The Wire continues. I’m not sold just yet that I’m watching the greatest drama of all time, but I am enjoying it a great deal. D’Angelo has doubts, McNulty and the detail run into more obstacles and Omar just seems to do whatever the hell he wants to. Just another day on the streets of Baltimore, eh?
If you’re looking for previous entries in my Virgin Diary of The Wire, click here.
Episode 7, “One Arrest”
I’m assuming that McNulty always knew that Rawls was gunning for him, but Santagelo clued him in on exactly how much trouble he was in. Rawls has obviously crossed a line with the way he’s been pushing Santagelo, and at this point, it doesn’t look like McNulty has any recourse. Daniels stood up to Rawls once, but it’s going to take some serious muscle to get McNulty out of this particular jam.
I’m blown away by how much The Wire has gotten me to change my mind about Prez in just a few short weeks. He’s gone from the guy that discharged his service weapon into a station wall to a cop breaking codes and showing genuine remorse — that’s how I read it — to seeing the kid that he attacked earlier this season. I wouldn’t go as far to say that I’ve turned a full corner on the cop, but I am much more interested in following his continued arc than most of the other characters on this show.
D’Angelo needs to run as far as he can from Orlando’s proposal. The crew at the Pit is already under increased scrutiny; the last thing that he needs to do is try to run his own game behind his uncle’s back in that situation.
One of the thing that has impressed me the most about The Wire thus far is that it shows both sides of this conflict as intelligent players of the game. Stringer didn’t have a clue about the wire, but had D’Angelo’s crew destroy the phones on a hunch. Prez is breaking codes, Freamon is basically running a school for detectives, and McNulty and Bump are using the investigation to close old homicide cases. Both sides are pretty smart, but not so much so that the story moves away from realism.
I’m not sure what relevance it has to the greater story just yet, but I loved the scene with Daniels at the fundraiser. It was obvious where the whole bit was going early on, and Reddick’s delivery of the line about being called lieutenant was pretty good, but the best part of the whole scene was the look he gave the thief while walking out the door.
Episode 8, “Lessons”
“… and while we have a certain respect for your do-it-yourself nature …”
Live by the sword, die by the sword. When Kima and McNulty got in bed with Omar, they had to expect something like this going down, right? They had less foresight than he did; the way the hit went down, Omar had to know that the Stink and Wee-Bey — or someone — was going to take a shot at him that night, but how?
My biggest question after “Lessons” is why the Deputy Ops tried to close down the case. Is he that afraid of getting on the wrong side of some State Senator? Or is there something deeper? McNulty touched on it with Daniels, how the news of the capture made its way up to Burrell through back channels.
I’m also curious where things are going with Bubbles; I thought he made an honest realization when he was at the meeting, but it didn’t last long. In a lot of ways, he’s one of the few characters that the audience can completely identify with, and pull for. Because I live in a post-Game of Thrones world, I expect that to mean that he’ll be dead before this season comes to a close.
Bunk’s closing words cut a little close to the quick, but only if you get over the hypocrisy of him blaming McNulty for his drunken dalliance. But he’s got a point; furthered by the dynamic on the way this episode opened. McNulty is plain damn stupid for utilizing his sons in surveillance of Stringer, no matter how safe he thought it might have been. You can’t even say he’s the character who ignores all for the job, as that type of dedication generally doesn’t include drinking on the job — or so close to it. So exactly what kind of self-destructive is McNulty, and is he going to give some reason to Rawls before they close this case?
Clacked by Ivey West 
on Jun 26, 2012 @ 11:00 EST5EDT
