The titular named episode of season 1 begins with probably the most affecting opening sequence to date. From the beginning of the series, I've taken Wallace to be simply one of D'Angelo's crew, a young kid way in over his head, but doing what he can to get on in The Game. That being said, all of this changes when we see that in fact, he is far beyond his years. Living along with Poot in an abandoned apartment house, Wallace takes care of a group of even younger, parent-less children. He makes sure they get up in time to not be late for school and he makes sure they don't leave without a snack for later. Protecting these kids from social services is a huge responsibility that Wallace, who should be being taken care of and going to school himself, with little to no complaint or need of praise.
Yet despite all that, when he walks out into the murder scene of Brandon, we see just how young he truly is. Sure, as D'Angelo remarks, Wallace knows the rules of The Game; he knows how it works. That being said, he still holds enough child-like innocence (hinted at by his playing with transformers toys instead of chasing girls like Poot) that he never could have imagined that by making that phone call he would be responsible for Brandon death and that the result of that murder would be displayed so closely to him. It's a brilliant opening, one that shows both the would-be adult and the still-a-kid sides to one complicated kid.
But Wallace isn't the only one responsible for Brandon's death. No, that responsibility falls on the head of Omar as well. And just as we got to witness Wallace's reaction to the death he helped set into motion, we see Omar's just as vividly (a scene played AMAZINGLY well by Michael K. Williams). Sure, Wallace set Brandon up to be killed, but Omar gave Avon's crew a reason to do it in the first place. Seeing Omar's eyes as he looked at his destroyed lover, the kiss he places on Brandon's head and the primal wail he lets loose after (along with the haunting black and white security camera shot of the soccer ball rolling down the hall) was as amazing as it was brutal. Seeing this immensely powerful moment coupled with the later, more calm version of Omar (even joking a little with Kima), really shows how many layers this character really has. He's unlike any other character I've seen yet and the way he is operating outside the system makes him such a dangerous wild card, that he really is larger than life.
Now, what I've been talking about thus far is cost. The image of Brandon opens and closes the episode and acts as a reminder as to what living on the streets, what living the lives that these people live costs. Near the end of the episode after Daniels lets McNulty know that they have more time with the case, Lester asks before leaving, "Did it cost you?" Now, it's clear that what Lester means pertains to the police station politics and what Daniels probably had to do to get Rawls and Burrell to agree to this extension. However, after seeing Daniels walk back into his office and look at the photos of Brandon one more time, it's clear to me that it cost him something much, much deeper. Maybe he couldn't have saved him if he'd pressed for wire taps sooner. But then again, maybe he could. The not knowing is really something that I'm sure Daniels will be struggling with more a long time to come. Wallace set up Brandon for the slaughter, Omar gave them a reason to do, but is Daniels equally responsible for not doing all he could? And even if he isn't, does he still feel that way? Though it's not clear yet, I think he does.
One last thing I wanted to cover, and something I try to make sure I don't miss, is the opening quote. This week's quote by Lester to Prez that, "All the piece matter," feels not only true of their investigation, but also feels like a metaphor for the show itself. It's becoming more and more clear that this show really is like a chess game. All the characters have a part to play, and before it's all said and done they're going to play it. I am really beginning to see just how important even the more minor characters are and just how fleshed out they're going to end up being.
That being said, and I hate to end the post like this, but I really fucking hate Rawls and Santangelo so far. I get that Rawls is just doing what he needs to do to keep his department running smoothly, but damn. He is the most sensitive hard-ass bastard I've ever seen. Everything is taken so personally. McNulty isn't trying to sabotage his department or him in general. But he seems to not want to stop until McNulty's head is brought to him on a silver platter (and I know it wasn't intentional, but Daniels completely boned McNulty by bringing his name up as the one wanting Rawls to basically fuck off with his case). I also hate that Santangelo does nothing but spy for the piece of shit and when he actually gets a chance to do some good (take picture of Avon, Stringer and Stinkum talking to D'Angelo in the Pit) he completely balks, taking the longest fucking piss imaginable. Would have been nice to get those photos, huh Santangelo? Oh, well. As McNulty and Bunk would say, FUCK.
WHAT COREY MISSED:
Alan Sepinwall brough up how McNulty kind of fucked over his ex-wife again by taking the kids to the morgue on a school night when Omar could have probably waited until morning. I didn't really think about that aspect, but that's very interesting. I also think the black and white security footage shot of the ball rolling down an empty hallway seemed significant to the episode's minor theme of loss of innocence. Wallace's innocence is forever scarred by seeing Brandon's corpse as a reminder of his actions, the young and beautiful Brandon is forever stripped of innocence, cut down for being associated with Omar (the pinball stuff was really representative of his innocence for me) and now McNulty's kids' innocence is being tested not only by their father's actions in the episode but having to go through their parents getting a divorce as well.
Finally, he reminded me of two things I just wanted to briefly say: One, I thought D'Angelo was a total dick at first in this episode and completely switched personalities with Wallace from earlier episodes. However, after seeing him explain why he did what he did to Cass instead of turning her and Sterling over to Stringer to likely get the same treatment as Brandon really made me come back around to his side. He still doesn't like the way The Game is played and this is just a small act to subvert it. Two, I thought the Bubbles/Johnny plot to steal copper for drug money was hilarious (even the colostomy bag stuff) up until the point where "Kid ain't go no luck" Johnny gets jacked by the police again. That's it for now.
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