Before I first jumped into The Wire a couple of weeks ago, I didn’t know much about it other than it was a well-regarded cop/criminal show based in Baltimore. Considering the name, I always figured that the good guys would be better resourced, and it wouldn’t take six episodes before our “heroes” actually had a wire on The Wire. Obviously, I had called that wrong. Instead of – frankly – unrealistic technology that permeates procedural crime drama these days, The Wire’s cops are defined by bad politics, lazy/drunk cops and decade’s old technology. When (if?) the detail can crack this case with those obstacles, they will have earned my respect – at least those sober enough to show up.
You can catch up on the previous entries into my Virgin Diary series on The Wire.
Episode 5, “The Pager”
“Celebrities always seem much smaller when you meet them in person.” – Judge Phelan
Weeks of work to get D’Angelo’s pager cloned, and the team is faced with a code so insanely stupid that it can only be broken by someone insanely stupid? I’m sure viewers across the planet had that same WTF feeling when the Prez was sitting there running the phone through the copier machine. Little did we know the little gerbil was running on the spinning wheel in his head … and that it would actually produce something resembling good police work.
I wish we could have more of a look into what makes Avon tick. The scenes tonight, specifically the visiting his father in the home, were a hint of that, but I want more. I want to know why Stinkum got the promotion and why D’Angelo is still in the Pit. We’re learning more of what D did before he was arrested: it sounds like he was a guy that his cousin relied on to get things done. It feels like his current assignment is more than simply about having to prove himself again now that he’s back.
Have Avon and Stringer been picking up on the hesitancy that the audience has been privy to? I don’t think we’ve seen anything to indicate that, but it could be a factor. It looks like D was the triggerman on the murder of Avon’s “college mistress,” and that gun was linked to several other murders. But now that D’Angelo is back, he doesn’t seem to have the same type of conviction one would expect from someone who has killed multiple people on his uncle’s orders. How will that hesitancy play out on the rest of the season?
I like the dynamic building between McNulty and Kima. They both seem fairly dedicated to the task force, something you can’t say about most of the others assigned to it. I wonder what they hope to get from Omar. Avon might be better connected, and obviously running a much bigger crew, but Omar seems like a lit stick of dynamite – do McNulty and Kim really want to be holding onto it when it blows?
Episode 6, “The Wire”
Daniels truly put his ass on the line with the Deputy Ops to buy the extra month from Rawls. That he doesn’t give McNulty a heads up that Rawls is even more pissed at him means that he didn’t realize it – or it was just too obvious for him to mention. As McNulty isn’t a perfect cop – though I’m not sure we’ve seen anyone in the Baltimore PD that could begin to call themselves that, save perhaps Kima – so it won’t be long before someone feeds Rawls something.
The juxtaposition of Wallace’s regret against the ongoing hesitation that we’ve seen out of D’Angelo was interesting, especially as D tried to talk the junior man though it. Again, D’Angelo proves to be one of the more interesting characters on a show full of interesting characters. His decision to handle his crew’s thieving in-house was efficient to be sure, but if a problem continues and it gets back to Stringer or Avon, he has just created more problems for himself.
It wasn’t surprising that Omar’s crew was so easily taken apart. A small group like that, free-handing their way through stickup jobs doesn’t bother the same level of level of operational security that we’ve seen out of Avon’s team. Considering that they had just stolen from one of the bigger names on the street, you’d think they’d play things a little safer than just hanging out at a pinball machine. Omar certainly seems to be ruthless, but we’ve not yet seen him live up to that perception yet.
Clacked by Ivey West 
on Jun 19, 2012 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
