The Wire/Headscratchers

Headscratchers in The Wire include:


 * How did Prez walk into a teaching career when he was thrown off the force for shooting another cop and had a history that included clear acts of mental instability (shooting up his own car) and blinding a child? I know the school he was hired at was desperate, but would he have even been able to pursue a career in teaching with that on his record?
 * When he first arrives at the school, the principals agree to hire him immediately and likely skipped the background check. It's also possible that his powerful father-in-law had his record expunged somehow.
 * Let me just say as teacher in real-life, I have seen teachers who were convicted of having sex with students serve their sentence, get out of jail, and get hired again by moving to a different district in the same state. Consequently, Prez's job transition didn't faze me in the slightest. It wasn't until I came across this page that it even occurred to me that others might find it weird.
 * Not to nitpick, but I think it was implied that he resigned from the force before getting thrown out (unlike Herc). So his background probably looks less sketchy than it actually is at first glance.
 * This is correct. Prez resigns rather than face a trial board. Lester informs him that he can fight the charge, and win, but Prez notes that he wasn't sure he was meant to be a Police.
 * As far as anyone but Herc, Carver, himself and Daniels know, he hit that kid in self-defense. As for shooting up his own car, I think that's a story only known to others in the police department, as Valchek (I think) had that covered up to save face.
 * Season Two. Is it me or does the entire invetigation team grab the Idiot Ball when Frank Sobotka agree to inform on the criminal pals? An outfit that is efficient and ruthless and has just cleaned their operation down to the last scrap of paper, but sure, let's have our key witness and link walk around another day without any surveilance or escort until he can bring his lawyer in tomorrow!
 * "Gold Coast slave, she bound for cotton fields/ Sold in a market down in New Orleans" - it's not *that* hard to work out, if you listen at a decent volume a couple of times. But Prez's brilliant ear is illustrated by his saying he worked it out because "I used to sit with my ear to the speaker playing it over and over"? Course, maybe he's of the vinyl generation and mp3s are just easier to understand...
 * "Gold coast slaveship bound for cotton fields." So yeah.
 * So, two letter typo (she->ship) notwithstanding, this troper agrees 100% with that IJBM. This isn't rocket surgery, it's brain science!
 * She --> ship isn't a typo. The original poster misheard, which kind of undermines his whole point.
 * Perhaps it's less demonstrating his great ear than the interest in details he demonstrates when solving the beeper codes, etc? When you listen for stuff like unclear song lyrics you get an ear for speech variations, which Prez is putting to work. It's not the ear on the speaker that gave him the knowledge, that's just a weird kid thing (as he's mocked for immediately after). It's that he bothered listening over and over to hear it. I didn't know that lyric--now that I listen for it, I hear it, but I'd never bothered. I'm dancing or working out or talking at a party when that song comes on, not taking notes. I bet most people aren't taking notes either--but Prez was.
 * How did Bird, Stinkum and Wee-Bey find Omar's place of residence in season one? They already established that none of his neighbours were going to pass that info on, if the Barksdales even knew who to ask, and we're always left with the impression that Brandon stayed tight-lipped under torture (you could put this down to people making assumptions, or not wanting to speak ill of the dead by presuming he would have caved, but he can't have been the information source because presumably, otherwise, they would have come for Omar much more quickly, rather than waiting a few days). And Omar plainly expected them sooner or later, because by the time they do ransack his place, he's holed up with Shirley and her adorable baby. So... what's the deal there?
 * Keep in mind that season one is the only time we see Omar living anywhere other than a vacant. Maybe the place was in his name. Hell, maybe it was in Brandon's name.
 * No, that's definitely a vacant, even in season one. Remember when he comes back after the enforcers have cased it, with the KFC? It's only like a ten second scene, but he has to pry a panel off the stoop to get in, which has been stuck there with chewing gum, it's not a proper door.
 * Actually, on this subject, it's a minor nit-picking point, but why does everyone refer to the white van as being Omar's? Of course, Omar is the main focus of the story, Brandon is only present to get Stuffed Into the Fridge, but it's clearly Brandon's van. Omar's always in the passenger seat, Brandon is driving.
 * Omar's in charge.
 * Well, on the show, who even knows who Brandon is until after he dies? McNulty and Kima call it Omar's van because Omar is the only one of the three they know by name until after the van gets torched. But it is a consistent detail that Omar never gets behind the steering wheel of any of the vehicles from which he conducts surveillance. His boyfriends and other contacts chauffeur him around.
 * Plus, Omar identifies the van as "my ride" (not even "our ride"; and Brandon's standing right there!).
 * And of course he's in the passenger seat -- what's the point of having a crew if you're going to drive yourself around?
 * It would not be out of character for Omar to let that address circulate on the streets to see how Barksdale chooses to hit him back. Or potentially Brandon did give them some information under torture, but it was vague or took them some time to piece together.
