+Gnomelord0 Rawls was the worst in a way. He was a clever guy. But preferred to play politics to advance his rank rather than actually do any policework. Burrel was a hack, but couldn't help himself.
The next scene after this was great too when Rawls actually admitted that Bunny's plan was actually brilliant, but was also scared that they might all lose their jobs.
In that moment, Rawls seemed strangely serene about losing his job, as if the hilarious irony were enough of a salve. Fucking shame it led to him ending Bunny's career, but still
Rawls always struck me as a good man worn down by a bad system. Like so many of the other police in the Wire, he looked into the abyss, but unlike Lester or Bunny or Daniels or McNulty, he flinched when it looked back. (Not that Daniels didn't at first or that McNulty wasn't mostly in it for his own ego, but still.) Unlike Burrell or Valchek he seemed to at least understand that the stats game was wrong, even if he never stopped playing it - he was right on the scene when Kima got shot, he seemed genuinely interested in how McNulty pulled off the fake serial killer, and of course, he was the one who picked up the letters from the community that Bunny showed them in the scene right after this one. Like he really understood that what Bunny did worked, even if he wasn't going to take his side.
@@samuelmuiruri4704 I think he wasn't really thinking that much about the final consequences, he was close to retirement and was just tired of nothing improving. And at least for a month, conditions in the district improved.
@@samuelmuiruri4704 Fair enough, but Bunny made his own choice knowing the potential consequences and took full responsibility, so he was fine with risking his pension. At least the people under him weren't shafted.
@@curranfrank2854 This might sound stupid but was Colvin not still duking the stats (just in a different way)? The crimes were still happening in Hamsterdam (dealing, using, possession, etc.). They just don't show on the stats 'cos no one was reporting them and he wasn't enforcing them. Sure the violent crimes went down, 'cos crews weren't beefing over corners, but the rates of dealing and using probably increased with no enforcement. So did Colvin's experiment actually reduce the crime rate?
"He's lost his fuckin mind!" "YOU! In my office NOW!" And ladies & gentleman, this is exactly why nothing ever changes. It's more important to LOOK like we're TRYING to fix problems, than to actually FIX them.
How did he really fix anything when Hamsterdam was a living nightmare hell-scape of misery? The reduced murder rate he achieved only lasted for a short period of time
“You show loyalty, they learn loyalty. You show them it’s about the work, it’ll be about the work. You show them it’s about some other kind of game, then that’s the game they’ll play.” Whatever game Rawls was taught, he played it well. It definitely wasn't the right game.
You can definitely tell Rawls has some respect for the idea. I love the way Bunny explained it. Push the drug activity to areas of the city where it wasn’t a priority for the police department. Sounds reasonable to me.
With all the shit the bosses gave the troops for not spending every second on the job trying to locate one specific handgun in fucking Baltimore, Burrell had Hamsterdam coming for that exact reason. Teach cops to set weird priorities, that's exactly what they'll do.
This scene was so satisfying to watch after you spend so much of Season 3 seeing Burrell and Rawls verbally destroy every Major in Comstat. Then Colvin comes up and serves their own shit back at them. One of my favorite moments of the series.
Those reactions by Rawls at 1:36 and 1:42 say it all. He figured it all out at 1:36, and the reaction at 1:42 was one of shock. He nervously looks over to see if anyone else had caught on, but they clearly had no clue. That was some excellent acting.
@@gangstapenguin2773 Ya, say what you will about Rawls but he always seemed like a damn good investigator. Probably what allowed him to climb the ranks so well. As soon as Colvin says "I" he immediately knows that Colvin is covering for something that he hasn't explained yet, knowing that Colvin isn't the type to take all the credit for something that would be seen as a positive.
It's interesting how Bunny's story parallels stringers. Neither fit in with their own completely. They saw the futility in the way things were, the status quo of fighting over corners. They both wanted to change things for the better, had a good level of sucess at doing that, and ultimately failed when their superiors came into the picture and tore it apart. Then were removed from the equation by two men. They even say the same line "Get on with it motherf*****s" before they are finished off. Of course in Bunny's case he was only removed from "the game" by being fired, while Stringer was removed from "the game" by being fired upon.
Except Stringer won. The co-op comes back at the end of Season 5, and the biggest problem with it (the monopolization of the connect by one man) is fixed as 3 members are shown meeting with Vondas. Institutional change can happen if everyone is willing to buy in and it's in everyone's self interests.
Colvin was screwed either way. They were pressuring all of the majors to increase clearances and were demoting the ones that couldn't achieve those clearances. He was going to lose his rank no matter what he did.
I think he would've been fine if he had he not done Hamsterdam and juked the stats until he reached his 30. Melo and one of the others officers in the Western were talking about a guy who was a pro at juking the stats and making it look like the felonies were down. It was Bunny who told them to not do it and he gave the clean stats.
ajbahus As he said before, he knew how to juke the stats but he didn't know how to make a body disappear. They wanted a 5 percent decrease on murders too.
