The Wire - S2- Episode 5- "Undertow"
Jul. 1st, 2011 11:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatAt work, I rave about The Wire. Talked to a colleague, who is black, and a former defense attorney, (he like me is making more dough as a contract administrator for the railroad then he ever did in law) about it - and explained it took place in Baltimore. Colleague (he's in his 50s) - "Baltimore is a city with a chewy flavor all its own..." Then he talks about working as a defense attorney - "I tend to compare things in life to what I used to do, as a defense attorney you spend most of your time explaining the cases to people. Most lawyers will inherit a file, they won't read it, and often even if they did - it wouldn't matter - since there's nothing in it but the charges. So it's the defense attorney's job to explain it to them. A lot of lawyers don't get that - that you explain the case, don't just copt a plea. They get so many of these files, you see, they don't have the time to read them or spend any time."
Other co-worker - who has worked in private sector and government, stated - "government is so much better. The only difference between the two is the private sector is just more ruthless. And more likely to cheat, steal, and do whatever is necessary to meet the bottom line." He ain't wrong. The level of corruption in the private sector makes most governments look rather pristine in comparison. My response - "Yep, only difference is the government tends to play by the rules, the private goes around all of them unless it makes them rich and happy." Yes, methinks, I'm becoming a socialist in my old age...twenty years bopping from recession to recession, while capitalism has gone mad, will do that to you.
Watched episode 5 of the Wire tonight which delves into three topics, without preaching about it. Another rarity for a tv series. These writers don't jump up on their soap boxes. Gotta to give David Simon and Ed Burns a great deal of credit for that. Again they show not tell.
Topics? 1) Gentrification - which made me laugh out loud (because experiencing that right now up close and personal - heck the example they provide hit close to home). 2) Market distrust - how you change your brand to regain market trust (comparing Worldcom (better known as MCI, and later merged with US Sprint - I know a lot about it - took a marketing class and I worked for Sprint around the time it happened.) with Drug dealing - hilarious.) 3) Loss of industry.
(It's odd, this is one of the few shows that I've become fannish about that I'm not embarrassed to rave about or admit to being in love with. Or rec to others. I know it's a quality show. I don't have to defend it. There's relatively no flaws.)
Remember when they used to make steel there?"
The episode starts with Ziggy, who is annoying but I'm beginning to realize serves a purpose to the plot. Also he isn't being portrayed as your typical annoying young kid with a Dad who doesn't see him. We rarely see him with Frank Sobotke - mostly Nick, the nephew is with Frank. And it becomes clear after a bit - that there is a parallel structure here between Avon/D/Stringer Bell and Brodie, and Frank/Nick/Greek's Henchman and Ziggy.
Then we meander to Nick and Aimee. Nick and Aimee go house=hunting. The town-house they check out, which we see from the inside first - is in the Federal District (the realtor, who just happens to be McNulty's ex-wife or estranged wife (they are separated not quite divorced) tells them). Nick responds, wait it was The Point. Realtors will change the names of neighborhoods in order to increase the prices and make them more attractive to a richer clientel. They aren't supposed to do it. NYC is attempting to fight them on it. Because when successful they change the entire name of the neighborhood on the map and redistrict it. Happened in Brooklyn - with Boreum Hill, Cobble Hill, Carrol Gardens, and Brooklyn Heights being combined into Bocca. This drove up the prices to Brooklyn Heights prices. Now, one bedroom units that used to be say 200,000 or so in the 1980s and 1990s, are 340,000 and above. They rename a neighborhood to make it more attractive to a richer client.
Nick asks what the listing price is and is told it's 340,000 - this used to be his Aunt's home, back then it was most likely no more than $15,000 maybe a bit more. It was not a nice neighborhood either and it still isn't ...drug dealers around etc. But they are changing it - moving the working class out and the richer element in. And the first step? Changing the name - The Point - people had a bad association with, by changing it to the Federal District - not a problem. Same deal in Brooklyn - I've lost count of the number of neighborhoods, fairly run-down, with these lovely renovated apartments that cost about $340,000...and the neighborhood itself has been renamed to tempt the young buyers.
