Female Characters

While it is pretty common knowledge that there aren’t a whole lot of female characters in this show, the three female characters that stand out to me this season seem to be behaving each in a different way and heading down a different path than the others.

Kima is definitely my favorite and by far the best female character on the show. She’s honest (even when it means a case will be harder), hardworking (always eager to talk about the job), and caring (never forgets about Bubbles). I’m glad that she’s on the road to recovery. Of course, there’s the small sadness that she’s having to make the choice between work and her girlfriend.

Ronnie is a strong, intelligent female. She knows the right way to respond to people and not get fired, even when they’re acting like assholes toward her. I was disappointed to see how ecstatic she was about all the crimes they were solving. She seemed to love the drugs and violence. She called this case her “career case.” She seemed blood-thirsty. It was scary to see how much she loved all the terrible crimes they were digging through because it meant that she would look really successful and talented at her job.

Shardene didn’t do a whole lot in this episode. She seems to have gotten a lot weaker and it looks like she might be a love interest for Freamon. I’m really disappointed in this plot line as I hoped for better things for her as she is a smart woman who really helped the police force out and definitely could achieve some great things. I don’t want to see her only as someone’s romantic or sexual partner. I want to see her stand on her own.

 

Post 9/11

This theme that appeared in the first few episodes reappeared with the FBI’s potential to hop on this case. Their lack of interest in a big case, merely because it wasn’t political and didn’t have anything to do with terrorism, really shows how the importance is all being placed on a few important people. They want to protect as well as remove the big time government workers. They don’t care about the little people anymore. They don’t care about the tons of lives in Baltimore that are destroyed on the regular by drug dealers.

Nods to Pilot Episode

I noticed that a lot of scenes and dialogue harkened back to the pilot episode. Especially the court scene with McNulty sitting in and the same characters were there. Phones, post 9/11, Prez’s gun, and other topics and plot lines that started the series returned. These nods to the pilot episode show that despite some progress being made and the drug ring being partially dismantled, they really aren’t putting a big dent in things and that people are just going to keep on keeping on.

Self vs. Group

One of the main ideas that was tossed around was the choice of whether to put yourself or the group first. Carter, D’Angelo, and Wee-Bey all have to make this decision.

Daniels’ speech to Carter really prompts him to be more loyal to the police force as he takes on the role of sergeant.

D’Angelo has spent a lot of this season slowly realizing that he wants to do something for himself. After a visit from his mother, he’s reminded about how this business is a family business and that he needs to do it for the family, because he is nothing without them.

Wee-Bey is the only one who chooses to act for himself. By claiming to have committed all those murders, he is hoping to make himself out to be a bigger and better person than he actually is. He really strives to come across as an alpha male, but he still has his beta male characteristics, such as his fish tanks and his immense care about potato salad and other food.

Colors

While I did see some of the blue/red/yellow in scenes as in previous episodes, the color schemes in this episode seemed to be more about contrast. I was also intrigued by the possibility of a new scheme, purple & red, that was introduced with the new location from which Stringer was running the operation.

Blue/Red/Yellow

 

This color motif appeared the most in relation to Kima. Instead of it being bright colors, they were pastels for the most part.

 

The red and blue appear especially washed out.

Bubbles is wearing blue, red, and yellow in his outfit.

 

 

Contrast

The case files really stand out when everything else is blue and gray hues.

The lack of contrast here–almost everything is beige–seems to suggest that D’Angelo is content to be here, removed from the pressures of his duties to the family.

Everyone is wearing dark suits except the woman sitting at the head of the table.

 

Purple & Red

Purple and red are often associated with royalty as well as religion. It’s only fitting that they’d appear now that they’ve set up shop in a funeral parlor. Likewise, the sense of power these higher ups hold isn’t anything short of a king or a god.

 

Camera Angles

 

This series of shots were really interesting to me. The fish-eye close-ups seemed to suggest that things were really closing in on them.

Stringer looks like a preacher in the pulpit or something rather holy. The religious decor and lighting also help to create this image.

Doubles

Several times I noticed that lighting, clothing, and mannerisms made it seem like characters were duplicates of each other.

Daniels and McNulty are basically wearing the same outfit.

Daniels and Carter look very similar here. This seems to symbolize Carter adopting the ideals Daniels is suggesting he take up when he becomes sergeant.

 

Freamon and McNulty walk in wearing similar clothes, both reading similar looking papers, and carrying themselves in similar ways.

Thoughts on the Finale

I think the end of this episode really showed a very realistic view of the world. While some progress was made and characters did change, for the most part, everything kept going as usual. Of course, the lives of the police team who worked on this case all seemed to see the most change as they were given new positions or moved up the ladder. In contrast, many of the members in the drug ring are doing their usual thing with only slight shifts in the hierarchy. Stringer’s still running the place. Poot and Bodie are still very into the power they have in the pit doing their jobs. Omar’s still whistling and gun slinging. Bubbles and Johnny are still up to their schemes and cons. The only change we really see is in the color of the couch in the pit, which is now black.