You are using an outdated browser.
Please upgrade your browser
and improve your visit to our site.
Skip Navigation

Wireblogging, Episode 2: "soft Eyes"

by Eric Rauchway

Using your eyes poorly can get you into trouble. Poor, impatient Herc (just after the shot juxtaposes him with a horse's hindquarters) blunders into a scene with the mayor in flagrante. He doesn't know how to use what he's seen, and though Valchek tells him it's a bargaining chip, we can't be too sure.

And Namond, without a word, tells his mother and us that he gets bought by what he sees--the flash clothes, the vintage jerseys, the mindless video games.

The episode closes with a montage of how various characters watch the mayoral debate, which itself turns on how we treat people who've seen something important: another witness has been murdered. This was Carcetti's pet cause before, and thanks to Valchek and Landsman, under whose vigilant eyes the case passed, Carcetti finds out about it just in time to exploit it in the debate. With only his eyes, he tells the mayor he's got his number. In the campaigns' headquarters, we watch the staff as they watch, their eyes wordlessly telling us that they think so too.

Next week: Omar!