The Wire virgin’s diary – Things go bad for the Sabotkas

(Season 2, Episodes 11-12)

Another season come and gone. I need to start pacing myself or I’m going to be very disappointed in a few weeks when there is no more Wire to watch. I don’t know if my self control is good enough to hold back though; the show is quite addictive and because it is so intriguing and slow to build, it’s really easy to burn two or three episodes at a time.

I thought that season two was just as satisfying as season one. It was definitely slower to develop, as several commenters warned me about. It was reassuring to see that they already began to set up season three in the final episodes of season two. I can’t wait to dive right back into the world of The Wire.

“Bad Dreams”

The penultimate episode of the season saw a whole lot of action. The detail got their warrants and busted up The Greek’s ring, making all their arrests. Unfortunately for them, they were just a few hours too late as most of the drugs in the warehouse were washed down the drain.

It certainly seems like it would suck to be a mid-level drug dealer, but at least you know that you could just turn over your bosses to the police and get out of just about anything. White Mike certainly didn’t give too much resistance before he started blabbing and, frankly, I can’t blame him. Even Sabotka himself agreed to testify against Vondas and The Greek to help Ziggy.

The Greek and Vondas continued to clean things up on the outside, having avoided arrest. They were able to convince Nick that he should stick with them and that his loyalty would be rewarded; they even convinced him that they could get Ziggy out of jail. Unfortunately this all turned out for the worst, as The Greek caught wind of Sabotka’s plan to talk and they killed him before he was able to. This was a sad ending for Frank, and I was a little disappointed that it went down that way. All season we saw that he wasn’t really a bad guy, he was just a bit Machiavellian in his drive to protect the union. It just turned out all wrong.

Great stuff between Omar and Brother Mouzone in this episode too. I think Stringer was brilliant, if not very brave, to sick Omar on the crazy enforcer. I was a little disappointed that Omar could be so easily manipulated, but in the end he was smart enough to realize that he was played. It will be very interesting to see the fallout from this, on the parts of both Omar and Mouzone.

“Port in a Storm”

This episode was mostly winding down the action, tying up the loose ends, and setting up season three. Most of the loose ends were tied up with Nick and Sergei giving up the information they need to finish up the murders of the whores.

I thought it was really telling in this episode, and the last, that both Nick and Frank returned to the docks and the union when they were in such deep shit. It’s like the union was the only thing they knew and they were using it as a touchstone. It was a little sad that it was their entire life.

It was nice to see Bubbles helping out Greggs and McNulty; we didn’t see enough of him this season and I hope we will see more of him in the upcoming seasons.

I think one of my favorite parts of the season was Beadie Russell, played by Amy Ryan, and her growth through the case. One of my favorite moments came when Kima called Russell in the middle of the night so that she could be a part of the raids, knowing that it was probably the most excitement that she would ever see in her career. It was a little sad to see her back on the docks at the end of the season, back to her boring old job.

In the end, The Greek and Vondas got away, just like how Stringer was left on the streets in season one. It’s the way things go, as The Wire keeps telling us.

On to season three!

Clacked by Bob Degon
on Jan 12, 2009 @ 12:00 EST5EDT