First and foremost season three is starting to be my favorite season. It kind of has the best of both season imbedded within it. Even though the docks are not as evident within the season, the turmoil within the political aspect of the show has taken its place. Its nice to see Avon and Stringer not so much in control of their situation. What I mean by this is that in season 1 Avon had everything figured out. The towers were his, the product was good, and the muscle was strong. After two years in the pen, the towers were demolished, the product is weak, and they have no muscle. You also see Stringer his right hand man switch mindsets. Stringer turned from a drug man into a business man. Its almost if Stringer is looking at the big picture and Avon is looking at the small.
One phrase that is being thrown around in season 3 is, "the game has changed". From my recollection they really never define what the game is. We all have made our own definitions to what this phrase means by the context it is used in within the series. In my opinion this is a highly subjective term thrown around in The Wire. Stringer has his own definition and Avon has his. Now you are starting to see how this phrase is starting to cause a problem within Avon's gang. Stringer believes they should be worried about the real-estate. Avon believes they should be worried about their image.
Husak defines decriminalization by saying that the use of a drug carries no criminal charge. In essence you see the decriminalization of drugs in The Wire season 3. Colvin makes it a point to satisfy the boss's ,and decrease crime rates. He does this by allowing dealers to sell in certain areas that he has sectioned off. As long as they don't fight, the cops will turn a blind eye to the selling. One of the most prominent examples of this is when Herc and Carver tell off McNulty from arresting a man with a package. In some sense decriminalization of drugs manipulates the law around the problem. Does it solve the problem? Or does it just hide it?
Haha! Maybe I'm just imagining it, but I feel like multiple blog posts have had this title. It's such a good phrase it's hard not to hop at the opportunity to use it at least a few times in your writing. But anyways, you're right, "the game has changed" and we can see how that phrase has come into play in this season. As Herc so eloquently puts it, Bunny has "changed the habitat" (that's not verbatim). Watching things from the criminal point of view can be very confusing. The game's never been played like this. It's very interesting watching the behavior of the characters concerning their personal opinions when observing Hamsterdam.
ReplyDeleteNice post. I definitely agree that the whole idea of the game is left to our own interpretation. To me, Hamsterdam has really changed the way the whole game is being played, and it will be very interesting to see its long term effects.
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