There was the scene, in the third season I believe, where one of Brother Mouzone’s henchmen is going around to gay bars looking for Omar, and you get brief glimpse of Rawls in the background.
The following season they showed some bathroom grafitti that said “Rawls Sucks Cock.” But this could just be the markings of some disgruntled employee who knew nothing about Rawls’ sexuality.
And then in the final season, there was a throwaway gag where Daniels is moving into Rawls’ old office and some strange guy calls up looking for him.
But I don’t think they ever really said anything obvious about his sexuality and truth be told I’m not even sure if they even ever mentioned whether or not he was married.
So what are your thoughts?
Rawls was definitely in the closet. It was one of various The Wire storylines that never had a real resolution. Not sure if we ever got to see Rawls’ private life other than that glimpse at the gay club. Don’t think we ever saw a family or anything.
I didn’t think “Rawls is gay” was ever going to be a storyline, it was just a throwaway fact to remind us that all the characters had lives and backgrounds and weren’t one dimensional.
In one of the DVD extras, the actor who played Rawls said that he intepreted Rawls as having a deep self-loathing due to his sexuality and that was why the character was such an asshole.
However, he also implied that the revalation came as just as much of a surprise to him as it did to the audience.
I always wondered if the other characters suspected. Landsman did kind of let out a knowing chuckle when he saw the bathroom grafitti. And other character did kind of throw glances at each other when something was said about Rawls that could be construed as a vague reference to his sexuality.
This is my view.
We certainly understand he uses brutal homoerotic references in his working day and that he visited a gay bar, and there’s it’s left - apart from one or two grafitti comments in the wash room.
The interesting things for me is how much attention a two-second cutaway generates and, second, how informative it is about that character: In a way it’s all the background we need to know about that character to give it full form.
From this interview: The Wire: David Simon Q & A | NJ.com
“We could have cannibalized Rawls’ moment in the gay bar and advanced that moment, but I’m not sure we would have created any more theme, and on some level it was very satisfying just to grant the notion of a closeted gay man’s sexuality a moment on screen and then move on. There was something very compelling and real about just acknowledging that but not making it into grist for a storyline that didn’t add anything to our portrayal of Rawls. We were always laying pipe that could be picked up later. It doesn’t mean that you should pick it up.”
Wow. I’ve never seen this show, but now I think that I might check it out. I appreciate those who feel completely uncompelled by Chekhov’s gun.
You really should, its one of the best shows ever put on TV.
one of?
I think he has to leave open the vague and unlikely possibility that he missed some show that might be almost equal. What that show would be, I have no idea.
Going to the OP, I thought the second-long glimpse of Rawls in the bar was a great touch, and I’m glad they didn’t follow up on it. As someone said above, it’s great background without having to be worked in as a storyline.
Yeah that was mostly it really, i don’t watch a whole lot of TV so i didn’t want to make any wild asses claims. Its certainly the best thing i’ve personally ever seen on TV.
Deadwood. Actually, I’d put Deadwood above it.
Contrast to the similar moment in The Sopranos, which they just couldn’t leave alone, to really boring results.
It’s a close call. For me, The Wire has held up better. Deadwood seems overblown and self-indulgent now. But it’s an unfair comparison, really. It’s like comparing a fresh Georgia peach with a chocolate pie covered in whipped cream and sprinkles and cherries. They’re both luscious and satisfying, but in different ways.
You got that right. They should have stopped with the BJ in the pickup.
I put deadwood damn near the bottom for the way it ended 
I thought th first season of Deadwood was better than the first season of The Wire, but Deadwood went downhill from there, and the 3rd season truly sucked. The Wire got better as it went.
Rome, though, is a worthy challenger for best. Of course, it only ran two seasons, so it didn’t have as much time to go bad.
bolding mine
Do you think he purposely used that phrase?
Except for the last season, which I don’t think was very good.
That’s because you didn’t ‘get it’.