Grid Effect

I said yesterday that picking out the five best character defining scenes was probably the most difficult categorization we could think of, just based on the sheer mass of characters and how great the development is for 90% of them. Well, this series’ loyal fan base didn’t become such apologists for nothing. Picking your five favorite scenes is like Barkley making room for Dwayne Wade, narrowing it down to five is daunting, and while there are sure to be disagreements about what qualifies one scene as better than the next, we’re going to try and keep these scenes different from the two lists we’ve already done and the last one we plan to do.

Mind you, these aren’t scenes aren’t necessarily uplifting or funny or tragic or depressing, they’re just memorable. So, without further ado, Grid Effects five greatest moments in Wire history:

5) Season three, episode 33: “Moral Midgetry”
McNulty damn near drives Brianna to suicide. (Couldn’t find the actual clip, but here is the aftermath of it).

On this series it is rare we see people from the police department speak so candidly with leaders of the drug trade. And Brianna isn’t necessarily an evil or despicable character, but she’s lived in a bubble her entire life and McNulty all but blaming her for her death with total disregard and callousness was, well…I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t somewhat satisfying. I kind of connect that scene, to a scene in season one when Avon is imploring Brianna to convince D’Angelo to take the twenty years instead of turning state’s evidence by saying, “you like this house, that furniture, that couch you’re sitting on”. Like her son was murdered for her vanity. And she fucking knows it.
The way McNulty explained to Brianna that he didn’t approach her about his suspicions regarding D’Angelo’s death because he was, “looking for someone who cared about the kid”, really enlightened us to his disdain for the drug trade and why he acts the way he does.

4) Season one, episode 12: “Cleaning Up”
“Where’s Wallace?!”

The culmination of D’Angelo’s angst with the game and his frustration of being a patsy for his uncle. Stringer obviously never felt any sort of connection to D’Angelo that Avon did, and that is epitomized in his scathing at at D’Angelo’s eruption here. He was probably similar to Michael in a myriad of ways, but had the family connections so he never had to instill the same brutality Michael has, instead just skated along almost mindlessly until his conscious got the better of him.

3) Season two, episode 10: “Storm Warnings”
Ziggy kills Glekas (Again, we couldn’t find the clip, but here’s part of the aftermath.)

Probably the older, white, middle class version of Randy. After being constantly harangued by his peers, and undermined by his partners in crime, when Glekas attempts to short change Ziggy on the agreed amount for some stolen cars then roughs the undersized Ziggy up, Ziggy decides his tolerance for verbal, physical and financial abuse can only go so far and murders Glekas and shoots a store clerk, only to instantly regret it. As judged by his giving the aggrieved money to the clerk, his violent trembling while being apprehended and his immediate confession.
I compare him to Randy because his reaction to death is so visceral compared to many of the characters portrayed, Randy was clearly the most effected between him, Michael and Dukie at seeing the dead body in the vacant row house. What’s amazing is Ziggy’s eruption was all underpinned by a lack of gainful employment brought about by Government limitations on the docks. I need a drink.

It’s horrifying to think about him in prison.

2) Season three, episode 36: “Middle Ground”
Brother Mouzone and Omar kill Stinger Bell

While filming this season David Simon was unsure as to whether he would be renewed, so season three, more so than one, two or four, has a tinge of finality to it. Avon goes to prison, McNulty returns to the western, Bunny is fired from the force and Stringer Bell’s misdeeds come full circle to bite him in the ass. As is the case with everyone in this series, if a character decides to go outside the confines of the institution with which he operates, he is inevitably punished.
Stringer wanted to turn the Barksdales into Baltimore’s version of the Kennedy’s. Ultimately he was killed for trying to maintain stability and avoid violence within the drug trade, and that particular institution does not allow such alterations. The same thing happened to Prop Joe this season, though he avoided his fate much longer because he wasn’t nearly as devious about it.

1) Season four, episode 50: “Final Grades”
Bodie agrees to testify against Marlo.

Bodie wasn’t necessarily my favorite character in the series, but he had my favorite arc. Here is a kid paying his dues in the drug game, hadn’t ever left Baltimore until a dry drug run to Philly, obligingly and gladly did everything that was asked of him, only to have the rug pulled out from under him and relegated to a corner working for people who’d kill him if it were legal, but can’t be hassled to do so. His frustration differed from D’Angelo’s in that he loved the game, saw it as a means to an end and didn’t want a part of anything else. So when any chance he had at upward mobility was thwarted and Marlo killed his friend for virtually no reason, Bodie had reached his wits end, and harks back to one of the more symbolic scenes about the plight of your average corner boy. His self-realization and sadness here is palpable, and is probably my favorite scene in the history of the series.

Other contenders for this were Bunk’s lecture to Omar, Stringer telling Avon about D’Angelo, Kenard killing Omar, Michael beating down Kenard, Michael killing Snoop, the aforementioned chess game, Omar robbing Marlo’s poker game, Omar in prison, Carcetti convincing delegate Watkins to back his campaign, McNulty staging his first homeless murder, Bunk and Freamon interrogating Sobotka, etc.

I guess what I’m saying is every scene is memorable in some way, and this list isn’t nearly comprehensive enough and is totally absurd. But I need something to write about, and doing a lengthy post about the Shakespearian and Greek elements abundant in The Wire seems a little too academic for a blog. So, it is what it is.

A Survivor recap and a most tragic list coming tomorrow. Comparing tragedy, now that’s a useful practice.