 * On the subject of Brandon... "Heard it might have been Wee-Bey, his boy Stinkum, and Bird," says Omar, and he usually has his ear pretty close to the ground, so we take his word for it -- but when the $2000 bounty is divvied up, $500 goes to Wallace for the scout, $500 to D'Angelo for the relay, and $500 each to Wee-Bey and Bird for doing the deed. If Stinkum was involved, why didn't he get a cut, too? And if he wasn't, this leaves us with the impression that one of the only two people that Omar actually kills for his part in Brandon's murder wasn't actually involved. I dunno if this is a plot hole, or if we're actually meant to think that Omar got bad intel.
 * Wallace puts Stinkum at the scene, too. Quoth McNulty, "Picks out Wee-Bey, Bird and Stinkum from photo arrays. Puts 'em all up at the Greek's the night they grab up Omar's boy, Brandon." The best story you can piece together from that is that all three enforcers were at the Greek's, but only Wee-Bey and Bird were responsible for anything that happened after they hauled Brandon out of there (neither Omar nor Wallace would have any way to know what happened after that point), though that seems a little weird. Or... the writers just thought a four-way split of the bounty seemed more dramatic.
 * If we're being technical, Poot (who, if we recall, was actually the one who noticed and successfully identified Brandon as the stick-up guy) should also have gotten a cut. However, this one is more easily explained: he probably asked Wallace and possibly D'Angelo to keep his name out of it; that's consistent with his character development. Why Stinkum was omitted is still unknown. Unless maybe he just volunteered to do it for free because, I dunno, he gets excited by turning gay stick-up guys into ashtrays.
 * Remember that it's Stinkum who gets to take a shot at Scar's territory and gets a chance to be taken "off salary" and get a percentage of his business. It's possible that he turned down payment for his part in Brandon's murder for that opportunity. It's also possible that Stinkum didn't actually take part in the murder, and was just there to oversee. Bird and Wee-Bey are straight muscle; Stinkum's job also involves moving product.
 * In Season 5, during the newspaper portion of the show, are we supposed to believe that a major newspaper would cover up an obvious plagiarism scandal inside of their own paper by DEMOTING a person that could prove that the scandal exists? If anything, a promotion would have been the logical manner to dispose of the problem.
 * Seeing that Gus and Alma are obviously persons of integrity, they'd be unlikely to accept a higher position as a bribe for their silence. They're more likely to get the message with a disciplinary sanction. When dealing with lawful goods, the stick is often more efficient than the carrot. Also, it wasn't plagiarism, it was Templeton just inventing news. There's a big difference.
 * "Just inventing news?" Several major news celebrities have lost their careers for "just inventing news." It's actually the worst sin in the journalism trade. And the paper had no real leverage over Gus nor Alma.Neither had done anything wrong nor improper and if they broke the story about a dishonest colleague,punishing them would have been seen as either paper being aware of the fraud or punishing whistleblowers. Or both.
 * Short answer: yes. Coverup, including the punishment of whistleblowers, is a sadly commonplace institutional response to a scandal. By the time any direct accusations of malfeasance took place, the paper was riding Templeton's homeless coverage on the bullet train to a Pulitzer.
 * The real problem is that the newspaper industry as a whole was dying, so Gus could tell them to stick it and reveal the story, but where would he go? Taking a demotion for his silence is perfectly in keeping with the Crapsack World of the Wire.
 * And, to be fair, there are cases of this happening in the real world, where a newspaper's star journalist fabricates a story, but their colleagues are dissuaded from pursuing the matter further.
 * In the context of this universe, however, Gus' demotion scenario is worse. Even if he doesn't say anything, there's still the matter of several sources who were lied to by Templeton, and an independent investigator who dug up info for Gus (who isn't tied to the Baltimore Sun in any way). What happens if they go after Templeton with a class-action suit for slander?
 * As much as Gus valued journalistic integrity, he also loved his paper. Being a whistleblower would mean putting The Sun in an even bigger hole than it already was. If the higher-ups were shutting down bureaus all over the world simply because the paper wasn't profitable enough (not unprofitable, mind you), then a fabrication scandal would at best tarnish the reputation of the paper for the foreseeable future and at worst, kill it entirely. At least at the copy editing desk, he can keep an eye on the new blood and try to keep them honest.
 * Umm..wasn't McNulty still in the driver's seat still even after the events of Season 5 were revealed to be untrue? While they could have prosecuted him,the embarrassment and incompetence that would have been revealed at any trial would have destroyed so many careers that making it "go away" would have been the best option. And moving McNulty to a minor position that wouldn't threaten his pension would have accomplished that.
 * Yes? What's your point? He quit if that's what you're worried about.
 * While McNulty might have enjoyed destroying some careers, that would have included friends of his like Bunk as well. Plus there's the whole part about being a white cop sent to prison...
