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Jack2142
Jul 17, 2014

Shitposting in Seattle

One thing I wondered from this series was if Chris was ex-military, he definitely seemed to be the most dangerous and trained of the enforcers in the series even more so than WeeBay, also his lack of care about gangbanger poo poo he just wanted to do a good job. It seemed odd that as dangerous as he is there is no background on him until he runs with Marlo's crew, who is an up and coming yet Chris looks like he is the same age as Avon/Bell. It seems odd that he would have lived so long as a fringer player without getting killed or picked up by one of the bigger gangs. Likewise his family has the nice house in the suburbs whereas almost every other major criminal especially enforcers like Wee-Bay and Delonda/Naymond all were still living in the ghetto albeit with nice poo poo in them, which seems to imply he had legitimate money because Marlo wasn't really laundering it until more recently.

Jack2142 fucked around with this message at 21:20 on Mar 24, 2016

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DarkCrawler
Apr 6, 2009

by vyelkin

Jack2142 posted:

One thing I wondered from this series was if Chris was ex-military, he definitely seemed to be the most dangerous and trained of the enforcers in the series even more so than WeeBay, also his lack of care about gangbanger poo poo he just wanted to do a good job. It seemed odd that as dangerous as he is there is no background on him until he runs with Marlo's crew, who is an up and coming yet Chris looks like he is the same age as Avon/Bell. It seems odd that he would have lived so long as a fringer player without getting killed or picked up by one of the bigger gangs. Likewise his family has the nice house in the suburbs whereas almost every other major criminal especially enforcers like Wee-Bay and Delonda/Naymond all were still living in the ghetto albeit with nice poo poo in them, which seems to imply he had legitimate money because Marlo wasn't really laundering it until more recently.

Marlo and Chris are the same age and I think the show indicates they have been together since they were children. Marlo's actor is actually three years older. No reason why Chris might have not been in the military though (definitely carries himself like one) but then again he might have just been a smart and focused dude - not like you need huge knowledge of actual military tactics to be more efficient then your average gangbanger.

Jack2142
Jul 17, 2014

Shitposting in Seattle

DarkCrawler posted:

Marlo and Chris are the same age and I think the show indicates they have been together since they were children. Marlo's actor is actually three years older. No reason why Chris might have not been in the military though (definitely carries himself like one) but then again he might have just been a smart and focused dude - not like you need huge knowledge of actual military tactics to be more efficient then your average gangbanger.

Interesting it was probably just how Chris composes himself that made me feel he was older than Marlo. Anyway I feel a military connection fits a bit, Chris goes away for a few years does a tour in afghanistan or Iraq, when the army was so desperate for recruits they were waiving background checks and education requirements left and right. Goes away comes back either can't or won't adjust to civilian life/record makes it hard to get a job despite service. Just like Cutty hooks up with his old buddy Marlo and gives him the muscle he needs to stop just being a two bit player.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
Marlo has a young face and Chris looks pretty weathered(moreso than Marlo at least), I'm surprised to hear the actor who played Marlo is actually a few years older.

UFOTacoMan
Sep 22, 2005

Thanks easter bunny!
bok bok!
In lots of scenes Chris is wearing clothes that resemble fatigues but that aren't actually fatigues. He's definitely a "soldier", but I never remember any specific mention of actual service. It's an interesting idea.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Yeah I never considered it before but it makes a lot of sense.

From memory, Marlo's crew is the only one that actually has "training" for their "soldiers", even as sketchy as that may be. They demonstrated a discipline we're not used to seeing in the show (Cheese even cracks a joke about them being "Semper Fi motherfuckers") but I wonder how much of that is down to them being young and hungry. If Marlo had held the street for a few years I imagine complacency would have started leaking in, we already see guys starting to kick up a fuss about having to do things like eat gun charges for Chris and Snoop.

MrSlam
Apr 25, 2014

And there you sat, eating hamburgers while the world cried.
If Marlo's crew is so cold and militaristic I wonder what you could use to describe Avon and Stringer's crew when they were climbing the ranks.

Slo-Tek
Jun 8, 2001

WINDOWS 98 BEAT HIS FRIEND WITH A SHOVEL

MrSlam posted:

If Marlo's crew is so cold and militaristic I wonder what you could use to describe Avon and Stringer's crew when they were climbing the ranks.

