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At this point, Carver has one of the passengers – a female – out of the car and on the ground. As Kima arrives at the scene, he jokingly says this.

Again, this gives us a look into the culture of law enforcement. Although any disrespect like this is uncalled for, the fact that Greggs is a female makes this even worse. Rather than being recognized as a woman who is an exceptional officer, she is seen as “one of the guys”.

Carver isn’t a bad guy, but the machisimo culture of this institute clearly clouds judgement at times. McNulty makes a similar comment later in the season.

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Barlow is not an important character in the series, but this scene is meant to give you an idea of the type of people that make it to detective.

Not only is Barlow an asshole to people, but he isn’t even working. Instead, he’s trying to get a quote on pressure-treated lumber, presumably for some outside hobby.

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This is not the first time the Barksdale crew has thrown the courts off their scent, which is partly why McNulty sat in on this case despite having no connection to it.

He is giving Stringer the nod here because (1) it was sort of impressive, and (2) more importantly, McNulty is an arrogant S.O.B. and wants the Barksdale clan to know he’s watching them.

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Finding a witness to testify in court is beyond rare in this context. Witness intimidation is extremely prevalent in impoverished areas high in crime. Gant must have balls of steel to point his finger at Barksdale, despite all his cronies sitting there in the court that day.

This scene also highlights how much the police depend on characters from the street to accomplish things. There is literally no way to solve a crime like this other than depending on witness testimony. Even then, nothing is guaranteed…

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Directed by

Clark Johnson

Teleplay by

David Simon

Story by

David Simon
Ed Burns

Original air date

June 2, 2002

Running time

62 minutes


Jump To:

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As we saw in court, the Barksdale crew has become pretty arrogant; maybe deservedly so. Stringer demonstrated this hilariously when he quietly flashed the “notes” he was writing on his legal pad to McNulty across the isle.

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Directed by

Clark Johnson

Teleplay by

David Simon

Story by

David Simon
Ed Burns

Original air date

June 9, 2002

Running time

58 minutes

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This certainly seems to be a turning point in Kanye’s career, not just in what he creates, but also in how he thinks. As the previous annotation mentioned, ‘Ye is one of the premier “luxury” rappers, taking what Jay Z once did to a whole other level.

However, recent experiences have lead Kanye to understand that notions of “luxury” don’t mean shit in the long run. We see this extensively in his more recent albums:

I throw these Maybach keys
I wear my heart on the sleeve
I know that we the new slaves
I see the blood on the leaves

This isn’t to say that he won’t still rap about luxury brands, but it isn’t necessarily for the sake of luxury name-drops, which is what we tend to assume.

It’s snobbery. And I’m not into all that snobbery…all we want to do is make awesome stuff…It’s about truth, it’s about information, it’s about awesomeness, and the only luxury is time…but there’s people who still spend five-thousand dollars on this bag, ten-thousand dollars on this to say, ‘Oh, we’re better than you’…So this concept of “luxury” is improper to me.

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These games are destined to fail, and the players know this, yet they continue. Think about this for a moment:

  • A group of young brothers get together to shoot dice.
  • As the game progresses, the pot steadily grows.
  • Eventually one individual snatches it up and takes off, for mysterious reasons.
  • The rest of the players then proceed to whoop his ass, at which point he is then let back in the game.
  • Eventually, violence boils over and someone just shoots the kid.

Considering a core theme of The Wire is criticism of the War on Drugs, this opening scene serves as the perfect metaphor:

  • The War on Drugs is often seen as a self-serving failure.
  • Violence between the powerful (such as cops) and the weak (such as urban youth) in society often boils over.
  • Despite its total and unequivocal failure, the War on Drugs continues in perpetuity.

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