Tag Archives: War on Drugs

1.2: Sympathy for Herc

By Peter Honig

“It ain’t right…you think it’s right?” —Herc

Last week, I tweeted the following:

“Herc gets hurt twice in “The Detail.” He steps on a nail and gets hit with a bottle. Both well-deserved. ‪#thewiredetails1.2@D_Lombardozzi”

An hour or so later, Domenick Lombardozzi wrote the following response: “U fing jakel!”

I wasn’t sure how to take that. It isn’t always the easiest thing to detect tone in short-form digital communications like texts and tweets, so I just assumed he was joking around. But as those fierce eyes stared out at me from his Twitter avatar, I started to fear that I had angered him, and I have seen what an angry Herc is capable of.

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“The Wire,” wrestles with despair and change

By Peter Honig

I believe that one of the biggest misconceptions about The Wire is that it is a pessimistic show. I know this is an odd statement to make about a show whose creator named his blog “The Audacity of Despair.” It is also an odd statement to make about a show filled with violence and institutional gridlock. It is a show which presents us with not one but two quartets of young inner city men who end up with a total survival rate of 25% (more or less). But I still believe that it is ultimately hopeful and life-affirming.

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1.1: The Prophecy of the Anti-McNulty

By Peter Honig

Barlow: Think I give a fuck?

Detective Barlow is a perfect example of The Wire’s ability to put significant lines in the mouths of some of the most insignificant characters. Barlow is the homicide detective who worked the pivotal Blanchard murder, but he only appears in first ten minutes of “The Target” and then disappears entirely from the show until he makes a brief return in Season 5.

Right from the beginning, he is presented as a smug, sneering jerk (and his  nasty season five appearance does little to dispel that notion). Even the thick-skinned McNulty seems like he can barely tolerate him, but that makes sense. Their approach to the job couldn’t be more opposite.

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