They address that to a degree, there is a lot of back in the day bullshit about Family and Respect and Knowing your People, (but it ain't back in the day). And Kima also expounds on how it was bullshit back in the day also, and that they rationalize how whatever dirt they do ain't on them.

So, Marlo does dirt and doesn't care because he wears the crown. Avon did dirt but it ain't on him because reasons. Presumably same for Little Melvin and all the way back to Shorty Boyd.

bucketybuck
Apr 8, 2012
I have a question!

Is Bubbles sister the nurse that Cutty met in Hospital after getting shot?

And why do Cheese and Slim Charles need to buy the connect from Marlo? They were both very close to Prop Joe, did they really have no info on how to contact the greeks themselves?

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

I picked up the Blu-Ray set and it's great watching the show in high-def, though I have found myself noticing things that may not have popped up in standard def for me before, like Willy Gant's corpse breathing and his eyes moving :)

bucketybuck posted:

And why do Cheese and Slim Charles need to buy the connect from Marlo? They were both very close to Prop Joe, did they really have no info on how to contact the greeks themselves?

The Greeks made a point of being as insulated as possible from their drug connections, meeting as few people as possible. When they relaxed this rule it came back to bite them on the rear end with the Sobotkas. Similarly, Joe is smart enough to realize that as long as he is the only guy who knows his connection, the others NEED him and can't cut him out. His mistake is in indulging Marlo too far in order to bring him into the fold, thinking that even if Marlo tried to do a runaround Spiros wouldn't be interested in dealing with him. Cheese sure as hell couldn't be trusted to be given an in to the connect, and Slim was "just" a soldier, albeit one who was trustworthy enough to work his way up to a position of authority, and not somebody who would ever need to be put in the know.

When Joe is gone, Marlo is the only person the Greeks can really speak to, and you can tell by the final episode where the Co-Op are meeting with Spiros after buying it from Marlo, the Greek himself is NOT pleased with the situation. They had a good thing going with Joe and now they're dealing with multiple people they don't know who aren't as smart or trustworthy as him.

The nurse and Bubbles' sister are two different people.

bucketybuck
Apr 8, 2012
I do understand that both Joe and the Greeks want to keep things simple, but it doesn't follow that his lieutenants would have no clue at all about how to even try and contact the greeks. Both Cheese and Slim are trusted enough to sit in on co-op meetings and to be involved in collecting the resupply, and Slim and Joe in particular were shown to work very closely. And who was driving when Joe went to meet the Greeks?

Its just doesn't seem realistic that Joe gave no clues at all to his 2nd in command of how to even get to the greeks restaurant. That would be a level of paranoia not shown by anybody else in the show, considering Chris went with Marlo to meet the greeks and Stringer Bell knew exactly who Avons connect was.

Nomad175
Oct 14, 2012

By not beating me, he has beaten me.

bucketybuck posted:

I do understand that both Joe and the Greeks want to keep things simple, but it doesn't follow that his lieutenants would have no clue at all about how to even try and contact the greeks. Both Cheese and Slim are trusted enough to sit in on co-op meetings and to be involved in collecting the resupply, and Slim and Joe in particular were shown to work very closely. And who was driving when Joe went to meet the Greeks?

Its just doesn't seem realistic that Joe gave no clues at all to his 2nd in command of how to even get to the greeks restaurant. That would be a level of paranoia not shown by anybody else in the show, considering Chris went with Marlo to meet the greeks and Stringer Bell knew exactly who Avons connect was.

They don't know because it ensures their loyalty; if Cheese is any indication, Joe's crew isn't as loyal as the Barksdale or Stanfield crews, which makes sense given how the west-siders seem more into muscle and, for lack of a better term, "honor", while Joe and, presumably, his crew are more based around political outmaneuvering.

Joe's mistake was misunderstanding Marlo; he was used to dealing with people who were into one or the other, while Marlo could play both games.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Joe (for entirely selfish reasons) also thought he was "educating" Marlo, and that Marlo would be a grateful pupil, somebody to be sculpted and groomed into Joe's protege - Cheese (and Slim too) were grown men but here was a piece of clay with potential.... it's just that it wasn't clay, it was a hard piece of steel. As Marlo himself says,"I wasn't made to play the son" - like Stringer before him, Joe makes the mistake of thinking that Marlo is somebody who can be brought around to his way of thinking. The only person who really understood Marlo and how to deal with him was Avon, and by that point in the series Avon was being sidelined by two guys who (somewhat laudably, it could be argued) wanted to completely change up how the drugs business in Baltimore was handled.

