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Just noticed that when D'Angelo is talking to his mother, he says "This is mine, right here, right now." echoing Wallace not long before he got killed.
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May 2, 2013 02:51
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| # ? Apr 19, 2024 22:27 |
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Nice catch, I didn't pick up on that at all.
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May 2, 2013 03:28
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Edgar Death posted:Just noticed that when D'Angelo is talking to his mother, he says "This is mine, right here, right now." echoing Wallace not long before he got killed. Wow, this is awesome. I never caught that.
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May 2, 2013 08:12
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cletepurcel posted:He also makes a reference to bamas, which is a weird local term I forget the meaning of. Bama is just another word for being country, short for Alabama. Blacks were still moving out of the south up until about the 1970s, and a lot of them were farmers and basically rednecks, who were looked down upon by more sophisticated urban blacks. Over time it morphed into a general insult. Frostwerks posted:Go-go is apparently reaaaal popular in the DC area. I think it may be more popular there than hip hop though that's something I heard on another board a long time ago. Yeah it's mostly limited to DC, but they play it on black college radio stations down in Norfolk and Raleigh and the like. Alec Bald Snatch fucked around with this message at 10:27 on May 2, 2013 |
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May 2, 2013 10:18
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D'Angelo's mother basically convinced him to go to jail for 20 years because she wanted to keep getting paid by his cousin. Why do so many people always say McNulty was an rear end in a top hat for calling her on it? She was a terrible person! Just because she's not as bad as Namod's horrible mother that doesn't make her good!
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May 2, 2013 19:18
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ChairMaster posted:D'Angelo's mother basically convinced him to go to jail for 20 years because she wanted to keep getting paid by his cousin. I think its because we the audience are privy to a few scenes that McNulty isn't. Primarily the final scene between her and D'Angelo where its pretty clear that everything she's done is coming crashing down on her all at once as she realizes that she flushed the only really important thing in her life down the toilet. After that McNulty comes off as just piling on. Its also worth mentioning that Brianna, like Avon, grew up in this world and she only knows that set of rules. In order for D'Angelo to get out of going to prison he would have had to snitch, and its understandable why Brianna would never see that as a viable option. Final point: McNulty is just an rear end in a top hat in general as we all know, so its easy to see all of his scenes through that lens once you feel that way about him.
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May 2, 2013 19:46
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It's not just that Brianna wasn't as bad as Delonda, it's that she clearly does care about D'Angelo. Brianna gives Avon a lot of poo poo for not adequately taking care of D on his New York run, while Delonda tells the cops to throw Namond into baby booking because she'd rather he learn a lesson from that then to actually, you know, be a parent. Brianna wants D to stay with the family and not flip not just because of her livelihood, but because she wants D to be adequately supported when he gets out as well. No, owning a club is not the same as being an astronaut or something, but Brianna wants for D the best that he could possibly have in his current situation. What really kills her about what McNulty says is that she did love D and tried to give him the best possible life, but failed.
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May 2, 2013 20:13
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ChairMaster posted:D'Angelo's mother basically convinced him to go to jail for 20 years because she wanted to keep getting paid by his cousin. How does this make her an rear end in a top hat? She isn't getting paid by his cousin, she's a woman in a world dominated by violent men. This is her family, this is her life. She did what the corner teaches women to do, and that's how she survived and prospered. Taking 20 years in prison wasn't just part of DeAngelo's job description, it was part of his blood. Of course she expected him to do it. Someone should post that long essay form The Corner about how "we would do better", because judging Breanna for not advising DeAngelo to snitch and go to college or whatever really misses the point. the black husserl fucked around with this message at 03:18 on May 3, 2013 |
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May 3, 2013 03:14
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ally_1986 posted:Some really great moments from this episode. Great write up I know this is late and has been answered but beat your feet, son. In this case, it's just a friendly city rivalry commentary.
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May 4, 2013 05:10
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Man i always think of a titty bar when i hear go-go.
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May 4, 2013 06:43
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Pump pump pump pump me up!
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May 4, 2013 11:06
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Season 2, Episode 7 - BackwashHorseface posted:Don't worry, kid. You're still on the clock. Bodie arrives in a florists, a strange place to find a rising drug dealer. The florist approaches and asks him what he is looking for, and Bodie explains he's here looking for a floral arrangement for a funeral. The florist offers his condolences but Bodie is there more from a sense of duty than love, explaining that he and the deceased weren't particularly close but he was still "my nigga" and if he doesn't make an effort, what does that say about him? The florist at first seems confused by Bodie's attitude, but after picking up a couple of cues he seems to read between the lines and offers Bodie to come into the back. Bodie follows him and finds a garish series of displays not meant to be seen from out front, something designed purely for the gangsta market, an indication of just how deeply the drug culture permeates throughout the city and community beyond the immediately obvious corners, towers and open drug markets.  The florist suggests any number of colors that could be used for the rather vulgar displays, including pink, which offends Bodie. The florist is amused, was the deceased (D'Angelo) too fierce for pink? Bodie notes that D'Angelo "wasn't all that" - Bodie had an oddly disparaging regard for D'Angelo during much of season one, surprising for somebody of his age and relatively low ranking in the Barksdale Organization - but he can't disparage him in death. He gives his distorted view of D'Angelo's death - a judge "went wild on his rear end" and gave him 20 years, and D clearly couldn't handle it and committed suicide because he was weak. Still, Bodie wants to represent and comes up with what he considers a brilliant idea, he wants strong colors (blacks and reds) in a display that mimics the 221 Tower that D'Angelo once ran. He's utterly confused when the florist asks what condolences he wants written on the card, and peels off cash from his money roll and tells him to just make sure that the arrangement is as close to the tower as possible - it has to "look like it do". With that he's out, fist-bumping with the florist who has done an admirable job of making his customer feel at ease - a sale is a sale, and while the funeral displays are garish and vulgar, they also generate a lot of money from a customer base with a lot of disposable cash and a high mortality rate. Bunk and Beadie are explaining the developments on the 14 dead bodies, and as feared it isn't information he likes hearing. Rawls (and thus, Landsman) like a system where cases are solved quickly or somewhat swept under the rug/shifted over to somebody else's responsibility, or just flat out abandoned. Bunk and Beadie are going to be sitting watching a clone of the dock computer, looking for signs of another smuggled can and using that information to get a shot at finding out who was responsible for smuggling the women in. It's going to be a long, drawn out process that involves a lack of direct action that can be pointed to as progress. Landsman snaps that Rawls will tear him a new one if he walks by and sees them "playing video games" instead of working the case, and Bunk complains that avoiding Rawls is why they asked to be set up at Daniels' location to work the case in peace, since Daniels is working a different case involving the same people. This was a huge mistake, because the moment Landsman hears that Daniels is investigating the same people he grasps at the straw like a drowning man, saying that Daniels could take on the murders since he's investigating them anyway. Bunk shakes his head, Daniels isn't stupid, he's just given them a room without a view. Landsman storms out of his office and Beadie chooses to take his silence as silent approval, but Bunk knows far better. Concentrating on what he CAN work on, though, he tells Beadie their next step is to lull the port workers into a false sense of security, they have to make it seem like the Homicide case has been abandoned for lack of progress. How do they do that, asks Beadie, and Bunk clearly has a plan. Nick has a plan too, having been paid partly for his moonlighting smuggling job for The Greek in heroin, he's gone to Frog - the dealer who ripped off Ziggy - to work out a deal selling the package on the street. Frog is trying to work out a 50/50 split with Nick like he did with Ziggy, bopping about in place and using street lingo while Nick is settled back comfortably on the stoop, simply listening and saying nothing. An old power tactic in a meeting is to stand while somebody else sits down, but the situation is reversed here. Frog is trying to set the rules for a business relationship between them, standing taller and explaining how it is, but Nick's silent, laidback derision has him on the back foot. Nick finally speaks up to quietly instruct him to come closer, Frog clearly uneasy with doing so, and the first thing Nick tells him in a rather insulting way is that he's white, not black. The second is that Nick is ALSO white, but not standing on a corner selling drugs white, he's Locust Point IBS Local 47 white, and that means he doesn't work without a contract. Now HE lays out how it is going to be to Frog, he isn't going to give them the package to sell and then pick up the money at the end of the week, THEY are going to pay him the money in advance and THEN get the drugs, and he won't accept any shortall like Ziggy did - in fact, when Frog pays in advance, he needs to include the money he shorted Ziggy for the last package. Frog smirks at the mention of Ziggy, but it's clear that Nick has the upper hand in this situation - it seems that off camera he already gave out sample vials to another dealer to give the locals a taste of the quality of the drugs. Now Frog knows it is good stuff and that he can make a great deal of money for it, and it is worth it for him to pay up front. He throws up his fist for Nick to bump it and just gets a smirk of derision for his trouble, so he heads off up the street, wounded pride not enough to overcome the lust for good money. Nick watches him go, clearly proud of himself for how easily he handled Frog. He looks around the street, clearly feeling superior to all those around him (his "I'm white!" speech is a clear sign of the pride and anger that is such an integral part of his psyche) until he happens to notice an old woman staring at him from the window, looking down at him on the stoop - perhaps she knows him, perhaps she doesn't, but it's a sudden reminder to Nick that for all his pride and self-esteem about how much better he is than all these "wiggas", he's not out there making money working a ship and getting his hands dirty - Nick is a drug dealer now.   