The Wire: Undertow   Rewatch 
August 17, 2014 7:39 PM - Season 2, Episode 5 - Subscribe

Detail work starts in earnest on Sobotka, and Freamon looks to make a connection between Valchek's 'too much money' accusation and his own 14 murder investigations. Dockworkers who worked on that ship get summoned to testify in front of a grand jury. Ziggy continues to spend his easy money recklessly, and Nick is forced to help him deal with the consequences. Omar Little finally comes in to testify against Bird.

Feeling the heat from the CID, Sobotka attempts to slow down The Greek's smuggling. Instead, the demand increases as the pull for quality drug product on Baltimore streets intensifies up the supply chain.

Bunk and Russell get a crash course on how to lose a can on the docks with a computer, Ziggy shows Nick LMGTFY, and the Barksdale crew applies marketing to their economic straits.

"They used to make steel there, no?" - Vondas
posted by carsonb (7 comments total)
 
First appreance of Cheese here, who will turn out to be surprisingly important for a petty drug dealer on the east side.

Poor D'Angelo here tries to go his own way, but is really signing his own death warrant.
posted by Cannon Fodder at 12:23 AM on August 18, 2014


Omar Little finally comes in to testify against Bird.

"I got the shotgun, you got the briefcase. It's all in the game though, right?" might be one of my favorite lines in the entire series.
posted by gladly at 5:51 AM on August 18, 2014 [4 favorites]


Omar's testimony is the sort of interaction this show was built to showcase, where the reality and fatalism of life on the streets of Baltimore bumps hard up against the outdated bureaucratic accounting of it's local government. It's beautifully written and wonderfully acted and absolutely hilarious in that particular way makes the pit of your stomach clench and flop. The truth of Omar's words is powerful enough to mask the fact that most of what he's saying is bullshit. Especially the relevant bit about witnessing Bird shoot the state's witness.
posted by carsonb at 6:18 AM on August 18, 2014


I'm enjoying this season even more than the first - which I enjoyed immensely.
The change in milieu, all the new characters - it's all fantastic.

I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next.
Deadwood and The Wire made Amazon Prime pay for itself.
posted by Pudhoho at 7:54 AM on August 18, 2014


"I got the shotgun, you got the briefcase. It's all in the game though, right?" might be one of my favorite lines in the entire series.

Heh, the episodes definitely run together for me a little, I'm having trouble keeping track of what happens in which ep. The next episode, "All Prologue," is when Omar actually takes the stand. Derps.
posted by carsonb at 11:58 AM on August 18, 2014


Oh, jeez. Sorry about posting that quote! Feel free to delete as necessary.
posted by gladly at 1:35 PM on August 18, 2014


Omar's testimony is up there with the chess speech and the "Fuck." scene in terms of The Wire's iconic scenes.
posted by Pope Guilty at 3:04 AM on August 19, 2014


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