(Season 2, Episodes 8-10)
I guess I was wrong in my last diary when I was lamenting McNulty’s future on the marine unit. It just took one more episode for Daniels to pull him off the boat, even with Rawls kicking and screaming the whole way. I really enjoy seeing the politics at work within the hierarchy of the police department. I find it fascinating. Plus, I’m happy to have the drunken Irishman back in the fold.
These three episodes saw a lot of movement in the case, both good and bad, so let’s get to it….
“Duck and Cover”
Speaking of the drunken Irishman, he showed just how drunk he could get himself in this episode. This was a fairly light episode, if you can really say that about any episode of The Wire. Between McNulty’s drunken adventure and Ziggy’s antics with his pet duck and taking on Maui there were more chuckles than average.
Also, Sobotka realized that the cops were on to him in this episode because his cellphone was flagged. I sort of wish that the police department would tap my cellphone so that I could not pay the bills and still get service. Of course this didn’t bode well for the detail as Sobotka and The Greek’s people stopped with the illicit activity.
“Stray Rounds”
The opening of this episode was certainly tough to watch, but this is The Wire. Watching a little kid get caught in the crossfire of a drug dealer gun fight is rough, to say the least.
It’s hard to say if Bodie is a bigger screw up than Ziggy this season. Between starting a gun fight that ends up with the death of a child and throwing the guns right onto a barge instead of into the river, he was not the shining star that D’Angelo was when he was running the towers. I was really expecting Stringer to be a lot rougher on Bodie than he was. I think it’s just more evidence that Bell is more into the business than he is the dirty work.
As if the detail didn’t have enough going against them, we learned in this episode that The Greek has an inside man in the FBI. Awesome.
“Storm Warnings”
We did get a sneak peak at Brother Mouzone last episode, but this episode featured the enforcer doing what he does best — killing people with no fanfare or remorse. He’s one scary dude.
I loved the parallels that were going on in this episode, with the drug dealers having to join forces and play nice with the Eastside dealers, while the cops had to do the same with FBI agents.
It amazes me just how big of an asshole Valchek is. He took the case to the FBI because he was pissed that the detail actually found a real case instead of finding some meaningless dirt on Sabotka. The guy doesn’t even care about actual police work, he just wants to bring down a guy that he doesn’t like. I know that there are real people like that out there in the world, but it is still enormously frustrating.
There was a lot going on in this episode, including Ziggy finally losing it. I guess you can only be the butt of the joke so many times before you break. It was just sad, and more than a little shocking, watching Ziggy mow down Double G and the poor kid caught in the store. It was a tragic ending to his story, especially seeing him in the police department, going over the confession before he signed it. I have a feeling that this is going to be the pivotal moment of this season, much like the shooting of Kima in season one.
Clacked by Bob Degon
on Jan 09, 2009 @ 16:00 EST5EDT
Ah, Ziggy and his duck…. heh good times. :-)
The same actor has a leading role as a fast talkin’ wise crackin’ Marine in the Generation Kill miniseries, which I recommend next since you seem to be enjoying The Wire.