That’s Got His Own

“I kept you in Nikes since you was in Diapers.” – Namond’s Mom, aka “The Dragon Lady”
“Mike ain’t Mike no more.” - Namond

Wow. Just amazing. This episode floored me. The action in this season has ratcheted up considerably in recent episodes. Like “The Sopranos,” the second to last episode of the season, not the last episode, has always been the most action packed on “The Wire.” “That’s Got His Own” did not disappoint.

I did a little research: in all four seasons, the second to last episode was penned by George Pelecanos, a D.C. native and crime novelist. He’s written some of my favorite episodes, the one where Stringer Bell was shot, where Sobotka is lured to the water by the Greek and subsequently killed and where Daniels tells Burrell (in one of my all-time favorite lines from this show), “You’d rather stand in shit than have someone see you swing a shovel.” He did an equally good job on this script.

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Let’s all remember Wee-Bey’s advice to his son in prison earlier this year, “Either you for real nigga or you ain’t.” It mirrors Daniels’ question to Carcetti, “How for real are you?” That’s what this episode was about and to a certain extent what “The Wire” is about: who’s for real and who isn’t? Who is willing to put, as Michael says, “somethin’ real behind your words.”

Carcetti is for real. He goes and “begs his Republican ass” the governor for school money and then smiles as he has to eat another bowl of shit when even the icy Madame Washington tells him, “I’m glad I’m not the Mayor,” before telling him she’s gonna go after him no matter what he decides. Carcetti, modeled in many ways after the current Baltimore mayor and governor-elect of Maryland, Martin O’Malley, has been a joy to watch this season.

From afar, being the mayor of a major American city and calling the shots looks to be an envious job full of all sorts of perks and privileges. But you watch Carcetti this season, and it all looks like one gigantic headache followed by another. You constantly have to make deals with unsavory people (Clay Davis) and make policy compromises that will demonize you to a chunk of the population. You constantly have to watch your back for ambitious opponents (Washington) and prostrate yourself for the right people (the Governor).

The man’s gonna have a head full of gray hairs in no time.

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Lester and Daniels are for real and triumph. You never witness either of these men in a negative light. They’re the public sector heroes – representing what is possible in government when it functions competently and passionately about protecting the public.

“Being for real” though is also Wee-Bey behind bars for life. Cutty and Bubbles provide a further cautionary tale about the consequences of stepping up to the plate. Bubbles ends up killing his quasi-adopted son and Cutty’s life is only spared by Michael’s outstretched arm.

His reformation from Barksdale muscle to youth savior was pretty dramatic but the man’s lack of a sense of pragmatism almost proved fatal. All season along, hell all series long, we’ve seen it’s the pragmatists and those willing to make compromises on their values that end up getting ahead. It’s Machiavelli in the inner city.

Namond, of course, is about as real as a plastic Christmas tree. He’s been living the lie for so long, acting like ghetto royalty with his expensive sports jerseys and tough talk without having to undertake too much of the sordid business that finances his lifestyle. But when he’s got to walk the walk – he can’t “put somethin’ behind those words.” Even little Canard thinks he’s so feckless he can pull a fast one on him.

The look on his face when he’s faced with violence – Sherrod hitting him outside Cutty’s gym, his Mom slapping him, witnessing Michael’s beating of Canard, Michael’s punishment – is one of a terrified child. And that’s what is so easy to forget when you watch these middle schoolers navigate the broken world around them – these are kids. They don’t have the emotional tools and experience and vision to deal with these things.

That was a most powerful scene – in Cutty’s gym. Namond picking on Dookie to feel some of the toughness he covets, prompt Michael, the Great Protector, to call his bluff. Michael’s most unique power is how he forces everyone to be honest. He’s done it all season long. He only had to hit his friend two or three times to shatter any illusions Namond had left about who he is. Michael says nothing the entire scene. After all, it’s about actions, not words. Again, realness.

Funny how Namond chooses the same language that Cutty used last season when he quit Barksdale’s organization: “it ain’t in me.” But hey, he’s like 14, so what does anyone expect? The fact that it’s in Michael seems to be the exception, not the rule.

I have to give my props to Julito McCullum (Namond). He did a superb job in this episode. His character has the greatest range of the four middle-schoolers and he’s always believable. I would venture to say that he’s the best actor of the four, but they’ve all done a great job.

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A word on touch and intimacy. Dookie lets Prez drape his arm around him; Namond lets Colvin hang his hand on his shoulder, but Randy shrugs off Carver and Michael pointedly tells Cutty not to touch him.

That’s why the brief talk in Prez’s classroom about “intimacy” was so instructive. Here is this basic component to human relationships, and the children not only don’t understand it, they can’t comprehend the concept. That’s how deprived and depraved their homes are of basic family functions. They joke that “intimacy is about getting some” and Prez goes on to tell them about what intimacy means to him. He says that “intimacy can be a conversation.” But he can’t really explain it. Can you really teach something like intimacy in school?