UFOTacoMan
Sep 22, 2005

Thanks easter bunny!
bok bok!
Bunk doesn't want to feel the Bern:

quote:

ATLANTA – Actor Wendell Pierce was arrested over the weekend at an Atlanta hotel after reportedly attacking a woman who professed her support for Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders.

Atlanta Police Department spokesman Donald Hannah said in a statement that Pierce, 52, was arrested early Saturday morning at the Loews Atlanta Hotel.

TMZ reported that Pierce, best known for his role as Baltimore Police Detective William "Bunk" Moreland on "The Wire", struck up a conversation with the woman and her boyfriend that eventually turned to politics. When the woman said she was backing the Vermont senator, TMZ claims, Pierce pushed her boyfriend away before grabbing the woman's hair and hitting her in the head.

The woman and her boyfriend reportedly went to their room and alerted hotel security, who called the police. Hannah's statement says the incident was not significant and was treated as "any other arrest." He says Pierce never indicated he was well-known.

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2016/05/16/wire-actor-wendell-pierce-arrested-at-atlanta-hotel-cops-say.html

Kevyn
Mar 5, 2003

I just want to smile. Just once. I'd like to just, one time, go to Disney World and smile like the other boys and girls.
Makes me sick motherfucker, how far we done fell.

DarkCrawler
Apr 6, 2009

by vyelkin

Kevyn posted:

Makes me sick motherfucker, how far we done fell.

Best delivered line in the show

too bad the actor is apparently crazy

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Until I hear otherwise I'm gonna assume the woman's boyfriend was NOT her boyfriend before the conversation started, and Pierce was just pulling the ol' McNulty double-act!



Goddammit.... :(

brylcreem
Oct 29, 2007

by FactsAreUseless
I wonder if he's disappointed in himself

http://i.imgur.com/5Zi69a6.gif

sentimental snail
Nov 22, 2007

DID YOU SEE MY
PEYOTE QUEEN?
I looked up a phrase in French earlier today. These two sentences showed up in the examples.



giving a gently caress when it ain't your turn to give a gently caress

Teriyaki Hairpiece
Dec 29, 2006

I'm nae the voice o' the darkened thistle, but th' darkened thistle cannae bear the sight o' our Bonnie Prince Bernie nae mair.
I just got a "joke" today. The fact that they have the guy singing "Jesus on the Main Line" at D'Angelo's funeral. gently caress you, David Simon.

Angryhead
Apr 4, 2009

Don't call my name
Don't call my name
Alejandro




Can you, uh, explain that one for me?

Woozy
Jan 3, 2006
"Main line" as in "mainlining" as in "mainlining heroin".

willemw
Sep 30, 2006
very much so
It's also a song about telephones :)

quote:

You can call Him up, call Him up and tell Him what you want

Cartouche
Jan 4, 2011

Finally getting around to this show and just finished S3. Good stuff.

Also this from the OP:

quote:

Carver is called in to see Colvin in his office, where he has the most pivotal encounter of his career. What follows is a massive turning point in his life, even more than Daniels' warning at the end of season one. Colvin starts by thanking him for his loyalty in moving the dead body out of the free zone, but then proceeds to calmly and gently lay out some cold hard truths to him - Carver isn't worth poo poo as a police officer. Carver's initial arrival had an air of a nervous student summoned to the principal's office, and now he sits and listens as he is insulted in an oddly amicable fashion. Colvin explains it isn't Carver's fault, harking back to Daniels' own warning by noting he has had nobody to offer him guidance, and plenty of bad examples to follow. He lays the blame squarely on the "war", explaining that the idea for the Free Zones came to him after Dozerman was shot over the "bullshit" of a simple buy-bust. "This drug thing, this ain't police work. No it ain't," he insists, and lays out just why. This episode was written by former police detective Ed Burns, and I have to think that Colvin's reasoning is very close to his own dismay over the way the system worked while he was there. You call something a war, people start thinking and acting like "warriors", they start to think of the dealers they're pursuing as the enemy, as the corners they're clearing as occupied territory. It becomes them and us, the "good guys" vs the "bad guys" and all sense of community is lost. He speaks nostalgically of how in the old days a patrolman walked his beat and knew his neighborhood - it wasn't occupied territory, it was their beat, and they built relationships and established networks. When a crime happened, there were people the patrolman could talk to/rely on for information. Nowadays though? Carver can bring him stats and organize buy-busts and running dealers temporarily off of corners but every time he comes to him for information on what is going on out there... he gets nothing. Carver is his Drug Enforcement Unit Sergeant and he doesn't know anything about what is actually happening on the street. They're interrupted by Mello, who has bad news for Colvin - a reporter from the Baltimore Sun has been through all three of the drug zones and he wants a statement. Colvin takes it in stride, he knew it was only a moment of time, and leaves Carver to sit pondering what he's just been told - everything he knows about being police is absolutely, 100% wrong.

Really means something to me personally, as I saw it in real life. My father was one of the types Colvin was speaking about. He was a beat cop who really got to know the residents in his districts on the east side of Pittsburgh. He actually was proud that they knew him, trusted him, and cooperated with him. Things are a hell of a lot different now. My brother is also cop in Pgh, and is much like Carver.

Cartouche fucked around with this message at 13:39 on Jun 10, 2016

UFOTacoMan
Sep 22, 2005

Thanks easter bunny!
bok bok!

Cartouche posted:

Finally getting around to this show and just finished S3. Good stuff.

Lucky You! You'll probably want to plan on doing at least one re-watch too, it's very rewarding once you are more familiar with the characters. The show is a lot to take in the first time around. "All the pieces matter".

Oh and the episode summaries/discussions in this thread are great and worth checking out.

Cartouche
Jan 4, 2011

UFOTofuTacoCat posted:

Lucky You! You'll probably want to plan on doing at least one re-watch too, it's very rewarding once you are more familiar with the characters. The show is a lot to take in the first time around. "All the pieces matter".

Oh and the episode summaries/discussions in this thread are great and worth checking out.

No doubt. My wife is not fond of the show, so I get to watch it all on my lonesome without distraction. Will definitely be rewatching.

Now all done with S3 and so far it has been my favorite. S2 was kind of eh and only the last few eps were compelling to me. Just didn't care about the new characters beyond the female port cop, who I was really glad to see McNulty pay a visit to at the end of S3.

Really enjoyed the Cutty arc.


PS: Legalize Drugs. Unironically.

Cartouche fucked around with this message at 13:42 on Jun 10, 2016

Jeffrey of YOSPOS
Dec 22, 2005

GET LOSE, YOU CAN'T COMPARE WITH MY POWERS
Season 2 feels a lot better on rewatches since I won't be anticipating/hoping for more barksdale poo poo - it's great on it's own.

Teriyaki Hairpiece
Dec 29, 2006

I'm nae the voice o' the darkened thistle, but th' darkened thistle cannae bear the sight o' our Bonnie Prince Bernie nae mair.

willemw posted:

It's also a song about telephones :)

That's what I was referring to. It's a song about calling Jesus with lyrics like the one you quoted. No way that wasn't intentional.

Harold Stassen
Jan 24, 2016
What I don't get is in S1, the woman in the whorehouse, presumably a whore, who doesn't do anything sexual just gets to hang around the police station and is not just privy to but is the centerpiece of their elaborate confidential plans?

Suxpool
Nov 20, 2002
I want something good to die for...to make it beautiful to live

Harold Stassen posted:

What I don't get is in S1, the woman in the whorehouse, presumably a whore, who doesn't do anything sexual just gets to hang around the police station and is not just privy to but is the centerpiece of their elaborate confidential plans?

A strip club is not the same thing as a whorehouse. In the United States it's not legal to have sex for money.

Shardene worked as (only) a stripper at Orlando's, and she was under threat of prosecution if she didn't cooperate. Further, they judged her an innocent who sincerely wanted to help.

Tirranek
Feb 13, 2014

Cartouche posted:

Finally getting around to this show and just finished S3. Good stuff.

