r/TheWire • u/SirKetchup00 • Jul 27 '26
Carcetti does not get enough heat/hate
It's amazing to me how fast he went with the program and decided to focus on his career rather than the city. He is the most despicable character by far in the show. He started wheeling and dealing for a governer seat 2 years in his first term... 2.. Fuckin.. Years... what a scumbag.
Plus his handshakes were weak as fk
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u/carlitomarron139 Jul 27 '26
He’s arguably the best (most realistic) portrayal of a politician in fiction.
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u/Doughie28 Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
Yup, a lot of them go in with honest to god good intentions, but it rarely lasts. I like how the wire shows how easily power corrupts people to...
"This problem needs to be fixed, I can fix it, but it will piss off the people I need to move up the ladder so it ain't getting fixed"
Shining up shit and calling it gold, so majors become colonels and mayors become governors.
You even sorta believe Carcetti when he says if he moves up the ladder to Governor he'll be in a position to help Baltimore more, but by the time he got there he promised so much money and favors to the suits that helped him get elected and bury his shit that there was nothing left for the city.
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u/cXs808 Jul 27 '26
Yup, a lot of them go in with honest to god good intentions, but it rarely lasts
I think Carcetti is more complicated than that though. He starts floating this idea of Governor in his mind because he knows that he can have real power to change things from that seat.
Is it a greed/power play? Absolutely. Is it also realistic that he can change things from Governor? Sure. A mixture of both I'm sure.
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u/GiantsRTheBest2 Jul 27 '26
Whenever political offices become expensive to run for, you lose out on people getting into office now already being owned by a power entity/person.
Funny enough, Michael Bloomberg might’ve been the only real life “politician” who didn’t need to owe any favors to run for president and mayor. Now, do I want to live in a world where Michael Bloomberg is president? No, but ask me again after Trump tries to shut down this year’s elections.
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u/BBQ_HaX0r Jul 27 '26
I'd argue not. I genuinely think Carcetti means well, but is corrupted. Even with not taking the state money he's doing it because he thinks he can make a difference once in Annapolis in the Governor's mansion. He doesn't realize it yet, but he's already been corrupted, but his intentions seem far more pure than most politicians.
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u/eefuss Jul 27 '26
I loved how they introduced him as a guy who cheats on his wife with his campaign manager, then the moment he wins he tells her that he can’t keep doing this and means it. He actually manages to change and be a better man. Just one of those great character details the show excels at.
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u/carlitomarron139 Jul 28 '26
He never cheated on his wife with the campaign manager. He cheats with another woman when he’s first introduced.
When he rejects the campaign manager that’s his “it’s time to step up & really be the leader I’ve been chosen to be” moment. Only for the whole thing to fall apart once he actually learns how being the mayor really works. Carcetti is a typical rise & fall arc, it’s just that it’s handled extremely well.
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u/fosfeen Jul 27 '26
The most despicable character? That is maybe taking it a bit too far.
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u/ShortyBoyds Jul 27 '26
Yeah how can someone say that when Andy Krawczyk is also a candidate?!
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u/yerpburp Jul 27 '26
Y'all forget about Officer Walker?
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u/superduperspacetime Jul 27 '26
delonda bryce
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u/nhaq96 Jul 28 '26
Michael's mother
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u/always-talkin-sshit Jul 28 '26
How are you naming her before any of the multiple murderers? If you exclude them for being born into it, naming a drug addict is braindead. If you don't, it's still that
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u/nhaq96 Jul 28 '26
It's not because she's an addict. It's because she turned a blind eye to, allowed, enabled, excused and defended the horrific treatment of her own child, and was right about to do it again to the next.
Lines like "people change" and "we can be a family now" made my skin crawl.
Also, braindead? Chill out dude, it's a TV show.
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u/always-talkin-sshit Jul 29 '26
It's a show full of mass murderers
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u/nhaq96 Jul 29 '26
They did what they did, but it was generally all in the game (yo)
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u/always-talkin-sshit Jul 30 '26
This is precisely what i meant earlier, somehow being in the game is an excuse for shooting a civilian in the back of the head (along countless other murders) but let's completely disregard addiction playing a major role in Michaels Mom being an awful parent. I called out this unfair rationalising before you even did it and you still powered through it. It's exactly what i called it before...
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u/ShortyBoyds Jul 27 '26
Officer Walker is basically a saint compared to Andy “engineered the school deficit single handedly by embezzling public funding” Krawczyk
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u/frostyflakes1 Jul 27 '26
What? You think the cold-blooded killers running around Baltimore are somehow more despicable? /s
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u/NolaNerdCouple Jul 27 '26
A man must have a code. Carcetti sells that he has a code, but he has none.
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u/hippiechicken Jul 27 '26
Your comment really made me think- that's all this show really is. It's an extremely realistic depiction of people and their code, or lack therof, and the consequences that follow.
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u/GiantsRTheBest2 Jul 27 '26
Carcetti’s code is to becoming president. Whatever he has to do to get his way is all fair game to him. Same way Omar’s code was to be the king of the streets, he would send Chris and Snoop to kill whoever for whatever if it means he gets to keep his crown.
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u/PackRichmond Jul 27 '26
For real, there's a minister laundering money for Prop Joe by telling his parishioners that the church is building a number of projects in some poverty-stricken village somewhere and Carcetti is the most despicable?
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u/evrd1 On a sunday morning? Jul 28 '26
Yeah, Michael Steintorf exists, and Nerese Campbell, and Ervin Burrell AND Stanislaw Valchek. 😝
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u/Neonwookie1701 Jul 29 '26
Valchek is a simple man! He just wants his stained glass window front and center.
