Look Before You Leap
I had some doubts about The Wire's mojo after Episode 8, but Episode 9 has me completely back on track. For a while now I've been a little puzzled by political debates about "teaching to the test" when school systems implement test-based accountability metrics. Number 8 handled this question in a way that I found dramatically clumsy. Episode 9, however, by hewing to the time-honored "show me, don't tell me" dictum made for better television and even has me semi-convinced of its political point, so kudos. The scene with the kids at Ruth's Chris was fantastic (as was the dice) and, in a typically Wireish fashion served to nicely underscore the point Prop Joe was making about Baltimore players' dubious notions of what "running away" would entail -- lots of people are conceptually trapped by the Charm City Game, almost literally incapable of imagining what it would mean to get out of a bad situation even when they recognize that the game is likely to kill them. I continued to be a bit puzzled by the action in the Hall -- discussion of which will get spoiler-y and I know some friends of mine haven't seen the episode so it goes below the fold.
Even before it was specifically noted and dramatized, it seems to me that Carcett's basic political problem was fairly clear. He's a white mayor in a black town, elected on a fairly narrow plurality of the vote. He needs to fear that a strong black challenger will emerge and boot him from office. The logical candidate for this is the City Council President, a youngish attractive African-American woman. Fortunately, Carcetti has a simple proposition he can make to her -- he wants to run for Governor in 2008, as outlined in Episode 8. To do that, he needs a successful tenure in office. The City Council President's good will would be very helpful in giving him the sort of successful tenure that could put him in Annapolis. Fortunately, their interests should be completely aligned on this issue since, if he becomes governor, the mayor's office becomes vacant and, according to the city charter she immediately becomes mayor.
As we see in Episode 9, she seems to have a different plan. Her idea is to make his life a living hell, make him a failed Mayor, and then beat him in 2010. Again, though, the good news for Carcetti is that his plan would be better for both of them. All he needs to do is make this explicit to her, in a semi-private way, before the two of them have a big, contentious fight at a meeting. Instead, though, he plunged blindly into the meeting, has the fight, then makes these points to her later in a very hostile tone. Don't either of them know how to play this game?
Similarly with Carcetti's interactions with Burrell. If he knows he can't sack the man in the short-term, why not try and play nice for at least a bit while trying to keep maneouvering to put himself in a position to fire him. All indications are that Burrell would have liked to try and kiss up to Carcetti. Instead, he tipped his hand super-obviously while leaving the chief in charge to spend the next weeks and months fucking with him.
Back to praise -- the Herc, Carver contrast is delightful. I also think this little counterpoint makes an excellent point about the logic of these kind of situations which is that one guy who's doing his job badly can easily do more harm than a single cop who's doing his job well is able to compensate for. I think there's political relevance here to ongoing discussions of counterinsurgency. To make tasks as delicate as those go well, it's not good enough for most of the units in theater to be handling themselves properly. Essentially all of them need to be doing a good job. At a minimum, malfactors and missteps need to be sufficiently rare that it's feasible to correct problems quickly and swiftly remove people who can't learn from their mistakes from their jobs.
In policing terms, it's much easier to get a useful informant killed than it is to cultivate one and this holds true up and down the line of tasks requiring interpersonal trust and understanding. These are precious commodities, easily wrecked through thoughtlessness.
Comments
Prop Joe and Marlo worrying about the major crimes unit, which unknown to them is now completely ineffectual, was another good scene.
Does anyone else get the feeling that Carcetti is never actually going to become mayor? I'm just guessing there's a reason that all this good stuff with Rawls and Daniels and the lawyer is all happening before Carcetti clears the general election. I hope I'm wrong.
Given Carcetti's, er, proclivities and the attractiveness of Madame Council President...
These season has been so much about delayed gratification, I might break down and have to download the rest somewhere, I can't take it anymore.
Is anyone else having as much trouble as I am watching Wire episodes when they actually come out on Sundays? I haven't gone and torrented the whole season or anything, but they're always out on Comcast OnDemand the week before (i.e., I can watch next week's episode tonight), and I'm having trouble resisting.
And Matt, did you stop watching Battlestar or something? What the frack is up, bro?
Um, no, Carcetti will become Mayor. Anything else would be pretty silly. Nobody is thinking about the General Election because there is nothing to think about.
The Ruth's Chris scene echoed the scene in episode 1.05 in which D'Angelo, out with Donette, violates dessert-cart protocol.
People actually often behave in pretty stupid ways, especially when there is a lot going on.
Can someone please provide the name of the cop that really enjoys doing street rips and bustin' heads? (I looked on the HBO site) Tallish white guy with a goatee, and pretty much as close as you could get to a thinking man's Bush supporter.
Pretty funny that the discussion between Carcetti and the Council President happens in the very same week that Martin O’Malley gets elected to the statehouse and Sheila Dixon moves up to mayor, no?
I thought episode 8 was really good actually. The conversation about NCLB in the teachers lounge may have been a bit didactic, but it was pretty realistic as well. My acquaintances who are public school teachers in Maryland say stuff just like that. Also, the opening scene with Prez trying to teach a math problem to his students and getting shown up by a smartass kid (“B-5 got the dinks”) was just a brilliant piece of writing, and one of the high points of this season so far.