This is what pisses me off the most....The Deputy was so arrogant asking the majors to complete and impossible task. Colvin was like F it....you want me to do it....I'm going to do it and he did.. then got mad at how he did it. The stats didnt lie and the Mayor was like can we keep this going a little while longer lol
@@demetriusmckay617 Well, keep in mind that the order to drop the murder rates wasn't Burrells' idea. It was Royce wanting to look good for his re-election campaign and giving Burrell another crazy directive without thinking about how he could do it.
Rawls is my favorite character on the law enforcement side. "You're not killing them yourself McNulty at least assure me of that" might be my favorite line of the whole series.
@@johnaustin209 My man you doing Reganomics in 2022? Smh. If the impact of meth, fentanyl and the opioid crisis in general in the Midwest is any indication, criminalization doesn't work. We need alternatives.
Say what you want about Rawls, but of the bosses, he's easily the best police. You can see clearly that he understands what Bunny is saying before anyone else in the room. There are numerous examples in the show that imply that Rawls was actually a very capable policeman who got caught up playing the game.
Yeah, remember the aftermath of Kima getting shot? He caught onto what happened and what needs to be done in a second. Also the speech he gave McNulty was one of the most moving scenes in the entire series for me. Rawls saw people for what they are in a heartbeat and used his skills to move forward in his world. You may not like him, he is pretty much unlikeable, but theres not doubt about how good he is. Reminds me a lot on Marlo for example
@@wazdalos I watch a lot of the wire on RU-vid and read the comments. Usually social media is filled with shit but there is so much good content in the comments here that really make you think deep about the characters in this show. Yours like many others. Thanks for your thoughts.
@@jmremote Its the same here bro.. so many things that I never noticed until somebody under those videos pointed them out. That’s probably the best part of social media, trading thoughts and information with somebody thats as passionate about a certain topic as you are. I also always read the comments. Thank you for your words man
By localizing the dealers you increase the amount of potential surveillance. I would have argued that the grouping of dealers together would have lead to more economical surveillance of the trade. Therefor increasing the amount of high-level dealer arrests. Make them more comfortable in their surrounding; so they get sloppy.
Bunny told his men that his end goal with Hamsterdam was a sting targeting the high profile drug dealers. But they eventually realized that was never the real goal.
violetninja Still entrapment. Police chief tells me it's ok to sell drugs in a certain area, then bust me for selling them, I'm going to snitch on him!
This was taken from the idea of former mayor of Baltimore Kurt Schmoke, to legalize drugs in the city. That idea got him labeled "The Most Dangerous Mayor in the Country" Such a great plan.
Rawls was so sharp, I always admired that. Another example was the aftermath of Kima getting shot. He caught onto what happened and what needs to be done in a second. Also the speech he gave McNulty was one of the most moving scenes in the entire series for me. Rawls saw people for what they are in a heartbeat and used his skills to move forward in his world. You may not like him, he is pretty much unlikeable, but theres not doubt about how good he is. Reminds me a lot on Marlo for example
The episode after Kima got shot was my favorite episode of the entire series. Seeing Rawls and Landman take lead and actually work the crime scene in a realistic way. No corny ass music, montage, or magic CSI nonsense. That episode was amazing and Lester was big time in that episode as well.
Truth be told, Bunny's idea was actually proposed in the early 90's in the city of Baltimore. Mayor by the name of Kurt Schmoke. And I don't even know if it was officially proposed, but the idea of legalizing drugs did come up during his tenure in office. May have been a comment in the local paper or maybe was proposed, not sure, but that is real. Caught some heat for it too, just like Bunny. Didn't fly though. But during that period is when the city saw a dramatic rise in open air drug markets. It was already bad, but it really took off in the early 90's.
+Christopher Murphy Schmoke cameo's as the health commissioner in the show. On the Blu-ray disc set in the extras they interview him quite a bit. He also cameo'd as himself in Homicide Life on the Streets.
+Christopher Murphy Schmoke cameo's as the health commissioner in the show. On the Blu-ray disc set in the extras they interview him quite a bit. He also cameo'd as himself in Homicide Life on the Streets.
Various police departments have unofficially done stuff like this for decades in certain areas of certain cities. It's usually not as formal as Hamsterdam, but precinct cops will sometimes come to an unwritten agreement with drug dealers to only sell in a designated area away from residents and legit businesses in exchange for the cops turning a blind eye.
I'd also imagine that he's went over that exact scenario a trillion times in his head ever since he came up with the plan lmao, he most likely knew exactly what was gonna happen once he told them.
I love the fact that Burrell has no fucking idea what's going on until Rawls tells Burrells subordinate (or whatever) what they both can't see, and then he's all: SHIT.....! OFFICE! NOW!
I think the other majors had an inkling of what Bunny had done, but they were almost in disbelief that he had the balls to actually do it. Rawls was the only one to just say it out loud.
Film Staff There's a difference between movies and tv though. Movies only have about 2 maybe 3 hours to tell a story, where as a tv series has about 10 - 12 hours to tell a story, so they can be a bit more flexible about it. But you're right though, Hollywood probably wouldn't be able to make something of such quality.
+Thomas Griffin Hmmm. Maybe they mean because the show was never shot in Hollywood and therefore didn't have those connections. Which, Btw is one of the reasons I've heard David Simon say that may have hindered them from winning may Emmys.
