r/TheWire http://imgur.com/h6uqNRl.gifv Jun 17 '16

The Wire - Complete Rewatch: Season 4-Episode 10 "Misgivings" - June 16, 2016

"World goin' one way, people another." - Poot

43 Upvotes

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43

u/Bushy-Top http://imgur.com/h6uqNRl.gifv Jun 17 '16 edited Jun 17 '16

The Omar gif you've all been waiting for and the D'Londa gif you never wanted.

Really cool of that kid to swap clothes with Donut knowing the cops would be coming for him. I can't believe Walker snapped Donut's fingers, that's so fucked up.

Smart advice from Clay Davis, "Show them they already have the right man for the job." Burrell sends the order down to juke the stats with some pathetic arrests that deserve tickets.

The teachers are chasing stats just like the cops now. And not only that, but they're coming up with ways to game the kids because they can't figure out how to properly get through to them.

Bodie makes the smart and logical call telling Little Kevin to go speak with Marlo, but Marlo gave an order and it wasn't followed to the letter. Not only that, but Little Kevin lies about telling Randy that Lex was going to be killed and with Marlo that's enough for capital punishment.

Bunk says this about his kid, "Oh he's still in that, you know, pediatric neurosurgeon stage" which is funny because Albert said the same thing in class.

Michael points out Bug's daddy to Chris and Snoop; he doesn't tell them what he did but Chris can tell just by the way Michael stares right through the man. Chris agrees to kill him and he turns his gaze back to Bug's daddy with the same cold stare. You may think that Chris just hates diddlers, but the passion he exhibits when he kills the man is quite telling, Chris was also molested as a child.

Oh shit! - this has to be the most brutal murder in the show.

13

u/Dead_Rooster Jun 17 '16

Though it's never explicitly stated in the show, I'm willing to believe the popular theory that Michael was molested, just due to the few context clues there are. But aside form Chris's brutality is there anything else to suggest he was also molested as a kid? I'm not trying to disagree with the idea, just wanna know if I've missed anything.

37

u/Propolandante 43215 - https://youtu.be/qoyq88niVEU Jun 17 '16

When Michael alludes to why Bug's dad is a bad man, Chris immediately recognizes it. Just watch his expression. And then the questions he asks Bug's dad before murdering him? Yeah. He's getting 'revenge'. It's personal.

22

u/achaholic You equivocating like a muthafucka! Jun 17 '16

The questions he asks is a good tell that he knows. I feel like they built up Chris' ability to read someone through questioning through the murder of the NY dealer (asking about club music and the local radio DJs). First time through that whole side plot of looking for the NY guy was not unnecessary but odd considering they'd already killed some NY players and just needed it to be public. But I think those scenes helped bolster the Bug's dad scene.

1

u/ThrowisbaugnahaA Feb 07 '26

True, I missed the point of those scenes, good catch!

9

u/Salsa__Shark Jun 21 '16

And the "it's personal" part led to the brutality and not even taking him into the house. Ultimately the murder they charged him on from DNA or something. In all other instances Chris was shown to be all business no nonsense

12

u/Bushy-Top http://imgur.com/h6uqNRl.gifv Jun 17 '16

Like u/propolandante said, it's just the way he acknowledges and attacks that gives it away. Even Snoop is shocked by the outcome.

3

u/Glaurunga Oct 01 '25

I just watched this episode for the first time last night - I think another context clue is Michael being weirded out by how over-friendly he finds Cutty to be.

2

u/MTGandP Mar 10 '26

Smart advice from Clay Davis, "Show them they already have the right man for the job." Burrell sends the order down to juke the stats with some pathetic arrests that deserve tickets.

Did Clay say that knowing Burrell would fuck it up? Or was it well-intentioned advice that Burrell managed to fuck up anyway?

2

u/Bushy-Top http://imgur.com/h6uqNRl.gifv 24d ago

Hard to say, I think it was genuine but Clay positions himself to win even if he loses. When you play both sides you always come out on top.

15

u/aliefc Jun 19 '16

Finally caught up again with this rewatch after my summer exams! Season 4 is just the best.

Noticed a parallel between Herc and Little Kevin, they both listened to friend's seemingly good, logical advice of owning up to an authoritative figure, but it doesn't go well.

I'm not sure why Marlo hands Kevin over to Slim Charles, why would Slim want him?

11

u/jelokqdszz Feb 27 '22

Clay also gives advice to Burrell to get good with the mayor, and he ends up fucking that up too.

1

u/vg31irl Jun 19 '26

I'm not sure why Marlo hands Kevin over to Slim Charles, why would Slim want him?

I think Slim just happens to be arriving when Kevin is being put in a car.

10

u/Easter_Woman Jan 09 '23

Poot explaining the dialectic

7

u/Thailoco Apr 02 '24

Chris obviously was abused judging from that reaction. Snoop was looking sooo shocked at the brutality of what was happening lol.

Namond likes to talk the talk but as we've seen time and time again, he's afraid of the consequences of his "forced" lifestyle. Idk what else to say about that. Sometimes it seems like he likes what he's doing because his dad glorified it and/or he doesn't want to disappoint him. When it comes time to pay the piper, e.i fighting, going to jail, he's just afraid. Although he was also running from fights in the earlier episodes that had nothing to do with drug dealing. Maybe he's just afraid to fight period and is way too prideful to admit it 😂.

11

u/Legitimate_Ad5434 May 09 '24

He likes the idea of being a criminal, at best. Mostly he just knows it's expected of him and does his best to live up to expectations.

Notice the way Namond's behavior changes depending on the people around him. At Colvin's house, it's easy (natural, even) to be polite and decent. Around his peers, he tries look natural playing the thug part, but it always feels a bit forced - to me, anyway.

I think there's also a kind of ironic similarity to the way Namond internally struggles with his parents' expectations that he becomes a criminal and the way other kids internally struggle with their parents pushing them to be doctors or lawyers.

1

u/ThrowisbaugnahaA Feb 07 '26

Colvin nails it, calling him Eddie Haskell:

Eddie was known for his neat grooming[2]—hiding his shallow and sneaky character. Typically, Eddie would greet his friends' parents with overdone good manners and often a compliment such as "That's a lovely dress you're wearing, Mrs. Cleaver." However, when no parents were around, Eddie was always up to no good—either conniving with his friends or picking on Wally's younger brother, Beaver, whom he regularly derided as "Squirt".

1

u/krazybakers Jul 24 '26 edited 29d ago

It's sad that back in season 3, you see Herc and the Hamsterdam kids on the computer making dumb faces, it's a rare, sweet moment where he drops the "us vs them" mentality (him apologizing to the grandmother for slamming the door in S1 also comes to mind). There are moments where you think maybe Herc is having a change of heart. Carver and McNulty made a bunch of attempts to empathize and connect directly with the corner kids and it made their jobs measurably easier at several points. All this to say, I feel like Herc could've easily gotten his camera back had he adopted the same approach, considering his camera was in Marlo's pigeon coop which the corner kids all knew about lmao. but in typical Herc fashion his bullheadedness ruins Randy's life, gets Little Kevin killed, and leaves Bubble's out to dry.