Yet another excellent episode. Of course. I think the key thing emphasized this episode is that Marlo, unlike Avon and particularly Stringer, is not just a businessman whose business happens to be illegal. He’s actually a really evil person, not to mention a weak and stupid one in some ways.
Omar vs. Marlo… oh man
Also, in light of our heated debate last week, I liked seeing some shots of all the random teachers at the school. They weren’t all saints, but they definitely weren’t the stereotype of burned out hopeless inner school teachers.
What did people think was the significance of the bit at the very end with Michael telling the coach guy to let him out there?
Seems pretty clear that Michael has some abuse issues. He didn’t like Cutty’s hand on his shoulder, he wouldn’t go to the boxing match until he knew the other kid was going, and he doesn’t want to be alone with Cutty.
That’s what I picked up as well. I think it’s the reason Michael has refused the full boxing training.
I think we’re getting close to the discovery of bodies in the abandoned row houses, which will kick the major crimes unit back into full gear.
Marlo finally wins a big hand, and in comes Omar.
I like storyline with Bubbles and Sherrod. Great scene near the end with Sherrod trying to fool Bubbles with the dictionary as a text book and Bubbles realizing that Sherrod can’t read. It will be interesting to see where this goes.
It was interesting to get a definition of “soft eyes,” the phrase Prez’ older colleague used on his first day. I thought it had something to do with being nice to the kids. But Bunk explained to Kima that it was more like “looking outside the box.” I wonder how the term came to be shared by a city teacher and a cop?
So Herc’s in Major Crimes now. Is he going to be satisfied with rips and runs, or is it his turn to become a real police and give that Trojan Horse lieutentant a pain in the ass?
Echoing a comment from last week’s thread, how the heck did Slim Charles know what Chris and Felicia were doing with the bodies?
I re-watched the first episode last night and caught something I had missed: Kevin, the fat kid who got Randy to send Lex to his death had been working on the corner for Bodie with Lex. So on the one hand, someone’s leaking from Marlo’s crew to Slim Charles, and on the other, at least one of Slim’s guys has been turned by Marlo.
I think it’s an interesting (and perhaps ominous) comment on Marlo that he’s not a good poker player.
I have a question about the police hierarchy. It seems that there’s a gap between lieutenant and major that I would have expected to be filled by captains. But when Major Valchek was talking to Herc about his possible progress through the ranks, he said he could go from sergeant to lieutenant to major. Nothing about captain. What’s up with that?
I also wanted to repost something I mentioned in a Wire thread that died early a few weeks ago.
For Dopers who don’t live in the mid-Atlantic region, I want to highlight the character of Marcia Donnelly, the assistant principal of Edward Tilghman Middle School. As a Baltimore native, one of the few problems I have with The Wire (and most other films and TV shows set in Baltimore, except those of John Waters) is the almost complete absence of characters who speak with a real Bawlamer accent. The actress playing Connelly is clearly a native because, virtually alone among the cast, she has it. If the show were really authentic, a fair percentage of the white Baltimoreans over 40 would be talking just like her. Most of Season Two’s dockworkers should have had the accent.
For me, that accent connotes the real heart of what makes Baltimore unique. It is not like any other accent. It’s not a southern accent. It was most common on the blue-collar east side of the city back when Bethlehem Steel was the area’s largest employer, but most of my childhood friends, up in the Northern suburbs, spoke that way. (To my intense frustration, except for a few phrases, I can’t do it. My parents weren’t natives.)
My favorite example of Bawlamerese is the term for where we all go for summer vacation: Danny Ayshin*. For more examples, see here.
One more (unrelated) thing: Are we going to get some followup on that revelation about Rawls’ private life from last season? (He was seen in a gay bar.)
It the number for animal control in case people notice that an animal is trapped in a house after it is boarded up (by the city).
That’s a good observation about Marlo not being a good poker play. He’s overconfident. The boy’s got a lot of hubris in him and Omar is the first to bring him down a notch. Going to be fun to see how he overreacts, and I have no doubt that he will overreact. I also have a feeling that killing the security guard for simply showing him up might be a real turning point when we look back at the end of the season.
Thanks for pointing out the principal’s accent…I thought it was neat, nice to know that’s “real Bawlamare”. The deacon is a real local too, unfortunately they don’t have him up on the cast page on the HBO site, but if I recall correctly, he was a dealer as a kid and went to prison for a long stretch.
In fact, the number shown is 410-844-6286. In Baltimore, 410-844 (TIme-4) and any four digits gives you the recorded time. I’m sure the producers didn’t want to flood the actual animal control office with calls from Wireheads with too much time on their hands.
They have used 844 numbers on the screens of some of the wiretap computers, too, including in the opening credits. A little more subtle than 555.
IRL, show creator Ed Burns busted the “deacon” when Burns was a city cop and the deacon was a drug dealer.
I really hope this isn’t the story arc that takes out Omar… I’m always worried we’re going to lose him. Is he going to have to run at Prop Joe now, since that stick up was clearly a set-up to get at Marlo?
I see Michael as the next possible Marlo/Avon, though the scene were he took care of his brother before going out broke my heart.
I watched this ep a week ago, so it’s a little hazy now…
I apologize if this question has been asked before.
Hypothetical: If Stringer Bell ran the Westside like he envisioned it, (without Avon’s gangsterism) would it mean a lower murder rate for the city or more?
I’ve been pondering it because part of the problem was Barksdale’s crew beefing with Marlo’s. If they ever take Marlo down, it will create another power vacuum with guys fighting to control the Westside.
