The Wire: Greatest Show Ever Made
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Selix
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You too? I was in a discussion tonight where the other party felt the same as you but I didn't. It seems so obvious to me that Marlo is on a time limit. It's just a matter of time before he gets Slimmed by one of his own if not the competition. He just alienates to many people. Sure putting the dead bodies in boarded up buildings was smart but you really can't be making that kind of body count in the first place and hope to have any support later on.
Xarpolis
Life's a Dream
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Exactly. Stringer was in it just for the quick cash so he could pursue other options (like building up the water front so he could get rich from those properties).
Avon, on the other hand, was the street. He was a less brutal version of Marlo, but vicious in his own way. If they both started in the city at the same time, it's hard to imagine who would be on top. I'd like to think Avon would, but Marlo is more likely to kill the competition (all the street guys), so he very well would have taken over.
Avon, on the other hand, was the street. He was a less brutal version of Marlo, but vicious in his own way. If they both started in the city at the same time, it's hard to imagine who would be on top. I'd like to think Avon would, but Marlo is more likely to kill the competition (all the street guys), so he very well would have taken over.
iannis
Musty Nester
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If Stringer had won the Avon/Stringer schism he probably would have found a way to hire Marlo. Stinger was aiming to go legit while keeping his cut. As the series ends Marlo is realizing that he cannot be legit, and he doesn't want to be. Stringer was on his way to becoming Senator Clay.
They're both on a time limit, really. Marlo will eventually be assassinated and Stringer will eventually take the money and run.
Also, it really was as much Chris and Snoop as it was Marlo. Without those 2 and their unbreakable loyalty Marlo is neutralized. Knowing the Greek is not enough by itself. Just like the symbiosis between Avon and Stringer.
They're both on a time limit, really. Marlo will eventually be assassinated and Stringer will eventually take the money and run.
Also, it really was as much Chris and Snoop as it was Marlo. Without those 2 and their unbreakable loyalty Marlo is neutralized. Knowing the Greek is not enough by itself. Just like the symbiosis between Avon and Stringer.
chaos
Buzzfeed Editor
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Stringer never would have been Senator Clay, that's the joke. Avon saw that clearly, String had ambition but no vision and was not as smart as he thought he was. He was outclassed once he left the projects for the boardroom.
Marlo may have killed a lot of people, but his inner circle was fiercely loyal. And he was to them. Marlo was the only one not trying to pretend to be something he wasn't.
Marlo may have killed a lot of people, but his inner circle was fiercely loyal. And he was to them. Marlo was the only one not trying to pretend to be something he wasn't.
iannis
Musty Nester
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Ah you give Stringer 15 years, Lawyer Levi, and drug money money I think he's on his way to becoming something like Senator Clay. It doesn't happen as quickly as Stringer naively thinks it does was the joke to me. And it doesn't happen because Stringer is the smartest drug dealer in town. It happens because Levi finds it useful to have Stringer in a position where he can be more useful.
Edit: I just remember one scene after Stringer realizes that he's been scammed where he's talking to Levi. And Levi says something to the effect of, "You should have talked to me about this. If this is what you want to do Clay Davis is not the way to do it."
Edit: I just remember one scene after Stringer realizes that he's been scammed where he's talking to Levi. And Levi says something to the effect of, "You should have talked to me about this. If this is what you want to do Clay Davis is not the way to do it."
Szlia
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I don't think Stringer was not smart, I think what he was naive. For him it's all about beating the odds, leaving the ghetto and make a life for himself and he probably did not expect that once out of the ghetto he would still remain 'the guy from the ghetto' and that things are just as crooked out of the ghetto as they are in it, but with a different set of rules that he was not familiar with.
Tuco
I got Tuco'd!
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There was a very cutting scene between Avon Barksdale and Stringer Bell (It might have been that river scene posted here recently), iirc Avon told Stringer he was 'too smart to be a gangbanger but too stupid to be a businessman'. That, combined with how Stringer got swindled by Clay Davis et all shows that Stringer's death or decline was probably inevitable. Stringer would lose the streets and his cash flow while pissing off his old crew, and then wouldn't be able to make it in the legit world.
I think it's possible that if he worked closely with Maurice Levy he could have done much better and I don't remember what reasoning the show gave for why he didn't. As soon as Maurice found out about Stringer's 'deals' he enlightened Maurice about it. However as Season 5 showed, Maurice is playing his own game and his game is to increase how much his clients need him, even to the point where he may have purposefully leaked info to Herc to move the prosecution case along.