Counterpoint? Stringer Bell taking a marketing course - I know it is a marketing course because it reminds me of the one I took. And it is about branding. Stringer learns to do the same thing. He asks the prof - what do you do when your product is losing sales, has a bad name attached to it, no one will buy - because of distrust? The Prof says - "You remember Worldcom? Well the CEO of Worldcom had the same issue. His company was linked with fraud. So he decided to change the name." True. I see this all the time where I work. Companies keep changing their names. They get all this adverse information linked to their old name - so off they go to change it. Which doesn't clear them from a government perspective - unless they change their tax id. Then it does. But it does make it harder to link them with that past wrong-doing. In Worldcom's case they changed their name to MCI.
MCI, Inc. is an American telecommunications subsidiary of Verizon Communications that is headquartered in Ashburn, unincorporated Loudoun County, Virginia. The corporation was originally formed as a result of the merger of WorldCom (formerly known as LDDS followed by LDDS WorldCom) and MCI Communications, and used the name MCI WorldCom followed by WorldCom before taking its final name on April 12, 2003 as part of the corporation's emergence from bankruptcy. The company formerly traded on NASDAQ under the symbols "WCOM" (pre-bankruptcy) and "MCIP" (post-bankruptcy). The corporation was purchased by Verizon Communications with the deal closing on January 6, 2006,[1] and is now identified as that company's Verizon Business division with the local residential divisions slowly integrated into local Verizon subsidiaries.
What it doesn't say is for a while there it flirted with US Sprint. I know I was working at US Sprint/United Telecom while those companies were flirting with Worldcom, then Worldcom went bankrupt and that deal disappeared. Sprint became the big hitter after Worldcom went under. What happened was several years back, I think in the 80s, might have been the 90s, the telephone industry got deregulated. Long distance providers were allowed to acquire domestic providers. Prior to that Ma Bell pretty owned everything, but then Ma Bell was split up to allow competition and regs were put in place. Then the regs removed and mergers permitted. It's a confusing mess. At any rate - MCI/Worldcom much like Avon Barksdale was the leading provider of long-distance services after AT&T (the former Ma Bell). Then the shit hit the proverbial fan, Worldcom went bankrupt and this little upstart, Sprint took over...for a bit (this is before Verizon came on the scene), sort of like Prop Joe is filling the gap.
Stringer realizes what he has to do is change their image, change their name. So off he goes to brain storm and they determine that what they need to do is change their colors, their name, and create an atmosphere of competition within their salesforce - have each building compete against each other. It's basically marketing and sales 101. Or rather capitalism 101.
Meanwhile we jump back into the world of the dock workers and their union. Their world is quite different. They are a union shop - there's no competition there, just firm loyalty. Frank Sobotke runs the union and the union in turn is run by The Greek who is giving them triple what they are making on the docs. Paying their legal fees. Making it possible for them to do more than just subsist. Wages are so low and work scarce - there's little choice. Also, the work itself becomes drudgery. Computers have come in and accuracy is not what it was. Sure - they don't throw anything out any more, but...that doesn't mean there aren't errors. You put in the numbers wrong. You miss something. The signal doesn't go through to the computer. Etc. They lose 300 cans a year. Pure human error. Or so Frank says. Half of that is the truth.
Frank wants out of his deal with The Greek...who makes the rather funny aside in the diner that he is in - if I'm in a Greek Diner, you'd think the least they could do is serve Greek food. (Have often wondered the same thing myself.) But instead is offered triple. The Greek's henchman (who I want to call Stan because that's the character he plays in In Plain Sight),
looks across the river, when Frank insists he's done with them both..."Look at that place.." we see an old industry, smoke trickling out of the stacks.."Isn't that where they used to make steel?" The steel plants closing along with the mines crippled the economy in Maryland, Pennslyvannia, Kentucky, Virgina, West Virgina, and...another state I can't think of. It's like what happened during the Industrial Revolution, except this is the Information/Technology Revolution - certain industries close down, and the people, the workforce that can't adapt is left in the lurch. The recent Tom Hanks/Julia Roberts flick Larry Crowne is about this - a man in his 50s gets fired and has to go back to school, so that he can find another job. Because so many of these people, like Nick's Dad - don't have transferrable skills or what we like to call soft skills. They aren't computer savvy, they can't write, they can't do the social networking and the databases. They don't have the skills you and I do. I know I work with so many people like this - even in my own area - who are struggling to wrap their minds around this new database. I feel stupid they tell me - when they ask for my help. You aren't, I state. Many are going for early retirement even though they can't quite afford it. Because they
can't keep up with the changes in technology. Same thing happened in 1800s through the 1900s,
in the 1930s - my Grandfather went from a white collar job to a series of blue collar jobs, and fell into poverty. My father went from middle class at the age of 8 to poverty as a teen.
