Before I start this episode recap, just a few things. One, what my process has been for the past four episodes is to watch the episode (shocker, but necessary), read Alan Sepinwall's "Newbies" recap, and then write up my thoughts on the episode. I realize after four episodes now, that this is a problem. What I find myself doing is just restating his ideas with my spin on them and not really developing my own thoughts on the episode. And as is probably obvious, that's not really helpful to anyone or all that fun. So, from this episode onward, I will be changing things up a bit. After the episode, I will use this blog as a way of parsing out what I think and feel is going on. Then before I post it, I will read Alan Sepinwall's recap and add any additional thoughts on his ideas that I may have missed in a segment at the bottom called "What I Missed." I think this will be more fun, more helpful, and allow me to feel better about myself in the long run. So here we go!
Near the end of the episode, we figure out (from Prez) that the way the Barksdale is able to code their phone numbers and still allow for, well... not the sharpest cracked vials in the alley to be able to interpret and use efficiently. As Prez explains (an excellent payoff to the amazingly strange phone photocopying scene as well as his constant crossword puzzle handiwork), all they do is take the number they see on the pager number, and skip over the 5 to find the actual number (replacing 5 with 0 and vice versa). It's a genius way of doing it that doesn't take any skill at all other than sight, and while slightly demystifying the Barksdale Crew a little, it is still extremely clever and inventive, as was the up until now useless Prez for figuring it out.
It seems like one thing this episode did really well was letting me (and the audience as a whole) know that the show doesn't simply let side characters vanish. Besides bringing Prez back into the fold a bit, it also brought back both of D's ladies (who have both only been seen very briefly) and used them in an interesting love triangle forming plot line, where one relationship seems to be brewing (D'Angelo and the stripper whose name escapes me) and one that seems a little strained (D'Angelo and his baby mama).
On that note, the whole scene with D'Angelo and his baby mama in the nice restaurant was one I really enjoyed and brought back not only the idea of Heaven vs. Here and just how hard it is to adjust to a place like that for D'Angelo (stuck, perhaps less and less voluntarily) in the land of Here, but it also touches on the idea of how who you are really doesn't matter as long as you have money. People don't care about you, they only care about what you can do for them and about that green paper in your wallet.
The more I think about it, this episode was very relationship heavy. Besides D'Angelo's soon-to-be love triangle, we see many different relationships that are strained. For one we see Bubbs visiting the young drug addict that got beat up and put in the hospital by D's crew. There's a lot of tension between them (though really only under the surface) and you can tell that there's more of disconnect now than what we say earlier. Bubbs is caught completely off guard when he learns that his friend has been told he has "The Bug" (which is alluded to earlier in the episode and what I can only assume is HIV/AIDS, and it'll be interesting to see if that becomes a major plot point anywhere throughout the series), his friend doesn't approve of Bubbs' involvement with the police, and Bubbs is happy about his friend's sobriety though his friend seems to be antsy for a quick fix. All of these issues are skirted though as both men quickly change the subject many times. They only really seem to be able to earnestly talk about one thing: where the good stuff is.
On another count we see McNulty and Elena's relationship continue to sour with their phone conversation about McNulty having a place for the kids to sleep when they come over (a brilliant lie and catch of a lie that I mistakenly mentioned for the last episode as a result of watching part of this one before writing that review) and it leads to some hilarious yet dark scenes of McNulty trying to put a bunk bed together and lonely drinking himself to sleep. Apart from that we get the scene with who I assume is Avon's brother in the hospital. Though it isn't clear what happened to him, whatever it was spooked Avon pretty bad, The idea he talks to D about, having to do with family and how being even a little slow or a little late can cost you everything shows what being a drug kingpin must really be like (which also plays into the really paranoid opening shots of Avon at one of his lovers' apartments).
And while speaking of lovers, Omar and Brandon's relationship is actually the only one that seems to really be in good shape (first male-male kiss, and second with McNulty and Prez). However, at the end of the episode we see the Barksdale crew having found Brandon playing pinball at a local eatery and it is yet to be seen how they are going to handle his involvement with Omar and just how Omar may respond to this.
Omar is also an interesting topic that I don't know really what to do with yet (though he's quickly becoming one of my favorites to watch). He constantly wears a bulletproof vest, holds up rival dealers on a regular basis while humming children's rhymes, disdains foul languages, seems to be the only one who knows what Bubbs really is, openly talks to police and just happens to be gay. While we haven't seen a ton with him, I'm really interested in seeing what happens with him (especially now that the Barksdale crew have two of his men).
Just on a final note, I think the whole thing about kids being involved in the drug trade was really brought up this episode. Not only are kids shown running around the various dealing sights, they also alert the higher ups when the police are around (both with the Barksdale crew and with Omar). Not only this, but the scenes with Bodie made me realize that most of D'Angelo's crew have to be under 20 (with D himself not being much over that). Hearing Bodie say he was 16 was pretty shocking to me, even though I knew he was fairly young and the intricate part Wallace and Poot play in helping Stringer get to Brandon shows just how important these young kids are to the operation.
It also makes me question, how hard is it to keep these kids from snitching? D'Angelo and Stringer talk about a snitch early on and apart from showing just how in touch Stringer is with his people, how they work, and how to deal with them, it also plants paranoia in the Pit as well as in the viewers. Though Bodie seems to be warming up (even if it's only ever so slightly) to Herc and Carver, he doesn't seem like the type at all (and was furthest from my mind). Wallace and Poot also play into what Stringer says and ask for advances because they're broke (seemingly eliminating them too). Now, I don't know if it just turns out that it's Bubbs they're referring to (his involvement with the cops gets brought up a lot in this episode) or if one of the other guys we know actually is ratting them out, but I'll be interested in seeing how it plays out. Just as interested in seeing which characters show up next. I can imagine Ruben Terry or other CI's will be cropping up before too long. It's like they say, "There's nothing like a good CI."
WHAT COREY MISSED:
Alan Sepinwall brought up some interesting points that I just briefly want to mention. Firstly, something I failed to bring up was that this is the first time we ever really see Avon in action. He is extremely paranoid as I said, stemming quite a bit from not wanting to end up a vegetable like his brother, but Sepinwall also brings up a point I forgot, and that is just how right he is to be paranoid. With the cops onto his pager code, they could have a murder charge on Stringer and Wee-bey in no time (apparently I missed the fact that Omar's other associate was the John Bailey that got popped early in the episode, as well as the fact that Brandon is also done for).
Other than that, the only real thing else he mentioned that I wanted to make sure to get at was the idea of just how different Omar is (other than the fact he knows who killed Gant, which I missed, is someone named "Bird"). Apparently the no-cursing thing is part of a code that only he himself lives up to. It allows him to separate himself from other folks, in that he isn't beholden to anyone else's set of rules or moral guidelines. McNulty still operates under the police's guidelines, as does D'Angelo with his uncle's guidelines. I definitely think it's interesting to see just how rare these characters who don't want to operate under the understood set of rules are. Sepinwall also mentions D'Angelo's stripper friend Shardene as someone to look out for (as she obviously doesn't like the way things work with her job and position in life). Has he found a kindred spirit perhaps? We'll have to wait and see.
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