Nov 14, 2020

Hi guys me and my friend went on a mini Wire site tour today in Baltimore. Thought you might appreciate- swung by where Avon’s and Stringer’s headquarters were. Also got dinner at Faidley’s which is where McNulty goes at one point tbh. Pretty fun, sure we went by other spots as well

Orlando’s strip club on South Broadway was the base of operations for Avon Barksdale’s crew during the first seasons of The Wire, until ambition got the better of Orlando. As it was during filming, the location is actually a strip club — the Ritz Cabaret. Stringer Bell’s copy shop is just a few doors down at 510 S. Broadway.

 

Jul 15, 2020

Breaking Bad. And to an extent Better Call Saul.

 

Nov 14, 2020

Disappointed you didn’t hit Hamsterdam

 

Jul 17, 2020

The GOAT Marlo write up

Many see Marlo as the most "evil" being on The Wire. He lacks the humour and profane wisdom of the more popular B'more denizens, but I believe he is key to understanding the show's themes. He is, in effect, the ultimate bureaucrat, one who plays the system without empathy or fear.

His sole aim is the increase of bureaucratic power – both his own power within the bureaucracy, and the power of the bureaucracy itself. Although he is certainly a person without a moral backbone, it is not really a question of good and evil at all, but of efficient success. Marlo's methods are the same approach taken by (say) Rawls; the only difference is the bureaucracy is the drug distribution system, so the brutality is more overt. The system itself is the evil, Marlo is just another player, albeit more successful than most.

He may come across as robotic and emotionally dead, but I don't think he's some unreal satanic bogeyman. He does still have feelings and desires, but he has obtained absolute control over them in order to succeed. Marlo allows himself to evince real care only with his pigeons. Emotional reliance of any kind on other humans is detrimental to playing the game so he has denied this to himself and uses his pets as a substitute, a means to safely bond with something.

The first time Marlo makes an impact is when his underlings are about to punish Bubbles and Johnny for leaning on their car, threatening them with a handgun. Marlo takes in the situation and says simply 'Do it or don't. I've got places to be." He instantly puts himself above trivial concerns; he shows neither anger nor compassion. He has merely sized the situation up, judged there is no threat or benefit to him therein, and leaves it as not worth his time. His decision-making is calibrated to winning "the game".

Marlo's utilitarian analysis is perhaps most marked when he decides Michael's fate. He clearly has a slight fondness for Michael (he chose him after all), and agrees with Chris he's unlikely to be the snitch. "But you willing to bet your life on it?" he asks, and the decision is made. He acknowledges his inability to put human relationships first in his last exchange with Joe, who he clearly also felt some bond with: "I treated you like a son" "I wasn't made to play the son. Close your eyes...it won't hurt none".

On two crucial occasions rivals underestimate his ruthless efficiency: when Avon tries to set him him up by having a girl hit on him, and when Prop Joe presumes he can "civilize" him. Both Avon and Prop Joe believe they see themselves in Marlo and miscalculate as a consequence, fatally in Joe's case (and fatally for the set-up girl too). Marlo doesn't rely on heart and emotion like Avon, and he doesn't share Prop Joe's desire for friendship and community - and these traits which make Avon and Prop Joe so human also prove their undoing.

Marlo knows his name is everything for his power, so it is no surprise that the slur on his street cred provokes the one moment of genuine anger, the "my name is my name" speech played so beautifully by Jamie Hector. It is significant that Omar is the one who called him out, as Omar is the other character who relies on his name for his power - "Omar be coming" etc. Omar understands that the deathgrip Marlo has on the projects is inextricably entwined with his reputation and his name. He found Marlo's Achilles heel, calling him out and challenging him as a coward - trying to play on his street honour, like some modern gunfighter or samurai. If word had got back to Marlo it could have succeeded.

The value Marlo places on his street rep above all is shown when Herc tries to take him in to meet Bunny Colvin. He simply refuses with a stony "ain't gonna happen" and faces Herc down until Carver (wisely sensing the violence about to boil over) pulls him off. This was the only time in the series when someone stood up to the police in a face-to-face confrontation, as most of the underworld know the danger of hurting or killing a cop. Marlo knows this too, but his name on the street is more important than anything to him, and he was quite prepared to start something serious with the police to protect it. "My name is my name" trumps all.

