Eve's Marathon Diary: Design Not Quite Within Reach

[Primetimer]

It's going to take more than a tastefully appointed condo to get you through Season 3 of The Wire in one piece.

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[Jessi]

I'm going to be that person. Season Four will wring your heart out. Said as a cynical Baltimore resident. Okay, Baltimore County resident. (It's actually a big difference. My Baltimore is not The Wire's Baltimore. And the Wire made me respect my city so much more in a strange way.)

[Erratic]

As far as your question regarding the race element of Prez's shooting, isn't that *still* the question?<br />We don't know, Prez doesn't know, the victim doesn't know, but the fact that we don't want to know means that we all believe to a certain extent that he wouldn't have shot a white guy quite as fast. But we won't say that for certainty.<br /><br />Either way, suspicion from inside and from everyone around him will be the deciding factor in Prez's future.

[Eliz]

I really love that scene of McNulty and Bunk at Stringer's condo. The thing that struck me when I rewatched it recently is that it was not only new info to the detectives, but to us, the audience. It seems significant to me that as much as the show showed us Stringer's desire and attempts to go legit, and we felt we knew a lot more about Stringer than the police did, it never showed us that condo. I haven't worked out exactly what that significance is, except that it does allow us to share in McNulty's feeling of "who was this guy I was chasing."

So excited for you that you're about to watch Season 4.

[Slovenly Muse]

So much to love this season. Prez really did come into his own when he got off the street and behind a desk. Dealing with information, rather than people, let him shine. But after seeing so much of his skill OFF the street for so long, it's easy to forget what a complete and total fuck-up he is with a gun in his hand. Taking someone who has a serious problem with using firearms and force in general and changing their surroundings is a temporary fix. If you don't solve the problem at its root, then there is ALWAYS the possibility it will explode. I loved the reminder of that, even as I hated to see it play out. And I respected the hell out of Prez for owning what he did and accepting the consequences.

The Stringer/Avon storyline was some damn good TV. And just when you think it can't get any better, Season 4 comes along.

[marny]

Reading these recaps really makes me wish I could watch this series again for the first time.

[Kel Varnsen]

With Stringer's apartment, I always wondered if that was the kind of stuff he actually liked, or if it was the kind of thing he thought that is the kind of image a successful businessman should project (with the Cosby sweaters, and drinking tea, and the fancy apartment with Wealth of Nations on the shelf)?

[ToxicUnicorn]

I didn't have the same reaction as the columnist to McNulty's disappointment.  I was frustrated right along with him. 

[Silly Angel]

I liked season 3 (and 2, which is not for nothing) much better upon rewatch. The storylines smoothed out and became easier to follow, and also, I think that when you're watching a show live you're "in it"--forest for the trees kind of thing--and a leisurely second look gives you more of a big picture.

1 to mentions of Season 4. You're about to get your heart broken in a billion pieces and there's nothing you can do about it.

Not that any season is filled with rainbows and puppies. I mean, any show that would let a duck drink itself to death ...

[Js111]

One thing I never understood about this season was its alleged parallels with the Iraq War (Alan Sepinwall, for one, has alluded to these in his Season 3 reviews, but without going into many specifics. Of course, I understand the link between the season's opening scene and 9/11 (who couldn't?): The towers get blown up and that sets everything in motion. But what else was there? Was Avon's insistence on having his turf, his corners, supposed to reflect something about America at that time, even though Avon's motives seem like a common goal among all drug dealers throughout history? Maybe because he got his hands on a grenade by the end of the season? That seems like laughable allegory, and I consider myself a die-hard "Wire" enthusiast. Then again, I don't claim to know all the ins-and-outs of American military politics from the post-9/11-invasion-of-Iraq era, so if someone could shed better light on this for me, I'd certainly be appreciative.

[ToxicUnicorn]

I think the story is packed enough as it is.  I'd prefer it if it was supposed to have nothing at all to do with international politics.  That doesn't mean that it doesn't, it's just that I think it would lose some of its meaning if it was supposed to be some commentary on a situation that is not related.

 

I can see the argument for Battlestar Galactica, and that doesn't bother me, but here, it would.

[Kel Varnsen]

One thing I did like about the whole Hamsterdam thing was how it looked at all sides of things. It could have easily just said that Colvin invented Hamsterdam and all the troubles with crime/drugs in the western district were never an issue again. But the show nicely pointed out that it became a major public health issue, residents had to be relocated, and there were all these poor kids who used to look out for cops, who now had no way to make money.

[Reishe]

One thing I never understood about this season was its alleged parallels with the Iraq War

 

 

One thing I did like about the whole Hamsterdam thing was how it looked at all sides of things. It could have easily just said that Colvin invented Hamsterdam and all the troubles with crime/drugs in the western district were never an issue again. But the show nicely pointed out that it became a major public health issue, residents had to be relocated, and there were all these poor kids who used to look out for cops, who now had no way to make money.

I never saw the parallels to the war, either, but now that it's come up...

The whole Hamsterdam scheme is like a balloon. You squeeze one end, the other end bulges out. Push on that other end, and you get a bump somewhere else. The drug activity is ruining ciitizens' quality of life? Move the drug activity to a contained space elsewhere. Now you find out that citizens live in the "vacant" zone, so you have to relocate them. Then you discover you've taken away the safety net for the littlest kids, so you find yourself administering a social-security program for the small fry. And now that you've removed all obstacles to commerce, you're streamlining business for the drug kingpins, so you're basically solidifying their power and economic strength. So yes, it does sort of bear a resemblance to our experience in the Gulf, in which every action creates an unanticipated by-product which calls for more involvement.

 

But I think that's reaching, frankly. It's the nature of of tampering with any ecosystem that you can't just go at it from one direction and not expect consequences somewhere down the chain that have to be dealt with. I don't think it is terribly specific to the Gulf conflicts any more than any other kind of social, economic or political intervention.