Leech arrives to pick up his payment from Stringer for organizing D'Angelo's death, and asks if the police are considering the death a suicide. Stringer is careful in his response, not saying anything that would indicate he ordered the death, but Leech is surprisingly curious and insistent, asking if Avon was behind the order or if Stringer was doing this on his own. Stringer doesn't reply but Leech takes this as assent, and finally Stringer tells him he's right in one respect... it's none of his business. Taking the money, Leech leaves shaking his head at the madness of people from Baltimore, and returns to Washington D.C. In prison, Wee-Bey and Avon are in the reverse of their positions from earlier in the season. Now Wee-Bey is laid back, enjoying himself, eagerly eating the meals delivered to Avon's cell, telling Avon to eat up. Avon is unusually reserved and mopey, and Wee-Bey - back to his solid, dependable self now that Tilghman is gone - finally picks up on this and brings up the elephant in the room - D'Angelo's suicide. Much like Wee-Bey revealed that he wasn't so much depressed as he was holding in his murderous rage with Tilghman, Avon reveals that he isn't so much depressed as he is feeling betrayed by D'Angelo thoughtlessly putting Avon in a bad position. He complains that when D'Angelo chose to kill himself he knew that Avon would feel bad about it and have to deal with the aftermath/fallout with the family, and yet he went and did it anyway. Forgetting that D'Angelo didn't actually commit suicide for a second, let's take it at face value that he did - Avon's reaction isn't to think that D'Angelo felt unable to deal with what his life had become and killed himself in despair, but that D'Angelo killed himself either failing to take into account how it would affect Avon, or that he took it into account and did it deliberately to get at him. He finally articulates what he always denied in the past, declaring that D'Angelo was weak and that he did everything he could during D's life to harden him up, which Wee-Bey agrees with. Wee-Bey isn't being a lickspittle either, he may have always considered D'Angelo weak but there's no doubt in his mind that the things Avon did were done for D'Angelo's benefit, that it was a necessity. Wee-Bey won't have this attitude that young people from their families need this kind of "hardening up" challenged till the end of season 4. For now, he agrees with Avon, and reminds him that D having to deal with those 20 years might have eventually considered turning evidence against Avon, and that maybe this suicide was a blessing in disguise. Avon quietly agrees, both of them unknowingly giving approval to Stringer's actions. With Kima no longer in place to give them direction, Herc and Carver have been set free to handle their end of the Sobotka Detail without supervision. Being who they are, they've decided to find a shortcut for their work and gone to a security store in search of a bug. Playing around with some of the gear on display, Carver mocks Herc in sunglasses ("the name's Head... Dick Head") and the store's manager approaches - a big burly older man who is pleased to help out a couple of officers. He shows them his top of the line audio bug - small and easily hidden, it can pick up any conversation within 10 feet incredibly clearly. The cost, however, is $1500, and even with the police discount is still $1250, far more than they can afford. Herc asks for a trial run first and the manager says they can have it for 48 hours provided they leave a credit card with him, but Carver is still unconvinced. Herc takes Carver aside and lays out his logic, he can't use his own credit card because it is maxed out, but if they use Carver's and bring it back within 48 hours with a "change of minds" it won't cost them anything. They've been working hand to hands and getting no further up the drug ladder and neither of them have any developed informants, so they're short-cutting with a bug to get them info they couldn't get otherwise - which is also completely illegal and inadmissable. Without Kima to give them guidance/leadership, the two are falling into familiar, sloppy old habits. Rawls has summoned Daniels to his office where he puts on a very casual air as he points out (not suggests) that Daniels has taken responsibility for Bunk and Beadie and therefore he has to (not should) take on the 14 murders as well. Daniels disagrees, all he did was provide them with a place to work THEIR cases, and rather than trying to argue points with Rawls, he replies to every one of Rawls' justifications with a simple and clear,"No." Rawls wants the 14 murders moved to Daniels, claiming it's win-win (for him) because if the murders are solved then he'll be grateful and if they're not then Homicide doesn't take the brunt of the blame for the low clearance. Daniels gives another no, and only talks more as he stands up to leave without being dismissed, making it clear the meeting is over. He wants out of the basement, and some drug dealers being arrested and MAYBE a prostitute bust will get him that, but if he takes on 14 murders as well? That doesn't help him with Burrell, the unspoken point being that Burrell's happiness is off far more importance than Rawls'. He makes a dignified exit from the office as Rawls takes a bite out of the orange he's been peeling and shares a look with a disgruntled Landsman, noting that Daniels is smarter than he looks. Beadie returns to the docks, preceded by warning whistles, but Frank is surprised and pleased to see she is back in her regular uniform and driving her patrol car. She stops by Frank and offers a pleasant smile, and he asks where her "friend" is, the black detective? Beadie replies that the case is over as far as she knows, none of the port workers blinked at the Grand Jury summons and they got nothing from the people on the Atlantic Light, so she was sent back to her regular duties. She won't be around his docks much though, they're moving her to Fairfield to put an extra car patrolling the chemicals down there "in case of terrorism I guess". Relieved but hiding it, Frank jokes that she's too pretty for the Fairfield docks and she rolls her eyes with a smile and drives away, carefully watching him in the side-mirror as she drives away, spotting the wary happiness on his face - the lure has been cast. Herc and Carver are sitting in their car sliding the bug into a tennis ball, Herc complaining that this is only "necessary" because they don't have the Southeastern Surveillance Van, even though Carver has Sergeant's stripes. Carver - who along with 99% of the Southeastern has no idea the surveillance van was stolen - complains that he's never even seen the van, and they head out onto the street to place their "informant". At the Detail office, Freamon and Bunk are watching the cloned computer with two very different reactions. Freamon finds it fascinating, almost hypnotic, while Bunk is bored out of his mind. Beadie returns and spots that the ship being unloaded on the computer isn't from the Talco line, and Freamon is probably wasting his time. He disagrees, by watching them work normally he is getting a feel for how things happen, which will make it easier for him to spot when something that SHOULDN'T happen does. In both of these scenes, we've seen how technology can be used and misused and how it is interpreted by different people. This is the case with Frank as well, who helped design the system that Freamon is currently watching but it horrified by what he is witnessing at a seminar on robotic deck technology. A well dressed young man is showing a presentation on Rotterdamn, and the "suits" in attendence are rapt as they watch a video on Rotterdam's busy docks working 24 hours a day with NO human surveillance, making use of smart cards and automated systems that allow the docks to operate continuously round the clock with incredibly quick turnaround on every ship, which are loaded up fully with cargo. Nat Coxson and Frank aren't anywhere near as pleased though, watching with growing horror a massive threat to the workforce that has served on the docks for generations - what happens to them? They've dedicated their lives to the industry only to be replaced by robots (the true legacy of Ronnie "Union Buster" Reagan?). As the impressive technology is listed off, the presenter cuts the audio to inform the audience that many of these technologies have been upgraded further since the video was made. Frank has a pertinent question, what hours are the stevedores getting over there? The presenter is all smiles as he admits he doesn't have that information - to him it's irrelevant - but he does know that Rotterdam employs over 4000 workers. That sounds impressive, but Nat is incredulous - 4000 people to move 350 MILLION tonnes of cargo? One of the suits comments to Nat that this is progress, and the presenter continues his mollifying patter - injuries are down 60%, most of the dangerous work is now handled entirely by machines. This is progress, and admittedly it is absolutely a good thing that injuries are prevented, that cargo is able to be accurately accounted for at each step by GPS, that cargo is unloaded quickly and efficiently.... but it's at the expense of a workforce that has built the industry up to this point - where is the repayment for the generations of hard work, for the complete immersion in a culture that provided profits to these executives and their predecessors and is now set to be discarded for machines that don't need to be paid and won't ever unionize. As Frank puts it quietly to Nat, it is hard to get injured on the job if you're not working. They would undoubtedly disagree with the likes of Herc, who listens in to audio from the tennis ball of Frog chatting with an associate while Carver takes photos, who claims,"Ain't technology the bomb!"   Stringer arrives at Brianna's home where D'Angelo's wake is to be held, bringing food with him to join the many plates already provided ("Enough for three wakes" claims the lady who greets him at the door). He says hello to Tyrell, who is once again being bounced about on a stranger's lap, and says a quiet but reserved hello to Donette in the kitchen, asking how she is holding up but quickly moving on to find Brianna, leaving Donette to look after him, obviously a little hurt at his lack of public compassion/interest. He heads into the bedroom where he finds Brianna sitting on her bed, and he sits down beside her and puts a hand on her shoulder, and she bursts into tears. What is she thinking at this point? Is it just grief over her son's death? Is it guilt over convincing him to take the years? Is she second-guessing herself now as she replays their last conversation in her head and takes everything D said in a new light considering his "suicide"? Is it a mixture of all of those and more? And how would she feel if she knew the man comforting her, the one who has always been a bedrock of support for their family, is the one who had her son killed?  An unusually subdued Ziggy is at the bar in Delores' going over some papers as Love Child plays on the jukebox, Maui continuously playing it and having a great old time sharing laughs with the other stevedores. Nick arrives and La-La asks if he got any work this week, surprised when Nick says he didn't, there was at least one day where his ranking would have gotten him at least one day's worth of work, but Nick just shrugs and walks away - note how quickly the hard-working, proud working man stopped caring about back-breaking labor for a low wage when he discovered he could make thousands while letting somebody else do the work/take the risk for him? He joins Ziggy at the bar and drops a roll of money on the bar in front of him (careful to shield the view with his body), telling him it is his share of the last two packages as well as what Frog owed him for the previous. Ziggy isn't happy, taking the money and complaining to an incredulous Nick that dealing drugs was HIS thing and it turns out that Nick is even better at THAT than he is. Nick isn't self-aware enough to pick up that Ziggy's stubborn pride is a trait he shares, but Ziggy claims he has other concerns than money at the moment anyway, and shows Nick the papers he was given. It's a paternity suit, he is meant to contact a lawyer about allegedly getting a woman named Priscilla Katlow pregnant, but he's decided to get drunk before making that call. Nick is bemused, Priscilla Katlow? Ziggy complains he only hosed her the once and Nick laughs that EVERYBODY in Locust Point hosed her the once, but does agree that Ziggy's plan to get good and drunk is the right one, and joins him in knocking back a shot. Prez leaves The Gentlemen's Gold Club and rejoins Kima in her car to give her the lay of the land. The club was filled with a number of pretty women with foreign accents, and he did spot an older woman - about 40 - who seemed to be in charge of them, but he couldn't get close enough to find out much about her. Business out of the way, Kima teases him, asking if he grabbed any rear end, and the clearly uncomfortable Prez has no idea how to react. On the stoop of their upscale home, Daniels and Marla are discussing his career once again, with Daniels trying to justify staying in the job and working on the Detail. When he was in the basement it made sense to quit, but when Burrell reached out.... Marla stops him there, it was Burrell who he crossed in the first place, AND he has that dossier on Daniels alleged corruption in earlier days. He's only getting older, and soon he's going to see younger men being promoted over him while he scratches out good cases that do nothing for him career-wise. Daniels is giving up though, telling her he knows that good police work on its own isn't enough, but this is the politically intelligent move. Just today Rawls called him to his office and tried to dump the 14 murders on him and he said no - he's going to bring in a case that gets Valchek off of Burrell's case, make Burrell happy and use that political capital to move upwards. Marla leans back, mollified somewhat and intrigued - there is some logic to what he is saying, having the newly appointed Commissioner of Police owe you a favor has got to be pretty handy career-wise. Frank Sobotka is also discussing his career, something that has kind of been taken for granted through most of the season. His role as Secretary-Treasurer would seem to be a secure one with a great degree of loyalty, but it is an annual term only. He and Nat have returned to the Union Hall where the subject of the term ending and a long-standing agreement has come up. In the interests of fairness, the Union has long had a policy of interchanging between a black and a white Secretary-Treasurer every year, and the election isn't far off. After attending the seminar, Frank has had a moment of panic, if he is going to prevent the bulk of the already thin workforce being replaced by machines he has to complete his work and get the canal dredged, putting in place human systems that will be too expensive to replace... at least immediately. But Frank only got the position in the first place because the black votes came him way in return for a guarantee that the next term would see the white votes go Ott's way, and Frank knows that Ott is too honest to make dealing with The Greek like he has. As reasonably as possible he appeals to Nat, saying that he wants to finish what he started and he's only asking for one more year, and he'd be happy to see Ott replace him/another white Secretary-Treasurer for the next two years following that. Just think about it, he asks Nat, who leaves the office without turning him down but clearly looks less than pleased. With him gone, a tense Frank puts through a call to his lobbyist, Bruce DiBiago, putting on a cheery voice as he checks up on the political progress all his ill-gotten money is supposed to be purchasing.  