The Wire - Hard Cases: American Dreamin'

The Wire: Hard Cases

Season Two, Episode 4

Directed By: Elodie Keene

Written By: Joy Lusco, from a story by David Simon and Lusco

            The Wire is a show primarily about those we barely notice, and “Hard Cases” is one of the best displays of that theme. There are people all around us that we barely notice as we go about our lives, and it is ever so easy to forget that these people have lives as well. It really shows that this is the first episode in which someone else besides David Simon and Ed Burns have gotten a story credit, that being Joy Lusco (who also wrote last season’s “The Hunt”). Ms. Lusco began her career doing a documentary with her husband Scott Kecken on produce vendors in Baltimore. This is a woman who isn’t just interested in the illegal activities, but the day to day activities. 

            The best story in tonight’s episode is thus the story of Nick, the nephew of Frank, who has sort of come off as a reasonable middle man character so far. Tonight, we get much more of his life. He lives with his parents, who don’t approve of his girlfriend, and maybe don’t even know he has a young daughter. He wants to provide the best for them, and early in the episode gets chastised by Frank for helping Ziggy sell the camera (Ziggy meanwhile continues to be a grating element of the season since he is simply so unlikeable). We get to see the life that Nick grew up, his now alcoholic father and just-barely-with-it mother, and thus decides to reach into some “pocket money.” Nick believes in the American dream, and like we learned in the first moment of The Wire, “This is America, man. You gotta let him play.”

The Wire - Ebb Tide: All Aboard

The Wire: Ebb Tide – All Aboard

Season Two, Episode One

Directed By: Ed Bianchi

Written By: David Simon, from a story by Simon and Ed Burns

Read out “The Wire” Project here. Read about the previous episode here, or click here to see the total coverage. Assume spoilers for the episode.

            Despite being considered by a number of television critics as the best show of the decade, The Wire was an infamous no show at the Emmys, especially considering it aired on HBO, which has won a ridiculous number of statuettes since the network started airing original programming. If David Simon’s epic look at Baltimore crime began airing now, in the spirit of morally complex shows like Breaking Bad, Mad Men, and Dexter, it would sure be a lock for many nominations. But what I worry about what would still be lost on the great black actor (Before anyone begins to yell at me for using “black,” Idris Elba is British). The Wire’s first season had a number of black actors performing at levels that rival some of the best film performances of all time. Andre Royo played the crack addict Bubbles with such convincing humility it was sometimes tough to watch because of the authenticity. Mr. Elba, who you wouldn’t know was British unless you’ve seen him in the BBC miniseries Luther, played a reserved and calm leader of a network with quiet understand and fierce will. Larry Gilliard Jr. constantly bended between moral lines by convincing us of his own lack of conviction, and his final sequence in the season one finale broke my heart. Why don’t these performances win Emmys? To get on a high horse for a minute, it’s cause when a voter sees a black man playing a drug dealer or addict, they don’t think it’s a stretch. When a white actor does it for a film, it’s a stretch beyond their ordinary life. Frankly, it’s all bullshit.

            So why have I started my discussion of season two with my praise for black actors? Part is this is it’s a topic I’ve been thinking about for a while and wanted to write on for a few episodes. But also, “Ebb Tide,” the season two opener, clearly takes us out of the world of the drug business and launches us not only into a different type of crime but a different world: the working white class. These guys are a different breed of criminal, though the same qualities we learned from the Barksdale gang—loyalty, family, organization—still apply.

The Wire - The Hunt: Fallout

The Wire: The Hunt

Season One, Episode Eleven

Directed By: Steve Shill

Written By: Joy Lusco, from a story by Simon and Ed Burns

Read out “The Wire” Project here. Read about the previous episode here, or click here to see the total coverage. Assume spoilers for the episode.

            “The Hunt” begins with a great tracking shot that weaves its way through the chaos of the crime scene from last week’s sting operation gone wrong. It’s a visual touch like this by director Steve Shill that throws us into the mess. Instead of getting a series of organized shots and cuts, we get chaos and dislocation of space. That is, until Major Rawls shuts everyone up and tells everyone who isn’t working the case to get out. At this point, continuity is restored, and business begins.

            Reactions and responses are thus the theme of “The Hunt,” after last week’s episode balanced a number of plot lines to help set up for the season’s impending climax. “The Hunt” is also densely plotted, but there’s a little more to chew on thematically, starting with McNulty. Rawls comes upon McNulty still covered in Gregg’s blood, and it’s a great visual touch that he doesn’t wash it off until half way through the episode. While McNulty feels responsible, Rawls gives him a great speech, “It's not your fault. And the motherfucker telling you this, he fucking hates your guts… Shit went bad, she took two for the company. That's the only lesson here.”

The Wire - The Cost: Showtime

The Wire: The Cost

Season One, Episode Ten

Directed By: Brad Anderson

Written By: David Simon, from a story by Simon and Ed Burns

Read out “The Wire” Project here. Read about the previous episode here, or click here to see the total coverage. Assume spoilers for the episode.

            When shows like The Sopranos and later The Wire came along, it’s easy to forget they really attempted to do something that was seen as insane in the television world: tell stories. Now I don’t want to say that shows from beforehand didn’t attempt to do that—Buffy the Vampire Slayer had an intricate cast of characters and a complex plot, and of course Twin Peaks really changed everything and then some—but it was HBO that really pioneered the idea that television could tell stories like cinema, and not waste a minute. There’s no place for “drug dealer of the week” on The Wire, and I’d be surprised if we ever get a bottle episode.

