Sunday, October 15, 2006
They bring me product by the bundle:
Yglesias has a problem with me inveighing on subjects beyond my area of expertise, but just a quick word on The Wire. Tonight Randy violated rule number one: Stop Snitching. At the same time, Namond, son of the fallen Barksdale empire, has to prove himself as a soldier. Isn't it clear how this is going to turn out? Randy is going to die, and Namond is going to have a hand in his death.

It's no accident, as the Marxists used to say, that the writers had Michael decline to help Namond move his package: Namond is going to feel increasingly alienated from his crew, as he already does as a Barksdale scion. (Line of the show, from when Namond was pulled out of class in what seemed like an arrest: "Can I have your X Box? You ain't gonna need it where you goin'.") Similarly, Namond told us everything we need to know about him in last week's episode. When Chris the Zombie-Master strolled through the alley to talk to Michael and ordered the boys to disperse, Namond ostentatiously obeyed, making sure to spew Chris's name from his lips in a moment of revealing obsequiousness. Killing his friend is a very short step, and Namond wants to prove he has very long legs.
--Spencer Ackerman
Spence, Spence, Spence!

Does Namond evoke in you echoes of a Haskelist personality? I see projection.

Namond is clearly not cut from soldierly cloth despite his pedigree and his personal selfish resident dragon pushing the family trade. In other words, he is redeemable, a fact Bunny Colvin recognizes.
Blogger adaplant | 8:04 AM

Hmm. Interesting point. Namond is, after all, the one playing X Box while Randy hustles for Carcetti, Michael shoulders the prospect of redemption while entertaining Chris's offer, and Dukie starves.

But there's a big difference between Redeemable and Redeemed. De'Londa and Wee-bay are putting Namond under extraordinary pressure. And I suspect it wasn't an accident that the U-Md dude learned that you need to go to the Junior High level in order to find kids whom the Corners haven't completely claimed. Namond could go either way, but his ambition and his heritage are hard things to overcome, especially, as we saw in the last episode, Namond thinks he's heading for gen-pop anyway.
Blogger Spencer Ackerman | 8:46 AM