At the bar, Love Child still playing in the background, Nick is going over the papers again, sensing something isn't right. Ziggy - unsuccessfully hitting on a girl - is called back to the bar by Nick who wants to know when he got the papers. They were delivered in the mail this morning, which immediately heightens Nick's sense that something isn't right, he knows somebody else who got hit with a paternity suite and they had the papers served to them by the Sheriff. He asks to use the bar phone, telling Ziggy he's going to call the lawyer, and Ziggy tells him that no law firm will be open in the middle of the night. When Nick calls he gets an answer though... from a delighted Maui who tells him he's reached the law firm of Shyster, Shyster & Shyster. He, Horseface and Maui burst out laughing and begin singing Love Child, all while Ziggy sits still oblivious at the bar. Nick returns to sit beside him and tells him that they got him, and Ziggy is more horrified by the fact it was Maui who pulled the prank than anything else. Nick can't help but see the funny side and laughs as Ziggly buries his head in his hands, both relieved to not have fathered an unexpected child and despairing being the victim of the prank. Kima and Prez watch as the girls leave the club and are loaded up into a car, watched carefully by imposing Muscle, they seem to be on the right track. They follow it back to a garage (seen through a rarely used security camera point of view shot), and drive on past as they enter it, heading around the front of the building, a relatively upscale apartment building. Moving quickly, Kima enters the lobby and distracts the security guard by asking to use the toilet and dancing about in place as he explains that there is no lobby toilet and she can't go up any of the higher floors unless she is a resident. As she continues to keep his attention, Prez wonders by (the joys of being a white male) and heads over to the lifts, watching to see what floor the girls go to from the garage. They all seem to be on the 6th floor, and when the security guard finally notices him he casually leaves, saying he had the wrong building, surreptitiously touching the back of Kima's coat to let her know he has everything they need for now. Freamon has good news for Bunk and Beadie (who are having pizza for dinner), a Talco line is coming in tomorrow with Horseface scheduled to be working on it. Bunk points out all three of their faces are known at the docks so Freamon says he'll see if he can pull in Kima and Prez to go down there. Beadie asks if they should let the Lieutenant know (after all, they're supposed to be working a different case) and Bunk and Freamon share a look, Lester explaining that the less Daniels knows he's assisting with the murder investigation, the happier he'll be. It seems that despite all of Daniels' best intentions, his Major Case Squad IS working the murders after all. The next day Nick arrives at Frog's corner in a new truck (  ) and says gently caress it, he's making money so he figured he'd buy one. He says this right by the hidden tennis ball bug (tucked into a crushed cup in the gutter) and Carver and Herc are immediately interested, spotting that Nick is a higher level up than Frog, potentially a supplier, and snapping photographs. But as they discuss sales, Frog picks up the tennis ball from the gutter and starts tossing it about from hand to hand, a horrified Herc and Carver watching, the audio distorted by the bug bouncing about inside the ball. Their business finished, Nick allows Frog to pull him tight for a shake/hug and then Frog casually tosses the tennis ball away. Carver instantly springs into action, lunging for the door and bursting out onto the opposite side of the building, hauling rear end after the ball as it bounces down the road. Almost hit by a car, Carver yells at the driver to keep moving but he stops to argue and Carver roars at him to gently caress off, trying to get onto the road but stopped by the quick traffic. As a confused Herc listens in to the sound of traffic and Carver's obscenities, a truck approaches like something out of a cartoonish nightmare, and Carver can only watch as $1250 goes bye-bye.   Funnily enough, that's roughly what Nick casually handed over to Ziggy in the bar the night before, but it represents a massive loss to Carver. Freamon lays out the plan of action for Bunk, Beadie, Kima, Prez and himself. He and Beadie will be watching the computer in the office, while Bunk and Prez will be watching potential routes out of the docks and Kima will be in close to the action. While they don't know Kima's face, she points out that she will be a stranger, and suggests getting a hard hat and one of Narcotic's vans and pretend to be working on the telephone lines. Prez raises another pertinent question, what is they're not smuggling anything today despite fitting the pattern? Freamon smiles, saying that in that case Prez will have wasted another day in a life wasted in service to the city of Baltimore. Luckily for them, today isn't another wasted day - Nick hands over a slip of paper to Frank and Horseface, the latter asking if there is going to be anybody living in this one. Frank tells him to knock on the can and listen for a reply before he does anything, and tells Nick he still doesn't trust The Greek. Horseface leaves and Frank notes that he hasn't seen Nick around looking for work recently, and warns him to keep close and not do anything he wouldn't do. The problem for Frank is that he can't argue from a position of moral authority when he's actively engaged in smuggling. He can say that it is for a greater good, but it was the promise of triple the money that changed his mind when he wanted to throw it all away, and I can't help but think that this was part of what convinced Nick to go for the "easy" money of drug dealing. At the Cemetary, D'Angelo's funeral is heavily attended, including Proposition Joe as a mark of respect for Avon (and the opportunity to network). A singer belts out,"Jesus on the Main Line", Stringer standing directly behind Brianna with a hand on her shoulder, once again the rock of support for her and her family - the man who had her son killed. Stringer exchanges a look with Prop Joe, while Bodie and Poot's eyes are all on the "tight" 221 Tower floral arrangement that Bodie arranged for the funeral. The song over, roses are left on the coffin (Brianna tosses hers with sad finality) and everybody prepares to part. Joe stops a moment with Stringer to compliment him on the "homecoming" he arranged, saying he's never seen better, but then asks if he could have a moment of his time to make him a proposition. Stringer sends Shamrock (who has been at Stringer's right hand through the entire funeral) on ahead and walks with Joe, who points out that it's no secret that West Side's drugs have been poor quality lately - Avon's been selling piss and calling it the poo poo - but they're sitting on the best real estate in the city. Stringer makes him laugh by saying he's only telling him what he already knows, so Joe gets to the point - he has far superior product - 85-90% heroin from a connect right here in Baltimore, he only goes to New York for his coke now - and he could stand to have a little more territory, and Stringer (through Avon) has the best territory and poo poo product... the optimal outcome is obvious. Stringer isn't sure, knowing how hard Avon fought to get that territory, but when he brings up all the dealers/kingpins that "we" took down, Joe shuts him down with a very simple and basic business philosophy - buy for a dollar, sell for two, later for all the other bullshit. Stringer, clearly tempted, tells Joe he'll need to talk to Avon about it. They get into their cars and drive away, D'Angelo going into the ground behind them reduced to a background detail, unimportant to the ongoing "game", already forgotten.   Frank has just received bad news from Bruce Dibiago in his can office, the budget has come in and there is nothing about dredging the canal in there. Bruce, a lobbyist, is keen to talk up his triumph rather than his failure, and points out that there is a proposal for reopening the Grain Pier, but this isn't enough to satisfy Frank. He has given Bruce tens of thousands of dollars to grease the wheels with various politicians/officials and has almost nothing to show for it that he couldn't have achieved going through all the old fashioned avenues - he's fallen victim to the same trap that Stringer Bell will in season 3 - he's given over money with the expectation that he will get what he paid for as opposed to getting nothing AND being asked to pay more money. To prove a point, Frank asks where Bruce's son goes to college (Princeton) and what he'll be when he graduates (anything he wants to be), and then tells the story of a Stevedore who stole a couple of cases of cognac in the 1960s that turned out to be Tang, which was "what the astronauts drink". All that summer his children drank tang, and they grew up to be... stevedores. Bruce laughs but Frank has a point, ignoring Bruce's protests that his family started out with a poor knife sharpener who worked hard to make sure his kids had the options that he didn't, claiming that for the stevedores, your identity is wrapped up in the docks. When you grow up, all anybody wants to know is what stevedore your father is, until you're old enough to have a family and then the question is what stevedore is your son? It's something they're proud of being, something they want to continue to be, and while he doesn't care that he can't get his knives sharpened by a DiBiago anymore, it breaks his heart to think that his son might not have a place at the docks in 5 years times, mentioning the "horror story" video he saw at the seminar. He smashes a dart into a picture of Robert Irsay (owner of the Baltimore Colts who took the team to Indianapolis in 1984, "betraying" the city and its people) and slams down a shoebox full of money to Bruce, and tells him that he doesn't just want the Grain Pier being reopened discussed, he wants it DONE. Bruce is offended by Frank's anger/contempt but not enough to NOT take the money, and begins taking it from the shoebox only for Frank to grab him roughly by the arm, growling at him that he wants the Grain Pier reopened AND he wants action on that canal dredging as well. He storms off, leaving Bruce to take the money for something he hasn't accomplished/earned, anathema to Frank's code (and just what you could argue Nick is doing). The Emerald Sea comes in and Horseface registers the can as it comes in, making sure it "disappears" from the system. Beadie and Freamon pick it up and let Kima know, and she quickly makes a visual of the can and watches a white male (Sergei) drive it away. Beadie tells Freamon that if it goes through the regular checkout lane then it was just a mistake, but if it drives out the bobtail lane then they're smuggling something out. Kima follows the truck out through the bobtail lane, much to Freamon's pleasure, and he lets Prez know it is coming. Prez follows, Bunk catching sight of the truck as it passes as well, and takes over following from Prez - if Sergei is watching, he'll have seen three different vehicles behind him and be less likely to suspect he is being pursued. Bunk follows and watches as the truck goes into a warehouse yard, the fence quickly closed behind him by two muscular men who rush in after the truck. Bunk turns around and gets an ID on the warehouse, it's named "Pyramid, Inc". The Detail is now - regardless of the reason for their investigation - a step in the door of The Greek's vastly profitable smuggling empire. Stringer visits Avon in prison to discuss D'Angelo's death, Stringer careful to cement that Avon believes the story, asking about D's drug use. Avon admits he knew but that he didn't understand how deep it went, and has to stop talking after trying to lay out the blame to D'Angelo alone. Stringer is careful to check that the prison officials aren't questioning the story, and then shifts to assuaging Avon's guilt. I feel like I was hasty in criticizing Avon earlier, it wasn't so much that he was thinking selfishly as he couldn't open to Wee-Bey (the solid as a rock murder machine) like he can to his best friend. After learning how badly Brianna took D's death and the funeral, Avon seems close to breaking down, and Stringer assures him that he couldn't have stopped D'Angelo from killing himself if that is what he really wanted to do. He lays them a fact that is the utter truth even if Avon doesn't know why - D'Angelo's death is NOT on Avon, it's not. Avon nods and then shifts back to business, and Stringer says the product is only getting worse, and they may have to consider discounting it to keep people buying. Avon is disgusted, he's not K-Mart, and casually suggests (without the benefit of a macroeconomics class) what Stringer has already been trying - repackage the product and sell it as something new. Stringer carefully brings up Prop Joe's proposition, they can share in his excellent product if they just share some of their territory.  Yeah, that didn't go down well. He shuts down the idea immediately, he won't allow even the slightest discussion, but assures Stringer they will get through this. Kima arrives to replace Bunk watching Pyramid Inc, there has been no sign of the can or any of the goods that were smuggled in it so far. Meanwhile at the Detail office, Pearlman has arrived to look at Freamon's paperwork, and has bad news for him, Beadie and Prez - they might be able to show a pattern but they can't prove a conspiracy ("a conspiracy to smuggle poo poo"), and even worse Freamon has made a rare lapse and wasn't aware of an annotation to the Wire Tap provisions in law. To their horror, they discover that according to the law you can wiretap somebody for selling drugs, but you can't wiretap them for selling women. The enforced slavery and prostitution of women illegally smuggled into the country is not enough to get them a tap on the phones. Nick arrives at his parents' home and heads down to the basement where Aimee is working, and spins a big line of bullshit about how he is able to provide for her and Ashley thanks to a new job he has gotten outside of the docks (her eyes light up at this). The manager of a warehouse of a Greek guy he knows is giving him 3-4 days worth of work a week, that he's able to work around the hours he gets at the docks, making it the best of both worlds, so she can start looking for better apartments, ones with 2 bedrooms instead of one. She's worried about the money but he assures her (the big man, the provider, the hard worker) that it's $500 or more a week, and she looks up at him with love and gratitude, completely unaware that the source of his money comes from selling drugs (or rather, having others sell drugs for him). I'm not saying that Nick wasn't in a terrible position mostly foisted on him by the bad luck of his time and place of birth, but it's his hypocrisy more than anything else that gets to me - look at the innocent gratitude in Aimee's eyes, and think about the lies he's knowingly telling her to make himself look like a provider to her after spending years dismissing her concerns and worries and pleas with him to make changes in his life for HIS girlfriend and child.  