I think we see the start of what Stringer could have done when Marlo Stanfield works with Maurice Levy in the end of season 5. But I think this will either end with Marlo going back to the streets or the same as Stringer bell, broke and betrayed by everyone.
I think it's possible that if he worked closely with Maurice Levy he could have done much better and I don't remember what reasoning the show gave for why he didn't. As soon as Maurice found out about Stringer's 'deals' he enlightened Maurice about it. However as Season 5 showed, Maurice is playing his own game and his game is to increase how much his clients need him, even to the point where he may have purposefully leaked info to Herc to move the prosecution case along.
I think we see the start of what Stringer could have done when Marlo Stanfield works with Maurice Levy in the end of season 5. But I think this will either end with Marlo going back to the streets or the same as Stringer bell, broke and betrayed by everyone.
Kreugen
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I think the idea was to show a cycle where each generation was more brutal and shorter lived then the last, until it reaches the end point where it all starts over again. Marlo has pretty much wiped the slate clean, and once he's gone it'll all be chaos again with dozens of crews all fighting over territory etc.
The real power is always going to be in the hands of the people who control the supply (the Greek) or benefit without getting their hands dirty (lawyers, Senator Clay, the feds protecting the Greek, etc) All the efforts of the police arresting drug dealers and gangs fighting over territory is just jerking off and spinning in circles. It really is just a Game.
The real power is always going to be in the hands of the people who control the supply (the Greek) or benefit without getting their hands dirty (lawyers, Senator Clay, the feds protecting the Greek, etc) All the efforts of the police arresting drug dealers and gangs fighting over territory is just jerking off and spinning in circles. It really is just a Game.
iannis
Musty Nester
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Yeah, I think if you put Stringer in that room at the end of the series instead of Marlo you have an entirely different dynamic.
Stringer would probably accept the role of house American Inventor and seethe. Marlo can't. And Clay is basically a house American Inventor. I'm not American Inventorword baiting... it's a VERY ugly thing that they're representing. And a real thing.
But in the end it doesn't matter much because I don't think Stringer can survive the 10 years of trying to reform The Game that it takes to get into that room.
Stringer would probably accept the role of house American Inventor and seethe. Marlo can't. And Clay is basically a house American Inventor. I'm not American Inventorword baiting... it's a VERY ugly thing that they're representing. And a real thing.
But in the end it doesn't matter much because I don't think Stringer can survive the 10 years of trying to reform The Game that it takes to get into that room.
Tuco
I got Tuco'd!
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I don't even know if that's true. Stringer was rational and had goals of peace. Marlo is psychotic and had goals of respect, fear and power. Stringer fit into the system like a cog because he was the way that money from the street was cleanly fed into the bourgeoisie. Marlo was potentially disruptive because if he was betrayed by the Clay Davis's or Maurice Levy's he might kill them and their family.
And I disagree about Clay Davis being a 'house American Inventor'. I don't think the comparison is valid at all. He's not a well-paid barrier between white people and black people. He's just a swindler of both black and white people.
And I disagree about Clay Davis being a 'house American Inventor'. I don't think the comparison is valid at all. He's not a well-paid barrier between white people and black people. He's just a swindler of both black and white people.
iannis
Musty Nester
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Fair. For Clay is really depends on who he's kicking up to and that is never stated or implied. If he's not kicking up then he is an equal opportunity swindler. I assume that he's kicking up to lifelong contacts, either career politicians themselves in the apparatus of the State or serving his corporate interests in return for their protection.
But that never -is- actually explained. It's deliberately left ambiguous. Clay delivering the bribe to "the white guy in the office building" and Levi: "Did you ever actually SEE him hand the man the money? It doesn't work like that, Stringer." It could as easily be one as the other. He totally could have made a life for himself by picking around the edges.
But that never -is- actually explained. It's deliberately left ambiguous. Clay delivering the bribe to "the white guy in the office building" and Levi: "Did you ever actually SEE him hand the man the money? It doesn't work like that, Stringer." It could as easily be one as the other. He totally could have made a life for himself by picking around the edges.
Tuco
I got Tuco'd!
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I think he made a life by picking around the edges. He made himself integral to the local politics by feeding money to both sides, then took whatever money he could from wherever he could. If anything, he kicked up to the people by appealing to them.
Without the ability to campaign, be loved by the people and funnel money to local politicians he'd be out on his ass in one election cycle. It never seemed to be like he was a conduit of money for say, the DNC and someone in Washington was strong-arming him into that position.
Without the ability to campaign, be loved by the people and funnel money to local politicians he'd be out on his ass in one election cycle. It never seemed to be like he was a conduit of money for say, the DNC and someone in Washington was strong-arming him into that position.