A few words need to be said of Jamie Hector's masterful portrayal. He brings an eerily unsettling permanent stillness to the role, as though every little action has been perfectly measured in advance. The very absence of any distracting tics or movements make him mesmerizing and terrifying to watch, a being of pure will who cannot be dominated. When he finally snaps the impact is all the more profound for the absolute restraint that preceded it.

Lest you think I am celebrating Marlo for cracking the code of the game, I think he may be the classic victim of the system. In The Wire the overarching organizational machinery is geared to generate Marlos, people who have been forced to leave their humanity behind to succeed. I thought long on Joe's "Its hard work civilising this MFer". The systems we've created to live together in civilized society are the same soulless forces that create monsters like Marlo; paradoxically, civilization itself is its own worst enemy.

 

Jul 14, 2020

I'd like to see a spin off with ziggy and the duck and see what kind of hijinx they get in together

 

Jul 14, 2020

yeah would def be more interested in a spiritual sequel than a literal one. would be interesting to cover the two seemingly relevant areas they didn’t really dig into in the wire: gangs and the jails themselves

 

Jul 14, 2020

lol very true. Also agree on the first watch it is a shock going from season 1 into 2. You're watching a professional illegal organization that runs well with a few idiots to all of a sudden you have a bunch of gustavos in season 2 dressed like eminem in 2005 who are just a bunch of mopes selling dope in the same spot every day, not hiding their stash

 

May 25, 2021

the wire isnt sentimental, anyone could die at any time. the streets arent romantic, so even though omar was a beloved, deeply likable antihero (celebrated by kids as a deadly sort of robin hood), and a symbol of baltimores grit maybe, it was fitting that he was ultimately subsumed by his own legend. (especially the whole point of the show is how society has broken down, so having this larger than life figure, so unstoppable, finally get his number called by a child is pretty poetic. shows how much that world has degraded, no innocence)

 

Nov 15, 2020

The Mayo

 

Nov 15, 2020

ok hear me out

The Wire

but with white people

 

Jul 17, 2020

@M Solo ya i like Marlo a lot. just think the serial killer thing is cartoonish and over the top. and the journalism stuff is spiteful and kind of spirals out

tho yeah ending is def good. Not a bad season especially given the constraints they were under, its just not 3 or 4 to me.

 

Jul 16, 2020

Yeah I think GOT has a wayyyyy worse final season than LOST

 

Jul 15, 2020

Definitely agree with Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul. I was hoping Boardwalk Empire could be one of the greats but it slipped up in the later seasons. The Chi is definitely inspired by The Wire but not as good. I like Mindhunter but that show is more Silence of the Lambs/Luther territory. Peaky Blinders is a good one. A couple of slips but I did like the last season.

 

Jul 15, 2020

I am a LOST stan. I have every season on Blu Ray and rewatch every few years. The first 3 seasons are amazing imo and then it gets a little whacky. Some people hated the ending. I thought it was good for what it was. I still love the show for all it's faults in the later seasons. Give it a chance and watch the first season at least

 

Jul 15, 2020

Yes if you’ve never seen it I highly recommend it. It’s so different and was revolutionary in many ways. The first couple seasons are some of the best television ever created.

The problem with the show was that the writers were making it up as they went along so things get really f---ing weird in the later seasons. And having to wait a week to watch the next episode or year for next season, many fans would obsess over it and come up with all these theories during these waiting periods and when things didn’t play out how they expected, it left many fans frustrated.

Most episodes end in a major cliff hanger and even if the writers don’t perfectly explain stuff or tie up loose ends in a satisfactory way, you won’t care because you’re just watching them back to back. You’re not spending any time considering what should or might happen in between episodes since you can just watch it immediately and find out.

Not sure if this makes sense but it will after you watch it. I haven’t seen it since it was on tv. Just talking about it makes me want to revisit it.

 

Jul 14, 2020

Recently completed a rewatch. Still great as ever. I also purchased All The Pieces Matter, a behind the scenes book about The Wire.