Carver is complaining, he's $1500 down, though Herc (whose credit card wasn't used) is more laidback about the whole thing, reminding him it's $1250 with the police discount, and cracking that the bug just couldn't stand up to the modern urban crime environment. They're following up on the one lead they did manage to get before its destruction, the tags on the truck the supplier was using when he met Frog. They pull up outside Louis Sobotka's house - Nick and Aimee are inside right now enjoying the idea of a stable future together - the truck parked outside, and Herc provides the name of the truck's owner to an incredulous Carver, who can't believe he hasn't picked up the connection - they're investigating Frank Sobotka. Herc doesn't get it, this is NICK Sobotka, not Frank Sobotka, and Carver has to point out to him that it's probably not just a coincidence even if there are in "polack town". Once Herc cottons on, he does see one avenue more quickly than Carver, their destroyed bug - Fuzzy Dunlop he decides to call it, since it's Dunlop tennis ball and its fuzzy - is now a Confidential Informant who has given them information linking their target to drug supply on the streets. Carver is horrified but Herc reminds him that he owes $1250 for the bug and if they make up an informant, they can get at least a couple of hundred dollars towards paying that off. Herc can't register the CI, though, Daniels would immediately smell a rat, but he trusts Carver (Herc has no idea about Carver's betrayal of Daniels/the Detail in season one), because Carver has one of those trustworthy faces. So the case is progressing, pieces are starting to come together, but they're missing the one link that will get them the legal backing they need. Street level drug dealing, smuggling and prostitution by themselves are sadly not enough, the 14 murders need to be added in to really get the case moving the way it needs, get the manpower and the "toys" to use on the case. That's Bunk's take anyway, and for that they need Daniels, and to get Daniels he thinks that wise old Lester Freamon needs to convince him - they've all got roles to play, and Freamon's is to play the wise old counselor. What is Bunk's role? He laughs that he's just a humble motherfucker with a big rear end dick, and when Freamon chuckles he gives himself too much credit, Bunk admits that he ain't all that humble. Kima is still on watch when she spots a car approaching Pyramid Inc. To her great surprise she recognizes the passenger in the back seat, it's Proposition Joe. She quickly snaps a night-vision shot of him greeting Sergei at the gate, the case has just gotten another point of interest - this is more than street level dealing if Proposition Joe is involved. And now we know the source of Joe's high quality connection he was bragging about to Stringer, The Greek supplies the East Side of Baltimore with its drugs, and one of the East Side Kingpins is looking to stretch out into West Side territory.  Ziggy is fuming at the bar in Delores', Maui is STILL playing Love Child, unable to let the joke go. La-La encourages him to pick a fight with Maui, saying he only LOOKS big and he shouldn't be loving with a "Legend of the Docks" like Ziggy. We know Ziggy has intelligence but poor self-control/lack of wisdom, so he's either too drunk or self-absorbed to realize that he's being goaded now. Before trouble can start however things take a serious turn, a stevedore named "New Charles" has suffered a terrible injury at the docks. The locals rush out of the bar and down to the docks where they find New Charles with his leg crushed under a heavy crate, Frank immediately takes control and orders the crate taken off of his leg, ignoring the protest that they're not suppose to move somebody when he's injured, and they haul him out. Ziggy and Nick arrive as the ambulance does, Horseface assuring New Charles he's still on the clock, and Frank tries to put on a cheery face, joking that he doesn't know what leg Charles is talking about when he asks how it is (it's crushed, badly). The sad truth is that these are the types of injuries that automated machines would reduce, but the solution is throwing the baby out with the bathwater as far as the stevedores are concerned. The next day, stevedores gather outside New Charles' house while Frank heads up the front yard with Nat and enters the house to see his wife. Settling down with her, he offers her a fat envelope "from the guys in 1514" and leaves, the wife opening the envelope as Frank leaves and finding a stack of money inside. Unfortunately for Frank, Nat Coxson sees this too. He steps outside and joins Frank as he lights up a cigarette, and tells them the story of how New Charles came to be called New Charles - his first day on the job he had to clean up the mess left behind by the accidental death of another stevedore named Charles, and ever since he has been "New Charles". Frank (and Johnny 50, who is nearby) laugh, but then Nat turns serious, and asks Frank point blank where the money is coming from. Frank can't answer. At the Detail Office, Freamon makes his pitch to Daniels. The case is coming together, but to link it all they need proper wiretaps and to get those they need the 14 murders. Daniels admits that Rawls asked him to take them and Freamon tells him he should, talking about how the girls REALLY suffocated in that can, they REALLY died. It's a sad fact that even in death the women are being used as a convenience to get what somebody else wants, Freamon didn't care about the dead women till they became HIS assigned case, and then forgot about them after being reassigned to the Detail till he found out he could use them to work the Sobotka Detail better. But whatever the reason, Freamon points out that Daniels can live with take the 14 murders and not turning them black, but if he DOESN'T take them then he'll have to take a look at himself and question what if. Daniels takes it to heart and goes to see Rawls in Homicide, and lays out an ultimatum - he will take the murders, but only on the condition that he gets what he wants from him, no bullshit and no arguments. Rawls - spotting a solid gold opportunity - immediately agrees and Daniels is already out the door, leaving behind an ecstatic Rawls who now has a scapegoat to explain a potential low clearance in the stats.   In his first appearance in the episode so far, we find McNulty and Elena sitting on the backyard stoop watching the tent where their children are playing about inside, arguing amongst themselves. They laugh over the kids' childish arguments but when McNulty takes the happy moment to try and bring up their relationship again, but her face falls and she cuts him off immediately, and makes it as clear as possible - no. No. It's not going to happen. She lays it out for him, she can care about him, she might even one day bring herself to want him to be happy, but she can never trust him and they can't be together again. The kids call out to her to come into the tent and she leaves McNulty behind, leaving him to watch their domestic bliss continue on without him, realizing for perhaps the first time that they can be, are and will be happy without him to "complete" the family. He's finally given up on being police, but the family he neglected and took for granted for so long isn't there for him anymore. At Daniels' home, he is telling a skeptical Marla all about how his decision to take on the murders is politically the right move, after previously talking up how smart it was to refuse. She isn't buying it, and finally he gives up on the political angle and admits the truth - he loves the job, the actual real policework aspect of it all, and he simply couldn't help himself but to do what is the right thing for the case. She's upset, telling him a truth that many police (including McNulty) struggle to learn - the job does not love him back. He knows that, but he also knows that his first love - even before policework - is her, the mind that sees the angles, thinks things through, he loves her. In reply, the admittedly put-upon Marla (he's made three drastic life choices without her input in the last few weeks) tells him that what she fell in love with in him first was his ambition - he was a man who wanted to go places and achieve things, and she doesn't know what happened to that man. To be fair to him, that ambition got them a nice house and more money than they should have, but it could also have destroyed both their lives and seen him become one of the convicts he puts away, but it pays to put yourself in Marla's shoes - a few weeks ago her husband was leaving a dead-end job to make use of his law degree and get a high paying job at a nice, safe law firm. Then he took on a politically sensitive case to get into the Police Commissioner's good books and jumpstart his career, and now he's put that all at risk and taken on an apparently unsolvable case because he loves the job that she clearly hates. McNulty gave up the job too late to save his marriage, and now Daniels has re-embraced the job and looks set to lose his. Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 15:03 on May 14, 2013 |
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May 5, 2013 11:32
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Going back an episode but I've just now realized how the Nick situation with Prop Joe shows once again the huge differences between East and West side. Prop Joe clearly wants to off Nick and Ziggy but he makes a deal and sticks with it. Marlowe certainly and Avon probably might have made the deal as a temporary measure but you know Nick and Ziggy would be cadaverous motherfuckers as soon as they knew it wouldn't interfere with their supply.
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May 5, 2013 19:43
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With regards to Bodie's attitude about D, remember the contempt that Bodie has when D tries to take credit for the murder that D actually did commit. There was probably a lot of contempt floating for D through the rank and file for quite some time, and Bodie probably picked up on that and always regarded D with suspicion that he was too soft for the game.
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May 5, 2013 21:19
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Small correction: you say "Amsterdam" instead of "Rotterdam" once.
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May 5, 2013 23:04
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Randomly Specific posted:With regards to Bodie's attitude about D, remember the contempt that Bodie has when D tries to take credit for the murder that D actually did commit. There was probably a lot of contempt floating for D through the rank and file for quite some time, and Bodie probably picked up on that and always regarded D with suspicion that he was too soft for the game. Actually I feel that when D'Angelo tells the story about the murder that Wee-Bey actually committed, it's one of the few times where Bodie seems to have respect for D'Angelo. I think he believes that D'Angelo committed the murder at that time and accepts that he has to give credit to the guy who that point he has kind of thought of as a bit of a joke. I do wonder if when Wee-Bey confessed to that murder he realized that D'Angelo was lying or if he just assumed that Wee-Bey was taking credit to help D out like he attempted to do for Bird with the Gant murder. Orange Devil posted:Small correction: you say "Amsterdam" instead of "Rotterdam" once. Fixed, thank you.
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May 5, 2013 23:12
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Another great write up butquote:Bodie arrives in a florists, a strange place to find a rising drug dealer. The florist approaches and asks him what he is looking for, and Bodie explains he's hear looking for a floral arrangement for a funeral. The florist offers his condolences but Bodie is there more from a sense of duty than love, explaining that he and the deceased weren't particularly close but he was still "my nigga" and if he doesn't make an effort, what does that say about him? The florist at first seems confused by Bodie's attitude, but after picking up a couple of cues he seems to read between the lines and offers D'Angelo to come into the back. Bodie follows him and finds a garish series of displays not meant to be seen from out front, something designed purely for the gangsta market, an indication of just how deeply the drug culture permeates throughout the city and community beyond the immediately obvious corners, towers and open drug markets. Just spotted a couple of little things in the first paragraph. Thought I'd share.
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May 5, 2013 23:24
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Aw you didn't bring up my favorite scene transition During the Dutch presentation "...greater security and better accountability, without the need for unreliable human surveillance..." *cut to Herc looking as stupid as ever*
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May 5, 2013 23:30
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Fixed those error too, thanks again. People have offered to proof-read before I post but I prefer to get it written down and posted, I'm happy to fix up any of these little cosmetic errors after the fact.Edgar Death posted:Aw you didn't bring up my favorite scene transition Haha, yeah I noticed that but forgot to make mention of it. Another great "goddammit Herc!" moment is when he completely fails to realize the significance of the Sobotka name when they're tracking the supplier they spotted talking to Frog. I love it whenever Carver makes the "are you loving kidding me you stupid bald gently caress?" face at him.
