It Takes A Whole Village
This Sunday, HBO airs the season four finale of their critically-acclaimed series, The Wire. Hailed for its searing accuracy in dramatizing contemporary social issues in a decidedly non-network-television style of storytelling, this season has also been by far the show’s best ever in terms of its writing and acting.
Continuing their established storyline about the drug trade in Baltimore, Maryland and its impact on dealers, addicts, ordinary citizens, the police and elected officials, this year the show interwove that into the framework of the educational system and its role in contributing to and mediating the ways in which young people get caught up in the life. However, while the school system may be the vehicle through which producers explore these topics, what we have all learned is their complexity and inter-relationship.
There are great similarities between the running of a public school, a police department, and a city government administration. There are people to be served and people to whom you are held accountable. There are measurements of success and failure. There is money to be spent wisely or squandered on hopelessly flawed approaches. There are opportunities for great innovation and creativity, and the temptation to repeat the same mistakes over and over again.
The Wire introduced us to four new characters, students at the fictional Edward Tilghman Middle School, all products of the tough West Baltimore neighborhood that produced the Barksdale crew, Stringer Bell, Omar, Bubbles and all the other characters we’ve been following.
Michael Lee (Tristan Wilds) is a mature, reflective young man carrying responsibilities far beyond his years. Practically a father to his younger half brother, he navigates the streets carefully and at times by displaying physical toughness, while at home dealing with a drug addicted mother and recently, an ex-con for a stepfather, who he had good reason to distrust.
Randy Wagstaff (Maestro Harrell) is a story of loss and redemption. He lost his mother at an early age and never knew his father, reputedly an East Side drug dealer and has grown up in the foster care system. Placed in a good home with a sense of discipline and hope, Randy is a quick learner and resourceful entrepreneur, aware that there is life beyond the streets.
Namond Brice (Julito McCullum) is second generation corner boy. His father, the imprisoned Barksdale enforcer Roland “Wee-Bey” Brice, still commands respect and loyalty from what remains of the Barksdale operation, and as a result young Namond is expected to follow in his footsteps. In fact, his mother demands it to keep her at the standard of living to which she has grown accustomed.
Duquan “Dukie” Weems (Jermaine Crawford) is the worst case of neglect and the most deserving of attention. A smart and inquisitive student who is fully capable of advancing academically if given support, he won’t get any of that at home. Both of his parents are addicts, willing to steal and sell his school supplies to meet their needs, unable to keep a roof over his head, clean clothes on his back or food in his stomach.
Wrapped around and running all through their lives are the larger city-wide issues of official accountability, real responses versus cosmetic ones, as well as the need for parents to step up and be parents before someone else does, with more sinister consequences.
The campaign for mayor pointed out how easy it is to mislead the public for purely political reasons. Outgoing Mayor Clarence Royce (Glynn Turman) directs police to keep a lid on any new murder investigations to artificially deflate the crime statistics—“juking the stats” they call it—so he won’t look bad in his race against Councilman Thomas Carcetti (Aidan Gillen). Carcetti won the election on a platform of reform and real change, but now faces the daunting task of making that happen.
Schools juke stats too. The entire Tilghman faculty is directed to focus on prepping their low-achieving students for upcoming state-mandated tests. They must pass to continue to receive financial aid and avoid direct state supervision. Test scores take precedence over real teaching, or the use of innovative classroom techniques like the dice games former detective, now math teacher Roland Pryzbylewski (Jim True-Frost) used in his class, or the university-backed program to specifically target the problem students, that former Western District police Major Howard “Bunny” Colvin (Robert Wisdom) is leading. Why do kids need to actually learn as long as the school can create the impression they are succeeding by getting them through the tests? Why invest valuable resources in kids with such diminished dreams and expectations?
If elected political leaders and school officials don’t care about the city’s children, who does? That is another battlefield heavy with landmines. The four young men, and their peers in the school and out on the streets, must negotiate their own way around adults with conflicted agendas.
About his mother, Namond said last week, “She expects me to be my father.” She is completely unable to see the dysfunction of pushing her only child onto the corners, where dealers like Marlo Stanfield (Jamie Hector) are eager to find and recruit new talent. He was shelling out cash for school supplies at the beginning of the year to any kid who wanted it, in exchange for their services of course.
Pryzbylewski made the teacher’s fatal mistake of growing attached to one of his students by taking Dukie under his wing. By laundering his clothes at home, sharing his lunch with him, and arranging for Dukie to shower at school before it starts, “Mr. Presbo” is taking on a parental role missing from the young man’s life.
Dennis “Cutty” Wise (Chad L. Coleman) returned home from prison in season three, flirted with the Barksdales then gave it up to try to be a positive force in the neighborhood by opening a boxing gym. While he has been more successful in influencing other kids, Michael has kept him at a distance. However, as an image of a Black man not caught up in crime and drugs, Cutty has gained the attention of many of the single mothers and taken advantage of that opportunity on at least one occasion.
Even junkie/informant Bubbles (Andre Royo) has tried to do the right thing by helping another homeless, neglected youth, Sherrod (Rashad Orange). Although he can barely take care of himself, his intrinsic understanding of what the boy needs to do to survive is well-intended.
