Soft Eyes
“Just shut up and play it up.” – Walchek
“Better to be lucky than to be good” – Bunk
What stayed with me after watching this episode was the immense dysfunction that inhabits every segment of the population as portrayed in “The Wire.” Even though everyone acknowledges that they live in a crime-ridden city in serious need of attention, the system is set up in a way where everyone ends up valuing their own piece of the pie and protecting themselves, their jobs, their way of doing business rather than trying to bring about any kind of change. No one is willing to make any personal sacrifices. In this sort of climate, the city’s problems sit and fester as Walchek memorably puts it, “like a bad pirogee on the plate.” Isn’t this what economists call “The Prisoner’s Dilemna?”
For a show that features so much rapid-fire dialogue, the slow scene that opens this episode served as an appropriate intro to an episode called, “Soft Eyes.” Herc may be making a career move being on the Mayor’s detail but his wiry, impatient nature can’t stand idleness. But when you don’t perform as expected you can find yourself in a whirl of trouble.
Carcetti appears to initially be in the throes of a Bullworth-like meltdown. Why not play a game of Battleship if you can’t win? But he finds his resolve at the end (one question: why did Landsman tip off Valchek about the dead witness?) Carcetti, Fraemon, ladies-man Cutty and the middle schoolers seem to be the incipient heroes of this season. At they very least, they’re all underdogs who challenge the established order in some sort of way. At least they seem to thinking freshly about the things around them instead of just following orders and following lock-step behind the organizational flow chart. They try and make some sort of community out of all the surrounding discord and dysfunction.
The greatest breakdown in the community is in the black community affected by the drug trade. Lex’s Mom shows no concern about where her son is. All she’s doing is protecting herself. “It’s like she’s off somewhere else in her head,” as Bunk describes it. Wee-bey talking to his son about his burgeoning drug dealing career the way Ward Cleaver might have spoken to Beaver about working as a soda jerk down at the corner store. At least Marlo is giving back to the community that he’s taken so much from.
One thing I find curious, every police officer in the Major Crimes Unit has been given a pretty vivid and detectable personality. But why not Sydnor? What’s he about? He just seems to go along with everything. When he delivers the subpoena to Clay Davis (“sheeeeet”), is he just following orders or following through on some deep vision of justice? Hard to say, but I wish the film’s producers would flush him out a little bit more, give him more a persona that is more recognizable like Herc or Carver.
And another satisfying final scene: Namond lighting up a blunt as his Mom smiles at him, prattling away on the phone. How is he going to evolve? On the TV screen, Gray talks about helping out Baltimore schools, but Namond just wants to play a shoot-em-up video game.
“Just shut up and play it up.” – Walchek
“Better to be lucky than to be good” – Bunk
What stayed with me after watching this episode was the immense dysfunction that inhabits every segment of the population as portrayed in “The Wire.” Even though everyone acknowledges that they live in a crime-ridden city in serious need of attention, the system is set up in a way where everyone ends up valuing their own piece of the pie and protecting themselves, their jobs, their way of doing business rather than trying to bring about any kind of change. No one is willing to make any personal sacrifices. In this sort of climate, the city’s problems sit and fester as Walchek memorably puts it, “like a bad pirogee on the plate.” Isn’t this what economists call “The Prisoner’s Dilemna?”
For a show that features so much rapid-fire dialogue, the slow scene that opens this episode served as an appropriate intro to an episode called, “Soft Eyes.” Herc may be making a career move being on the Mayor’s detail but his wiry, impatient nature can’t stand idleness. But when you don’t perform as expected you can find yourself in a whirl of trouble.
Carcetti appears to initially be in the throes of a Bullworth-like meltdown. Why not play a game of Battleship if you can’t win? But he finds his resolve at the end (one question: why did Landsman tip off Valchek about the dead witness?) Carcetti, Fraemon, ladies-man Cutty and the middle schoolers seem to be the incipient heroes of this season. At they very least, they’re all underdogs who challenge the established order in some sort of way. At least they seem to thinking freshly about the things around them instead of just following orders and following lock-step behind the organizational flow chart. They try and make some sort of community out of all the surrounding discord and dysfunction.
The greatest breakdown in the community is in the black community affected by the drug trade. Lex’s Mom shows no concern about where her son is. All she’s doing is protecting herself. “It’s like she’s off somewhere else in her head,” as Bunk describes it. Wee-bey talking to his son about his burgeoning drug dealing career the way Ward Cleaver might have spoken to Beaver about working as a soda jerk down at the corner store. At least Marlo is giving back to the community that he’s taken so much from.
One thing I find curious, every police officer in the Major Crimes Unit has been given a pretty vivid and detectable personality. But why not Sydnor? What’s he about? He just seems to go along with everything. When he delivers the subpoena to Clay Davis (“sheeeeet”), is he just following orders or following through on some deep vision of justice? Hard to say, but I wish the film’s producers would flush him out a little bit more, give him more a persona that is more recognizable like Herc or Carver.
And another satisfying final scene: Namond lighting up a blunt as his Mom smiles at him, prattling away on the phone. How is he going to evolve? On the TV screen, Gray talks about helping out Baltimore schools, but Namond just wants to play a shoot-em-up video game.
posted by Andy Sywak at 10:21 AM
1 Comments:
Great blog. I know I'm really late and you've probably answered your own question about Landsman (why he feeds Valchek info) by now having seen the rest of the series but here goes regardless!
Landsman is shown to be something of a political animal in his own right this season. His obsession with keeping his clearance rate up and his head down most of the time is characteristic of his survivor nature. He supplements his survival stock with his insider trading in departmental information. Valchek is the rabbi of choice for a white officer looking to play a bit of departmental politics - he has suction at city hall through the first district democrats. By feeding Valchek information Landsman achieves his primary goal - ensuring his survival within the institution. I'm not clear if Landsman also has political leanings that fit with Valchek and the first democrats and hopes to sway politics by some of his later actions.
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