The idea of the inability to cause significant change or make progress with the problems that fill the streets has been one the show has discussed since the first season. Here we see that the drug gangs are perfectly happy with how things work already and don’t want to change, even if it might make things easier for them.

Not only do we have product placement in this shot, but we also have red, yellow, & blue colors as well as red & green in the background. Bubbles and Kima are also dressed similarly with their jean jackets and hats.

This seems to be the beginning of Cutty being pulled back into his old life.

Freamon and McNulty are having an intense argument and Kima’s caught in the middle, much like her current predicament of whether or not to pal around with McNulty or to follow Freamon’s directions.

McNulty and the volcano seems oddly symbolic for how explosive things seem to be for him. He causes a lot of eruptions and problems.

I love how this shot is set up and the way that their shirts stand out against the graffiti.

This was a great pair of shots that we’ve seen in previous seasons, and also see later on in this episode.

The staging of this shot is really well done. You can see all the people in the shot without it looking unrealistic.

Here is the pair of shots again where they can be seen through windows.

There seems to be a lot of strong females on this show. They’re haven’t been as many strippers as in past seasons. Any female we see, even if she’s romantically or sexually involved with someone, still seems to have some power or character to her. I love how this principal is the only one who can control the boys they hauled in from the streets.

We saw a similar shot in the previous season. I love how there are so many echoes of D’Angelo despite him being dead.

This seems to be the moment when Cutty finally is pulled back into the drug dealing world. It’s as if he’s getting the life breathed back into him, some odd transfer of the drug dealer’s holy spirit.

Here’s another moment of the read & green. Everything’s a glow in this green lighting, maybe to suggest how they’re all caught in this world of making money and then Cutty is wearing this red shirt and giving himself over to this life once more.