OMAR DON'T SCARE: This week's episode of The Wire, "The Wire," gets us deeper into how people survive in this world. Bubbles has his copper scheme; Wallace is somehow raising a crew of parentless kids on chips and juice boxes; the police are subject to bureaucratic pressures potentially thwarting meaningful policing, forcing them to choose their battles; McNulty, again, lets his day job bleed into his parenting time without any sense of how reckless he's being. At least Bodie is "ready to be good," and I'm sure that'll work out well for everyone.
This episode didn't hit the dramatic (or comic) heights of some of its predecessors, but damn I enjoy each hour in this world.
No one?
ReplyDeleteSorry for the delay! Work, you know. The thing that I thought was amazing here was that they actually had Wallace confronted so quickly with the results of his phone call, and so graphically. I didn't see that happening.
ReplyDeleteAnd, Adam: Thanks for linking Alan's columns. I always enjoy his work, but I've found them to be very helpful, especially as I got to be so far ahead of the schedule. (We finished the show on Saturday. The fiance is in mourning. On the plus side, he may be ready to try to sop his sadness with Friday Night Lights.)
I was extremely taken aback by McNulty letting Omar anywhere near his kids. While Omar is vertainly being written with a lot more nuance and humantiy than your average TV criminal, he is still clearly a very dangerous, very bad man. I don't know if that scene is meant to tell us more about Omar or McNulty, but it certainly made me think worse of McNulty. You just don't put your kids in that kind of danger.
ReplyDeleteThe scene with Omar in the workroom was extraordinary. The naked emotion on his face, the way the various cops interacted with him - it all spoke volumes about the histories of these characters. I was also fascinated to see what questions they chose to ask him when they had him.
Freamon is quickly becoming my favorite character. I love old school guys, and I love when they teach the little pishers. I also love Wallace already, but I'm still not sure of how much of that is that I love Vince from FNL. I'm hoping we get more information about what's going on with those kids.
And it was fascinating to watch McNulty and Daniels try to get more time for their work - as viewers, we are made to sympathize with them and see everyone else as idiots for getting in their way, but watching how different people up and down the food chain perceive the work of our little group, and seeing how each person has a personal stake in various outcomes (and who is and is not willing to take a risk for this investigation and why) is endlessly interesting. I suppose police aren't all that different than any bureaucracy (including our drug dealers) in this regard - some people want to do what they think is right even if it isn't good for them professionally, and some people want to do what is best for them professionally no matter what. And some people are straight, and some are crooked, and no matter what, everyone's got an agenda.
I didn't fully understand, by the way, how Cass was theiving - I get that D'Angelo (gotta love the getting dressed scene) figured it out because she had money when he was withholding money, but how exactly was she stealing from him?
What's the matter with Omar? He believes in committed monogamous relationships; he doesn't curse; he doesn't use drugs; he is patient, sober, hard-working, and responsible; he never killed a "civilian," to use his word. Judging from his taste in cereal and love of nursery rhymes, I suspect he is very good with children.
ReplyDeleteA man's got to have a code.
ReplyDeleteSo apparently by asking the veterans not to spoil things for me, I've effectively ended all conversation on The Wire. Never what I meant to do.
ReplyDeleteCan I retroactively rescind my comment and tell the veterans to have at it? Because utter lack of converation is much worse than spoilery conversation.
I agree, Adam, with how much I enjoy every hour in The Wire world -- and that surprised me because it's not a world I know much about, nor is it, or its inhabitants, something to which I'd aspire. I found myself increasingly caring about "very bad" people. Such a tribute to the exceptional writing, and such a reminder to me that it's actions that are bad, not people.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that people are so far ahead at this point that they can't remember this particular episode.
ReplyDeleteI asked a few weeks ago if we should pick up the pace. I'm open to suggestions.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with Marsha -- this episode gave me major pause on McNulty, and I daresay that was the point. On any other show, McNulty is the clear hero, and he would be flying high -- after all, things have been going his way the last couple of episodes, and we would be told/shown that he was a fantastic cop who had been held back only by the incompetent brass. But on THIS show, our "hero" takes his two young sons to pick up a scary drug-stash stealer to take him to the morgue to see the body of his dead lover. Good lord. We're not allowed to forget that McNulty, like everyone else on this show, has a WHOLE lot of grey going on, and a lot of his trials are self-inflicted. And I love that (much as that scene freaked me out).
ReplyDeleteMcNulty's kids were in absolutely no physical danger being in proximity to Omar, especially with their father, a police officer, there. Certainly they were in no more danger than when he visited their soccer game with Bubbles, who is also a criminal and a thief.
ReplyDeleteThe worst thing McNulty does is that he doesn't keep his home life separate from his work life. The case consumes him, and he puts that before his children. It's just another example of his selfishness as he pursues the Barksdales.
No, putting them in a car with Omar, who just robbed the Barksdale organization and whose lover was just tortured and killed for it, isn't dangerous at all. Because there's no chance that Barksdale's crew would come after the guy that they tortured his lover to get information about.(I am aware that the narratifve structure of the show probably doesn't allow for Omar and Barksdale to come into direct conflict just yet. But that's not the point.)
ReplyDeleteMcNulty doesn't think this stuff through. He's obsessed, and yes, he puts his work life before his home life. Most of the time, that's just being a bad father. In this case, it's being an incompetent father and if his ex-wife found out, he'd never be allowed to see those kids unsupervised again.
Re: the apcing of these posts/the rewatch, I am conflicted. I like the weekly (despite not being around yesterday to comment) conversation on the show, but am also watching them faster than I thought. I know others are too, but I also know one a week works well for many. Maybe the posts should be less frequent -- every three weeks or so, and cover half a season? Which allows for enough of a story arc that veterans could chime in without being as worried about spoiling things as they were? I don't know. Just a thought.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very tardy comment - which may say something about the current pace of things being challenging - but I support ramping up the commenting. I found the show so all consuming that I started digesting 2 and 3 episodes at a time during the weekends. I'm currently midway through Season 2 at this point. My oh my is this a fantastic show.
ReplyDeleteI am only typing it now, because I finally got around to watching last week's episode...and now I'm ahead.
ReplyDeleteIf we paced at the same rate I can get one Netflix CD (usually 3 eps on a disk), then I can do faster than one a week. I usually don't have time to watch more than one a week.
I'm struggling to keep up with the pace we've set, but if it's just me, that's fine. I'll have much more time soon, and will catch up then. I just watched this ep at work today. (Don't tell.)
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