What a fun light-hearted episode! That sounded sarcastic but it isn’t lol. We’ve got sports shenanigans, we’ve got a low-stakes car chase, we’ve got the opening scenes of a rom com. I guess it’s the calm before the storm since IIRC it’s next episode that shit really gets real.
-So the Barksdale ringer for the basketball game is currently at junior college and getting looked at by legit schools, but Avon and Stringer have recruited him for this game so they're also "in the mix"...almost like community college could be a pathway to either a) legit success or b) trying and, importantly, FAILING to beat the Eastsiders at the projects version of same. Stringer are you paying attention??
-Oh wait, does that mean Prop Joe's ringer (the "midget") represents Omar? At least for this episode: underestimated due to a surface-level characteristic, comes out of nowhere to take down Avon?
-Bodie saying this while wearing a Timberlands shirt is so silly but it made me laugh.
-Ohhh Johnny still being scared of Bodie, makes sense of course, but oh no :( (also a contrast with Bodie's friendly interactions with Herc and Carv, who delivered his own parallel beating)
Pictured: the handshake that will ultimately save him 🥹
-Aww, Carver has a lucky pen!
-Oh my gosh I do not want to hear Poot’s phone sex. Help that is my son
-Ok so Poot says he needs to "go past Argyle Street" that night to "check in with Wallace," implying that he does not always spend the night there. So I guess he still officially lives with his mom, but sometimes spends the night at Wallace's. I'll piece together the practicalities of the Pit boys' lives if it's the last thing I do!
-Shardene and Lester oh my lord. I mean on paper this relationship is not cool, a cop hooking up with his much younger CI whom he literally selected based on her photo, but come on, they're just soooo drawn to each other right off the bat. I mean...
Like. He is in love.
Ohh so we're just setting up Bubbs' whole final arc in this episode, okay!
Uh huh Lester, I'm sure you do
-I think in the pantheon of "Herc, Carver, Bodie, and/or Poot have a casual friendly encounter" scenes, the basketball game is my favorite. There's just something about the four of them up against that fence, spectating together. Bodie and Poot at times have a bit of a Rosencrantz and Guildenstern quality to them (especially in late S4 with all the "inevitability of death" stuff) so I love any time the two of them are standing around commenting on the proceedings.
-Plus we get all-but-confirmation that Carver was telling the truth about where he grew up in the interrogation scene:
-And then we cut from the delightful light-hearted fun of the game directly to Shardene seeing her friend in the morgue and hearing what was done to her...oof. No matter how fun these guys are, you can't forget who they really are.
-Also ties in with a little thread in this episode where goofing off turns into serious business: listening to Poot's sex talk turns into hearing info about Wallace's downward spiral, stumbling onto the basketball game turns into an opportunity to spot Avon, Wee-Bey gets out of the car excited about the cheese fries and immediately finds himself in the middle of a shootout. You can try to take a break from the real game but you can't control when it starts back up. And then there's Wallace, who doesn't want to play any more... :(
-Oh my god Poot and Bodie's smiles here:
They're there to watch Avon just as much as the game itself. He really is like a celebrity to them 😭
-Bodie has been in a bit of a fashion slump since his juvie adventures, but he is back, baby! He seems to think that attending a basketball game means you should dress like you’re playing, which natch means a jersey with three sweatbands in coordinating colors. Dork.
-McNulty being all "Oh I'm only interested in real police work, I don't need to drive around following Avon, we get him by voice or we don't get him" oh yeah Jimmy you would NEVER drive around following a target because you just need to know how he spends all his waking hours, NOPE NEVER, you are 100% NORMAL
-It was impossible to cap but when Joe drops an "I got a proposition for you" Avon does this hilarious eye roll. I like to imagine the whole West Side is sick of Joe's catchphrase by now.
Absolutely peak Avon scene here. We've got:
Calling a man "baby" while yelling at him
Getting mad at the ref for the crime of, uh, being freaked out that noted murderous gangster Avon Fucking Barksdale was mad at him!
Dropping a "but it's the other way" echo
Then calling Joe “baby” twice in the course of two sentences
AND he looks good doing it!
-And it's followed immediately by the finger wag, another instance of Avon's pure coolness justifying slomo. Epic shit.
-Love Daniels' fury and contempt here:
“This doesn’t happen” is really “This CANNOT happen.” He is forever doing repentance for his past crimes, and he’s absolutely desperate to not let that dirt come back on him.
-Aww Herc has to kind of build himself up to criticize Carver for thinking he stole the money:
There's been a small running thing the last few episodes, which I didn't bother pointing out as I went, but Carver has pretty consistently been more annoyed with Herc than indulgent. Carv’s apology here serves as a little conclusion to that. Although I guess it’s all setup for the continuation of the sergeant’s exam plotline.
-So Omar was slowly approaching Avon because he wanted Avon to see him before he died, presumably. Maybe he even had some one-liner prepared. But there is so much time before Wee-Bey shows up, he SO easily could have killed Avon if he just shot him right away. The emotional aspect of his revenge quest cost him his goal. Or not, I guess, if he feels a quick clean death would not actually be revenge.
Other cop/detective shows: Yes I have a drinking problem but I am a serious hard-boiled alcoholic. Now look at me taking a sip of whisky while I hold a cynical monologue about the world. Meanwhile Mcnulty:
