I’m waiting for this to stream on Netflix…waiting…waiting…
Oh, and Season 2 was much, much better the second time through. Probably one of the tightest-plotted seasons. GO RENT!
I just thought he was the most sociopathic. Most of the other characters display some emotion, depth, nuance. As someone else mentioned, Marlo had little of that, and was instead shark-like. He seemed to be completely dead to anything other than cold, rational calculation of how to maximize his own return.
Even the scene that I linked in the holding cell shows it in my opinion. I think his reaction was less a loss of control and more of assertion. He recognizes how important maintaining face and imposition of fear is for him. He is making sure that remains established, as he knows having his name lose respect is dangerous for him.
It seems entirely calculated and emotionless - the strong reaction is as much for show as anything else.
I think SlyFrog nails it.
Then what’s his final, enigmatic smile about? If he was truly calculated and emotionless, why take joy (seemingly) over a corner dispute when he’s being metaphorically handed the keys to the kingdom? Hell, why even bother with that corner at all?
That’s not incorrect either.
Because he’s back in the hunting ground that he knows and does well in. He’s comfortable again.
It’s where he belongs, demanding respect and owning corners. It contrasts starkly with where he just came from, the big party, where he was definitely out of his element.
— Alan
Said much better, thanks. It was Marlo’s inhumanity that let him succeed in the same endeavor at which Stringer failed, mainly because he had too much humanity. He used up all of his friends in order to get the best deal for himself and never looked back.
The main theme and lesson of The Wire is that the bad guys usually win and the good guys get punished.
i disagree, it’s the failure of american systems and institutions.
“They fuck up, they get beat. We fuck up, we get a pension.”
Cause, symptom.
I think Stringer’s downfall was the result of that old, familiar flaw. Arrogance pushing into the realm of hubris. He started walking and talking like he was smarter and above the street level issues and players. Never mind that his income and security all came from guys still playing the street game. When the folks he relied on for damn near everything caught that whiff of contempt he had problems. The family assassination was simply the final straw and perfect excuse to give him up.
i also disagree with the “usually good guys lose, bad guys win.” it was about half and half.
Simon wouldn’t want you to come away from the show thinking that. He wants you to think that the drug war and “the game” are an unstoppable force that, while nobody really “wins,” is weighted towards the bad.
Just to go against my typically reductive tendencies, the real message of the show is that corruption exists at every level and it takes extraordinary effort just to stem the tide, much less reverse the flow. The drug dealers are corrupt when they rat, change crews, and murder each other. The cops are corrupt when they cover their asses, abuse their power for personal beefs, and ultimately fake police work just to manipulate the system. The politicians . . . are politicians. The Wire was about futile but honorable attempts by certain individuals to work towards a greater good, always undercut by their peers and the shortsighted corruption entrenched in the system. It’s a Sisyphian cautionary tale that we all know is correct, yet from which we cannot break free.
Plus, fuckin’ Omar, man.
And the most horrifying part is that it’s systemic - there is no Big Bad, it’s just the nature of all institutions to act in a dehumanizing way.
Been linked countless times but every fan of The Wire needs to watch Bill Moyer’s interview with David Simon:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04172009/watch.html
There’s really no better way to understand the purpose of The Wire than to hear it from Simon himself.
The Fresh Air interviews are really good too.
Man, I miss Bill Moyers. I sincerely hope he is enjoying a well earned retirement.
He’s back on PBS. His new show started over a couple of months ago, and it is excellent. If you get the chance, especially watch the first three episodes of the new show, they deal with the financial crisis, income inequality, and our broken political system. Very good stuff.