this is completely unrelated to the post at hand, but i need my sanity checked and you read more into the wire than anyone else i've seen:

is marlo gay?

if so, why is no one else talking about this?

if not, hasn't there been a lot in that direction?
 caddy lack | 8:20 AM

I haven't seen episode four. If you're talking about episode four, I can't judge. What's more, if you're introducing me to a plot element from episode four, I will find you and come after you with the fury of Omar and Brother Mouzone combined.

That said, I don't think there has been much in the direction of Marlo being gay. He's disinterested in women. That much we learn from his blase liaison in his truck outside the club in season three, and the play he runs at the hotel in episode one of season five. But that's consistent with Marlo's disinterest in everything except power. What's more, he still had sex with that girl from the club. While that's not dispositive of his heterosexuality, there are much simpler explanations and a paucity of evidence for his homosexuality.
 Spencer Ackerman | 8:56 AM

Ondemand is ruining this season, it's making conversation impossible. But I didn't reveal anything.
 caddy lack | 9:05 AM

Then we're all good. But, Sloan, can you explain (without mentioning ep4!) why you think Marlo is gay? It's honestly never occurred to me before you mentioned it.
 Spencer Ackerman | 9:10 AM

I think one thing that's great about the Wire is that it just isn't very concerned with playing a lot of "Is he or isn't he?" type games with the viewer, nor does it put much weight on homosexuality (or for that matter, race or class). It's certainly a gem among TV shows in that it even depicts homosexuals (to say nothing of black homosexuals, or poor, black homosexuals) but in the world Simon has created, the "big three" of race, class, and sex simply aren't as important as other traits like wit, or empathy, or commitment, or honesty.

Think of Rawls. His homosexuality is never mentioned at all, then BOOM, it's revealed (in a pretty hilarious way), but aside from some comic allusive nods afterward, it really doesn't matter one way or the other. Does it in any way inform the way his character is a craven, ass-kissing toady? Not really. It's just that some craven ass-kissing toadies are queer and some aren't. I think there's almost something revolutionary about this.
 BenGo07 | 9:44 AM

Amen to your point about Rawls. Omar is, of course, the oft-discussed example of how The Wire treats homosexuality. And rightly so. But there is indeed something powerful and true about how the show presented Rawls as queer. It would actually be a shame if they developed it further.
 Spencer Ackerman | 10:13 AM

What I love about the scene where Rawls is "outed" is that it happens while everyone at the gay bar is having a laugh at the square homophobia of Brother Mouzone's henchman. As a hetero viewer, I almost felt as if Rawls was laughing at my "shock" that he was there. Simply brilliant.
 BenGo07 | 10:35 AM

I guess I was hoping your response would be, "Hmm, hadn't thought about that" and then we'd find out three or four episodes from now and I'd have proof of my wisdom. But I don't really have any good reasoning behind it.
 caddy lack | 4:44 PM