bunk as well. Prior to this, he has been a pretty calm, cool and collected guy, joking around and getting frustrated at times, but rarely raising his voice in anger. But we see this side of him come out in his discussions of the “old neighborhood”. And it was Omar’s implying that his girl Tasha’s death did not matter that brought the fire out in old Bunk. Indeed, the old neighborhood was rough, “but we had a community” where every life mattered. The juxtaposition of these two characters sitting on a bench together, one who has worked his way out of the hood and into the life as a tax-payer, and one who went the other direction. They came from the same area around the same time, but it is there that the similarities dwindle. What are Simon and Burns suggesting with this juxtaposition? Are they trying to say that these people DO have options? Or perhaps that the only way to really get out of the game is to never start it?
One scene that really stands out to me in “Back Burners” is Bubbles confronting Hamsterdam. The scene does not do much to advance the plot, but it tells us a lot about Bubbles, and it gives us an up-close look at the chaotic horror of the “free zone.” It is very important that Hamsterdam is not a pleasant place. What seems like a perfect solution—with crime down 12% and even the worst corners clear in the next episode—comes with a high cost.
Vincent Street is a cesspool of vice that reminds us that the game cannot simply be swept under a rug. The man who asks Bubbles for toilet paper for the “shit bucket” provides a particularly strong moment that resonates with descriptions of shooting galleries in The Corner (as well as some scenes in Simon’s other book, Homicide). There is something particularly visceral about human waste that conveys a sense of absolute disarray, consistent with this enclave of third world conditions in the middle of an American city. The moving image cannot convey the smell of Hamsterdam, but this line makes us imagine one, and it’s not good.
In the midst of all this, Bubbles seems innocent and upstanding. Sure, he’s a junkie, but he’s not like the barely-living corpses draped about the sidewalk and vacant houses. He still has a lot of hope and he seems to be earning an honest buck or two peddling t-shirts. This contrast between Bubbles and the fiends is punctuated with his interaction with Johnny, who has been too high for too long. This scene encourages me to keep rooting for Bubbles and hope that he cleans up, but I’ll be surprised if Johnny survives this season.
I also really enjoyed seeing a different side of Omar over the past few episodes. I think one of the reasons that I enjoy watching Omar is that he is usually very unapologetic, and usually with good reason. He robs drug dealers and if he does shoot or kill somebody that person is someone in the drug game who knows that that is a possibility. It was refreshing to see him upset about Tasha’s death and it was also good to see him take responsibility. I think it would have lessened his character in my eyes had he not been upset about it. His response to Tasha’s death and to Bunk’s tongue lashing seemed appropriate for Omar becasue despite who Omar is and what he does he has always had a code that he lives by: he doesn’t hurt civilians and he tries to look out for his own people – seeing Omar show genuine regret and sorrow has made him a more intersting and likeable character in my eyes.
I too really loved this scene because I thought it was incredibly moving at seeing how gruesome using drugs can be, like you mentioned seeing users strung out everywhere was most disturbing. It is so tragic that they are so drugged up that they are completely withdrawn from reality. But what I loved most about this scene was how artistic it is, everything is so dark. There is a sickly and sweaty golden glow to some of the people, the cops and Bubbles but there is nothing happy or beautiful about it. People are moving in and out of the shadows and are hardly distinguishable. It is Bubbles walking through hell or purgatory. The scene to me is what Rodin’s famous Gates of Hell would look like if it came alive. There is steam or fog rises up and not a bright or cheery color can be seen at all in this scene. Then there is there is the uncomfortable confrontation where this teenage boy is trying to sell Bubble something in hopes of being able to earn enough for another hit, it is the desperation that is overwhelming and off putting. Then one of the most depressing moments is when you see a little boy, like really young maybe 4-5 years old is standing up against a lamppost just watching people go by, even the innocent are not spared the ugliness of Hamsterdam.
I agree that Omar’s intesified emotion adds a lot to his character. We saw the onset of sad rage that came with the loss of Brandon, but that was not Omar’s fault. Had Brandon been just murdered and not tortured, Omar may have understood it and let it role with the rules of the game. With Tasha’s death, Omar feels direct responsibility because despite his crew’s warnings and suspiciouns of the risk of robbing Barksdale consecutive times with the alarms raised, he ultimately continued on at Tasha’s expense. Omar has showed appropriate emotions after her death, and I think it is time for him to make a smart and aggressive move to redeem himself, because he is way too popular a character to stay this course for long.
The same goes for Brother Mouzone. I think he has been out of the picture way too long, and he is a man that can influence the entire game as he has the power to kill virtually anyone, just like Omar. It will be interesting to see how these two soldiers handle things, their interests are becoming more and more similar; Stringer is looking like he might have a serious problem on his hands.
Yeah, the article from The Baltimore Sun does seem a little subjective… It was interesting to find out about the readings offered in Prof. Williams’ class…. I’m a long-time fan of Balzac so I would be very curious about how she tied it into the series, and I also really love the literary parallels we sometimes make to the show – when Prof. Mittell said The Sopranos can be compared to Shakespeare and The Wire to Greek tragedy, I thought it was the one of the most interesting things I ever learned about television, one of those a-ha moments when everything clicked.
That scene totally stole the show for me too! And what amazing photography throughout! I do think that the photography in the show has been getting better and better – maybe I’m just starting to notice it more because of my increasing love and appreciation for the show, but in any case, it’s absolutely spectacular.
Another fascinating feature of this scene is the fact that it was all presented from Bubbles’ point of view, and we can arguably suppose that his mind was probably altered by drugs in the moment, as it is most of the time, so I saw the scene as very reminiscent of a drug trip: painful, fragmented tableaus, strong lighting contrast, dulled sounds, frozen images… I LOVED the fact that we see Hamsterdam though the eyes of the junkie as much as we see it through the yes of Carver or Colvin, and this balance between perspectives and protagonists – as embodied clearly in the series’ shared focus on both sides of the law – is really one of the principal strengths of The Wire. Furthermore, such a raw depiction of Hamsterdam towards the end of the episode stands in stark contrast to the beginning scene with Colvin and the old lady: when Colvin tried to convince her to relocate, she sharply responded “you say you have a program to move me somewhere else, but you don’t have a program for what’s happening outside my door.” Point taken.
All in all, these two episodes were rather splendid. I especially liked the tension between McNulty and Lester, and I feel I am starting to understand all the characters like they were people I know. McNulty is puzzling, but highly intriguing and he manages to play the “sexy asshole” without falling into stereotypical representations of “sexy” or “asshole” – I mean, he’s attractive and unattractive at once, and a jerk and a lovable vigilante in the same time. He could have played his meeting with Stringer much better though (like, for instance, why didn’t he tell Stringer anything about his findings on the D’Angelo suicide? that would’ve surely weakened String’s knees a little bit), and I must say that at the end of the scene I was disappointed about how McNulty was completely dominated by Bell.
Also, Stringer presiding over the drug dealers’ meeting was a scene worthy of The Godfather. I loved the little details in that scene, like the jugs of water and glasses on the table, and someone taking the minutes of the meeting. It’s amazing how the show invests so much in the inner workings of the drug trade, and I appreciate the tightrope it always walks between respectability (or at least, rituals or signs of respectability, like providing water and taking minutes and studying macroeconomics etc) and illegality.