The quote for this episode seems to be the going argument for why the second season of The Wire is still The Wire, when so much of what the audience was used to from the first season isn’t present. The season has changed to winter. The police officers who worked last season’s case are all split up, some weren’t even shown, like Freamon and Carter. The drug gang we grew to love wasn’t very present and their crew is full of new faces. The focus has shifted to the docks and the people there. Even the theme song is sung by a different person and the title sequence features a lot of new shots.

Still, there’s a lot of familiar things happening. The color schemes from last season are still present here, just appearing in new ways. The parallels between characters on the police force and those committing crimes are still apparent. Family dynamics and the importance of family still play big roles in the new crew of criminals this season is focusing on. Plus, many of the characters from last season are still there.

Blue, Red, & Yellow

 

These colors really are everywhere in the show. Sometimes they appear more washed out or pastel than in other locations. The docks especially are vibrant with these colors. I think they might be representative of the Baltimore Police, as those colors feature on the insignia on the boat McNulty is on.

Orange

I noticed that the area where Frank and his guys hang out is swathed in orange. This area seems to be the new pit and the orange seems to harken back to the orange couch that featured in the pit.

Black

Speaking of the couch, which was absent from this episode, the black couch we saw in the finale for last season seemed to represent a new era for the drug dealers.

McNulty’s hat reminded me of the black couch for some reason.

Bodie and his crew all wear black now.

Warm Colors

I don’t know exactly how to label this color palette, but it was one that started to appear at the end of last season and is now appearing in scenes with the drug dealers and the dock guys.

Even the city in this shot seems to have similar hues.

Parallels

The biggest parallel I saw was the Prez & his father-in-law plot line seeming very similar to Ziggy & his father. In both cases, the son is not meeting the father’s desires for him. Prez doesn’t want to climb up the ladder; he just wants to solve cases. Ziggy, despite his desires to be part of the gang, just doesn’t know how to act and can’t be serious about things.

Another parallel was with the church and stained glass. Both Frank and Prez’s father-in-law are associated with the same church, have ties to the pastor, and are putting stained glass in the church that are representative of their careers.

 

  

The stained glass seems to illustrate the hopes Prez’s father-in-law has for him, and the shot where we see Prez through the stained glass suggests that he’s not matching up to the ideal image.

Even the two stained glass windows have similar images of things being handed from one person to another.

Bunk and Stringer look like they’re dressed similarly here. Both are trying to fit in. Bunk is trying to make himself out to be a successful member of the police force, even though the previous season showed us that he’s made some immoral choices.

Stringer looks like he’s trying to fit in with the other businessmen. While he is a man of business, he doesn’t belong to the corporate world.

Ziggy and Nick are a really interesting pair to me. Ziggy obviously wants to be Nick. Just look at how he’s dressed. A sweater with an animal on the front over a collared shirt is what both of them are wearing. However, Ziggy is noticeably shorter than Nick, which suggests that he’ll never be equal to him.

Notable Shots

These shots where Stringer is about to talk to everyone who wen to Philly not only have really interesting color palettes, but seemed to suggest different reactions to each person’s actions. Especially, Bodie, who’s sort of in the dog house for messing up. Here he is in the same room as some dead woman in a casket it.

I just thought this was a beautiful shot, combining both the pastel color scheme of red, blue, & yellow and the black & white color scheme.     

Here we can see that Ziggy does not belong with the crew of criminals plotting and planning in the diner.            And here we see the first instance of the female gaze on McNulty.

A Special Word About Ziggy

To me, Ziggy is the new Wallace. He definitely aspires to be part of the group, but his heart pumps Kool-Aid. Of course, Wallace was a little bit better behaved and knew how to act, but the youthfulness and inability to fully belong in the group is what leads me to draw the comparison.