They bought land - and that did them in - just like it has for so many people now. Well that and having too many kids (Irish Catholic, enough said). I see the same thing happening now with people. Over a long period of time.
Jumping over to the cops...who I rather adore. And oddly have it the best, job wise. And that's saying something. McNulty continues to my man, he and Bubbles have a rather amusing scene - where Bubbles states there's something wrong with this picture - McNulty on a boat. McNulty who asks Bubbles to tie the boat up on that thing. "Cleat", Bubbles states. And Bubbles ties a fisherman's knot. While McNulty ties a Baltimore knot. McNulty has no clue what he is doing. I keep wondering how the writer's are going to get him off that boat or if they even plan to. Bubbles tells McNulty where Omar is and McNulty is ordered by the lawyer to take Omar to get a suit. I may be an Omar/McNulty shipper. Or a McNulty/Bubbles shipper. Can't decide which. McNulty also takes it upon himself to drive up to Jersey, he's still hunting the identities of the dead girls. When he's asked why, I rather liked his response, which made me realize that an actual cop wrote this episode. "You ever see what they do in the morgue to an unidentified corspe? (Pause) Well, I have. That's why." (I also know what they do...they chop them up - use them for study, and throw them in a ditch, with lime over them. Basically treat the human body like disposable trash. Which granted it's dead, why bother. But there's a sense of a loss of dignity that just bugs me. Most TV shows like Bones, CSI, etc jump over that. )
Beadie, and yes, we finally get her nickname. This is really the first episode it is used and by the doc workers who know her well. The actress - Amy Ryan? Is rather good in the role and compelling. Anyhow Beadie is encouraged by Bunk to find a CI. Cops informant. Snitch. So she tries and does get somewhere with an ex-beau, Mau, who directs her to the computers. In turn, Bunk and Beadie and Freeman propose to Daniels that his little group take on the 14 Jane Doe case. Daniels, no idiot, doesn't want the 14 Jane Does dumped on him. Unless, of course, they find a suspect. Freeman - who like McNulty is mostly interested in solving cases and highly annoyed that he's been taken off of the Jane Doe case by Rawls - pushes for it, and makes a good argument - that Homicide doesn't have the sprawl they have or the resources for it. Why not combine? Also, let's be realistic, you aren't going to get as much control as you think over your own little unit in CID. Daniels - just wants to give Valcheck and Burrell enough to make them happy, so he can have a working unit again. Freeman wants to solve the case. We're talking Macro and Micro here - and I see it all the time. Although I can see why Daniels doesn't want those 14 Jane Does on his docket.
Freeman reminds me a lot of McNulty. Freeman tells Rawls: "What have I done to make you fuck me over, before I even get a chance to solve the stevedore case of the 14 Jane Does?" Rawls annoyed, says, "I'm not fucking you over Freeman, if I were fucking you over - trust me, you'd know it and not need to ask that question." Poor Rawls he keeps getting stuck with cops who actually care. He turns to Bunk - "Freeman is getting his tail to Southeast Side, which means, Bunk, you are stuck with 14 Jane Does by yourself." Poor Bunk, who has an expression on his face that states, damn, I got fucked over. Rawls blows my mind. [He reminds me a lot of an evil boss I had once upon a time, that guy much like Rawls cared more about having his ass licked and looking good to the higher ups, than he did a job well done. He couldn't take anyone who was smarter than him, ambitious, or a go-getter. He told me once - "You are too aggressive for this company. You are too bright. And your personal skills suck." Then he cursed me out for twenty minutes straight. But Karma being a bitch knocked that asshole upside the head - yes, folks my tale has a happy ending. I left said evil company (resigned), and evil boss was eventually fired in disgrace, then evil company got bought by a bigger and more evil company and I landed in a much nicer company elsewhere. I make it a point not to stay where people don't like me. Bad for the blood pressure. I find Rawls hilarious in this series though and I just love to hate his guts.]
Greggs/Carver and Herc are back on the job. But this round the drug dealers are white - although they are pretending to be black. Herc has himself all dressed up in the pale white hoodie, etc. While Greggs and Carver sit on the roof and shoot pictures. In a hilarious bit - Carver gets roof tar on his jeans and puts a blanket down and they continue shooting. Both are amused, then annoyed by Herc's undercover bit.
Finally, last but not least - we have Stringer Bell, Donnett, and D...D wants nothing to do with Donnett and Terrell. But Stringer is clearly in their lives and annoyed with D for bucking everyone. And talks to Avon about reaching out to him again. Avon meanwhile is gearing up for shoving D out with the garbage, justifying it with Stringer. This reminds me a little bit of Frank Sobotke, Nick and Ziggy -Ziggy the weak link. Nick trying to start a family and be successful and willing to do what it takes. Stringer and Nick seem to be good parallels. Oddly, Stringer is getting more money and an education. Stringer is a bright man. Nick isn't being so lucky.
The people who rec'd this series to me? You were right. It is the best tv series I've seen. I bow to your understanding of great taste and well my taste. Anyone who loves to analyze, loves patterns, loves intricate stories, and great characters - will most likely love the Wire.
Other co-worker - who has worked in private sector and government, stated - "government is so much better. The only difference between the two is the private sector is just more ruthless. And more likely to cheat, steal, and do whatever is necessary to meet the bottom line." He ain't wrong. The level of corruption in the private sector makes most governments look rather pristine in comparison. My response - "Yep, only difference is the government tends to play by the rules, the private goes around all of them unless it makes them rich and happy." Yes, methinks, I'm becoming a socialist in my old age...twenty years bopping from recession to recession, while capitalism has gone mad, will do that to you.
Watched episode 5 of the Wire tonight which delves into three topics, without preaching about it. Another rarity for a tv series. These writers don't jump up on their soap boxes. Gotta to give David Simon and Ed Burns a great deal of credit for that. Again they show not tell.
Topics? 1) Gentrification - which made me laugh out loud (because experiencing that right now up close and personal - heck the example they provide hit close to home). 2) Market distrust - how you change your brand to regain market trust (comparing Worldcom (better known as MCI, and later merged with US Sprint - I know a lot about it - took a marketing class and I worked for Sprint around the time it happened.) with Drug dealing - hilarious.) 3) Loss of industry.
(It's odd, this is one of the few shows that I've become fannish about that I'm not embarrassed to rave about or admit to being in love with. Or rec to others. I know it's a quality show. I don't have to defend it. There's relatively no flaws.)
Remember when they used to make steel there?"
The episode starts with Ziggy, who is annoying but I'm beginning to realize serves a purpose to the plot. Also he isn't being portrayed as your typical annoying young kid with a Dad who doesn't see him. We rarely see him with Frank Sobotke - mostly Nick, the nephew is with Frank. And it becomes clear after a bit - that there is a parallel structure here between Avon/D/Stringer Bell and Brodie, and Frank/Nick/Greek's Henchman and Ziggy.
Then we meander to Nick and Aimee. Nick and Aimee go house=hunting. The town-house they check out, which we see from the inside first - is in the Federal District (the realtor, who just happens to be McNulty's ex-wife or estranged wife (they are separated not quite divorced) tells them). Nick responds, wait it was The Point. Realtors will change the names of neighborhoods in order to increase the prices and make them more attractive to a richer clientel. They aren't supposed to do it. NYC is attempting to fight them on it. Because when successful they change the entire name of the neighborhood on the map and redistrict it. Happened in Brooklyn - with Boreum Hill, Cobble Hill, Carrol Gardens, and Brooklyn Heights being combined into Bocca. This drove up the prices to Brooklyn Heights prices. Now, one bedroom units that used to be say 200,000 or so in the 1980s and 1990s, are 340,000 and above. They rename a neighborhood to make it more attractive to a richer client.
