Watching The Wire: Part IV - On Spoilers (or lack thereof)

When coming to a show like The Wire so much later than everyone else, it's interesting to see what people tell you to look forward to.  I've had many conversations along the lines of:

"Oh, you're finally watching The Wire?!? How far have you gotten?"

"Just finished Season 1."

"OMG - Season (3/4/5) is the best.  That's the season where - oh, but I don't want to spoil it for you.  You totally need to let me know when you get there so we can talk about it..."

Oddly, nobody (seriously, nobody) ever mentions Season 2 as being worth spoiling.  It's like the red-headed stepchild of Wire seasons.

And so, devoid of both spoilers and heightened expectations, I was able to begin Season 2 blissfully ignorant of whatever it entails.

And what the early part of Season 2 seems to entail is a playground style pissing contest between Major Valchek and Frank Sobotka.  I was not expecting that.  I also find it incredibly entertaining that the driving force behind this season's major case is going to be a petty, personal dispute over a stained glass window in a church.

It seems totally contrived, and yet, looking at the recent political stories coming out of DC these days, it is at the same time, totally realistic...

A Drink With The Hell's Angels

It’s the smell that hits me first, right as I crack the interior door.  That rare mix of hairspray, spilled drinks and body glitter that one can’t find anywhere else.  Then the music.  Some kind of kinetic, driving beat.  Metal.  Hip-hop.  Some Eurotrash rave track.  Don’t remember.  Doesn’t matter.  Finally the blacklight hits my retinas.  Decorative, glowing wall fixtures.  Overwhitened teeth sitting on the corner.  Stains on the carpet.
 

I see my two new friends waving to me from a table near the central stage.  I walk over to them, replaying in my head, the crazy, and random way I ended up here.

I was on my way home.