''The Wire'': Bright Lies, Big City

Look at me, waxing on like an old fart myself, burying the lead that Avon is back on the scene, a kingpin from jail. A sight for sore eyes, he surprised Marlo, who thought he'd arranged for a simple meeting with the fearsome Russian Sergei. Marlo wants to cut East Baltimore out of the loop, and he needs the Greeks to help him. But first he had to send 100 large to Avon's sister (a woman whose cold ferocity rivals Snoop's). And we got a brief look at Clay Davis, who popped into the commissioner's office and whinnied at him like a stuck pig. Meanwhile, dear Michael, his shield of anger popped by the sight of a young boy his brother's age fleeing gunfire, looked like he was heading for a crisis of conscience. Why, he had asked Snoop and Chris, did they have to kill someone simply for talking trash? The fact that he's asking such questions should give us both fear and hope. Maybe he'll escape the world of Marlo, or maybe he'll simply pay for needing and wanting a different life.

Which brings me finally to Bubbles, who doesn't seem sure what type of life he's meant for. ''Wouldn't you rather serve?'' the kindly man at the soup kitchen asked. Nah, he's not ready to put on a public face, not for the folks hungry for revelation at the AA meetings and not for the men and women looking for lunch. Life seems too hard and raw for this man, as it does perhaps for all of us who have been sucked into this world. Poor Bubbles, trying to eat his lunch and block out a woman threatening her young child. Poor Kima, who, when confronted with a scared, blood-spattered little boy in a closet, snatched him up and cradled him to her breast. Poor Lester, happily cocooned in his stake-out car, munching on chips, waiting for clues, listening to the blues. But this is The Wire, and the song was ''Piece of My Heart.'' And in the background, a careless mother dragged her child up the street, tossed him in the house, and left him there alone, wailing behind a screen door, open to the Baltimore night. It's a wonder we all keep coming back for more.

But what did you all think? Did your adrenaline cool a notch in this set-up episode? Did I correctly understand McNulty's machinations with the corpse there at the end? Can Steve Earle act? Is Michael going to make a break for it? Will we ever see Prez again?

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