The Dogfighting

Of all the terrible things I’ve witnessed on this show, the dog fight, for me, was the worst. I’m a huge dog lover and am really into animal rights activism, problems related to and involving animal abuse, and matters related to US’s homeless pets problem. I’ve done some research on dogfighting and pit bulls. There’s a lot of components and the compounds people have for training dogs to fight are crazy and absolutely vile. It goes hand in hand with a lot of the hierarchies and set-ups we see with the drug dealers in the show. The big thing I’ve taken away from my reading up on these matters is that the pit bulls are not at fault; they have traits and bodies that make them good candidates for fighting. They’re a loyal breed who just want to please their owners. They have wide jaws and muscular bodies.

Loyalty can either be used to make them into wonderful family pets who will protect them in times of need or it can lead them to do ANYTHING to be told they’re a good dog. Intense training and starvation are other factors that contribute to the breed’s violent behaviors when trained for dog fighting. The wide jaws either mean they’re a dog breed that can look like it’s smiling or can get a strong grip on something. These animals are abused and taught that the only way to survive is to behave the way that makes them a good fighter. Dogs who are rescued from these situations are either aggressive because they’ve learned to not trust humans or other animals as both pose as threats to them or they come out shy and afraid of people as they were used as bait dogs and served a submissive role in training. All these issues are because they are born with qualities that make them prime for fulfilling this role, despite their ability to fulfill much better roles. The real problem is in their owners. That’s where the problem usually is with dogs. The problem is with the trainers, not the trained.

And I think that speaks to a lot of the problems we see in The Wire, in general, a lot of the characters don’t get into criminal behavior out of their own desires, but they get into because the legal ways to make money don’t favor them. The system is broken, so they can only learn how to survive within how the world functions. The system is the bigger issue; the people have just become problematic because of how the system has trained them to act in order to survive.

Anyway, enough of my rant. If you’d like to learn more about this, there’s an excellent episode of DogTown about rescuing the dogs from Michael Vick’s Dog Fighting Ring. You can watch the episode here (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9). There’s also a great documentary on NetFlix that unpacks some of the stigmas and problems surrounding pit bulls, called Beyond the Myth.

The Episode

I love Omar, especially the creative stunts he’s been pulling lately. Despite how smart the drug dealers may be, he’s definitely smarter.

This is such a small, but important moment. These scare tactics don’t scare the kids, because they live with this reality every day.

Here’s some red and green. I’ve noticed that Marlo’s guys wear a lot of white, which causes guys from the pit with their bright colored shirts to really stand out.

This was such a cool shot of Marlo. I love the lighting and colors here.

The light shifting over his face as the salesperson talks about the reality of dealing with Avon’s crew was a great moment. Marlo is having to accept the truth that he can’t just keep ignoring what’s going on.

The desolate street with the dead body sprawled across the pavement makes for a great shot. The stop sign is a really nice detail as well.

I really love the small role she plays. She has all this knowledge about street talk and is putting it to good use.

Their expressions when there were gunshots in the background of the phone call were really interesting to watch. I really like that we don’t have to see all the shootings for them to be impactful.

This was such a wonderfully degrading, emasculating moment for Herc and Carver. The discussion of what male Herc would sleep with if he had to that carried throughout the episode showed how much Herc takes his masculinity and heterosexuality seriously and doesn’t want it to be undermined in the slightest way. I think similar things could be said about Bodie and Poot, who in some ways are coming to serve as Herc and Carver’s foils.

This episode seemed to also show how a lot of the police force’s home lives are in shambles. Kima just doesn’t want to be at home anymore and seems to be on the verge of looking for a new woman.

The process of eating this food seemed symbolic of the police work they do. It’s a slow process, but all the pieces matter.

McNulty’s throwing a little temper tantrum, which I think is getting really old for everyone, including myself.

Rhonda seems to really go for men in failing marriages.