So let's cut straight to it. I'm blogging about a show that I believe could be the best show ever made. I intend to blog while watching it and be completely truthful about any thoughts I have as the show continues. I do not intend to cultivate or edit this content and I do not view this as a polished or finished product. Just an interesting exercise in media connectivity. (Also as a personal note, I am using this as an exercise in order to help me get used to blogging everyday so that I might use the blog as a tool for my Theatre Arts Class) SO now that that's out of the way, let's begin!
"You can't call it a War."
"Why not?"
"Wars End."
It's obvious this show has an intricate plot already constructed before the beginning of the first episode. The characters are real and human and the problems are glaring from the beginning. I'm sure I will circle back to discuss the "War on Drugs" throughout this show, but I'm immediately struck by an overwhelming sense of hopelessness unrelated to this war specifically. Courts unable to get convictions, police unable to fight crime due to red tape, and and an entire justice system still trapped in past. The symbol of the typewriter as futility is powerful and almost overwhelming. (All forms and papers are typed and there is no central computing system to streamline information.)
"We don't have enough love in our hearts for two wars?"
So the Feds will be out of the War on Drugs by the end of the month due to the fact that terrorism is the new en vouge enemy and the public can only care about one war at a time. Meanwhile the Gangs are obviously better organized than the police. McNulty seems to be the only person who realizes the depth of the problem.
McNulty is on the the tracks as the train is roaring towards him, and as he begins this case swearing to approach it in the proper manner it feels as if he might not be able to get out of the way. A random tip comes in about the drug scene and we are on the ground floor with a gang member who has been demoted due to losing his cool and killing a man.
THE WIRE
In the first episode the wire was a tap the feds had placed in one of the drug towers that was providing crystal clear live information about the construction of drugs. This particular wire was placed because of one of McNulty's CI's that the Feds were also using. It also seems to underscore the main theme of the first episode that crime is prevalent and easy to find and no one is really trying to stop it. The wire is providing all kinds of evidence but evidence on it's own is meaningless.
Episode Two
So I realized after the first episode that this show is way too dense for me to take real time notes and catch everything I need to catch. I watched episode two and now offer my thoughts.
"You can't lose if you don't play"
McNulty is placed on the special detail to investigate Avon Barksdale along with a bunch of other misfits or worthless policemen. It is becoming clear in episode two that D'Angelo is our window into the gang and he is a fascinatingly layered character. (He also happens to be Avon's nephew) Also evident in episode two is that there are going to be good guys and bad guys in both the police squads and gangs. We don't get to rely on stereotypes and it isn't going to be easy.
The quote comes via the wife of the Lt. assigned to head up the special investigation of Avon Barksdale. It seems that if he works too hard he will inevitably anger his superiors but if he doesn't work hard enough he will not be doing his job and will still anger his superiors. The game has been rigged but he can't lose if he doesn't play. This seems like the safest advice to this point in the show and reinforces the feelings of futility and hopelessness facing all those involved on law enforcement's side.
EPISODE THREE
Three episodes in I have finally decided on a format for my posts. I will copy what I think to be interesting quotes from the episodes while they run and then go back and flesh out the post when the episodes are over. I did not do this for episode three so I will just give a basic summary to this point.
Things are beginning to heat up around the courtyard in which D'Angelo has been assigned to oversee the everyday selling of the drugs. The police are surveilling the area along with another group of Men in a van that appear to be a rival gang. If the lower levels of the Barksdale gang look apathetic then the men in the van are their very antithesis.
There are also many other small scenes that add depth to the characters and involve the audience emotionally mush more than an average show: D'Angelo teaches low level gang members how to play chess,Stringer tells D'Angelo that diluting the product increases the profit,
and we learn that our lesbian detective is also going to school. McNulty has two kids that he doesn't get to see very much because he cheated on his wife. One of the women he slept with is a Prosecuting Attorney that would be handling the cases if his special detail turns up anything.
"One dude's name is Omar."
"Omar?"
"Yeah, that's the name I heard."
The first Disc ends with the three men in the van robbing the Barksdale Courtyard while D'Angelo is off buying food. The Barksdales lose over 20,000 and all they know is the guy in charge is named Omar. (Even knowing almost nothing about The Wire I must still admit that I knew the name Omar when I heard it and I know he will be a main character.) Under pressure from the higher ups in the department, the Lt. orders a raid on the courtyard the next day not knowing that everything had been stolen and the stash house had been moved. The raid turned up nothing and now alerts the Barksdales to the fact that they are under investigation.
Odds and ends: One detective on the special force has been very quit, but working meticulously. He found the only known picture of Avon Barksdale on an old Golden Gloves poster. He also took very thorough notes in the stash house when no one else could find anything. This may provide more information later. McNulty sat out the raid as he refused to jeopardize the investigation. Some of the Cops on the special detail beat up some people in episode two and that caused one 14 y/o boy to go blind in one eye. A witness that testified against D'Angelo was killed as a message. McNulty knows the Judge who presided over the D'Angelo trial. The lesbian detective has a CI that is providing great information by putting Red hats on connected suspects and allowing police to photograph those men from afar.
THE WIRE
My final plot summary point would be that the detail has determined that they will need to send someone undercover to get information and that the someone will have to wear a wire. All of Baltimore's resources are vastly outdated and so McNulty tries to call in a favor from some feds to get some high tech surveillance equipment. When McNulty mentions to the Fed the name of his LT things go cold. Later the fed tells McNulty secretly that the Department thinks the Lt. is dirty. Santangelo goes undercover without a wire and we are left to wonder what the next step will be after the botched courtyard invasion.
Thoughts and predictions:
I'm so excited about the fact that I have tons more of this wonderfully constructed show to watch. The specific plot points may or may not play out like I think: I think the Barksdales will collapse sue to apathy, I think we will watch the rise of Omar. There are a lot of personal issues with the police officers that may work out in a positive or negative light, and I think we are going to see a lot of people die because this show is too real to magically allow everyone to survive. I'm also fascinated by the bureaucracy that is so bloated it is destined to collapse and the reality of the futility of the "War on Drugs." I'm not sure that this show even aspires to offer solutions as much as it strives to clearly illuminate and define the problems that we are facing as a nation. Once we all agree on what the problem is perhaps we will be able to figure out real solutions to those problems.
I would like to end this blog post by linking to a letter written by David Simon in response to Baltimore's police commissioner's criticism of The Wire. This is the main reason I wanted to blog about this show: http://www.avclub.com/articles/baltimore-police-commissioner-slams-the-wire-david,50274/
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