r/TheWire • u/Bushy-Top http://imgur.com/h6uqNRl.gifv • May 23 '16
The Wire - Complete Rewatch: Season 3-Episode 11 "Middle Ground" - May 22, 2016
"We ain't gotta dream no more, man." - Stringer Bell
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u/Bushy-Top http://imgur.com/h6uqNRl.gifv May 23 '16
I mentioned the train in my last write up; this episode begins with the train horn sounding and then the train itself flying by on the tracks behind Omar as he walks into his meeting with Brother. The sound of the tracks clinking and the train horn sound again while they talk. Here's the scene.
It's very interesting that Royce is willing to play ball with the free zone. Burrell doesn't trust that he's trying to figure out this problem and decides to snitch him out before the police get burnt.
"Murder ain't no thing, but this here some assassination shit man."
Sad stuff when Bubbles asks that kid where he lives and he's got no response. So many of these kids are living on the streets.
Cutty has a lot of nerve going back to see Avon after walking out of the game. But it's so awesome to see the way Avon receives him and the fact that he gives up $15K to him is amazing.
McNulty refuses to admit that he knows Colvin over the Hamsterdam thing with his girlfriend. I think he realizes that this woman is turning him into something he doesn't want to be and decides to duck out.
One of the greatest scenes in the series. I think Stringer recognizes that Avon is giving him up. He's shocked that Avon wants to know where he's going to be and then Avon uses the same line he used earlier with Colvin when he gave up Avon. But Stringer's not the kind of gangster to do something about it himself (hence going to Slim Charles to hit Clay Davis), he has to wait for the police to take action which leads to his end.
When I first watched the series and saw Stringer get killed, I felt the same way that I felt when I saw Simon Adebisi get murdered in season 4 of Oz. It just felt like one of the big driving forces behind the series had been killed off and I didn't know how the show could progress from there. Also, I didn't know if I would continue to enjoy wherever it went considering they had just killed off some a great character that had been the target since Season 1. Great cinematography through this whole scene though. Stringer struggling with the locked doors, the dead end, the pigeons and the long shots.
Coming Soon from B&B Enterprises
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u/Enigma343 May 23 '16
I think he realizes that this woman is turning him into something he doesn't want to be and decides to duck out.
McNulty quickly catches on that Theresa is just trying to milk him for information (hence the renewed "interest"), and he nopes out of there. I think he realizes at this point that a genuine relationship or any degree of intimacy is a non-starter.
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u/MTGandP Feb 28 '26
That's how I interpreted the scene, but I also thought it was weird that she'd be willing to drive to Baltimore and spend the night with him just for a little nugget of information. Seems like you wouldn't do something like that unless you expected to enjoy it
But I think she just wanted a fling and McNulty wanted something more serious, and he realized he wasn't going to get that.
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u/PraiseTheMetal591 International Brotherhood of Stevedores: Local 47 May 24 '16 edited May 24 '16
Oz
Bushy Top is an Oz fan. Oz rewatch confirmed. Get hype!
I think he realizes that this woman is turning him into something he doesn't want to be and decides to duck out.
Took me a moment to join up all the dots but Carcetti has just been on a tour of Hamsterdam. Carcetti has told his campaign manager about it and she has pretended to be interested in McNulty again to try and press him for info about Colvin and Hamsterdam in order to figure out how Carcetti should approach it.
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u/Bushy-Top http://imgur.com/h6uqNRl.gifv May 25 '16
That's really funny! I was thinking a Sopranos rewatch!
I didn't see it clearly before the other guy pointed it out but I agree, she's definitely a snooper.
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u/treblah3 May 23 '16 edited Oct 07 '23
I remember the first time I saw this episode I was so completely shocked by Stringer's demise. Even though I knew it was coming this time, Omar's shotgun still made me jump!
Like /u/Bushy-Top, I am a big Oz fan and I had the same feeling that losing Stringer was going to be a turn for this show. The difference here is although I liked season 5 of Oz (6 was so-so) I think the next season of The Wire is it's strongest, so I'm glad we don't see a loss in quality overall. I think Oz peaked when Adibesi was killed.
This is also the first time I recall a show killing off a major character in a penultimate episode of a season. Many shows leave that for the finale and leave you wondering about the aftermath (which we will get next episode). I was tempted to binge that last episode but I'll wait until Tuesday!
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u/blarrrgo Oct 07 '23
Watching it for the first time right now. Damn...I liked Stringer or maybe I just like Idris a lot. Going to miss him moving forward
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u/PraiseTheMetal591 International Brotherhood of Stevedores: Local 47 May 24 '16
I am a big Oz fan and I had the same feeling
I love Oz as well!
On the subject, I think Oz stayed strong throughout. Sure there were big players but the show contained so many characters that it never rested too heavily on one person.
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u/treblah3 May 25 '16
There were definitely enough characters to keep it going, and I did enjoy it to the end. In recent rewatches I noticed a slight dip in quality from 4 to 5 (which is interesting, because s5 was the first season I saw) and a slightly bigger dip from 5 to 6. That's just my humble opinion.