In episode 9, the scene with Bunny taking the kids to a fancy restaurant was great as well… we saw this same scenario between D and Donnete back in season 1, but it was actually done better this time, in contrast to the other times this season when old scenes from previous seasons have been recycled.
The point about Herc and counterinsurgency is interesting. Are Herc’s mistakes inevitable, or is it the bad leadership of Marimow, Burrell, Royce, etc. that makes someone like Herc possible? It’s the incompetence dodge debate all over again…
Cain,
I'm with you. I've found however that if I watch next Sunday's episode sometime during the week and then again on Sunday night, my understanding and appreciation are much better. It is definitely worth of multiple viewings. I think it's brilliant!
Carcetti already is Mayor - or at least has cleared the general election and is Mayor-elect. We're into winter now - witness the heavy winter clothing everybody is wearing and the snow on the ground when Omar is let out of jail. And knowing Baltimore, even if Carcetti only got a narrow plurality of the primary vote, he was most likely overwhelmingly voted in in the general.
My favorite part of last night was Randy. He needs money to downpay Prez for the credit card so he can buy candy on-line at wholesale, and then promptly goes out and wins way more money at dice using his new math probability skills - yet it never seems to occur to him to bag the candy business and just go for the easy dice winnings. Good kid - too bad he's apparently doomed becuase of Herc's stupidity.
Is Burrell-Rawls this season's Barksdale-Bell, with career incarceration and death in the place of the actual fates suffered by Avon and Stringer? (And by professional death for Rawls, I mean to say he'll be outed).
theCoach, I believe you're thinking of Officer Dozerman, whose missing gun Bunk was tasked with reclaiming in Season 3.
Pages 38-40 of this book talk about the probabilities involved in street craps. In street craps there is no banker so you either bet with the dice roller ("pass") or against the dice roller ("don't pass"). "Don't pass" has a expected positive payoff of 1.4 cents on the dollar. The smart players know this and always bet "don't pass" except when they are rolling the dice. If Randy is considered too young to play he could be doing this all the time. The book also says there are often side bets involved and Randy could be making some of these side bets.
AP, Dozerman is Herc's buddy who came with him to MCU. The goateed head knocked, whose name I don't remember is played by a (perhaps former?) BPD SWAT guy, IIRC.
I am lending my dvds of the first two seasons to a buddy, and I really want to be able to tell him before he watches that he reminds me of _____ (that guy).
Truly effective teaching involves teaching more than facts and skills, but also teaching students how to think. For example, Prez teaches the students how to divide apples into quarters and fifths, but they are thrown dividing cars into thirds. Why? Because the curriculum taught through rote, not through internalizing the skill by manipulating it in new ways. That's what teaching students how to think and learn does.
And that's why teachaing to the test is doomed to enforce inadequate, dull and second rate teaching. Teaching to the test emphasizes memorization and rote learning while almost completely eliminating the synthesis of skills and critical thinking. The key elements of a complete education (critical thinking and skill synthesis) are not taught through rote memorization, but teaching to the test forces educators into the rote memorization strategy.
If you want to see successful education, look at Finland, where testing is nearly non-existent. That's because they understand it's about teaching students how to learn (something they will need to do as adults as well) and to think critically (something Americans are afraid of) and that real education is not about standardized tests that more accurately measure conformity and acculturation than education quality.
to answer my question:
Anthony Colicchio
Played by: Benjamin Busch
Ohhhh, wait until you see the next episode:
Burrell strikes back,
Bubbles strikes back,
Daniels strikes back,
Chris and Snoops just strike, strike, and strike more ("Dang, you din't even wait ta git the motherfucker in the house!"),
McNaulty's ex strikes out,
Randy strike out,
Nehman strikes gold only to have his moms screw it up,
Herc strikes out swinging,
It may just be the best episode this season.
I do love HBO On Demand oooohhhhhh sooooo much!
Thanks for the spoiler, there, Vagabond.
To: theCoach,
A friend found my name on this site and I was pleased to be noticed by a Wire researcher. I play the perenially frustrated Anthony Colicchio and you can catch me from time to time if you aren't in the habit of blinking. Thank you for watching the show with such care. It is a privilege to live, even briefly, in such an uncompromising character in The Wire's honest fiction of Baltimore. Seeing black and white in a world of grey tortures Tony. I find it interesting to be a soldier doomed to a losing war who continues to believe in the attack. Thank you, always, for watching. The writers will never let you down and the rest of us, well, we do what we can not to ruin the words.
Best,
Benjamin Busch
Awesome!
You are doing a fantastic job on a great show. Such a good job that I sometimes wonder if you are too believable.
Congratualtions.
Thank you Coach. It used to be a compliment to be called "unbelievable" but I will be happy to take "too believable". So now we all wait for the fifth and final season. I hope that they cut my leash and let me lose the war on drugs with a great deal of violence. One more year with the harshest haircut on television. Take care and watch carefully.
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