The Wire, Pt. 2

Today I continue my week long tribute/exploration of "The Wire" with a look at season two. During the first season, "The Wire" showed how the street operations function and, through that, offered a little insight into why they are tough to beat through traditional investigative techniques.

In season two, the world expands to show how the drugs, weapons, and other goods come into the country. The focus shifts to the docks, to the foreign organizations that serve as importers and how those goods filter down to the streets. Some have complained that season two feels a bit too disconnected from the world of inner city Baltimore, but I like that it speaks to another fading part of American culture — the working class and trade unions.

During the Industrial Revolution and even through a bulk of the early part of the 20th Century, workers and unions were a big part of the American economic and political structure. It's undeniable, however, as we've moved into a more mechanized era that the traditional structure has changed. Unions' power is waning and workers are becoming disenfranchised. All of that makes them easy targets for criminal enterprise.

That idea is sown throughout the second season of "The Wire." The show tells the story of the docks through the Sobotka family. Frank (Chris Bauer) is union leader. He remembers the good old days and is desperate to find a way to keep the docks and its workers as a vital part of the city's industry. His nephew, Nick (Pablo Schreiber), and son, Ziggy (James Ransone), are struggling to find their place. They can't make it in the family business and see there are other avenues to provide quick cash, avenues that lead to ruin.

Another side story I was fascinated by is the effect a prison sentence has on one's ability to participate and run the criminal enterprise on the streets, or rather the lack of impact it has. As depicted in "The Wire," prison offers little chance for reform and serves little as a deterrent for those that made their bones on the street, at least for the most part. More on that in season three, though.

While "The Wire" showcases the drug trade in a major East Coast city, we're not immune from those problems on the West Coast. Drugs still continue to pour into California from Mexico (an issue touched on in "Traffic"), with little signs that we're managing any tangible victory in the "war on drugs."

Though efforts are made to drive a wedge between the supply and demand in Baltimore's drug trade, the second season shows the difficulty law enforcement officials have in penetrating the dense and well-layered drug organizations.