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May 5, 2013 23:45
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Jerusalem posted:Actually I feel that when D'Angelo tells the story about the murder that Wee-Bey actually committed, it's one of the few times where Bodie seems to have respect for D'Angelo. I think he believes that D'Angelo committed the murder at that time and accepts that he has to give credit to the guy who that point he has kind of thought of as a bit of a joke. I do wonder if when Wee-Bey confessed to that murder he realized that D'Angelo was lying or if he just assumed that Wee-Bey was taking credit to help D out like he attempted to do for Bird with the Gant murder. Yeah, but the initial reaction I think was pretty telling- D got no respect for the guy he actually did kill probably because D wasn't regarded as tough, which is probably why the guy felt he could jump him. Then D overreacted and shot the guy and has to have his cousin's high-dollar lawyer bail him out. Taking credit for Weebay's kill does get Bodie to respect him briefly, but pretty soon he goes back to seeing him as soft because D was pretty soft. Hell, Bodie and Stringer were spot on that Wallace was snitching and needed to be taken out, which D never would've gone for. Then you toss in the suicide during what these guys regard as not just an occupational risk but an occupational given, and that seals the deal in Bodie's eyes. Of course Bodie at that point wasn't the hard-rear end soldier he thought he was either.
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May 6, 2013 02:12
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Jerusalem posted:I do wonder if when Wee-Bey confessed to that murder he realized that D'Angelo was lying or if he just assumed that Wee-Bey was taking credit to help D out like he attempted to do for Bird with the Gant murder. Wait, hold on, when does that confession ever make it to Bodie?
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May 6, 2013 05:05
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Whoops, I misunderstood Randomly Specific's post and thought it was about the Kresson murder, not the Pooh murder, sorry!Cape Cod Crab Chip posted:Wait, hold on, when does that confession ever make it to Bodie? It's public record after his conviction and would have been written up in all the papers in the wake of the Barksdale bust - Wee-Bey Brice, lead West Side gang enforcer who plead guilty to a huge number of unsolved and even unknown murders. I'm sure Bodie or Poot would have read up/heard people talking about it and even taken it as a point of pride, Wee-Bey stood up and took the years "like a man", which goes towards what Randomly Specific notes about D'Angelo's "suicide": Randomly Specific posted:Then you toss in the suicide during what these guys regard as not just an occupational risk but an occupational given, and that seals the deal in Bodie's eyes.
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May 6, 2013 05:25
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I always appreciate the not-so-subtle symbolism of the warehouse belonging to "Pyramid Inc." Drug dealing, the ultimate pyramid scheme.
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May 6, 2013 16:49
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Boywhiz88 posted:I always appreciate the not-so-subtle symbolism of the warehouse belonging to "Pyramid Inc." Strawman fucked around with this message at 19:57 on May 6, 2013 |
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May 6, 2013 17:40
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Jerusalem posted:It's public record after his conviction and would have been written up in all the papers in the wake of the Barksdale bust - Wee-Bey Brice, lead West Side gang enforcer who plead guilty to a huge number of unsolved and even unknown murders. I'm sure Bodie or Poot would have read up/heard people talking about it and even taken it as a point of pride, Wee-Bey stood up and took the years "like a man", which goes towards what Randomly Specific notes about D'Angelo's "suicide": I don't know, I'm not sold. First of all, I don't know that the corners are all that big readers of the paper.  Second, would a list of victims' names even make it to the press and get printed? I'll cop to not being a lawyer but this kind of thing seems like it would be confined to court papers. Plus I'm not even sure Wee-Bey's name would appear in the paper; if the Sun or any other paper reported on it, chances are they used the name of the kingpin and kept everyone else as "associates" or "underlings" or what have you. Third... I feel like this is something the show would've dropped in, if even in passing, with someone uttering a blink-and-you'll-miss-it line like "Nigga fronted about poo poo sometimes, make hisself look all that" or some such. I personally don't see a problem with Bodie believing that D had more than one body on him and, at the same time, was weak enough that he couldn't handle time.
Cape Cod Crab Chip fucked around with this message at 23:08 on May 6, 2013 |
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May 6, 2013 22:53
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Even if they explicitly detailed which murders Weebay went down for, word would probably get around about the numbers of murders Weebay copped to just clear his fellow gang members. He tried to cop to Birds murder of the Witness, even thouh Bird was in jail and the whole blessed projwcts saw Bird do it.
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May 6, 2013 23:02
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Tilghman knows that Wee-Bey confessed to the murder of one of his relatives, and the show makes a point of explaining at numerous points that once court cases are over the details become a matter of public record. The newspapers would cover a story about multiple unsolved murders being closed, especially considering the convicted was involved in the shooting of an undercover police officer. Even if the dealer aren't the type to read the papers, like SpookyLizard says word gets around, and it's not like they were keeping it secret that Wee-Bey took responsibility for all the murders in order to protect Avon.
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May 7, 2013 00:10
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Jerusalem posted:Tilghman knows that Wee-Bey confessed to the murder of one of his relatives, and the show makes a point of explaining at numerous points that once court cases are over the details become a matter of public record. The newspapers would cover a story about multiple unsolved murders being closed, especially considering the convicted was involved in the shooting of an undercover police officer. Even if the dealer aren't the type to read the papers, like SpookyLizard says word gets around, and it's not like they were keeping it secret that Wee-Bey took responsibility for all the murders in order to protect Avon. poo poo, Weebay probably copped to Wallace's murder too. So long as he gives proper details about the shooting, the cops will probably buy it unless they've got better evidence on another murder. Lord knows Rawls won't turn down turning red names black.
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May 7, 2013 00:51
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Y'all are expecting drug dealers to carefully consider the facts. Thing is if they decide D was weak, they'll just assume that he was bullshitting about the other murder anyway. This isn't exactly a crowd that's going to carefully and rationally debate the available evidence. Bodie had it in for D from early on either because he sensed that D wasn't cut out for it, or he heard others talking about how D wasn't all that when he was working in the tower. Not only that, but any time you have a guy in a management position when a relative runs the whole company you get a lot of natural (and usually accurate) assumptions about nepotism at work.
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May 7, 2013 01:00
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Except to an extent, D certainly was. Any of the low-rise kids who had half a brain for business would've realized how much better D ran than pit than the other guy we never see. D was totally cut out for running a crew like that. He would've done much better if had come up East Side under Prop Joe. No bullshit, just buy for one dollar, sell for two.
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May 7, 2013 16:57
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The funny thing is that Stringer ends up wanting to run things on a larger scale the way that D'Angelo ran The Pit, but it was purely Stringer who saw D as weak and a liability to their organization who had to be removed. Of course he doesn't see that others will feel the way he felt about D when he tries to make changes to how West Side is run, because he's wrapped up in his own head and his own justification, that make perfect sense to him in exactly the same way that D's made sense to himself.
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May 7, 2013 23:26
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Season 2, Episode 8 - Duck and CoverZiggy posted:How come they don't fly away? An EXTREMELY drunk McNulty calls Elena from a bar payphone, slurring out to the answering machine that she needs to talk to him before flailing the receiver about and managing to hang up. Hearing Last Call, he stumbles to the bar and gets too close to the date of another man at the bar who warns him off. The bartender - Gus - does not want to serve McNulty another drink but he insists, assuring the clearly unconvinced Gus that he isn't driving tonight, he's organized a cab. Shortly after, we see McNulty driving his car, of course, taking a corner too fast and clipping the support pillar on an overpass. Too drunk to feel pain or realize he's just come to death, he gets out of the car and stared bemused down the road, wildly miming the turn he's just taken as if to say that what has just happened was impossible. Stubbornly getting back into his car, he backs up and takes the corner again, straining against the wheel to try and maintain control and prove that the crash was total bullshit and not his fault at all.... and smashes up against the side of the pillar once more. Heading to a local diner, he nearly passes out in the booth but is jerked awake by the waitress who comes to take his order, and for whatever bizarre reason young women have, she seems quite enamored with the sloppily drunk, pushing 40 cop with the slashed up hand from the car crash and promises him he can have anything he wants. Cutting to her bedroom, McNulty lays beneath her grunting as she rides him wildly and enthusiastically, and he wakes the next morning in her bed with probably no idea how he got there or what happened the night before, blood from his cut hand staining her clean sheets. If this is how McNulty plans on spending his "retirement", it (and he) are not going to last long. At the docks, Horseface and La-La are amusing themselves by goading Ziggy to get into a fight with Maui, telling him he needs to get revenge for Maui's paternity suit trick. Ziggy is brash and not prone to thinking things through, but even he isn't so stupid as to think he can win a fight with the far larger and solidly built stevedore. La-La and Horseface insist though, it's his clothes that make him look so big, and besides which Ziggy is a legend of the docks! All he needs to do is walk up, hit Maui with his best shot and then just walk away, leaving Maui staggered and shocked. Ziggy, craving love and attention and respect, actually seems to be considering it At the Detail office, Daniels is explaining how he has taken on the murders and thus they need to bring in a HELL of a case or else he's as stupid as Rawls thinks he is. They all laugh, but Daniels seems oddly confident, telling Pearlman that he has something to show her - she told them that they needed a drug connection to get the wiretap, and they have just that. Freamon shows her the DNR logs for the warehouse they tracked the smuggled can to, and they show phone-calls going out to Petey Dixon, Proposition Joe and White Mike McArdle among other East Side traffickers. Kima has surveillance photos showing dealers going to the warehouse, and they can connect White Mike to street dealers they've already done hand-to-hands with. Pearlman agrees this gives them PC on the warehouse, but what about the truck driver? The files they have on him give them the name Sergei Malatov and his listed cellphone appears on the warehouse DNR logs including Kima observing him on the phone just before smuggling the can out of the docks. By back-checking they've discovered calls being made to him at the same time as other cans disappeared from the docks, this is definitely the guy that is doing the smuggling out, and suddenly Nick's warning to Vondas to change up the people they use is making a lot of sense, because the police have found a pattern within a day of spotting Sergei. So what about the drugs? A proud Daniels explains about Herc and Carver's CI (they're VERY pleased by this) giving them a tip that lead them to Nick Sobotka, and while there have been no calls between him and the warehouse, there have been calls between him and Sergei. Daniels is clearly pleased at the progress the case is starting to make, and admits to Pearlman that while Nick is related to Frank Sobotka, he feels like this case is now about a lot more than Frank, offering a genial apology to Prez who laughs it off - he doesn't care about Valchek's obsession. Pearlman makes a couple of token efforts to ensure they've achieved "exhaustion" and then happily tells them to start writing up the paperwork, she'll talk to the judge about their wiretaps. As everybody bustles about busily, a beaming Daniels exits frame leaving behind the picture of Frank Sobotka in center-frame.... which he no longer is. Frank Sobotka has become incidental to the Detail set-up for the express purpose of bringing down Frank Sobotka.  