The Wire 4x02 Reaction

37:22 Milena : “Sigh… FFS Lola let me get a word in” 😂

"Take a shot everytime we say 'System failed them'" lol Lola wants to kill us

Marlo gives money out to kids so they're indebted to him or at least feel that they have to be. Common predatory recruitment tactic for drug lords and gangsters.

These boys are just so special to me like you don't even know. Like you ladies, I instantly connected to my boys as soon as they came on my screen, so I can't help but mention my love for them and I am so happy you finally met them!!!!! Also I LOVE how the show showed us the difference between Marlo and Avon, even in this episode where we don't even see Avon himself but just a picture and you can see the difference in how their names ring out and how they try to get their names out. First Marlo was legit handing money to kids and making sure they knew it was from him, even going as far as standing right across the street so the kids can thank him in person, and to make the kids feel like they now OWE him, and getting offended when Michael didn't take it so he felt the need to get in Michael's face about it and only backed down when he realized Michael wasn't scared. It's all just hilariously pathetic and not subtle at all, versus Avon, who gave Cutty 15k for his gym but told him he didn't want any picture of him going up, and didn't ask for anything in return, and after being locked up you see that Cutty didn't listen and STILL put his picture up, so Avon's name is never forgotten even if he's not around. Can't compliment the show enough for it's subtle storytelling and parallels and THIS particular difference in Avon and Marlo always stood out to me.

I think you’ll make it, Lola, and I really appreciate your attitude; I know it’s a hard season. These kids may not have much, but they have each other - while that may not always be enough, it’s a sort of reality that many of us can recall. BTW - You two speculate on something that is so spot on (Spot on!) that I can’t wait to see when you find out how prescient you were! Do you have a super-special-double-infinity-platinum level where I can watch you finish off the season now?

I agree that some more money, especially in the Balitmore school would help out the whole education experiance, but money doesn't actually change a lot unfortunately...as you're about to see in this season there are some enormous disparities between the cultural capital that the schools and teachers will try to pass down, and the cultural capital that the kids have acquired from the streets. These radically different forms of cultural capital all stem from some very disturbing and terrifying forms of abuse and war (segregation, slavery, blatant racism) between races/ethnicities of people...It's the same here in Australia for the Indigenous kids who are forced to be schooled in a system whose cultural capital is predominately derived from the people that have inflicted terrible abuse on their ancestors :/

They love parallels in this show, there's usually like 2 or 3 direct parallels in every episode, one of the smaller ones I like in this episode is that both Duquan and Namond have a bit of the story dedicated to them getting their new clothes, and the specific circumstances of both, one getting hundreds of dollars worth directly from his mother the other having to keep his donated clothes AWAY from his parents.

Great. You caught the few points I want to mention: 1. Namond and Clay Davis being happy to "take anybody's money if they're giving it away" - the exact same words they used. 2. Marlo and Cutty seem to have both taken an interest in Michael or at least seen something different about him. And yes, Mike was able to look Marlo in the eye... 3. Politician Tony Gray talking about the importance of schools and taking kids off corners Btw, I love your analysis - I won't say whether it's right or wrong - you'll find out eventually - but I enjoy seeing how you try piecing things together.

I really liked your discussion about Michael and your assessment about the kids in general, it's really interesting how Dennis and Marlo saw the same thing in Michael but in different ways, like you said not many would stand his ground to Marlo, much less a kid, doing so while looking at him right in the eyes. That's a quality that he also demonstrates acting as the "big brother" of the group as you called him. Milena killed me with her comment about Herc and how "playing dumb" would be no problem to him lmao, I agree the actor has great comedic timing. I don't think I ever seen him in anything else, but he has really good chemistry with Carver's actor. Speaking of Carver, remember when he hoped on top of a car screaming all over the place and threatening kids and how "they're gonna lose"? Bunny's influence is really showing, what fucking growth

Seeing a lot of reaction youtubers start to skip the intro and outro discussions, to cater to the algorithm/make it easier to create content. Really appreciate that we get so many good thoughts here.

SHIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET. Iconic.

I propose Milena and Lola both do their best "Sheeeiiiitttttt" impersonation in the next video and we vote on the best one.

Fans of The Wire are eating so good rn. These reactions are so long and great.

Such happiness in the thumbnail, you'd swear the girls were watching a really uplifting series 😊