 * If NY drug dealers were moving into Baltimore's market,why wouldn't dealers from DC,Philly and/or New Jersey have also tried to move into the market?
 * I don't know to what extent this is actually true, but in virtually all media, New York is portrayed as having the most efficient and widest reaching criminal organization, in all senses of the word. It seems likely the dealers in Philly and Jersey just didn't have the resources or the reach to move into an entirely different city. Just as likely is the possibility that they were dealing with incursions of their own.
 * I suspect it's logistics. Most crews are going to be operating on the Avon model of Territory, Territory, Territory and aren't going to risk the muscle and time trying to control another town. They likely only have the manpower to keep up their own ground and any connects with people in Baltimore would be risky for the purpose of establishing oneself. So that takes out Philly. DC is closer, but still an hour away and problematic for gangsters who barely know anything outside of their own neighborhoods. Plus, they're two different games - Balitomre is a heroin town and DC a crack town. DC would have to likely get new supplier connects - connects already familiar to Barksdale, Prop Joe, and Marlo, and word gets around. It's easier to just play the game and not worry with territory that doesn't concern you. As for New York, however, yes, they'll be more powerful, and closer to the source. They've got a robust heroin trade among other things but are more likely to be on the Stringer Bell model than Philly or DC. This allows them leverage over product which then frees up manpower to enforce in Baltimore while they get established. Just this troper's understanding of the drug trade.
 * What New York and Baltimore have in common is that they're both ports, where the drugs enter the country - thus giving the criminals there additional leverage over those further down the food chain, such as DC or Philly. I always read the occasional NY guy coming down as an attempt to consolidate the two entry points under one leadership.
 * Why were the murder attempts made against Marlo Stanfield shown to be done so amateurishly? There were several competent killers shown throughout the series (Omar,Brother Mouzone,Slim Charles,etc)that might have undertaken the task successfully. Why weren't they at least offered the task?
 * Omar, at least, doesn't take on assassination jobs for pay. And it's not like with Brother, where Stringer was able to send Omar after him by telling him that he was responsible for Brandon's torture. Omar had no reason to target Marlo until season 5. And the ties with Brother Mouzone were completely burned over the Omar thing. So that's two out of your three options down.
 * There weren't actually that many attempts on Marlo's life, directly, throughout the series. In Season 3, Avon sent Devon, the woman who seduced Marlo and attempted to lead him into an ambush. Marlo sniffed out the trap and killed her first. Beyond that, he was either holed up during his war with the Barksdales (where Avon was so sorely lacking for muscle that he had serious trouble taking out soldiers, let alone considering a straight shot at the king). From Season 4 and beyond Marlo is in command and nobody dares to take a straight shot, at least until Omar, who put substantial effort into flushing him out onto the street. The closest Marlo comes to dying, incidentally, is in his final scene when, after forced into retirement, he starts a fight with the two corner boys and beats them down after they pull a gun and knife on him.
 * Actually, Marlo was pretty lucky on one occasion. In the Season 3 finale, Slim Charles and some other mook spotted Marlo, Chris, and Snoop hanging around that rim shop they liked. Avon and his boys were literally walking out the door with the guns (and GRENADES!) to go murder him when the Major Case Squad showed up with the warrant from Stringer's snitching. But in general, Marlo was Dangerously Genre Savvy and Chris and Snoop really knew the game. Marlo's only realistic enemies were Omar, Prop Joe, the Greeks, and the Police. Omar he baited into a trap, Prop Joe he played like a fiddle, the Greeks he bought off, and the cops were defeated by Levy making a deal (also because they FUBA Rd the evidence from the vacants.)
 * Here's one: Kima's girlfriend (who wasn't shown to be neither flaky nor promiscuous) moves another woman into her home w/o telling Kima about that fact? This bothered me quite a bit (as much as a TV show can) because the woman had recently given birth and had her and Kima's child in the house.
 * That one doesn't bother me as much because there are so many complicating factors. Kima had been self-destructing McNulty-style, and there were legitimate questions about the extent to which she was committed to being a parent, if at all. Also, the relationship was new and the partner may have been thinking more in terms of wait-and-see rather than have a potentially messy conflict with her ex immediately. Keeping the news from Kima wasn't a good decision, but it's the kind of mistake even smart, capable people can make.
 * Not that it matters, but was Bubbles supposed to gay? He always had a guy w/ him and he was never shown talking to women other than his sister and Kima.
 * When I first saw the show, I got kind of a gay vibe from Bubbles. But I don't really know why. He talks in season one about having a son and an ex-girlfriend, though, and he flirts a bit (but really only in a "salesman" way) with a woman in season three. So I don't think he was meant to be gay - I just don't think he was very interested in romance at all.
 * He said it himself. When you're an addict, "you married to the needle, man."
