The Wire: Stray Rounds (S2:E9)

“But them wolves is at that door”

            “Six Feet Under,” a much-lauded show that is nevertheless correctly regarded as inferior to its early 2000’s HBO brethren (“Sopranos/Wire/Deadwood”) began every episode much like this episode. A random set of characters would be shown, and sure enough, one of them would end up dead, beginning each episode with an epitaph instead of an epigraph. The deaths were alternately funny, hopeless, depressing, and even uplifting, but the sense of dread that hung over each cold open made for a tremendous viewing experience. There’s no doubt, given the episode’s title (“Stray Rounds”) and the camerawork in the mother’s house what’s coming: the only question is who catches the stray. We see the body, and the scream of an already-ruined mother leaves us feeling even worse than we normally do. On a show where random tricks of fate often leads to demise, this death seems perhaps the cruelest, the most inexplicable.

            One other innocent goes down in this episode: Ziggy’s duck. Apparently, whiskey and waterfowl don’t mix all that well. Ziggy just wants to be one of the guys, giving shit about New Charles (“Tilt’s”) lost limb, which would be cruel if it weren’t so encoded in how these guys, and I emphasize the word guys, live their life.  Ziggy gets some of it, but he takes everything far too far. As inevitable as the death at the episode’s beginning, we know he’s going to ruin the car deal. We just don’t know how.

            The police keep at it, jumping at any and all leads they can find. They do a pretty good job of it, too, finding hints about John Doe’s missing hands and faces, wiretapping Spiros’ (who remains an enigma to them) phone, and more. Unfortunately, they’re a little too good, as when they send McNulty after FBI files, it seems as though some dirty Fed in Southern California (is there any other kind?) tips off the Greek.

            The centerpiece of their investigation, however, remains a relatively light-hearted journey into the world of prostitution (or, rather, as light-hearted as a story about human trafficking could be). McNulty’s fake British accent is splendid, made all the better by the knowledge that Dominic West is actually a man from the United Kingdom in the real world. Faking a bad version of how you actually sound, especially when there are two naked women on top of you? Now that’s acting!

            Meanwhile, we return to our boys at the Barksdale Organization, although Avon remains unseen. Stringer decides, after the shooting of the 8-year-old, that drastic measures are called for, and agrees to Prop Joe’s deal over the towers. He gets 3 (including “221,” which was the subject D’Angelo’s funeral floral arrangement), Barksdale keeps 3, and all is well. However, Avon does not respond to Brianna’s overtures on String’s behalf, and sends down Brother Mouzone, an apparently badass assassin from NY, to provide muscle for the Organization. This leaves Prop Joe’s boys at risk, especially when the assassin arrives at the end of the episode before he’s expected.

            We’re introduced to one more character in this episode: the clearly disillusioned Bunny Colvin, Major in charge of the Western District. He’s asking the questions the viewer is asking: what good does it do to solve crime murder by murder, while letting the underlying drug violence continue? He’s a little simplistic here, merely sounding like a Baltimore policeforce Hamlet, contemplating his own futility, but it’s an important thought. Regardless of what happens with the Towers, conflict is bound to erupt somehow in the drug trade. Brother’s arrival just hastened it is all.

“The World is a smaller place, now.” –The Greek

Observations and What-Have-You's

n  Rhonda’s look when she sees the pictures of Jimmy intimate with those prostitutes is just priceless. Although I’d doubt it if I hadn’t seen it, he’s not lying: those girls really were too aggressive to stop him.

n  There’s a certain perversity to Stringer using a mother who just lost her son to try and fix up his drug trade that’s screwed, at least partially, by their accidental shooting of a young child. Also, because he killed D’Angelo, but that’s a little more on-the-nose.

n  Nick continues to deal drugs, and doesn’t mess it up. Surprising how that works, for now, the whole not being Ziggy thing.

n  The Greek is clearly dealing with serious dough if that amount of crack is coming through the docks. It’s so much cocaine, the cops don’t realize it even when they’re holding it.

n  Frank can’t leave good enough alone, as he gets funding for the grain pier but lobbying for another term to get the canal dredged. His position doesn’t get anymore precarious today, but it doesn’t get any less, either.

n  Valchek: still a simple-minded dick who only wants revenge against Frank, even in the face of a massive drug conspiracy.