Don't underestimate Cutty. Although it takes a while to appreciate him. He's not a moron; he's dislocated from being in prison so many years. Everything he knows is way different. Even the Game that got him locked up. It's hard to be him in season 3.ETA: I met the real Dennis Wise's wife Malika on the internets. He writes novels from the Supermax in Yuma(probably to keep him from "known associates") I was tempted to drop him a line, but what would I say? "Hot enough for you?"

Great things about this episode:

STRINGER BELL, BUSINESS TYCOON. WORKING A COPY STORE. TRYING TO SELL MCNULTY A CONDO AHAHAHAHA.

Stringer Bell, bringing the drug lords together in a fucking hotel conference room with refreshments (WHERE WERE THE CANNED PEACHES, I ASK?).

The dude TAKING MINUTES for a CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY. BECAUSE HE'S JUST FOLLOWING ROBERT'S RULES.

The mopes' complete bewilderment at (H)Amsterdam. And the fact that it's totally kinda working so far.

McNulty randomly running into Tommy's hot campaign manager, having his traditional one-night stand, and then getting the cold shoulder.

Stringer trying to bring Marlo into the Great Drug Lord Family in his continuing attempt to run the drug trade like a veritable business that doesn't involve so much goddamn murder.

Avon Barksdale, free at last!!

Stringer totally cockblocking Avon at the party.

The possible foreshadowing that Stringer and Avon won't stay "brothers" for long, if Avon doesn't agree with the way Stringer has been running things while he was in the clink.

Once again, the episode ends in the promise of sex!

I have a friend who still sends me articles about drugs with "Viva Hamsterdam!" attached. yeah, dude, they need to get some canned peaches up in that bitch.

Damn Dexter is gory.

Not as much as you'd think, really. A lot more is implied than is actually shown.

Just started it on Demand tonight.

You're in for a treat.

Dexter Freebish... nice reference. Cool I'm looking forward to it. DirecTV's on Demand is a bit different than cable, it pretty much uses your internet to download the eps.

In retrospect its almost exactly the same only the eps aren't directly on the network you are on.

And we now return you to your regularly scheduled Wire talk!

I just watched three more episodes. Ever since episodes 4 and 5, I've been loving this season more. I think the first several episodes were essentially all setup, and now shit is actually starting to happen.

I'm liking Cutty more now and finding his journey somewhat interesting. I feel like it's too isolated from all the rest of the action, though; I keep waiting for it to matter in more than a "This is the story of a man who could not return to the game" tale.

I'm loving how Hamsterdam is turning into a clusterfuck! Because it really seemed like a good idea at first, but now I'm seeing all the ways it could go wrong (which almost seems like the show is saying DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME). It's really interesting to observe as a social experiment, though. Like Herc said, they fucked with the habitat. And I loved when Our Heroes totally got in the way and were all, "Hamsterdam WTF?" Fuck the bosses!

And on that note...damn, McNulty! Daniels is not going to put up with that shit! I've read that McNulty fades into the background a bit in the next season because Dominic West was up for Bond or something, and I don't know whether they knew about that possibility this early on, but it certainly works. I think McNulty has fucked with Daniels one too many times.

I think the ending of episode 7, with the team discovering that Avon Barksdale is out of fucking prison and Kima slapping a shelving unit at the camera to cut to black, is my favorite ending of the series. That's how I like my episode endings, dammit! Although the ending of episode 8 is pretty good, too, with a pan over Bell and Barksdale into black.

I never get tired of Prez's geeking out over the WONDERS OF TECHNOLOGY.

I feel like Avon came out of prison more hardcore than he went in. His whole attitude is more, well, gangsta, like he says, whereas he felt more like the head of an organization in the first season. I kind of love it, though; it's like he's embracing a persona. And I know part of the meta reason is to put the differences between Avon and Stringer into sharp focus. I was sort of irritated at Avon for not seeing the good in what Stringer's been doing, really, but he has a very different mentality. He's old school, and Stringer's new school. That's kind of a running theme throughout this season, really.

I wasn't sure whether I wanted him to do it or not, but I'm glad McNulty twisted the guilt knife on Brianna because, gah, I hate her.

Quick clarification question: the motorcycle drive-by was actually Omar and the girl, but Avon assumed it was Marlo. Right?

There are really no words to describe the awesome of that final Stringer/Avon scene, so maybe I shouldn't even try. Except to say, WHAT THE HELL IDRIS ELBA IS BRITISH THAT DOES NOT COMPUTE.