At the docks, Maui grabs a meal from the mobile food cart, including a cappuccino. Ziggy is bemused and cracks wise to the other stevedores - La-La, Horseface and Johnny 50 - and they once again insist that Maui is a total pussy and he should absolutely beat him up. Ziggy is intelligent but also unbelievably stupid, and in his endless quest for attention and love he storms forward towards Maui, who is blissfully unaware over by the forklift. Horseface and La-La laugh that Ziggy has a pair after all, but that doesn't stop them and all the other stevedores (including Johnny 50) roaring with laughter as Ziggy throws a punch to Maui's kidney and succeeds only in pissing the much larger man off. Completely unhurt but irritated beyond belief, Maui easily grabs Ziggy and steps onto the forklift pallet, telling the operator to raise them up. Ziggy - belatedly realizing he's been played - can't resist being theatrical even now and flips the bird at the stevedores, demanding Maui let him down. Instead Maui tosses him on top of a shipping can and warns him to stay there, and is lowered back to the ground where he tells the still laughing stevedores that if any of them help Ziggy down, they'll go up there as well. Ziggy is the center of attention but not in the way he wanted, and he screams at the laughing assholes who are supposed to be his friends that they gave him bad advice.   Things are far quieter in the Detail office where everybody is busily typing up their paperwork till Bunk arrives wearing... sweatpants and an Edmondson High School Lacrosse sweatshirt! Everybody is astonished to see the normally well-dressed Bunk so casually attired, while his heart sinks when he sees what everybody else is wearing. Herc is surprised to see he played Lacrosse and Bunk tries to throw on a little righteous anger, mentioning Jim Brown... and gets shut down by Freamon who asks if he REALLY just mentioned himself in the same sentence as Jim Brown! Bunk is at a loss for words and everybody laughs, Daniels stepping out of his office to express surprise at Bunk's clothes as well, he thought he was born in pinstripes. Bunk insists that he thought a Downtown Detective lost in an out of the way "lost ball in the tall grass" detail like this could wear what he wanted, and wiggles his rear end in the squad's direction as he heads to his desk, telling them he's feeling lost already. One neat aside to this scene, a clearly comfortable and amused Carver tosses a tennis ball he was holding into Bunk's box of files - Daniels is currently very pleased with him and Carver for their informant's lead linking Nick Sobotka to Sergei and the drug warehouse and the two are riding high, but the informant was just another tennis ball - Fuzzy Dunlop. At the Union Hall, Horseface is laughing over Ziggy's antics earlier in the day but Frank is more concerned about finding the bills, it's the end of the month and everything is due. This is one of the problems faced by people engaged in illegitimate enterprises like smuggling and drug-dealing - you have all this money but you've got to be careful about what you show. Frank could have all the bills paid the day they arrived but after years of being overdue and paying at the last second, suddenly being on top of everything is going to stand out. Finally he locates them tucked into a filing cabinet being used as bookmarks for a porno mag, he gives the magazine to Horseface while he looks over the bills, while Horseface contemplates a deep philosophical issue.... he's not sure if he likes fakes tits or not. Pearlman goes over the paperwork as everybody sits or stands around to see if they've made any mistakes. Beadie comments that this is far more paperwork than even she has to deal with, and they're waiting with baited breath to see if they have to do it all over again - any mistakes and Pearlman can't sign off on it, a good defense lawyer could tear apart their entire case on a technicality. Stopping a bored Carver from twisting in his chair, she puts the papers aside and sighs that none of them can spell for poo poo, getting a laugh and a comment that if they could, they wouldn't be police. She's satisfied though, they just need to go see the Duty Judge who she assures them will sign off on it... if they wash his windows. Is she joking? Prez isn't sure if this is a joke or not and asks Bunk, who looks somewhat incredulous at the question. The answer comes soon enough when Pearlman, Freamon, Greggs, Herc and Carver go to a large mansion and the latter two (of course) are roped into carrying a heavy container up to the third floor for a sash installation, and are asked to wash the windows while they're up there. Carver (a Sergeant!) and Herc don't seem pleased, but they do as they're told, while the Judge signs off on the affidavit. Unfortunately, all this forward progress has an unexpected side-effect. Frank is on the phone about his cellphone bill and has received some unexpected good news... which is very bad news. His bill is 90 days late and he's called to beg them not to cut him off because the check is in the mail, and been informed he was in no danger of that happening. Why not? According to the very nice lady he was speaking to, his account has been flagged, he is not to have his service cut even in the event of non-payment of his bill. Horseface isn't smart/imaginative enough to see this as anything but good luck on Frank's behalf, but the naturally suspicious (because he's guilty) Frank correctly sees it as an ominous sign. Regular people get their phones cut off if they don't pay their bills, why has his account been specifically flagged to stay on? Frank may not be the central, driving force of the Sobotka Detail anymore, but this unexpected security breach of police action (no note on the account saying this is the result of a police request?) could see Frank unravel all their carefully laid plans.   Kids are running happily through The Pit, leaping over the couch where D'Angelo once reigned. Mothers are putting their clothes out on the line, happily chatting and saying hello, it's a blissful scene of happiness and security.... and Bodie and Poot are horrified about it. Bodie has come down to see what Poot has warned him about, The Pit is empty of the junkies who were once everywhere, and he says it feels like they all took a vacation or, even worse, got clean. That's not it at all, Bodie knows the truth - the junkies will always be junkies, but the word is finally out that Barksdale product ain't poo poo anymore and they've gone elsewhere for their drugs. They move on, the old couch left in frame, broken down and abandoned, empty of any of the old guard who worked from it in Season One - D'Angelo and Wallace dead, Bodie promoted up to the Towers and Poot now king of an empty kingdom. Bodie and Poot head over to the Towers where things aren't any better, a dealer called Puddin telling them things are slower than a white man in slippers. To Bodie and Poot's great surprise, a Housing Police (a security guard) officer pulls up and asks them if they have a reason to be there and tells them harshly to move on. They can't believe it, no "fake rear end police" would dare talk to them that way if they had their muscle there to keep an eye on the usual brisk trade. Children continue to play happily around them while parents joke and laugh in the sun, while the two dealers bemoan that poo poo is now "hosed up". That night, McNulty (and his banged up car) join the sweat-suited Bunk at the railroad tracks to drink and moan. Bunk is amused at the state of McNulty's car, but asks him what's wrong with him, he's just going to fall apart because his wife wouldn't take him back? He tells McNulty to lighten up and heads out onto the tracks, throwing his arms wide and asking the non-existent train to come and get him. As he pisses onto the tracks (much has been made of the symbolism of these tracks/the train, I'll leave it to others to talk about it because I honestly have no idea how to read them), McNulty wistfully asks how the Detail is going, do they have a wiretap? Every swinging dick with a badge is on that Detail, and Bunk (holding his own) asks if McNulty is jealous, then realizes quickly that he is - McNulty as always has put all his eggs in one basket. With his detective career over he tried to fill the gap by pursuing the mystery of his Jane Doe. When he thought he had the chance to rebuild his family he gave up on the Jane Doe and was prepared to just serve out his years on the boat and take his pension. Now that it's clear he won't be getting back together with Elena, he's fallen into completely self-destructive drinking above and beyond his usual heavy imbibing. Now he's clutching at the Detail like a drowning man at a straw, looking for something to save him. Bunk tries to make light of it, suggesting he go see Rawls, and Jimmy laughs but then turns morose again. His face is pale, he looks like he's sweating, this is a sick man in search of a cure that may not be there. Frank is sharing a drink with his brother Louis, the two laughing over the story of Horseface stealing Valchek's surveillance van. Frank has come around because he wanted to show something to Louis, and tosses him a piece of paper. Louis - a proud man who does things on his own terms or not at all - wants to know what it is and rather than reading it, insists on being told. A clearly excited Frank tells his older brother that he has gotten him a position on the Port Advisory Board, one that comes with a monthly stipend of a couple hundred dollars. Frank is delighted to have done something good for his brother, but Louis is unmoved and unwilling. He insists that the Board isn't for him, commenting that Frank has clearly bribed the Chairman to get him the spot but he doesn't want to go to meetings, he just wants to come home each day and settle down on the couch and watch some sports. Frank, desperate to do something good with the money for a change, excitedly tells him that he doesn't even have to go to all the meetings, just every so often so they know he's alive, but Louis still isn't biting. Frank gets angry, furious with his brother for being a "martyr" just because the drydock closed and his union went belly-up, and the only difference between the two of them is that Frank chose the right union. Louis coldly replies that this isn't the only difference between them, noting that while his kitchen has gone unchanged for 20 years and his car has trouble starting, he came by everything he owns straight. His pride infuriates Frank who clearly sees Louis rejection as a rejection of him, but Louis admits that he's in some ways lucky that his union went bust, because it means he hasn't had the face the same kind of decisions that Frank has had to. Mollifying his brother somewhat, Louis has Frank sit back down to drink with him. But one thing is clear, Louis is no McNulty - this is a man who, proud and angry and stubborn as he might be, is completely at peace with who and what he is. The next day, Ziggy meets with an old friend of his Grandfather who owns pigeons. Ziggy looks them over but what catches his eye are the birds roaming about free on the ground, chickens and ducks amongst them. "How come they don't fly away?" he asks, and the old man explains that their wings are clipped. I don't think I have to talk about this concept as a metaphor for many various characters/groups within the show. Ziggy picks up the duck and hugs it close, ignoring the old man's warning that he should start with something easier like a pigeon - Ziggy replies that they have lice and spread the plague, and casually peels off money from a bulging money-roll and tucks into the old man's pocket, then heads away with the duck. Bunk - better dressed today - and Freamon meet with Daniels to talk about their own bird with clipped wings, McNulty. Daniels notes that he's already tried to get McNulty and was turned down by Rawls, and Freamon admits that Rawls has good reason to hate Jimmy. Bunk explains why they're there, Jimmy NEEDS the Detail, without real policework he's a drunken, self-destructive gently caress-up.... and the same when he is policing too! They all chuckle, and Bunk continues, on a good case like the one they're currently on, Jimmy will dig in deep and bite hard, and it's as close to normal as he'll ever get. Freamon once again makes use of his "wisdom" voice, telling (not asking) Daniels to speak with Rawls again. Meanwhile, Herc and Carver are working backwards to cover up Fuzzy Dunlop's tracks. Herc has roped in one of his cousins - Bernard - whose photo and social security number are going to be used on the Confidential Informant file they've put together. Bernard is confused, he's going to get paid for the information he brought in... but THEY get the money and he gets nothing? Herc gives Bernard a moral lesson - he hasn't done anything to earn the money! Bernard, confused, asks if THEY did anything to earn the money and they angrily point out that they broke open the case by getting information on a major drug trafficker. Bernard's answer to that, hilariously, is to point out that this is their job and what they're already paid to do.  