Nick asks what the listing price is and is told it's 340,000 - this used to be his Aunt's home, back then it was most likely no more than $15,000 maybe a bit more. It was not a nice neighborhood either and it still isn't ...drug dealers around etc. But they are changing it - moving the working class out and the richer element in. And the first step? Changing the name - The Point - people had a bad association with, by changing it to the Federal District - not a problem. Same deal in Brooklyn - I've lost count of the number of neighborhoods, fairly run-down, with these lovely renovated apartments that cost about $340,000...and the neighborhood itself has been renamed to tempt the young buyers.
Counterpoint? Stringer Bell taking a marketing course - I know it is a marketing course because it reminds me of the one I took. And it is about branding. Stringer learns to do the same thing. He asks the prof - what do you do when your product is losing sales, has a bad name attached to it, no one will buy - because of distrust? The Prof says - "You remember Worldcom? Well the CEO of Worldcom had the same issue. His company was linked with fraud. So he decided to change the name." True. I see this all the time where I work. Companies keep changing their names. They get all this adverse information linked to their old name - so off they go to change it. Which doesn't clear them from a government perspective - unless they change their tax id. Then it does. But it does make it harder to link them with that past wrong-doing. In Worldcom's case they changed their name to MCI.
MCI, Inc. is an American telecommunications subsidiary of Verizon Communications that is headquartered in Ashburn, unincorporated Loudoun County, Virginia. The corporation was originally formed as a result of the merger of WorldCom (formerly known as LDDS followed by LDDS WorldCom) and MCI Communications, and used the name MCI WorldCom followed by WorldCom before taking its final name on April 12, 2003 as part of the corporation's emergence from bankruptcy. The company formerly traded on NASDAQ under the symbols "WCOM" (pre-bankruptcy) and "MCIP" (post-bankruptcy). The corporation was purchased by Verizon Communications with the deal closing on January 6, 2006,[1] and is now identified as that company's Verizon Business division with the local residential divisions slowly integrated into local Verizon subsidiaries.
What it doesn't say is for a while there it flirted with US Sprint. I know I was working at US Sprint/United Telecom while those companies were flirting with Worldcom, then Worldcom went bankrupt and that deal disappeared. Sprint became the big hitter after Worldcom went under. What happened was several years back, I think in the 80s, might have been the 90s, the telephone industry got deregulated. Long distance providers were allowed to acquire domestic providers. Prior to that Ma Bell pretty owned everything, but then Ma Bell was split up to allow competition and regs were put in place. Then the regs removed and mergers permitted. It's a confusing mess. At any rate - MCI/Worldcom much like Avon Barksdale was the leading provider of long-distance services after AT&T (the former Ma Bell). Then the shit hit the proverbial fan, Worldcom went bankrupt and this little upstart, Sprint took over...for a bit (this is before Verizon came on the scene), sort of like Prop Joe is filling the gap.
Stringer realizes what he has to do is change their image, change their name. So off he goes to brain storm and they determine that what they need to do is change their colors, their name, and create an atmosphere of competition within their salesforce - have each building compete against each other. It's basically marketing and sales 101. Or rather capitalism 101.
Meanwhile we jump back into the world of the dock workers and their union. Their world is quite different. They are a union shop - there's no competition there, just firm loyalty. Frank Sobotke runs the union and the union in turn is run by The Greek who is giving them triple what they are making on the docs. Paying their legal fees. Making it possible for them to do more than just subsist. Wages are so low and work scarce - there's little choice. Also, the work itself becomes drudgery. Computers have come in and accuracy is not what it was. Sure - they don't throw anything out any more, but...that doesn't mean there aren't errors. You put in the numbers wrong. You miss something. The signal doesn't go through to the computer. Etc. They lose 300 cans a year. Pure human error. Or so Frank says. Half of that is the truth.