Which leads us to the Dragon Lady’s great line, “I kept you in Nikes since you was in diapers.” It describes one of the great tragedies in the values of this community: the conflation of coveted material goods with love. The definition of intimacy, of love, that has taken root in this depraved community is purely material. Everything has to be tangible. Sex. Nikes. Lexus Landcruisers. An intimate conversation? Show me the money.

In this environment, since everybody values ostentatious wealth, you will too. And without someone to nurture the young girl student who asks Mr. Prezbo what “intimacy” is, she could end up as screwed up and morally twisted as Namond’s Mom.

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A great first scene. It seems there is a never-ending supply of abandoned buildings in Baltimore. Initially, I thought that they were going after him for being close to Randy after the last episode. I was on the edge of my seat. The fear that Michael exhibits in the chase make you think he’s running for his life. But Michael outwits Chris and Snoop and exhibits surprisingly good aim with a paint gun.

Still, this scene was perplexing. At the end of “New Day,” Marlo tells Chris that Michael stood tall for Randy. And the next scene we see is… Michael’s training? It doesn’t make sense. You’d think they’d discipline him or at least lecture the boy, instead of bringing him more into their organization.

It is still unbelievable to me why Michael always gets breaks from Marlo when no one – NO ONE – ever gets any. How does he tell off Monk, who is much his senior not to finish off Cutty? It’s not believable why he gets special treatment. Why would Marlo venerate a kid like him while treating all other human life as as disposable commodity as a paper towel? It’s a little incongruous if you ask me.

We’ve seen Marlo Stanfield now for about a season and a half. And we still never see him when he’s not doing business. I’m a little disappointed by this. That’s what was great about Barksdale. He had his club, his bar, his women. But Marlo and Chris and company don’t seem to ever have any fun. They lack a certain depth and roundness that Stringer and Barksdale had. Perhaps the writers were sick of pouring their energy into the street characters and felt that they had elucidated well the personalities and traits of drug dealers in previous seasons. Still, I would like to see Marlo flushed out more.

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One complaint I have had this season was well illustrated in this episode - the tendency to end scenes quickly. There’s never any lingering. When Landsman tells off Lester, when Bubbles discovers Sherrod’s dead body, when Michael bitchslaps Namond – the damage is done and the scene suddenly ends. They build up the scene leading to an insult, a tragedy and then – cut.

I’d like to see more of the reaction of these characters. Perhaps I’m being overly sentimental, but it couldn’t hurt to linger here for a moment on the character’s expressions. Watch Lester cuss a little bit, watch Namond cry more and try and hide his embarrassment. We saw all these for a microsecond. They did this earlier in this season when Greggs enters that house at gunpoint.

One could make a good case that, in this season especially, “The Wire” is now story driven as opposed to character driven. The focus is on the story as an aggregate, not on putting too much emphasis on its individual parts. It leads to a riveting television series but with many characters who feel like there’s more to them than you can see or ever find out.

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A superb last scene, when Carver walks through a brightly-lit hospital hallway as Randy mocks him. You could hear Randy’s voice the whole time, and you could see Carver’s face the whole time and it all spoke volumes. It felt a little bit, just a little bit, like a Kubrick film. Very powerful, very good television.

The amount of distrust people show for the system and the police is vast in this show. And you can see why people like Randy turn away from the system. What does he have left to believe in?

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And so what is next for the middle schoolers? History and the circumstances of the times have made these boys who they will be. A talented boy like Michael, with a fortitude that could enable him to be the next Barack Obama, instead will pour his smarts and energy into the drug trade in West Baltimore.

Dookie, Namond and Randy. I don’t know. But it doesn’t look good. But I can’t wait to find out. This show is just amazing, absolutely spellbinding and I'm sad that there's just one episode left.

But do check out this interview with David Simon:
http://www.slate.com/id/2154694/nav/tap1/

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And as always, random comments/observations:

- The scene with Bubbles talking to the guys in the stables seemed out of place. It just seemed incongruous that somebody like Bubbles would know folks who sweep up stables. I mean, c’mon, how many people are there in any city these days who work in stables?
- I loved Cheese’s line talking about the woman who jumped them. “This woman pulled a pistol out of her pussy. Shit was unseemly.”
- Wonderful scene at the bar between Lester, Bunk and McNulty. Bunk’s lines about J-Lo were hilarious. Great, great dialogue - “The Wire” does this better than anybody. Bunk can’t understand the drive of Lester. “You act like you’re on the trail of Pol Pot or some shit,” he says as Lester turns Chris's signature nail around in his hand.
- I watched this episode twice, parts of it three times. And I never caught the “that’s got his own” line. Never heard it. If I have one complaint about “The Wire” – and this applies to other HBO Series, namely “Deadwood,” it is that it is not always easy to understand the dialogue. But thank goodness for On Demand!
- Michael is supposedly getting better at boxing but the kid never uses anything but his right. Use your jab man!

Thanks again to all the comments last week. I definitely learn things and hear things that I didn’t hear or see from reader’s posts.