Also this from the OP:


Really means something to me personally, as I saw it in real life. My father was one of the types Colvin was speaking about. He was a beat cop who really got to know the residents in his districts on the east side of Pittsburgh. He actually was proud that they knew him, trusted him, and cooperated with him. Things are a hell of a lot different now. My brother is also cop in Pgh, and is much like Carver.

One of my favourite scenes in the whole series. Seth Gilliam absolutely nails Carver's reaction. What gives it even more punch is that Carver was shown to be 'on his side' and trying to cover Colvin over Hamsterdam. Being told you are a bad cop after putting yourself out like that would make it sting even more.

Cartouche
Jan 4, 2011

Tirranek posted:

One of my favourite scenes in the whole series. Seth Gilliam absolutely nails Carver's reaction. What gives it even more punch is that Carver was shown to be 'on his side' and trying to cover Colvin over Hamsterdam. Being told you are a bad cop after putting yourself out like that would make it sting even more.

I think it was more of advice to be more a cop than a soldier, as what they were doing was not being a cop.

LadyPictureShow
Nov 18, 2005

Success!



Cartouche posted:

No doubt. My wife is not fond of the show, so I get to watch it all on my lonesome without distraction. Will definitely be rewatching.

Now all done with S3 and so far it has been my favorite. S2 was kind of eh and only the last few eps were compelling to me. Just didn't care about the new characters beyond the female port cop, who I was really glad to see McNulty pay a visit to at the end of S3.

Really enjoyed the Cutty arc.


PS: Legalize Drugs. Unironically.

My memory is lacking on Cutty. Did he ever show up again after he got shot in the leg after one of the boys tried to get him to back off?

I rewatched the clip of Bubbles at his AA/NA meeting, and Royo knocked it out of the park, talking about his friend's death. I get a little misty when he's talking about how he used to hang out in the park in the summer and he's so drat wistful about it.

I recently went through Oz again, and it's funny because I forgot so many actors showed up in both shows.

Kevyn
Mar 5, 2003

I just want to smile. Just once. I'd like to just, one time, go to Disney World and smile like the other boys and girls.

LadyPictureShow posted:

My memory is lacking on Cutty. Did he ever show up again after he got shot in the leg after one of the boys tried to get him to back off?

Yeah that was at the end of S4. He shows up in S5 when Dukie goes to him to try to learn to fight so the guys on Michael's corner will respect him, to no avail.

Cartouche
Jan 4, 2011

LadyPictureShow posted:

My memory is lacking on Cutty. Did he ever show up again after he got shot in the leg after one of the boys tried to get him to back off?

Seeing as I haven't watched past S3 yet... :shrug:
he showed up in The Walking Dead and died like a chump.

algebra testes
Mar 5, 2011


Lipstick Apathy
He does briefly in s5, he is one of the people who got lost in the shorter season 5 shuffle.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

LordPants posted:

He does briefly in s5, he is one of the people who got lost in the shorter season 5 shuffle.

To be fair, his story was done and we really didn't need any more beyond his little bit with Dukie.

LadyPictureShow
Nov 18, 2005

Success!



Cartouche posted:

Seeing as I haven't watched past S3 yet... :shrug:
he showed up in The Walking Dead and died like a chump.

Agreed on WD he went out as a chump. Especially after his big speech to try and help the guy from Everybody Hates Chris.

Though it gave us the moment of brilliancy that was

'Can you hold him?!'
'Yeah.'
*drops him immediately*

Cartouche
Jan 4, 2011

LadyPictureShow posted:

Agreed on WD he went out as a chump. Especially after his big speech to try and help the guy from Everybody Hates Chris.

Or especially after taking out a dozen zombies alone solo prior. Seriously, Cutty should have been able to simply punch zombie skulls and kill them instantly.

Wire talk: Still savoring S3 and am holding off on S4 for the moment.

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Kevyn
Mar 5, 2003

I just want to smile. Just once. I'd like to just, one time, go to Disney World and smile like the other boys and girls.
I love all the people they bring back for quick scenes or cameos in S5

Cutty, Avon, Sergei, Nicky, Namond, Colvin, Randy, Prez, Johnny Fifty, Poot, Shardene, Weebay, Polk, John Munch...

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