The Wire.3

Stearns and I just finished the third season of The Wire, which concluded with an episode surprisingly far from being depressing. First, some of my favorite quotations:


"It's Baltimore, gentlemen, the gods will not save you." -Burrell

"The job will not save you, Jimmy." --Lester (recommending a life outside of the police work)

"I have elsewhere to be." --Avon Barksdale

This season questioned the relationship between the law and lawlessness. One of the policemen (I'm always unsure about the names of the characters in this show) decided to get the drug dealers off of Baltimore streets by establishing a zone in which they could sell drugs and would not be bothered by the police. He nicknamed it Hamsterdam. This dramatically reduces crime as guns are not allowed in Hamsterdam. It makes the communities happy as it separates crime from them. On the other hand, it creates blocks of vice and degeneration. Also, when one of the drug dealers ties up and steals from the other drug dealers, they yell at the police, demanding police protection. Oh the irony--the men want to do what is illegal with impunity, but the lack of police protection cuts both ways.

The humanitarian workers have a mixed reaction to Hamsterdam. At first, they are concerned. Later, they see some benefits: the drug addicts are more accessible--they can distribute condoms and clean needles and test for HIV more effectively. The humanitarian workers are the first ones to respond to Hamsterdam--even the media does not find out about it until later.

Just as in Hamsterdam, the lawless zone, there is still a call for law and order, so among the drug dealers themselves there is a sort of law. For one, there is an unwritten law against shooting people on Sundays, which is violated when one of Barksdale's men shoots Omar and his grandmother in a taxi on the way home from church. Everyone except the shooter and Stringer Bell is horrified and upset. To apologize for the shooting, Avon Barksdale sends a new hat to Omar's grandmother, to replace the one that was shot off of her.

Secondly, even Avon Barksdale, drug dealer, practices philanthropy. A boxer recently released from prison starts a gym to teach boxing to neighborhood kids, and Avon Barksdale gives him $15,000 for new equipment.

Another aspect of the culture of drug dealing that surprisingly offers insight into the "real world" is the war between two competing drug dealers, Barksdale and Marlow. One of Barksdale's men reproaches his boss when he no longer feels like fighting, "War is war, even if it's based on a lie--you start fighting and you have to keep fighting." Here we see the illegal behavior of the drug dealers as similar to nations fighting (Hobbes says that the only thing that's similar to the state of nature is in international relations).

My favorite character throughout all of the seasons had been McNulty (ask me about my McNulty locket one day!). McNulty and love is one messed up topic, but boy oh boy he comes around this season! One of my favorite moments is when he gets up from the table and walks out on the very attractive political consultant who was trying to sleep with him to get information. And another favorite moment is when he goes to visit Beadie and asks to meet her children.

McNulty's obsession with chasing Stringer and his grief at Stringer's death reveals a real attachment between the chaser and the chasee. McNulty examines Stringer's apartment after his death and discovers a copy of Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations on Stringer's bookshelf. McNulty asks, "Who the *&%$ was I chasing?"


(picture, picture, picture)