After all these years I just realized that Lester let the gym doors open when he enters. Given the doors symbolism throughout the whole series it may mean a relevant truth is coming.
David Simon, one of the creators, said a few weeks ago that NBC is finally negotiating the music rights to allow it to stream. That was the issue. NBC hadn't negotiated music rights originally.
I don't believe that's entirely true. He probably went to every boxing gym on the west side looking for intel. Once he found his trainer, or possibly his promoter, he was able to get the poster. Lester knew to talk to people, rather than just go on surveillance or informants. At least, that's what I expect from an older detective.
Is it me? or does that gym look just like the scene from "ROCKY" 2 between "Rock" and "mickey when he slaps him and tells him that Apollo will hurt him.
As I rewatch these clips, it dawns on me that Lester was probably the McNulty of his prime. I love that the Wire shows that the more times change the more things remain the same.
I got this feeling that as smart as Lester was, he seemed conflicted just giving his team the right leads... especially the gym scene where he had to ask questions about Avon
People always talk about Omar but Lester was always my favorite character. Omar may have been the soul of Wire, McNaulty , the passion, but Lester was the brains of the show. The insistence the case needed a wire in the first place was him. The nail gun, the bodies in the vacants, figuring out who D'Angelo was. Investigating politicians right before thier election campaigns was all Lester. He was the straw that stirs the drink.
It's so cool how these first few episodes were written to make the show slowly gain traction. You're confusingly thrown into a trial with a flipped witness, the case having already taken place off-screen. Followed by the reluctant formation of the "detail" with a group of misfits in a derelict basement office. I remember watching the first 3 episodes, kinda struggling to keep up with the characters and police jargon and thinking that this wasn't really exciting, that the characters were very ordinary, but it was somehow intriguing because it felt so real. You somehow knew you'd be rewarded if you stuck with it.