The show has always been about the City of Baltimore itself, and less about any one particular character. Through the twelve previous episodes leading up to this weekend’s conclusion, the inherent truth of the series is that there are no easy and simple solutions to any of these issues. Just as in real life, one size does not fit all, either in addressing the crime problem, the school deficit, parental neglect and absenteeism, unemployment, homelessness, economic development, hopelessness and despair.
As an exploration of why some people fall into a life of crime and dope dealing, this season of The Wire suggests it is often because they are faced with few viable alternatives and not enough people who care if they don't. In making a dramatic commentary on the war on drugs, the lesson here is that unless we are willing to examine the innumerable ways in which a multitude of other social ills impact on and are affected by the problem, simply focusing on the drug trade alone will have no lasting effect at all.
Posted by bernie at December 7, 2006 3:27 AMI've seen the finale and it's brilliant. It's heartbreaking, hope inspiring and devastating all at the same time. It is absolutely can't miss tv.
Posted by: Michelle at December 7, 2006 10:51 AMI have HBO on Demand and in past weeks have peeped the new episodes as soon as they were available, and could easily do so now. But something makes me want to wait out the whole week and see it when it airs nationally. Maybe I'm afraid of what's coming next, maybe it's the fact the season is now over. But I'm sure it will be memorable.
Posted by: Bernie at December 7, 2006 11:40 AMI agree that this has been the most rewarding season of The Wire. I only became a convert in the past year. But since watching the compelling first season, I've devoured them all.
Wow! The writing and acting is so real and unforced. The storylines are cleverly interwoven showing how all of our actions impact others (whether we know them or not). There are no easy wins or complete tragedies in the resolutions; only lots of gray. Just like life.
Posted by: j. brotherlove at December 7, 2006 2:36 PMThis has one of been the most rewarding but also the most heartbreaking of the show's 4 seasons, particularly because of the tragedies befalling the children. I have to admit I have a hard time distancing myself from their suffering, which is fictional but which we all know mirrors thousands of such stories all over the country; the year I taught junior high and high school in NYC, I saw versions of what's playing out on the show, though in attenuated form (it was 1995 and the school, though public, was one of the first "choice" schools, so the student body was a bit more motivated), and even then I found the crises the children faced very hard to deal with. I thought then and think now, by throwing away the lives of our children, we are throwing away our futures. We should muster more outrage about the lives we force our children to lead than we are about the spectacular outbursts of racism that are not going away anytime soon. What does more damage to us as a nation, as a people, as a society? Why we cannot see and face this, I don't know, but the The Wire brings it all back in incredibly effective fashion.
Thanks once again, Bernie, for brilliantly summing things up!
Posted by: jstheater at December 8, 2006 12:39 AMTruly, another awesome season.
I haven't watched the final two shows yet, waiting for the right time when me and my boy can watch them together.
But yeah, I agree with j'stheater, the suffering is palpable. That's life though. Lately, I've been researching homeless transgender and gay kids for an article. Talk about suffering.
It's a sad world when kids have nowhere to sleep in December.
Posted by: taylor Siluwé at December 8, 2006 4:36 PMI'm a big fan of The Wire. I've been following it since the very first season. Hands down it is the best show on TV. The writing, the acting, the discussion/depiction of sensitive and/or taboo subjects is truly phenomenal. I was a resident of west Baltimore for 3 years. A few times after I got off work, I would see the film crew in my neighborhood filming a scene. I even ran into a few of the actors at the Amtrak station. Side note: Corey Parker Robinson is even hotter in person. Michelle said in her comment that the show is heartbreaking, hope inspiring, and devastating all at the same time. As a former resident, the show is also eerily true-to-life (most of the writers are former Baltimore residents or natives). I was a homeowner in the city for 3 years until I couldn't stomach it anymore (I'm an Atlanta native). There is a huge air of depression, despair and poverty in that city. And the religious and political leaders were doing little or nothing to change that. The drug trafficking there is rampant and uncontrollable. I mean, I can not tell you how many times I was at a red light and little kid comes up to my car window, knocks on it and and ask what I needed. I couldn't even ride my bike down the street without being asked if I needed some "red caps". Walk down the street in any given neighborhood and it will be littered with empty crack vials and used needles (no joke). I would find pre-teens sitting on my back porch around midnight, during a school night, smoking weed. As one guy I met in Bmore told me that the kids start off smoking weed and as they get older progress to the heavier drugs. The kids roam the streets because they have no one to look after them, their parents are off somewhere high. One of my other complaints about Baltimore is that I could not understand how black people could become so complacent with the state of the community there. With a church on almost every corner in the city, only a few actually were out in the street trying to make a difference. Most major US cities have an area that is considered a "bad" neighborhood. Unfortunately, Baltimore city as a whole would be considered bad. In January, Baltimore will get a new mayor, Sheila Dixon (Mayor Martin O'Malley has been elected Governor of Maryland). During my stay in Baltimore, I saw that Ms. Dixon has Baltimore at heart. I hope that she brings a new level of concern for the city and its youth to the Mayor's office and hopefully can change Baltimore for the better.
Again, kudos to HBO for putting on shows like The Wire and The Corner (also filmed in Baltimore). Although the names in the shows are fictional, the stories are far from it.
Posted by: omar miguel at December 11, 2006 1:55 PM