            And in “The Cost,” we really get the ball rolling on the numerous plot developments this season. I’m not sure whether David Simon knew he was going onto four more seasons, or for that matter one, so much of this episode is set up for the final three hours. But what an intense hour it is! “The Cost” opens in perfect bliss, and ends in total ugliness and shock. Much of the tone of this thrill ride comes from director Brad Anderson, a no name in 2002 who has gone on to make some great thrillers like The Machinist and Transsiberian.

The Wire - Game Day: Choice Moves

The Wire: Game Day

Season One, Episode Nine

Directed By: Miclo Mancevski

Written By: David Melnick and Shamit Choksey, from a story by David Simon and Ed Burns

Read out “The Wire” Project here. Read about the previous episode here, or click here to see the total coverage. Assume spoilers for the episode.

            Back in the days of classic Hollywood, every studio has something called “house style.” When you went to a film by MGM, you expected a big lavish production with soft lighting and grandiose sets. Warner Bros. took the opposite route—many of their films were gritty and realistic, and preferred to bring B-movie sensibilities to A-movie material. Whatever it studio it was, it wasn’t about the director, at least to audiences then. Sure, many broke out and became legends—Welles, Capra, Ford—and many others have been reconsidered since the birth of auteur theory. But for the most part, house style dictated everything.

            I bring this up because tonight’s episode is directed by Miclo Mancevski, a well-known Macedonian filmmaker who has received international acclaim for some of his works, including the Oscar nominated Before the Rain in 1996. However, you wouldn’t know that Mr. Mancevski directed this episode, nor would you really be able to tell tonight’s episode is written by David Melnick and Shamit Choksey. The same way you really can’t tell the difference between episodes of 30 Rock or Dexter (Breaking Bad and Mad Men are the exceptions, but that’s for another time). The Wire is all about David Simon’s vision, and while I’ve done my best to point out directorial touches when they’ve arrived, we really have no idea who is calling the shots behind the camera or in the editing room. Maybe we should give the talent to Uta Briesewitz, who hhas been the director of photography on every episode so far, responsible for the uneasing bright sunny days of the low rises, and the blue toned nights on the streets. If anything, Ms. Briesewitz has been responsible for the visual look that has defined this series, and many might call her the auteur. I’ll still keep my eye out for directorial talent, especially the six episodes directed by Do the Right Thing DP Ernest Dickerson when he takes over in season two.

The Wire - Old Cases: Meditations in an Investigation

The Wire: Old Cases

Season One, Episode Four

Directed By: Clement Virgo

Written By: David Simon, from a story by Simon and Ed Burns

Read out “The Wire” Project here. Read about the previous episode here, or click here to see the total coverage Assume spoilers for the episode.

            After three rapid fire episodes of plot from David Simon’s The Wire, “Old Cases” gives us a slower tone and more character-based episode. As the title implies, “Old Cases” is not only about an old case that detective McNulty tracks down, but about the old cases that define many of the characters we’ve already grown to learn about. Everyone has a story to tell, and each of them has their own investigation that needs to happen.

            Unfortunately, this is the first time that I feel that Mr. Simon has started running over the same ground at a few points. Most notably is the very unmemorable opening where Herc (Domenick Lombardozzi) is attempting to get a desk through a jammed doorway. Each cop comes to help with no progress, until they realize Herc isn’t trying to get the desk out, but in. It’s a bang-your-head-against-the-wall metaphor for their police work, except the whole thing is kind of pointless and a silly gag. We’ve gotten the round-a-bout efforts of our heroes in this story numerous times already, and as compared to the other cold opens, the gag is simplistic.

            No worries, though—no baseball player bats 1000, and it’s the character details that really lead this narrative. The case that McNulty and Bunk Moreland hunt down seems like a wild goose chase, a murder of a college student in an upscale part of Baltimore where the killer may have been nicknamed “D,” which might be D’Angelo. I think the scene where they solve the murder is more than a bit self-indulgent (they only say variations on the word “fuck” throughout, cause, well, why not?), but still fun.

The Wire - The Buys: Stalemate

The Wire: The Buys

Season One, Episode Three

Directed By: Peter Medak

Written By: David Simon, from a story by Simon and Ed Burns

Read out “The Wire” Project here. Read about the previous episode here, or click here to see the total coverage Assume spoilers for the episode.

            There are two big philosophical discussions at the center of “The Buys,” the third episode of The Wire, and while the chess analogy has become iconic in the series, it was the earlier discussion I found more fascinating. D’Angelo and his workers are waiting for the latest shipment of crack before they can distribute, when one of them chastises an addict for approaching them. D’Angelo asks why this business has to beget violence, why can’t it run just like any other business. He pontificates that if there was no violence, the police would never come to the projects—they wouldn’t care about a bunch of junkies shooting up.

That question goes unanswered till near the end of the episode, when a rival gang led by Omar (Michael K. Williams) smashes in their safe house, steals their stash, and blows one of the workers in the kneecap with a shotgun. Violence is how one controls business. This is a great episode of television—the best in the series so far—because it really shows how drug selling is a business. D’Angelo pays a visit to Stringer Bell (Idris Elba) and gives him the weekly earnings in a backroom of the strip club they run to launder their money. Stringer gives him a bonus, and explains to him how they change their business based on the quality of product they sell. The only thing that truly separates the drug business from any other is that it is these low lives who have gone insane or gone violent.

Many people who I talked to before used the quality “Shakespearian” to describe how The Wire balances its many plot lines. You get a really good sense of that in “The Buys,” as the two major plotlines of the last episode—the article about the witness murder and the riot that led to Prez half-blinding a young boy—are more or less shoved to the side for other narratives. This is in stark contrast to a show like Breaking Bad, where the central plot never changes, but rarely moves forward. I’m not sure one is better than the other, and I think as we’ll see that Mr. Simon loves a grand narrative that really brings elements together.