Notable Shots

 

This opening scene immediately caught my attention. It’s eerily quiet and still. Bubbles is dressed nicer than we’ve seen him all season. He’s contemplative. I especially love the shot of the bubbles drifting in front of Bubbles. It’s as if he’s contemplating this childish nickname he’s acquired, and whether he wants to continue to be immature and responsible, living only for the next high, or if he wants to grow up and accept adulthood and its responsibilities. I think he’s a really interesting character who’s slowly making some interesting strides forward.

 

Here is another case of parallel shots.

One scene ends with the pay phone and the next begins with a phone at the police station. This shows the importance that phones play to both groups.

 

This shot of Carter’s reflection in the window as he spies on the pay phone outside of a local convenience store makes Carter to look rather god-like as he surveys the area.

 

The lighting along with the similar skin tones and clothing colors makes it look like there are three clones working on the case together. This just shows that now that the pieces of the puzzle are starting to fall into place, everyone is on the same page about things and is working like a team.

 

Lighting

Throughout the episode, I noticed that lighting seemed to suggest interesting things about the characters.

 

D’Angelo is standing by the window, silent, while his baby mama yammers at him. His face is well lit, but the back of him is in shadow. I think this is representative of his current state of being caught between continuing working in the drug ring and leaving that life behind.

 

  Back with the police force, McNulty seems to be really on top of things and does a lot of the explaining as to what the plan is. While Freamon offers his typical guide-like voice, McNulty really seems to be the one who’s leading things. Thus, he’s the only one who’s well lit. The white shirt also gives him an angelic glow. When the others start to pick up on the ideas he’s tossing around, they too receive better lighting. Here, lighting seems to represent an understanding of how the game is going and what needs to be done.

 

Here we see Bubbles talking with Walon. The lighting is on Walon as Walon discusses sobriety and Bubbles laments how in shambles his life is. They are also dressed in opposing colors to suggest they aren’t quite on the same level yet. Also, Bubbles is leaning forward while Walon is leaning against the back of the bench. When they talk about health and it becomes known that Bubbles is healthier than Walon, the lighting slightly shifts to Bubbles and we see that Walon is leaned forward and Bubbles is resting against the bench. Lighting seems to be used to show who is better off in various aspects of life.

 

 When Walon talks to Bubbles about the importance of forgiving himself for his drug usage and other choices, we see Bubbles with his head slightly bowed and a person in the background who is out of focus, but with his back turned toward Bubbles. The person seems to represent another version of Bubbles, the one from whom Bubbles needs forgiveness.

 

Colors

Throughout the episode, I noticed the importance of colors in the characters clothes as well as in the background. It seemed to fall into the pattern that anyone who was the police or helping the police was wearing a neutral color, primarily beige and anyone who was involved in the drug ring wore a bright color, primarily blue, red, and yellow.

 

The picture of the map marking the business associated with the drug ring are marked with blue, red, and yellow.

 

When Omar and Stringer meet up to talk, the colors red, yellow, and blue appear in the background on the signs.

 

Even in the signs surrounding Orlando’s you see those three colors.

 

When Kima and McNulty go to talk to Omar, Omar is in black, while McNulty and Kima are both wearing beige clothes.

 

When Freamon is meeting up with D’Angelo’s girlfriend, she is the only one wearing any color. The rest is shades of beige. However, she is wearing the color blue, which psychologists have found to be associated with trustworthiness.

 

When Kima meets up with Bubbles, they are both wearing beige and blue, but the colors on their shirts and pants are switched. This seems to suggest that both are working for the same team, but have different motivations and relationships to the work and the police force.

 

Here we see Wallace in a beige looking shirt. He’s been telling all that he knows to the police.

Later, when he’s lying about what he knows about D’Angelo in regards to murder, his shirt looks blue.

 

When Orlando is arrested and begins to help out the police, he’s wearing a shirt of varying beige hues. Even the undercover officer is wearing a beige shirt and hat. The background is also of a similar shade.

 

I found it interesting that in this shot, they’re wearing red, white, and blue. I’m not sure exactly what the colors of the American flag are supposed to say about what’s going on or the characters.

 

Masculinity & Femininity

In this shot, we see two of McNulty’s co-workers looking very masculine and imposing in their suits. McNulty, on the other hand, is slumped over in a chair with his legs spread and his shirt untucked. He looks very weak and as if he’s been used and discarded. This is a great shot for showing power relations and how McNulty continues to waver between being at the top and bottom of the pack.

 

While there wasn’t a whole lot about gender in this episode, the lighting, posture, and conversation Kima has while out with a bunch of girls paint her in a very masculine manner.

 

Significance of the Wire

I thought this was an important quote regarding the namesake of the series and the whole premise of the show.

 The wire is what gives us Barksdale. It gives us the whole crew. Day by day, piece by piece.