The Corner - Episode 2

So the focal point of the first episode of this thing was the pops - Gary. He had it all but then lost it all but still has a son who is 15 going on jail or maybe college ONLY TIME WILL TELL (but time will most likely be in a mini-series format). This second episode, that kid - DeAndre - is the focal point. And this episode made me think that HBO probably hasn't pushed this award-winning mini-series into the public consciousness so obviously because damn, it's a fucking trial run for The Wire, and they probably want you to drop the $589 on The Wire box set as opposed to whatever two discs of this thing would cost you (which being it is HBO, is still probably like $129... them motherfuckers have a 1980s VHS ninja movie brand new when it came out notion of charging people for things).
Many times through this episode, De'Andre is straight up an early version of Neiman (or however the fuck you spell it, probably something linguistically correct but wrong on purpose like "Naymin"... man can you imagine how fucked people's names are going to be once all these kids who text each other constantly start having babies too early, holy fuck there's going to be kids named things where you have to use four different sets of wingdings plus an ampersand, two numbers, and that spanish n thing to spell correctly... but anyways, that kid that was Weebay's son, that's who De'Andre is, but first), even with the cops talking about how he needs to cut his hair, and he has to give a speech and doesn't want to wear a suit but is smart because he can do things if only he had a chance. If only he had a half a chance. Knowwhatumsayin?
Anyhow, much like The Wire, this shit is well enough written and has some great fucking actors, most likely picked from the streets. A fun drinking game to play while watching is spotting actual The Wire characters in other roles. There's officer Sydnor, and he's a delinquent but loveable teenager. There's Prop Joe, except he has a high top fade and works in a sneaker store and don't know shit about Air Jordans. There's the straight haired dude who was the front owner for Avon's strip club, except he still has straight hair in a ponytail but is a recovered drug addict with a regular job and a nice car. There's the short fat white lady principal lady from the Kids Are Fucked season of The Wire, except she is some sort of manager person in a crab factory store of some sort. Hell, you even see walls and blocks they used in The Wire in this, because of the graffiti or the hill or the porch that Bunny and his wife were always sitting on. That's where De'Andre's aunt lives.
The hard part at this point is this thing only has six episodes, and having watched The Wire, and it being written and conjured up by the same pack of dudes, I have to assume the tragic end of De'Andre is going to be the end of this thing. The funny thing at this point is I was absolutely confident that the dude playing De'Andre was actually the same dude who played Marlo Stanfield, but with hyphy huntsville dreads instead, and my wife was like, "you stupid," and made a joke about how I think they all look alike having grown up in Farmville, Virginia, don't I? I internetted it the next day and she was right; I guess I'm racist and don't even know it.
The first one was called "Gary's Blues" and this was "De'Andre's Blues" and the third is called "Fran's Blues" which is his mom, who is straight up fucked and the least likeable character in this shit. Like I hate her.
The Corner is also not so over-the-top brutal as The Wire. Like the drug dealer dude beats up people, not kills them. I don't even think anybody has died yet. Two episodes into The Wire and there'd be a serious body count already. This of course worries me because I'm going to get into the wrong person as a character and that's gonna be the asshole that is the one death this thing is building up to climactically, to show me just how fucked the ghetto is.
You know what show? I been around the ghetto enough when I lived in Richmond. I know it's fucked already, seriously fucked. You can't change that. And you motherfuckers entertaining everybody with how fucked it is, what changes? Nothing. Awareness is overrated. Nonetheless, I look forward to Fran's Blues episode because I hate that bitch. She triflin' as fuck.