Frank wants out of his deal with The Greek...who makes the rather funny aside in the diner that he is in - if I'm in a Greek Diner, you'd think the least they could do is serve Greek food. (Have often wondered the same thing myself.) But instead is offered triple. The Greek's henchman (who I want to call Stan because that's the character he plays in In Plain Sight),
looks across the river, when Frank insists he's done with them both..."Look at that place.." we see an old industry, smoke trickling out of the stacks.."Isn't that where they used to make steel?" The steel plants closing along with the mines crippled the economy in Maryland, Pennslyvannia, Kentucky, Virgina, West Virgina, and...another state I can't think of. It's like what happened during the Industrial Revolution, except this is the Information/Technology Revolution - certain industries close down, and the people, the workforce that can't adapt is left in the lurch. The recent Tom Hanks/Julia Roberts flick Larry Crowne is about this - a man in his 50s gets fired and has to go back to school, so that he can find another job. Because so many of these people, like Nick's Dad - don't have transferrable skills or what we like to call soft skills. They aren't computer savvy, they can't write, they can't do the social networking and the databases. They don't have the skills you and I do. I know I work with so many people like this - even in my own area - who are struggling to wrap their minds around this new database. I feel stupid they tell me - when they ask for my help. You aren't, I state. Many are going for early retirement even though they can't quite afford it. Because they
can't keep up with the changes in technology. Same thing happened in 1800s through the 1900s,
in the 1930s - my Grandfather went from a white collar job to a series of blue collar jobs, and fell into poverty. My father went from middle class at the age of 8 to poverty as a teen.
They bought land - and that did them in - just like it has for so many people now. Well that and having too many kids (Irish Catholic, enough said). I see the same thing happening now with people. Over a long period of time.
Jumping over to the cops...who I rather adore. And oddly have it the best, job wise. And that's saying something. McNulty continues to my man, he and Bubbles have a rather amusing scene - where Bubbles states there's something wrong with this picture - McNulty on a boat. McNulty who asks Bubbles to tie the boat up on that thing. "Cleat", Bubbles states. And Bubbles ties a fisherman's knot. While McNulty ties a Baltimore knot. McNulty has no clue what he is doing. I keep wondering how the writer's are going to get him off that boat or if they even plan to. Bubbles tells McNulty where Omar is and McNulty is ordered by the lawyer to take Omar to get a suit. I may be an Omar/McNulty shipper. Or a McNulty/Bubbles shipper. Can't decide which. McNulty also takes it upon himself to drive up to Jersey, he's still hunting the identities of the dead girls. When he's asked why, I rather liked his response, which made me realize that an actual cop wrote this episode. "You ever see what they do in the morgue to an unidentified corspe? (Pause) Well, I have. That's why." (I also know what they do...they chop them up - use them for study, and throw them in a ditch, with lime over them. Basically treat the human body like disposable trash. Which granted it's dead, why bother. But there's a sense of a loss of dignity that just bugs me. Most TV shows like Bones, CSI, etc jump over that. )
Beadie, and yes, we finally get her nickname. This is really the first episode it is used and by the doc workers who know her well. The actress - Amy Ryan? Is rather good in the role and compelling. Anyhow Beadie is encouraged by Bunk to find a CI. Cops informant. Snitch. So she tries and does get somewhere with an ex-beau, Mau, who directs her to the computers. In turn, Bunk and Beadie and Freeman propose to Daniels that his little group take on the 14 Jane Doe case. Daniels, no idiot, doesn't want the 14 Jane Does dumped on him. Unless, of course, they find a suspect. Freeman - who like McNulty is mostly interested in solving cases and highly annoyed that he's been taken off of the Jane Doe case by Rawls - pushes for it, and makes a good argument - that Homicide doesn't have the sprawl they have or the resources for it. Why not combine? Also, let's be realistic, you aren't going to get as much control as you think over your own little unit in CID. Daniels - just wants to give Valcheck and Burrell enough to make them happy, so he can have a working unit again. Freeman wants to solve the case. We're talking Macro and Micro here - and I see it all the time. Although I can see why Daniels doesn't want those 14 Jane Does on his docket.