Herc warns Bernard that he's upsetting Carver, and Bernard insists that he get paid 10%, and Herc once again tries to play up their family connection. Bernard won't be shifted though, even after Carver tells him they won't even be using his real name but the street name of Fuzzy Dunlop, and the two Detectives continue to be churlish over how difficult it is proving to defraud the BPD of $200 to cover up for their gently caress-up. Speaking of gently caress-ups, Ziggy meets with Nick in Nick's car to get paid, looking less than pleased as the large wad of cash is laid down on the arm-rest between them. Nick is pleased though, genuinely surprised at how quickly they're selling their package and how much money is coming in, they can barely keep up with demand. Ziggy looks over the car and Nick proudly announces that it's 0% interest because money is cheap, the kind of line you'd normally hear from Ziggy as opposed to the supposedly level-headed Nick - look how quickly the fast, "easy" money of the drug trade has changed his attitude. Nick gets a phone-call (it sounds like Vondas to me) and happily tells him he'll call him back soon, eager to get more drugs to sell, fully committed to his new "job". Ziggy insists he wants to meet with him too but Nick refuses, absolutely adamant after the last few times that Ziggy have nothing to do with that side of things. He snaps at Ziggy to just take the money he's getting for doing nothing, and an angry Ziggy, convinced that Nick thinks he can't make the money himself, grabs the cash and in one of his grand, idiotic gestures tosses it out the window. Nick, fuming, watches the money flutter down to the ground, a truck carrying a shipping can passing by in the background, the source of their scarce legitimate cash in the past and the source of their large current illegitimate cash now. The Wiretap is up and Freamon, Prez and Beadie listen in as a call comes through between Nick and Sergei about an upcoming job. Prez notes that they're nowhere near as careful as the Barksdale people were on the phone and a pleased Freamon notes that they're not on the West Side now, their targets are being casual because they have no idea anybody is onto them. Daniels meets with Rawls who is adamant from the get-go, there is absolutely zero chance that McNulty comes off the boat and joins the Sobotka Detail - none. Daniels insists he needs him, Rawls says he needs three extra inches of "meat" but that isn't going to happen either. Daniels makes an allusion to a dog after a bone and Rawls makes a jerk-off gesture and says he's seen a dog take a poo poo on his carpet too, and cuts Daniels off before he can say McNulty has a fire in the belly. So Daniels plays hardball, reminding Rawls that he took the 14 murders on the provision that he got WHATEVER he asked for, no bullshit and no exceptions. Rawls jokes that when he said that he meant Daniels could have a little kiss and feel a little titty, but this is asking too much. Daniels isn't letting go though, now he is the dog who smells a bone, and he makes it clear that if Rawls wants those 14 murders solved, he'll give him McNulty. Rawls is torn between his desire to punish McNulty for loving him over so many times and his far greater desire to clear the 14 murders and finally the stats win out - Daniels can have McNulty, but he better solve those murders. Bodie and Poot have headed out of their usual territory to a nearby corner where an unfamiliar crew is doing fast and frequent business with all of Bodie and Poot's usual customers. They're not sure who the crew are, though it's clear they're not locals, but they're a problem. At the Marine Unit, Diggins gets a phonecall for McNulty, who listens with surprise and growing pleasure as he's informed that he's to report to the Sobotka Detail as soon as possible. Daniels hangs up in his office as Carver enters with the CI form for "Fuzzy Dunlop", handing it over with a request for $150 for the information already gathered. Daniels rolls his eyes over the name but it shocked by the amount requested, but Carver points out that it did give them valuable information on the case. Daniels signs off on it as Carver watches, a mixture of guilt and pleasure on his face that is replaced by nothing but pleasure after he leaves the office and shows the form to Herc. They head out while Bunk, Greggs and Pearlman go over the apartment building where Greggs and Prez saw the prostitutes from the club being taken. The upper three floors are leased out to Pyramid, which owns the warehouse where the smuggled goods are being taken. They suspect it's the place that Johns are bought so they'll feel safe when using the prostitutes, and Pearlman agrees that if they can connect the Brothel with the warehouse, then Bunk will be allowed to listen in on the warehouse wiretap and look for information on the 14 murders. McNulty leaves, saying goodbye to Diggins who tells him that with the weather turning, he's missing out on the best part of the job - pleasure cruises, topless women etc. McNulty's smile is wide and he's not going to break his stride, he's gotten exactly what he wanted even if it's not what he needed. Bunk was right, McNulty is a desperately broken person and the job doesn't love him the way he loves it - maybe he would have ended up a drunken wreck if he'd stayed on the Marine Unit, but the high from working on this Detail won't last, and soon - like the junkie he is - he'll be scrabbling about looking for a way to get his fix and cover up for the hole in his soul. At the Towers, Bodie meets up with two of his Dealers with bad news - he doesn't have any drugs for them to sell, their product isn't good enough to compete with what the new crew down the way are selling... he's going to have to let them go. The surprised dealers ask if they're going to get some of that "separation money", shocking Bodie who snaps at them to get out of there before he loses his temper, and they walk away having learned the downside of working tax-free in the drug trade - no redundancy payouts, job security or gratitude for the work done. In fact, Bodie even seems offended as they leave, like the dealers have done him wrong by being upset at being fired because HE doesn't have drugs for them to sell. The Detail are going over the need to connect the Brothel with the Drug Warehouse, and their idea is to send in somebody undercover as a John. Herc instantly throws a hand up and a smiling Daniels says they're looking for somebody with a more subtle touch. Carver is next to throw his hand up, declaring tongue-in-cheek that he would march into Hell for Daniels. To Carver's great pleasure, Pearlman says Carver doesn't look like he has to pay to get laid, causing Carver to turn an incredibly smug look Herc's way. Greggs and Bunk both beg off too, their respective partners would never let them do it. In a wonderful moment of timing, McNulty comes through the door and finds them all starting at him, and Kima quips that it takes a whore to catch a whore. Everybody bursts out laughing, leaving McNulty to ask once again,"What the gently caress did I do?"   Just a reminder, yet again, that they're joking around here about a situation involving women who are living in abject misery as literal sex slaves. Not to accuse the Detail of being complicit, but just as Beadie noted in an earlier episode, somehow sex slavery ends up being treated/considered as somehow less important or horrific than the drug trade. People are quick to forget the reality of the dead women who were suffocated in the shipping can as well as the one who was beaten to death after trying to fight off an attempted rape, cracking jokes like "pussy in a can", casually calling them whores, the men (and Kima too) making a joke of volunteering to go and ogle them - even mocking Prez for feeling uncomfortable about doing so. Ziggy arrives at Delores' in spectacular fashion, wearing thick sunglasses and carrying a white cane, his duck on a leash with a diamond studded collar. The stevedores are shocked but delighted, roaring with laughter at Ziggy's antics as he introduces them to his "lawyer" Stephen Miles (the name of a lawyer who ran late-night commercials for his services in Baltimore), lifting the duck up onto the bar. The "blind" Ziggy says that while he can't see through all the bullshit in the bar, his duck can and demands they both get served up a shot in addition to a round for the bar. The dock workers gather around in high spirits, watching as the duck starts drinking down the booze quickly, unable to believe that the diamond collar is real (another hugely expensive show of cash from a work-strapped Ziggy). Ziggy jokes that it needs to pace itself if it is drinking with longshoremen tonight, and the happy patrons are quick to offer to buy rounds themselves, Chess saying to put the duck's beers on his tab.  McNulty - now on the case - joins Kima in a stakeout on the Brothel and they watch as the car that brought the prostitutes in leaves with a driver who is clearly Muscle and a passenger who is clearly a John. They start to follow, ready to put their plan into action. Back at the Detail, Beadie picks up that the Caspia coming in tomorrow on the Talco Line will be worked on by Horseface, reporting it to Freamon and Prez. Freamon makes a call to Daniels to let him know what's coming, a pleased Prez telling Beadie that this time they'll have the wire up - eyes and ears on the transfer. McNulty and Kima watch as the John is dropped off by his car, and wait for the Muscle to leave. The John sits in his car and McNulty guesses he is steeling himself up to "tell some tales", commenting from experience that lying to your wife is easy, it's looking your kid in the eye that is the hard part. Kima casts a sad look his way, but then it's time for action as they cut off the John as he drives out of the parking lot, asking to see his license, amused to discover his name is Robert Johnson. They make it clear that he can go home if he helps them, they want to know how a man can get female company in this town. Defeated, he hands over a card from his wallet for a company called Connections and tells McNulty he just needs to call that number and punch in the 4-digit code written on it, then ask for Eve. They let him go and he's quick to get the hell out of there, McNulty and Greggs amused at his guilt and pleased at their progress. The next day sees Daniels, Freamon, Prez, McNulty and Beadie waiting for the moment as the Caspia is unloaded. Beadie spots the can disappearing from the system and they let Kima know, posing at Gas and Electric on the docks. She watches as Sergei makes the call, Prez picking it up on the Wiretap, getting everything on record as Sergei tells them he is coming in now. Things look set to be going their way, but there's an unexpected fly in the ointment, the sidelined Frank Sobotka steps out of the can office and watches Sergei drive away, and seems to spot Kima watching him go. He heads on looking oddly relaxed for a change, stopping to crack jokes with a couple of Port Authority Officers who are checking a can with a broken seal. They tell him there is nothing missing, it's a full can of disposable diapers and they joke that even his stevedores wouldn't steal those. Frank cracks that he's not so sure and they all laugh together. He heads away... then stops and casually asks when Beadie will be back from Fairfield. They laugh that she's not at Fairfield, but his "girl" will be back soon enough, right now she's Detailed to the City Police. The camera moves in slowly on Frank as surprise quickly turns to a casual smile, once again, the work of the Detail has been unknowingly undone by unconnected parties who have no idea they're dealing with the target of a Major Cases Investigation. As Herc and Carver pick up the truck after it leaves the docks, Kima too visible to follow, Frank returns to the Can Office to voice his suspicions to Horseface. He thinks Frank is being paranoid, but he doesn't like the coincidences piling up and comes to a sudden decision - Horseface will put the next can The Greek wants through the system legitimately and disappear the one after that, and let Sergei take that away. If nothing comes of it he'll explain the problem and they'll slip the can out the next day, but he's got a feeling. At the Detail Office, Beadie picks up the next disappeared can and they realize they're smuggling cans in tandem, Freamon joking explaining what that means to McNulty who complains he knows. The trouble is they don't have eyes down at the docks now that Kima has left, so McNulty volunteers to get down there and get an eye on Sergei, Beadie saying she'll put in a call to the Port Authority to delay the truck. Swinging into action, the Detail has no idea they're confirming Frank's fears, with Sergei stopped for driving 24 in a 20 zone, perplexing the Russian who can't believe he was pulled over for something so petty. As his license and registration are checked, McNulty races down to get eyes on him, while Frank heads up to get eyes on the situation himself - the moment he sees the police with Sergei he grabs for his cellphone but thinks better of it, remembering the "do not disconnect". Instead he returns to the office and calls the warehouse from there, though he doesn't know it for certain, Prez confirms that there is no wiretape on that phone, so while they know a call is going through, they don't know what is being said. Frank is calling Vondas, and lets him know that the wrong can was sent though and done so deliberately. Vondas, cool as ever, reminds Frank not to discuss this on the phone, so Frank says they should have a meeting, but HE needs to be there... in fact, he WANTS to be there. Vondas hangs up and looks over at The Greek at the counter, miming to him that it is nothing to be concerned about.   At Glekas' store, he complains at his assistant on the main desk for ignoring a customer who clearly wants help, making the sign of the cross in frustration at the idiots he has to deal with. He heads into the warehouse in the back and has Sergei open the can just delivered, and inside the find.... Bobbie Dolls and plastic curtain rods? Laughing but frustrated, he tears open the boxes and find they hold just what they said (I assume Bobbie Doll is because they couldn't use Barbies? Unless this is a doll I've never heard of), and he yells angrily that he was supposed to get Russian vodka, not poo poo from Taiwan. He demands the phone, complaining about the "loving Polacks", not knowing if they're thieves or stupid. Vondas takes the call, the Detail picking up this since it is Sergei's phone, and heard the complaints about the wrong can and the instruction from Vondas to dump it on the street. The Detail are delighted, believing that they've now got confirmation from Frank's call and now Glekas' that they've got the phone number of the Boss Man, making the same mistake that Ziggy did. At the Towers, a fired up Bodie is explaining to his reluctant muscle that they're to meet him at 7am the next morning so they can get the jump on the new crew and scare them off. None of them are scared to fight, but the idea of being up that early in the morning is alien to them. Bodie warns them he can always find somebody else to swing bats for him, and one of the muscle laughs that he didn't mention bats before, pleasing Bodie who tells him to bring some friends with him. Unfortunately for Bodie, HIS friend is more interested in a couple of the local ladies happily flirting with him and he has to call Poot to heel - he was always "a pussy crazed motherfucker" but now that he doesn't have a Pit to run anymore he's really thinking of nothing but. He and Bodie walk away, Bodie complaining and Poot saying at least he's getting some - Bodie says he does too, but he doesn't make it his everything. Night falls and McNulty watches Sergei dump the can and drive away, confused as to what is going on. He calls Daniels who tells him to leave as well, they're not going to watch the can because it's clean, so a confused McNulty drives away, and somebody's shipment of "poo poo from Taiwan" is left sitting abandoned on a random street in Baltimore. At Delores', the dock workers are STILL laughing uproariously as Ziggy's duck continues to lap down beer from a saucer, Ziggy himself nowhere