watching this episode for the second time i notice the switch from the kids playing soccer to the kids in the project chasing each other around. awesome scene change
The immediate juxtaposition between the suburban soccer kids playing in a warm, safe area and the kids in the dark, cold, dangerous streets. Just, wow. Whether it was intentional or coincidental, it's just another reason why the Wire is the greatest show ever created.
@@tyronegreen1961 Bubbles was the strongest characters. Was in the shit but still cared about others. Was strong enough to put it behind him and get clean.
As a single dad, the scene where McNulty misses seeing his son get a goal because his ex was griefing him and has to smile and lie about seeing it when his son runs up so proud, and the end with the look on McNultys face as he realizes even someone whose life is as hard as Bubble's is feeling pity for him.... Ouch.
@@jon8004 Actually, Bubbles says "There's a thin line between Heaven and here". Which is a much better line, but very easy to miss, as I missed it too the first time I saw the scene.
@@steverogers7601 Compared to most of the other fathers still involved in their kids lives on the show, he's not doing too bad, and his kids sure seem to love him, even though he doesn't get along with their mom. But he's def a flawed character bent on self destruction, like many others characters in the show.
@@missbelled6700 lol exactly my man. I am not touching no dope fiend, homeless person, or an obvious dirty person's hand. I can't trust them to make sure they hands are clean or if they have some disease that I could get. I ain't gonna insult them, I'd even be okay with a elbow bump or the Indian namaste. And it's got nothing to do with him being poor/homeless/lower class, only hygiene. If a rich dude was a slob, had dirty hands, or was sick, I wouldn't shake they hand ether. No disrespect, it's just all in the game.
My guess is that she’s an extremely attractive woman who was treated like a princess by men her entire life until McNulty cheated on her and made her feel like she’s nothing more than a pretty piece of meat. This left her extremely bitter towards McNulty and possibly men in general, which she takes out on Bubs.
"a thin line between heaven and here" this line is also realized in season 4 when Randy is going to church with his foster mother. As he is walking across the street, he looks over and sees people on the corner slanging not far from the church. One of the many reasons this is my favorite show of all time
It’s sad bc you drive 10mins out of the suburbs and the world changes. People drive like they are tards, people act like they are tards... it’s not the environment, it’s the people and their behavior.
This is very suburban in general I think. I grew up in suburbs in Michigan and Ontario and they even have the name "soccer mom" for a certain kind of mother.
I wouldn't shake his hand either. Look at him, he's filthy, and he's obviously a junkie. You want me to shake your hand, get your shit together and take a goddamn shower.
For what? He's a human being with agency. He's responsible for his own choices in life, as are all of us. Personal accountability... a foreign concept to 99% of Americans these days.
peter hansen fair enough. But I’m not going out of my way to be all hands on with a complete stranger who’s full of open wounds who uses needles to do drugs
“It’s a thin line between heaven and hell.” My God the writing in this show was amazing. In 20 years, this series will be in the Library of Congress as a quintessential piece of uniquely American art.
When I watched the show 10 years or so ago I had a soft spot for bubbles and always assumed that - with different circumstances, maybe better friends when he was still younger - he would have turned out just fine. With a decent job and maybe a family.
And here is the thing..... there are plenty of people in Baltimore in those circumstances. I know a few. And most made something of themselves after a fall.
Am I the only one who notice that Jimmy only brings people from the game who are good guys (good guys by the game standards) 2 the place where his kids are at
I would make an attempt to acknowledge them. I work in a hospital where there are all kinds of germs, plus toxic dust from chemotherapy and such... I always make an effort. She could always just wash her hands afterwards. And she wasn't approached, she was introduced. Big difference.
From what I felt you shake the hand of any human being who puts their hand out. Believe me I know from experience I live on Long Island but don’t work there
"Thin line between heaven and here" could be interpreted as thin line between life and death, and thin line between poverty and luxury. Especially the juxtaposition of cutting from the upper-middle class suburbs to the ghetto again.
@@CheerfullyCynical829 Nah, not sarcastic... just saying that a trailer park is already much better for the simple fact that there's not a lot of shootings in trailer parks, at least not nearly as many as a chicago or baltimore ghetto.
@@StainsStainsStains Yup. If I had to make a choice, I'd much rather be in a trailer park than in a run-down ghetto neighborhood. Way safer and less depressing. Still, that's a pretty low bar lol.
@@jasmeg2844 What are you going to catch from someone’s hands? Known plenty of addicts you can’t get HIV from shaking someone’s hands or at least acknowledging him. Stuck up bitch couldn’t even say hello.
When I first watched the wire, I thought Elena was going to be the bitch, and reason for their divorce. Turns out McNulty was the one with the issues. Elena even gave him advice about being careful not to lose relationship with Beadie. That's what makes The Wire the best show, not making McNulty a perfect person. Great detective, but not a good husband, and not the best dad.
I think the setting is supposed to be in the city (street looks like Baltimore City) which is in contrast to the streets McNulty works, i.e. it's all the same place but worlds apart.
Yeah, there are neighborhoods like Roland Park or Mount Washington where everything is gentrified or going that way situated right next to transitional neighborhoods like Pimlico. Gentrification doesn’t go neighborhood by neighborhood, but side of block by side of block. Bubbles’ quote is one of the realest things they say about Baltimore in the show, which gels with how much the man knows the streets of his hometown.
It’s so sad how football( soccer )in America is rich kids sport, while in whole world but especially South America and East Europe it’s an escape from real problems to all the poor kids.
I know where you guys are coming from when you say the ex wife needs to shake his hands..But you gotta recognize..Bubbles is a junkie to the lady..That's all..Who here would shake hands with a junkie stranger?
I've shaken junkies hands plenty of times. Why wouldn't you shake a junkies hand? Being a junkie isn't some contagious disease you will catch by shaking their hand. It's called being a decent person and treating them like a human being.
every other weekend isn't 50-50, doesn't he mean every other week? I have my daughter and me and my wife split the time right down the middle, but its actually split down the middle.
Depends on the custody agreement. In Maryland, the man generally tends to get fucked in these deals. Plus it doesn't help he has a job that works crazy weird hours. Courts take all that into consideration.
Heck, don't shake hands. Knew a guy who'd #2 and walk straight out of the bathroom. Knew he could be gross sometimes, but seeing that made me realize i had no idea where the bottom was for anything,
I think this is pretty out of place; I mean, why would McNulty take Bubbs out of the city when he's meeting his kids? He's the most sympathetic character on the show, true, but even McNulty would take the kids. Also, I don't think Bubbs should go there either. He's out of place, he's got to make money, and yet he blows an afternoon to watch the kids play a game he doesn't even know. Still, even if the setup isn't as great as this show generally is, that line is PERFECT.
Yes, but Bubbles is a homeless guy. He's got to hustle every hour of every goddamn day, or he doesn't eat. Seeing that he's a "product of his environment" doesn't feed him...
You do know that Bubbles was getting paid buy McNulty as an informant, right? He made more money in one afternoon with the cops than in one week on the streets. "The setup isn't great", no it is great but you simply missed it.
it's established that mcnulty misses a lot of his kid's games, he was desperate to make a quick pit stop to show up and support even if it meant bringing an informant(a harmless informant who he began taking a sincere liking to). this is a great scene, showing the vast differences in some parts of Baltimore than others. you just couldn't grasp that. it's also established that the cops pay him for his time, so he wasn't sitting in on the soccer game for free.
You don't think McNulty slid Bubbles something for his troubles or just because? I'll bet $$$ on it that he did and Whatever he gave him I'm sure it was more than worth it.