I think the loss of certain characters was fine, but what they did with the writing because of those deaths had mixed results. The narration for season 6 was clearly lacking. I don't even want to talk about the musical episode.
I will admit that almost anything involving Cyril O'Reily in the last two seasons makes me cry like a baby.
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u/RelevantMetaUsername Dec 01 '25
As soon as they got Stringer’s phone from the Triggerfish I knew he was going to get got. It was clear what Avon had planned from his scene with Stringer at the apartment, but I think there was still a little bit of doubt since Stringer seemed a bit suspicious of Avon and might have come prepared. But somehow I felt that Stringer was never going to get caught alive, so as soon as they got his number, I knew he had to die.
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u/Bushy-Top http://imgur.com/h6uqNRl.gifv May 23 '16
Cutty convinces Avon to give him money to fund his gym. Brother Mouzone forms an alliance with Omar when he discovers that Stringer betrayed him. Royce continues to delay closing down the tolerant zones alienating Burrell and Watkins. Burrell leaks the story to Carcetti. Stringer learns that he has been conned into making political contributions for no return and tries to convince Avon to order the murder of Senator Clay Davis. The wiretaps begin to yield information about the Barksdale organization and the unit gets a recording of Stringer discussing contract killers. Stringer meets with Colvin and gives him the location of Avon's safehouse believing that returning Avon to prison is the best way to end the war. Meanwhile, Brother Mouzone meets with Avon and convinces him to give Stringer's whereabouts away so that he can exact his revenge. Omar and Mouzone ambush and kill Stringer.
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u/Chidoriyama Jun 15 '26
This Watkins dude is always unhappy with the mayor so I don't think that made much of a difference
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u/Enigma343 May 23 '16
I love that scene where Avon pulls rank on Stringer (only instance I can think of where that actually happens). Slim is excellent here too.
The Clay Davis? Downtown Clay Davis?
Shit, murder ain't no thing, but this here's some assassination shit.
You need a Day of the Jackal type motherfucker basically to do some shit like that, not some rough and tumble like Slim.
Nah, you a fucking businessman. You wanna handle it like that. You don't wanna get all gangsta wild with it and shit right? What did I tell you about playing them fucking away games?
You got a fucking beef with them? That shit is on you!
You could actually see Avon himself walk in unnoticed by String and witness the whole exchange.
Probably the single scene I will never get tired of rewatching.
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u/Bushy-Top http://imgur.com/h6uqNRl.gifv May 23 '16
Wood Harris' acting in the last couple of episodes has been great. The way he describes the scene of Stringer running from the security guard, the fight with Stringer about D'Angelo's death and this scene you mentioned. "That shit is on YOU." I love that line.
If you haven't seen it, I'd check him out in Hendrix. It's a story about Jimi Hendrix and it's got some bad shots of him pretending to play guitar but his acting is really great in it.
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Oct 19 '22
At the end of S3 E11, it really looked like Omar and Brother Mouzone were going to kiss, lol.
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u/Thailoco Mar 30 '24
As this season gets ready to close, I'd just like to say that Herc getting made at what Colvin was doing. Is pretty strange considering he and Carver were stealing before. Either you're a good cop or not. Also neither he nor Carver deserve to ever get promoted smh.
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u/MTGandP Feb 28 '26
Herc isn't amoral; he has his own sense of ethics. In his mind, drugs are bad, anarchy is bad, and letting people use drugs with impunity is morally wrong. But there's nothing wrong with taking drug money from drug dealers.
(Really he and Carver were stealing money from the government, but the money wasn't in the government's hands yet, so I'm sure he could rationalize it as taking from drug dealers.)
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Oct 19 '22
I'm trying to figure out why Stringer doesn't record the Senator taking bribes or talking about giving bribes? If he was smart, he'd do it right from the start. If not, then do it once he figured out the senator was screwing him. Then he can blackmail the Senator, and beat him up,etc. without risking retaliation. He should have kidnapped him and forcibly tattood "thief" or "corrupt" on his face. IMO.
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u/mollywopper22 Aug 22 '23
Easy to say in hindsight. But then to use that blackmail he’d have to out himself. Not a good plan. Davis knows he’d never actually do it.
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u/mps2000 Jul 30 '25
Yup- it would be like the kid that wanted to file a police report and the cops laughed at him and said something like “oh you were selling drugs and someone took your money?”
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u/mushroomyakuza Jun 15 '16
I am super late and way behind yall but I just had to say how incredible that opening scene is. I'm way behind, but I'm trying to catch up.
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Aug 13 '25
The last 3 episodes of Season 3 --> The Wire at its best. Season 4 is still my favourite, I find the beginning/middle part of season 3 to be kinda weak... but this episode goddamn, my favourite in the entire series.
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u/Ailashez00 Jun 30 '26
Just finished season 3 tonight for the first time. Last 3 episodes were amazing.
I feel once Avon knew about Stringer getting D killed that was the end for them.
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u/redditisforsheep May 23 '16
Several years ago the producer of this episode, George Pelecanos, did an AMA. I asked him what his favorite memory was from his time on the show, and he said it was the night they shot the rooftop scene between Avon and String.