Brice Family Values

I haven't mentioned this yet, but all the scenes featuring Namond getting pressure from his parents to stop goofing off and start buckling down to get serious about his career as a drug dealer have been absolutely priceless. I wonder, though, if anyone actually finds those conversations believable? I suppose I have no idea what incarcerated drug gang soldiers say to their teenaged sons, but a priori I don't really buy it. At the same time, I don't really care. Precisely what makes the so brilliant is the direct symmetry between what Wee-Bay and De'Londa tell their son and the way parents of The Wire target demographic's socioeconomic class act.

Those kind of symmetries and resonances, both external and internal (as in the migration of the phrase "it's all in the game" to Carcetti) to the show are at the core of its appeal and what makes grandiose claims about it plausible.

Comments

I found it to be pretty believable. If the "game" is all they know, it is not out of reach that they will try to pass this knowledge down to their offspring. There are other examples of this as well. D'Angelo was pushed by his mother and uncle. It's a family business.

Posted by brooklyn | October 16, 2006 12:43 AM

What's the deal with the Marlo "bust?" Are they just messing with the police or is there some deeper plan there? At first I thought he wanted to somehow get into a position where he could kill Omar himself in prison, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards.

I also don't get what they're doing with the boxing guy, Cutty this season. It's like they're setting him up to be some big child molestor or something.

Posted by stand | October 16, 2006 1:37 AM

I'm not sure where it's going, ultimately, but I think the Cutty-Michael plot is among the most poignant on the show right now. I think we can assume he's not a child molestor -- he's always exhibited interest in women, and nothing about his attitude to the boys in his gym seems suspicious. To me, at least, i.e. to an upper-middle class white guy with a healthy relationship to his father. But consider Michael, whose parents are non-functioning addicts, and who is essentially raising his little brother by himself. Cutty desperately wants to serve as a father figure to Michael and the other boys, but many of them don't even know what a father figure is, and Michael, at least, interprets his affection as symptomatic of something more sordid.

Michael, meanwhile, does recognize the value in "big brother"-type nurturing relationships, which is why he's vulnerable to Chris Partlow's recruiting pitch.

Posted by Charlie Murtaugh | October 16, 2006 8:44 AM

NO SPOILERS ALERT!

I have now watched the entire fourth season thanks to bit torrent and someone at HBO leaking screener copies of all episodes up to and including the two hour season finale.

You may disagree, but McNulty is the heart and soul of The Wire. He has been the one character who has been not just present but intimately involved in every storyline of the best televison show ever.

Posted by Aaron Adams | October 16, 2006 11:39 AM

If you think McNulty has been involved in every storyline of the series you weren't paying close attention.

Great character that McNulty but no one character in this ensemble is more important than the story itself.

Posted by Nate | October 16, 2006 2:14 PM

I for one buy the Brice family storyline, since it fits in so well to the larger issues of path-dependancy the show has been making since the first season. It also shows that the pathologies on one side of "the game" exist on the other, with parental nagging (in Prez's case, in-law nagging) a universal experience. The Wire is far better than any other crime drama because it shows the push-and-pull between cops and robbers. Marlo uses the cops to get Omar, the police need Marlo to drop bodies to get the resources they need to conduct a good investigation. It's always a rough balance, which is why it's brilliant.

Posted by rj3 | October 16, 2006 2:41 PM

I SO want to give that kid a haircut!!

Posted by Andy | October 16, 2006 6:10 PM

Nate, by saying McNulty is the heart and soul of The Wire I didn't intend to imply his character is more important than any other (although I think a good argument could be made that he is at least among the most important permanent characters), just that from the beginning of the series the thread of his personal tale and the development of his character is inextricably bound in all four seasons.

McNulty's character is first revealed, then tested and found wanting. He goes through the stages of grief and ultimately experiences redemption only to be tested again in his wiser more mature stage. While other characters show some similar development paths (Pryzbylewski, for example), none have the same presence throughout the series. While other characters are similarly present throughtout the series, none have had the depth of character development devoted to them. While other characters remain somewhat static deveolpmentally speaking, McNulty continually grows and his growth is traced from the ealiest episodes. McNulty is good police. Certainly there are other good police (see Lester Freeman for example) but there aren't any other characters who have been given the same depth of character development and centrality as has Dominic West's character's life. All of the loving devotion and attention to detail in McNulty's development cannot be accidental.

It is in that sense I think McNulty is the heart and soul of The Wire.

YMMV

Posted by Aaron Adams | October 17, 2006 11:36 AM

I'm sorry to say this but,the fact that you don't find those conversations "believable" illustrate just how far removed you are from that reality. You think these parents, whose parents before them were "in the game" one way or another, and who have no-and see no real value in education in the sub-standard schools in their communities don't push their children out there on the corners to make money? Get real and pull your head out of your a*s It starts in the home. No doubt.

Posted by Tee-Tee | December 11, 2006 3:30 PM