to be seen. Frank and Nick sit at the bar away from the noise discussing what happened with the can earlier today. Frank admits the possibility that he is just being paranoid, and unnervingly Nick speaks up to say that whatever the case is, Spiros will know how to handle it. Nick is starting to look to Vondas as his role model as opposed to Frank, who tells Nick to be by first thing in the morning so they can go to the diner. He notices the duck for the first time and asks what the deal with it is, and Nick's one-word answer is all he really needs - "Ziggy". McNulty returns to the Detail where there is a sense of jubilation in the air, none of them knowing that Frank - who they're mostly ignoring now - is sniffing the air. They explain that the second can was a mistake and laugh that they've got somebody on the Wire complaining bitterly about somebody loving up, and that has given them what they think is the Boss Man's phone number. Pleased, McNulty asks Freamon and Beadie if they want to join him for a drink, but Freamon wants to stay up and follow some more of the paper, fully engaged in the case now. Beadie isn't a drinker but says if McNulty can give her a ride home she'll join him for a drink, but only the one, any more than that and she gets sleepy. McNulty says he does too, amusing Freamon, and asks if Beadie doesn't have a ride, learning she needs her brake-pads replaced. She leaves, stopping to gleefully shake Freamon's shoulders in happiness over the day's progress, and then heads out into the future with McNulty. At the bar - the same that McNulty made an rear end out of himself at the start of the episode - they exchange information about their kids and Beadie explains that her husband abandoned them to go south, claiming that he tried to make her choose between a career and being his wife, because he didn't get married to make his own meals. She laughs that he's making his own meals now, though, and then asks about McNulty's story - what happened to his wife? "She died," he says sadly, and her face falls before he laughs and she realizes he was joking. The bartender - Gus - shows up to pour McNulty another drink but he casually says he's had enough, and Gus - a good bartender - doesn't make a big deal of it, nodding and saying,"Whatever you say, Jimmy." McNulty says he has to make a call, this time not a drunken demand to his wife but a sober call to the Connections line, asking for Eve and speaking to a pleasant and competent women who offers to set him up that night. He says he will be out of town for a couple of days though, so she asks what kind of girl he would like to be "entertained" by, saying they can have one ready or a variety for him to choose from. As he ponders what kind of girl he wants, he looks directly at Beadie sitting at the bar.    Bodie stands on the corner watching the new crew selling, going through the night with heavy business that used to spend all day at the Towers or in The Pit. To his disgust (with absolutely no sense of irony) he notices that the two dealers he "let go" are part of the new crew now, working and making money for somebody who actually has work and money for them. Quietly angry at this "betrayal", Bodie heads on into the night. At Beadie's home, she gets McNulty a beer from the fridge and heads into the bedroom to check on the kids. McNulty settles down onto the couch, enjoying the domesticity of being in a family home again. He picks up one of the many toys left lying around, looks through her small CD collection and then heads into the small kitchen where everything further reinforces the domesticity - whiteboard notes about bills to pay, a basket of laundry on the table, even a policeman cookie jar that barks out,"STOP! STEP AWAY FROM THE COOKIE!" when he lifts the lid, the kids unfinished homework, pictures on the fridge of the kids at sports days and the like. As McNulty looks around, he stops thinking of Beadie as a potential booty call like the waitress at the start of the episode, seeing her more like Elena, a mother raising her kids by herself. In a surprising demonstration of maturity, he picks up his coat and prepares to leave, Beadie surprised to see him going. He smiles and tells her it has been a long day and she smiles back, seeming to understand. He leaves, thanking her for the beer, and drives home sober. Early the next morning, Bodie waits at the new corner market with Poot and the rest of his crew. The new crew arrives and finds their territory occupied, and the leader demands Bodie get off of HIS corner. Bodie replies that it WAS his corner until Bodie took it from them while they were resting. Poot lifts his shirt to reveal the gun in his waistband, and the others around them show their bats, and the new crew leader looks nervous as he realizes that Bodie's crew might have poo poo product but they've still got muscle, and he tries to front, saying that he's giving Bodie a chance to walk away. Bodie mocks his crew, including his own cast-offs, and they retreat, the leader warning a dismissive Bodie that he'll haunt his sleep. They're gone, though Bodie's new territory still has the problem of lovely drugs, and Poot warns that the crew will be back. Bodie agrees, noting that after the way they just punked them, they HAVE to come back. Also up bright and early, Frank and Nick arrive at Johnny's Diner where an offended Frank demands to know where Vondas is. Vondas says that he will tell The Greek whatever Frank has to say, but Frank refuses to play ball this time, turning and walking away and telling Nick to come with him. Before they can leave though, a new voice calls out, The Greek is there after all, either intrigued by Frank's actions or having decided that Frank is safe to speak with. Nick is surprised, he's seen the old man around before, and they all settle down at the booth, The Greek making nice but Frank wanting to get down to business. He explains that he suspects his cellphone is being tapped, the phone company doesn't care if he pays his bills and he's heard that the port cop who found the dead girls is working a Special Detail with the city police. So he changed up the second can, and immediately a port cop pulls over Sergei's truck? He suspects the police are into their computer.   The Greek is impressed, and Vondas explains that he shut down the warehouse as soon as he got the call from Frank. The Greek isn't so hasty though, saying they'll reopen it and continue to bring cans through, only they'll ALL be clean - so if anybody looks there will be nothing to find. Nick speaks up here, asking if they'll still be paid, causing Vondas to ask if he's joking. The Greek, displeased by this speaking out of turn, asks Nick's name, but after Nick gives it, Frank adds on with fierce price,"Sobotka." Realizing they're related, The Greek shrugs his displeasure away, understanding family (Prop Joe would commiserate) but points out that they're not in this for love, and to be fair they must treat everybody the same - no work? no pay? Nick disagrees though, they're still bringing the cans through, that's still work, and Frank has a more pressing concern - he's not taking the money for the money's sake, he's got Union business RIGHT NOW, stabbing his finger angrily into the table, fired up as he can only get when the Union is on the line, warning that the legislative session will soon be over and that's the whole reason he's involved in all this. The Greek considers, after all the money he pays Frank is nothing to him (remember how casually he tripled it in the past), everything to Frank, and agrees that they will continue to pay them for smuggling through clean cans. Satisfied, Frank gets up to leave, and here The Greek makes what I believe to be a gigantic mistake. Smiling at Frank, he tells him he needs to relax, and suggests he spend some of the money on himself - buy himself something he can touch and feel, it's the reason they get out of bed in the morning. The Greek is a quiet man who lives with a low profile despite his huge wealth, but he's used to everybody he works with (with the exception of MAYBE Vondas) being greedy, short-sighted and out for themselves. Frank seems offended by the suggestion, just as Louis was offended when Frank offered him the Port Advisory Board position, and leaves with Nick in tow, The Greek left behind looking exposed for the first time... and thinking about the cost/benefit analysis of Frank Sobotka to his organization. 
Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 15:02 on May 14, 2013 |
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May 8, 2013 13:17
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Recently started reading The Corner (really good so far, by the way) and in a passage about old-school dealers and their soldiers, Dennis Wise gets namedropped. Guess Cutty is based on a real person, like so many other characters on the show?
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May 8, 2013 18:53
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Something I noticed about the last scene with the Greek - he suggests that Frank spend the money on "a new car, a new coat...something you can touch." I don't know if the Greek knew it but its interesting that those are precisely what Ziggy and Nick first bought when they got in business with him. Either way I don't think it's a coincidence. I don't know if the Greek is making a mistake from his perspective giving this advice to Frank. I've always interpreted it as him, as a representation of pure capitalism, telling Frank (sadly correctly, it seems) that his cause is doomed no matter how much money he throws the lobbyists, and that he should try and get personal benefits from the deal too. Also I love the bit with the judge who makes cops do his housework in order to sign the wire taps, it's one of those little things you just know was based off someone in real life. grading essays nude fucked around with this message at 19:56 on May 8, 2013 |
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May 8, 2013 19:47
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The scene with McNulty judging his swing that hit the pillar and then trying to redo it is my favorite The Wire thing.
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May 8, 2013 20:11
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cletepurcel posted:
I wouldn't say he's making a mistake by saying that to Frank as much as he realizes by Frank's reaction that he may have made a big mistake by getting into business with him. Like the write-up said, The Greek is used to dealing with people who are greedy and selfish, only out for themselves. I think at that moment he sees Frank as a new animal he has never dealt with before, or has gone out of his way to avoid until now.
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May 8, 2013 20:24
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I read that scene more as the Greek realizing Frank's not in it just for business, but something personal, which complicates things. Not necessarily non-greedy, but not entirely detached from what their business entails.
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May 8, 2013 20:47
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Yeah, remember how he dismissed Frank's earlier concerns by telling Vondas to double and eventually triple his payments, because he assumed that Frank's conscience could be quashed by greed. He was half-right, but the reason isn't out of a personal desire - Frank's identity and focus is wrapped up in the Union, THAT is his life, and I think if The Greek had realized that was the truth earlier as opposed to just a justification for Frank's greed, he might have avoided dealing with him or made sure to NEVER meet him personally. Nothing is more dangerous to deal with than a zealot, how do you work out compromises and negotiations with a guy on a personal, "divine" crusade. Also cletepurcel posted:Something I noticed about the last scene with the Greek - he suggests that Frank spend the money on "a new car, a new coat...something you can touch." I don't know if the Greek knew it but its interesting that those are precisely what Ziggy and Nick first bought when they got in business with him. This went completely over my head, great catch.
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May 8, 2013 22:23
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Jerusalem posted:Nothing is more dangerous to deal with than a zealot, how do you work out compromises and negotiations with a guy on a personal, "divine" crusade. Crusade's a good word for it. To tie it into the larger thematic importance of the Greeks, the greatest danger to capitalism is people uninterested in accumulation for its own sake.
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May 8, 2013 23:05
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Jerusalem posted:Just a reminder, yet again, that they're joking around here about a situation involving women who are living in abject misery as literal sex slaves. Not to accuse the Detail of being complicit, but just as Beadie noted in an earlier episode, somehow sex slavery ends up being treated/considered as somehow less important or horrific than the drug trade. People are quick to forget the reality of the dead women who were suffocated in the shipping can as well as the one who was beaten to death after trying to fight off an attempted rape, cracking jokes like "pussy in a can", casually calling them whores, the men (and Kima too) making a joke of volunteering to go and ogle them - even mocking Prez for feeling uncomfortable about doing so. I really, really love that you are hammering this home because, as a woman, I really should have caught on to this but I never did. It's so casual, it's so off-the-cuff in the show that I always took it or granted and NOT as this super important thing that it is. loving Kima laughs it off, it's just another case, and the fact that they are degraded women is so periphery to everything else, and really, it shouldn't be. It is in itself an American Institution - Low income urban blacks are always drug dealers. Low income urban women are always hookers. Low income rural whites are always on meth. Rich white Wall Streeters are always on cocaine. It's such shorthand in American cinema that I simply took it for granted in The Wire, but your deliberate pointing of it has me rethinking, so thanks for that.
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May 8, 2013 23:21
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