Freeman reminds me a lot of McNulty. Freeman tells Rawls: "What have I done to make you fuck me over, before I even get a chance to solve the stevedore case of the 14 Jane Does?" Rawls annoyed, says, "I'm not fucking you over Freeman, if I were fucking you over - trust me, you'd know it and not need to ask that question." Poor Rawls he keeps getting stuck with cops who actually care. He turns to Bunk - "Freeman is getting his tail to Southeast Side, which means, Bunk, you are stuck with 14 Jane Does by yourself." Poor Bunk, who has an expression on his face that states, damn, I got fucked over. Rawls blows my mind. [He reminds me a lot of an evil boss I had once upon a time, that guy much like Rawls cared more about having his ass licked and looking good to the higher ups, than he did a job well done. He couldn't take anyone who was smarter than him, ambitious, or a go-getter. He told me once - "You are too aggressive for this company. You are too bright. And your personal skills suck." Then he cursed me out for twenty minutes straight. But Karma being a bitch knocked that asshole upside the head - yes, folks my tale has a happy ending. I left said evil company (resigned), and evil boss was eventually fired in disgrace, then evil company got bought by a bigger and more evil company and I landed in a much nicer company elsewhere. I make it a point not to stay where people don't like me. Bad for the blood pressure. I find Rawls hilarious in this series though and I just love to hate his guts.]
Greggs/Carver and Herc are back on the job. But this round the drug dealers are white - although they are pretending to be black. Herc has himself all dressed up in the pale white hoodie, etc. While Greggs and Carver sit on the roof and shoot pictures. In a hilarious bit - Carver gets roof tar on his jeans and puts a blanket down and they continue shooting. Both are amused, then annoyed by Herc's undercover bit.
Finally, last but not least - we have Stringer Bell, Donnett, and D...D wants nothing to do with Donnett and Terrell. But Stringer is clearly in their lives and annoyed with D for bucking everyone. And talks to Avon about reaching out to him again. Avon meanwhile is gearing up for shoving D out with the garbage, justifying it with Stringer. This reminds me a little bit of Frank Sobotke, Nick and Ziggy -Ziggy the weak link. Nick trying to start a family and be successful and willing to do what it takes. Stringer and Nick seem to be good parallels. Oddly, Stringer is getting more money and an education. Stringer is a bright man. Nick isn't being so lucky.
The people who rec'd this series to me? You were right. It is the best tv series I've seen. I bow to your understanding of great taste and well my taste. Anyone who loves to analyze, loves patterns, loves intricate stories, and great characters - will most likely love the Wire.
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Date: 2011-07-02 02:38 pm (UTC)It seems to be a problem world-wide right now. In a recent poll - over 54% of the people between the ages of 19-35 stated that they were planning on leaving NYC, because they could not afford to live here and could not find work or full-time job. Another poll stated
that over 50% of the unemployed are below the age of 30.
The problem - is in part the aging baby boomer generation or the people between the ages of 55-70 that have not been able to retire.
The stock market crashed with their savings...and as a result they remain in the work-force. If they aren't - they can't get a job and are often living with their children, because they cannot afford a home of their own.
Add to this the rising costs of higher education. In the US - you are caught in a Catch-22, many people with higher educations can't get jobs, but people without one can't even get in the door for an interview. The one's with the higher educations that do get them - are in debt up to their eyeballs - due to student loans. In the US - a state college can cost $32,000. To put this in context, when I was in school - $15,000 was considered a lot of money to pay for college. The most expensive college when I was in school - 20 years ago was a little over $18,000. Now, you can only find that at a community college. This does not include room, board, or textbooks.
So the young person gets a Ph.d or a Masters and graduates. There's no jobs. The best they can do is maybe $7 per hour if that. And they are spending the whole paycheck trying to pay off that loan or just getting into more and more debt. Falling into that hole and no hope of getting out.
It's tragic. And affects everyone around them - we have that bright young mind, who could be teaching children, cleaning the environment, any number of things - wasting away at a dead-end job, and struggling to get by. Often with no health benefits. After a while they may begin to resent the immigrants who come in and take their low-paying job, because it is cheaper to higher these illegal immigrants or give into prejudice and resentment.