I'll add a few details for those that haven't seen the show:
- The higher ups in the police division(Landsman, Burrell, and the 1st commissioner) hate "supercops" and open cases (red tags or something they call them) because it brings federal attention to the state and thus the governor sends Internal Affairs to see if they needs to clean house. That's why there is a big rift with MCU. When Bunny's Hamsterdam gets outed, the embarrassment causes the internal shakeup and for Carcetti to steal Royce's mayoral seat
- In season 1, you'll notice D'Aneglo teaching Bodie, Wallace, and others how to play chess. It is symbolism for the cycle of the narcotics racket and each character plays a role akin to each chess piece.
-D'Angelo has a epiphany of duality after he gets demoted for having the girl killed in the 1st episode. He struggles with the good v evil the rest of the way. He challenges String's authority after Wallace is executed which leads to his death in S2.
- Stringer's pride became his downfall, he swore he had the perfect plan. The perfect rags to riches blueprint. But his penchant to win EVERY battle created too many enemies. He gets all his soldiers arrested because he killed Omar's boyfriend (in response to Omar robbing his stash house) and Omar was willing to testify any story MCU needed from him once they caught some of the shooters from Kima's shooting. He has D'Angelo killed, and Avon wages war in the streets, so String tries to put Avon back in jail. When Avon reveals he knows the Senator is duping him the same way String thought he was duping Avon, String sets Brother Mouzone on a suicide mission when he refuses to kill Senator Davis.
- McNutly has the same pride issue and the same internal conflict, except he lets the evil dirty cop tactics masquerade as being the ultimate top cop. His willingness to bend every rule and find every loop hole gets several people killed or demoted(as is the case with Herc and Carver trying to illegally tape Marlo with a stolen camera from evidence until Carver brownnoses his way back up to Sgt.). In S5, he basically becomes a replica of Belushi and Shakur from Gang Related
- The children reflect the lack of opportunity there is in these neighborhoods. And how fragile trust is, but also how most just need one moment to shine and blossom from that point forward. Chris and Michael create an eerie synergy, Michael is the only one Chris carries emotion for and it makes him realize why Michael is scared of Marlo. Marlo has zero emotion, zero empathy, a soulless body at best, but after seeing Randy, Namond, and Duquan get screwed over by their "family" --- he knows his turn is coming unless he gets under Marlo's wing. Michael is an example of ends justifying the means. And Marlo, believing he could one up the Barksdales, creates the same problems as String but with brute force(unlike the sly, cunning manipulation Bell used) and ends up full circle when he, Avon, Wee-Bey, and Chris are sharing the same prison yard.
- BTW, fun fact --- Season 2 has such a major shift because the City of Baltimore were misled about the project in Season 1. When the show premiered, they were caught off guard about how graphic and intrusive they were about late 80's Baltimore drug boon(which got so bad to a point, they renamed the Bullets to the Wizards) and would not grant many filming permits within city limits for season 2. But after the critical acclaim and fanfare the 1st two seasons received, they let them come back in the city for season 3
- The higher ups in the police division(Landsman, Burrell, and the 1st commissioner) hate "supercops" and open cases (red tags or something they call them) because it brings federal attention to the state and thus the governor sends Internal Affairs to see if they needs to clean house. That's why there is a big rift with MCU. When Bunny's Hamsterdam gets outed, the embarrassment causes the internal shakeup and for Carcetti to steal Royce's mayoral seat
- In season 1, you'll notice D'Aneglo teaching Bodie, Wallace, and others how to play chess. It is symbolism for the cycle of the narcotics racket and each character plays a role akin to each chess piece.
-D'Angelo has a epiphany of duality after he gets demoted for having the girl killed in the 1st episode. He struggles with the good v evil the rest of the way. He challenges String's authority after Wallace is executed which leads to his death in S2.
- Stringer's pride became his downfall, he swore he had the perfect plan. The perfect rags to riches blueprint. But his penchant to win EVERY battle created too many enemies. He gets all his soldiers arrested because he killed Omar's boyfriend (in response to Omar robbing his stash house) and Omar was willing to testify any story MCU needed from him once they caught some of the shooters from Kima's shooting. He has D'Angelo killed, and Avon wages war in the streets, so String tries to put Avon back in jail. When Avon reveals he knows the Senator is duping him the same way String thought he was duping Avon, String sets Brother Mouzone on a suicide mission when he refuses to kill Senator Davis.
- McNutly has the same pride issue and the same internal conflict, except he lets the evil dirty cop tactics masquerade as being the ultimate top cop. His willingness to bend every rule and find every loop hole gets several people killed or demoted(as is the case with Herc and Carver trying to illegally tape Marlo with a stolen camera from evidence until Carver brownnoses his way back up to Sgt.). In S5, he basically becomes a replica of Belushi and Shakur from Gang Related
- The children reflect the lack of opportunity there is in these neighborhoods. And how fragile trust is, but also how most just need one moment to shine and blossom from that point forward. Chris and Michael create an eerie synergy, Michael is the only one Chris carries emotion for and it makes him realize why Michael is scared of Marlo. Marlo has zero emotion, zero empathy, a soulless body at best, but after seeing Randy, Namond, and Duquan get screwed over by their "family" --- he knows his turn is coming unless he gets under Marlo's wing. Michael is an example of ends justifying the means. And Marlo, believing he could one up the Barksdales, creates the same problems as String but with brute force(unlike the sly, cunning manipulation Bell used) and ends up full circle when he, Avon, Wee-Bey, and Chris are sharing the same prison yard.
- BTW, fun fact --- Season 2 has such a major shift because the City of Baltimore were misled about the project in Season 1. When the show premiered, they were caught off guard about how graphic and intrusive they were about late 80's Baltimore drug boon(which got so bad to a point, they renamed the Bullets to the Wizards) and would not grant many filming permits within city limits for season 2. But after the critical acclaim and fanfare the 1st two seasons received, they let them come back in the city for season 3