 * Three things, all from The Target. Why is the epigraph "...when it's not your turn", when McNulty clearly says "when it ain't your turn."? Why does McNulty say that D is cousin to Avon Barksdale? And why is Johnny's hair blonde for the episode but then brown/black for the rest of the series?
 * The "when it's not your turn" thing is a reference to the rotation. When a murder comes in, someone takes it, they move to the back of the line. So, they take turns "giving a shit" about murdered people. McNulty was taking an interest in a case that wasn't his. In a larger sense, it's a comment on the overall apathetic nature of police and people in general. Nobody really gives a shit. They get paid to, they work it a bit, and they take up a new case when their turn comes back around.
 * He's saying the line's been transcribed incorrectly. To which I ask: you're really scratching your head over that?
 * D and Avon are cousins. Literally.
 * In subsequent episodes, D is Avon's nephew - he's the son of Avon's sister Brianna. However, probably McNulty was just wrong in saying they were cousins. I seem to recall Avon calling D 'cuz' in the first episode, but Stringer does too.
 * In-universe answer: it had been dyed. Real life answer: Pilot was likely shot well before any other episodes and the actor's hair was no longer dyed or they just felt he worked better as another color.
 * It bugs me that at the end of season 4, Carver is unable to save Randy Wagstaff from a group home. Sure, he can't take in Randy himself because he hasn't completed a screening process deeming him a suitable foster parent, but there's a readily apparent solution the show doesn't address - he could have asked Colvin, with whom he's close, to take Randy in. Colvin is able to adopt Namond, so he must have been cleared by Social Services, and Carver knows that he took in Namond for a night previously if not that he's adopting him permanently. The writing on the show is generally great, but the impact of a tragic event is lessened somewhat when somebody has to pick up the Idiot Ball for it to happen.
 * Colvin may not have been willing or able to take another child in, especially one whom he hadn't been building a relationship with beforehand. Additionally, Namond and Randy might not be friends any more since Randy has been branded a snitch. Also, Randy has not-unjustified disgust for the police after what happened and would probably have objected to living with one. It probably should have been addressed in dialogue, but I wouldn't call it an Idiot Ball moment for any character.
 * Sure, Colvin could have adopted Randy. Was he also going to have to adopt Dookie too ? Kenard ? All the other little hoppers on the block whose lives get shat on by the game before they even begin ? IMO that's the whole point of Randy getting fucked over despite dozens of people who could have, hell who even wanted to help him, and that's what makes his final fate so poignant. Yes, he was a good kid, and yes he could have gone out and had a good life. But he didn't. The few saviors only have so many hours to their days. They can't save 'em all. Life be that way. And that's why it goes on being that way. It's all in the game, dawg.
 * Additionally, Randy is already in the foster care system so he has to be handled according to that system's rules. Namond's mother agreed to give him up to Colvin.
 * A different problem with regards to Randy. When Marlo passes judgement over him, he specifically asks his gang not harm him but to pass word out on the street that he's a snitch. Which means that all the kids that attack him repeatedly, going as far as setting fire to his house, are not affiliated with Marlo's gang. They probably don't even know what Randy talked to the police about, and DO know that it's not about any of their friends or comrades. They basically go through all this risk and trouble because they've heard a rumor he's talked to the police about something that doesn't have to do with them. Seems... a bit excessive.
 * A couple things. First, it seems likely that a lot of those kids know someone who got put away and would have no love for informants. Second, even if Marlo told his gang not to do anything (because it might lead back to him), that's not going to stop wannabes from doing something to try to impress him. Third, teenage boys, especially ones with the rage issues shown over and over on the show, don't need a big excuse to bully anyone. Randy's like the gay kid in class, only much worse in their eyes.
 * Marlo was in clean-up mode and ordering the deaths of anyone that could have possibly snitched on him, including Little Kevin (who didn't say a word), and Bodie (who was getting ready to snitch, but hadn't given any useful information yet). He makes an exception for Randy (probably because he's just a kid), but his ordering of his crew to "spread the word" that he'd been snitching was obviously done to get the results that he did. It's clear that snitches are *not* tolerated in the school, and the retribution that Randy receives wasn't any specific kind of payback from Marlo's crew but more in line with a more general bullying, taken to extremes.
 * The whole desk in the doorway scene kind of lacks sense to. At one one point you have everyone, minus Freamon, trying to get the desk in/out. Some of them switched sides to work with Herc. They had to have noticed that Herc was trying to get the desk in and not out.
 * 'Fraid not. Carver and Herc start out on either side of the desk, Mcnulty and Sydnor come in and they stop trying to move it, asking the two to help before they can see exactly what they're doing. McNulty goes around to help Herc, Sydnor stays with Carver. Then they both push. Sydnor sees Carver pushing and assumes that's what they're doing. Same with Mcnulty. Meanwhile Lester chuckles. Nobody changes sides.