I love how doesn’t deny any of it. He was probably my favorite character in the entire series because he actually cared enough to put his career on the line
Bunny was also sharp enough to understand that the cover-up culture in the BPD would protect him somewhat from the fallout of doing this. He knew his superiors would just quietly shut down Hamsterdam and transfer Bunny somewhere else rather than publicly fire him, because their first instinct was always to quietly bury scandals to protect their own careers.
He should've just lied and said he increased Police presence in the dangerous neighborhoods and reduced it in the "calm" areas. The dealers, sick of being harassed, decided to sell in quiet places and magically moved there... THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN CRÈME FUCKING BRULÉE !
I know most people's favorite season is 4 because of the kids. It used to be mine. But now it's season 3 because of Bunny's the courage, compassion, and loyalty.
I love how intelligent Rawls is. The moment Bunny says "made them an offer" he caught the problem. Then when Bunny B.S.s about "where drug enforcement was not a district priority" Rawls is quicker than anyone to figure out what was going on.
I think deep down a lot of the majors in the room had figured out what Bunny had done before Rawls spoke, but they were still kind of in shock like "No way. There's no way he actually went and fucking did that." LOL.
Rawls is the a perfect foil of Colvin. Colvin understands how the system works and what the consequences of his actions will be, but he throws away his career, his retirement package, and other job prospects in the future to do the right thing and actually try and help people. Rawls on the other hand knows exactly what needs to be done to actually help people and reduce crime, but is unwilling to sacrifice his career to do it.
Something I didn't fully appreciate until this week about the Hamsterdam storyline is the way that the show builds a hierarchy of how they view drugs. Bunny credits his crime drop on "rounding up all of the mid-level dealers in my district and making them an offer they couldn't refuse," but the reality is, that wasn't enough. It wasn't until they brought the BUYERS to Hamsterdam that the free zones took off. It's subtle, but in that story point, the show argues that drugs are an addiction first, a business second, a law third and hence a crime fourth.
So very well said. Criminalizing them is the easiest target, at least from a politicians and societal perspective, but by far the least effective in fixing the problem. Thanks for sharing that insight!
Rawls was clearly sympathetic to the idea and respected Colvin for having the balls to try it. But at the same time Rawls knew that the optics of Hamsterdam were terrible and they'd all face insane legal and political backlash once word got out. Remember, this was in the early 2000s before drug decriminalization and harm reduction programs had any real public support anywhere. Back then the concept of creating a designated, police-sanctioned drug market to funnel the drug trade into one place was basically unthinkable. Even today this idea is still highly controversial.
Colvin "I found another approach" Rawls "I'm all ears Bunny" Colvin "I moved them off the corners" Rawls "GODDAMN it don't be coy with me" lol I love the response and the look on Burrell's face. too funny
Bunny fucked up when he said he made them an offer. There is a small chance he could have come up with a plausible story had he not mentioned the offer
Honestly they are more angry that by not enforcing the drug war that federal dollars would stop coming in, and the brass wouldn't be able to build their beach houses for their retirement.
I swear every single actor on this show deserves some kind of award...everyone from the leads like McNulty down to bit players like Brother Mouzone and the deacon acted their asses off...Bunny and Rawls are two in particular whose scenes I always looked forward to...it's impossible to heap enough praise on this series yo
Seriously. Even the minor characters in The Wire are so well-cast, and some of the kids playing the Barksdale people weren't even really actors (or were just starting out). The casting team nailed every choice. They deserve every award ever.
@@drrockkso8882 yeah man i think it should be required viewing for everyone regardless or nationality or language..if aliens ever visit us it should be on their list too..in fact I'm pretty sure somewhere out there aliens are big fans of the wire a la the omicronians in Futurama watching Single Female Lawyer..if they ever send another one of those gold records up to be found by aliens it should include the complete series in all formats
This kinda thing basically happens to a smaller extent in all big cities. I'm from Philly. A few miles away is an area called Kensington. Look it up on RU-vid.
Rawls figured out what was going on quickly. Rawl, for a being a careerist and politician in the police department, was 'natural police'. He reminded me a little bit of a tamer version of "Alonzo" in Training Day. Alonzo was actually "natural police" but got totally corrupt. Similarly, Rawl had those instincts similar to someone like Freeman or McNulty, however he chose to give himself over to the system. It actually made him, in his own way, a more formidable adversary in certain areas then Burrell, because it was difficult to get much past him and had a sense for the strengths, weaknesses and profile of those working under him. He could quickly figure for instance who was behind behind activities that were taking place behind the scenes - recognizing if it was McNulty, Freeman or someone else.
Yeah Rawls was a really smart dude with natural cop instincts and a talent for navigating department politics. I feel like he could have done some real good if he'd worked at a less corrupt PD.
Say what you want about Rawls, but he was definitely the smartest in that particular department leadership group. Burrell and the other guy were completely lost until Rawls said it out loud lol
you can see the wheels in Burrell and Rawls’ heads start spinning the second Bunny says “We…. I mean *I*..” the second somebody with rank takes full responsibility for something to save their subordinates asses, you know it’s bad news lol
