Character Development

It was never about Avon Barksdale. It was about me.

I’m glad McNulty finally admitted this and then put his heart right back into the investigation. I’ve seen other shows where the characters continue to try and make it about them and it gets very annoying to watch. I thought it was a very logical moment of personal growth to watch.

 

Close-Ups

The camera angles in this episode seem to differ greatly than those in the early episodes. In the beginning, there were a lot of wide shots that left the viewer feeling like they were watching from a far, and often they had to navigate around corners or looks through mirrors and windows. In this episode, there were a lot of close-ups. Despite there being multiple people in a scene, the camera would only focus on one of them, giving just their face.

I think camera angles like this suggest that the police force is closing in on everyone. They are no longer watching from a far, trying to figure out how things play out. They have most of the pieces and they know how to get them where they want them.

Color

The four color palettes that seem to be the most important are orange, neutral, black & white, and red/blue/yellow.

 

 

Orange definitely seems to symbolize being caught or incarcerated. Paul Bond mentioned this in his post in episode 4:

Notice the orange that the two characters are wearing. It matches the orange of the couch in the low-rises, and the orange of the poster that Freamon found with Barksdale’s photo. And the orange of the jumpsuits prisoners wear in court.

Orange likewise appears with the couch in the pit and then we see that Wallace and D’Angelo are both wearing orange shirts.

It’s interesting that they are both wearing orange as D’Angelo is arrested and Wallace is killed in this episode.

 

 

Beige appears once more, although it isn’t worn by the police force as much as it is worn by members of the drug ring.

 

D’Angelo’s arrest looks very beige.

 

When Avon goes to talk to D’Angelo’s mother, the decor is very beige. He also almost blends in with his black and white clothes.

 

Avon and Stringer are both wearing beige clothes in a beige room.

 

 

Black & white is a color scheme I haven’t noticed playing as big a role as it did in this episode. I saw it mostly as the colors worn by the drug dealers who were deciding people’s fates. Avon wears a lot of black & white in the episode. Likewise, when Poot and Bodie go to kill Wallace, they are both wearing black & white clothes.

I guess one could say that for these three characters, the matters at hand are very black and white and they understand what needs to be done.

 

 

Red, Yellow, and Blue made a significant amount of appearances in this episode.

 

We first see it in the pit.

 

It is also seen at Wallace’s death. There’s a yellow blanket over the window. Wallace’s shirt if blue. Wallace’s red blood is on the wall.

 

When they go to talk to Wallace’s mom, the door is red, her shirt is blue, and there’s a yellow lid on a jar on the shelf in the background.

 

When Avon walks into Orlando’s, he’s wearing a blue hat and a shirt with red lettering. There’s yellow sign in the window.

 

When Poot is paying a girl to call the police so Wallace’s body will be found, the phone booth is red, the girl’s shirt has blue lettering on it, and Poot is wearing a yellow shirt.

 

Freamon’s computer is yellow and his shirt is blue. Prez also wears a blue and yellow shirt in that scene.

 

The trashcan is full of red and yellow hues.

 

When D’Angelo talks to Stringer and their lawyer, D’Angelo is wearing yellow while everything else is blue.

 

As the SWAT team readies themselves to move in, we see once more the yellow sign in the window, a red car, and the blue uniforms.

 

Across the street, we see McNulty in a blue bullet proof vest emerging from a blue SUV. behind him is a yellow pedestrian crossing sign. The camera is position just over the roof of the red car.

 

Final Shots

I found the final shots of the bulletin board in the police’s workroom  and the empty pit to be very eerie. They seem to signify that the end is near for the drug ring. The bulletin board is full of information and photos while the pit is desolate.