The Wire “Alliances”

There’s some sad commentary on the life the boys in West Baltimore lead.  They’re discussing recent disappearances and think Chris Paltrow is turning people into zombies.  They hear what sounds like gunshots going off and a police siren, but the thing that spooks them is a guy limping down the street because they think he’s a zombie.

On the one hand, maybe that’s funny.  On the other, they’re so used to the other sounds they barely react anymore.

Prez might actually be getting somewhere in the classroom.  His reward/punishment idea is maybe not the best, but students like Randy and Dukie seem to like the guy.  He maybe can’t get through to Namond, and a visit to Wee-Bey reinforces Namond’s resistance, but Namond caught Colvin’s eye.  Colvin and the prof are looking to conduct an experiment by separating stoop kids from corner kids.  Stoop kids follow rules and stay on their parents’ stoops.  Corner kids act out.  Guess what kind of kid Namond is…

Dukie is a particularly tragic case since he lives entirely with drug addicts who take whatever he has and sell it for drugs.

But there’s a shift over in Major Crimes.  Marimow is (mis)using wire taps to grab low levels guys, and when he says Marlo Stanfield is not smarter than he is, you really gotta doubt that.  A major raid yields innocent people’s homes and at least one empty field.  Carver seems to get why this isn’t working.  Daniels and Pearlman do too.  Herc?  Well, Herc planted a camera at a spot near where Marlo likes to hang out.  Carver gave him that info because Carver is turning into a good cop.  Herc takes breaks to campaign for the mayor.  Two problems there.  1.  Herc didn’t get permission to use the camera first.  And 2. Marlo’s people spotted it as soon as he left.

Lester spends a lot of time looking for the bodies of Marlo’s victims.  Turns out the school kids know where they are, but not the cops.

But Marlo, he’s smart.  He knows offering a bounty on Omar won’t work, but frame Omar for the murder of a delivery woman sure might.  Having the cops take care of Omar instead of his own people sounds like smarter strategy.

Also dumb strategy:  the mayor is antagonizing all his allies, and not only is Valchek feeding Carcetti with dirt, so is Rawls when the mayor turns on Burrell for doing what the mayor wanted done in the first place.  Carcetti might just be tying up this election in his favor after all…