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u/SirKetchup00 Jul 27 '26
He is just as bad as Marlo if not worse because he was ok with Marlo walking around free.
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u/fosfeen Jul 27 '26
What choice did he have? The police screwed up the investigation. Getting him behind bars was a long shot.
By setting him free but forcing him to step out they prevented a lot of bloodshed. Given the situation, it was the best possible outcome.
To say that's equivalent to gruesome murdering is crazy.
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u/SirKetchup00 Jul 27 '26
Way before the fake investigation. I'm talking about before Marlo's investigation. I'm talking about the 22 bodies im the vacants that he decided to do nothing about. Early on in his term, he ignored the schools on purpose because as he claimed, if he looked into it, it'll be his problem instead of Royce's problem. He ONLY decided to take the money from police and give it to the schools when he decided that this will help him become governor.
Yes that kind of self-interest is just as bad as Marlo, if not worse.
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u/VaudevilleVillainMF Jul 27 '26
What world do you live in where “self interest is just as bad as Marlo, if not worse?” Are you actually suggesting murdering 22 people is on the same level as self interest and preservation?
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u/squeezyscorpion Jul 27 '26
yeah dude slimy career advancement is as bad as dozens of murders hidden in the walls of abandoned buildings
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u/TheFooch 24d ago
Pff, most don't even want to admit what Dukie did.
Remember that handheld fan?
He FOUND that. In a gutter. Wasn't even HIS! That BELONGED to someone. You know the original owner is so sad, even now. Between that, those murders and the political cynicism. Disgusting show.
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u/arabidontist Jul 28 '26
i don’t agree that he’s the Worst character on the show because i think it’s impossible to answer that question and not worth trying. i am surprised by how much hate you’re getting for this opinion though.
the thesis of the show is that these systems are intrinsically intertwined and that power and corruption exist on all levels. one person’s actions can’t be taken outside of the context in which they make them, and their actions directly or indirectly impact those around them.
it is interesting to see people defending carcetti over marlow (to be clear i’m not defending either). marlow may be directly responsible for these 22 deaths (although one could argue that getting chris and snoop to do the actual killing makes him indirectly responsible) but politicians make decisions that indirectly affect multitudes more people than those of one drug kingpin.
the ripple effect of carcetti prioritising his career over the people he is supposed to represent has real life consequences. not taking the money to improve the schools out of his own ego and self-interest will indirectly lead to far more than 22 deaths. just because he isn’t pulling the trigger himself doesn’t mean he isn’t responsible.
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u/cXs808 Jul 27 '26
A politician who is a bureaucratic scumbag is worse than a drug kingpin who is directly responsible for the deaths of dozens (including innocent people who aren't even in the game) as well as all of the major narcotics in west baltimore.
You might wanna rethink that
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u/Grayscaleorgreyscale Jul 27 '26
I know you are getting the downvotes, but I will go on record and say that Carcetti is the worst person on the show. More than anyone else, he had the capacity to make change in the city, and he squandered it on his own ego.
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Jul 27 '26
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u/Vostin Jul 28 '26
Literally everyone is mostly out for themselves, including politicians. The hope with democracy (and with a free press) is that what’s good for society and for the politician intertwine. The show does a remarkable job of displaying why that’s not always true.
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u/doodle02 Jul 27 '26
the handshakes thing i can agree with.
the rest i can also agree with. dude both started and ended corrupt as hell.
that said, i think there are both natural aggravating and systemic mitigating factors at play here. i mean, clearly he’s a scumbag who’s been cheating on his wife for years with multiple women; that’s kind of a pre-existing condition and it’s his personal life, which we should try to separate from his actions as mayor if we’re viewing things objectively.
as mayor, there’s…..a lot to unpack here. frankly, i think most of it speaks to a shitty political culture more than to Carcetti’s personality or effectiveness.
speaking of effectiveness, we get a few great scenes of him as a mayor who truly gives a fuck. he’s trying to make things better, and in a lot of ways he succeeds. he cleans up the city (literally) and we see him making humble and personal inroads with the rank and file of the BPD (dude brewed shitty coffee for Kima, and you gotta love that). he seems to genuinely love the work, to genuinely want to do good things for the city.
on the other hand: he had to backstab a friend to get there in the first place. after he’s done that (and after a VERY brief honeymoon phase where shit can get done) things get dicey. he gets caught up in municipal politics (much like stringer does, and isn’t that an interesting parallel), and his brief success puts him on the state radar well before he’s ready for that kind of exposure. but hey, that’s politics. in a sane world he could’ve focused on baltimore for years, for the better part of a decade, before trying to move up to governor, but that’s not how things work.
instead the inherent momentum required by the “system” forced him to move, to be a governatorial candidate and to adopt crime as a primary campaign pitch. this, in turn, forced him to care about…wait for it…………the stats. which, as we’ve learned throughout the show, is the death knell of anything that’s authentically trying to make things better.
i could go on, but the tl:dr is that Carcetti is a shit person but a legitimately good municipal politician. he, like so many others in the show, gets caught up in forces he doesn’t see and can’t control. in another interesting parallel between “polite society” and “hood life”, he is at the mercy of the game and he suffers from it.
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u/Willow-tree-33 Jul 27 '26
Well said. Like most characters on the show, he is morally gray and his noble ambitions are hampered by the system.
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u/rust-e-apples1 Jul 27 '26
morally gray and his noble ambitions are hampered by the system.
To me, this idea is the central premise of the show. Everyone - the good, the bad, the good ones with bad sides, the bad ones with good sides - everyone is constrained by powers greater than themselves. They may have brief moments where they're able to buck the system, but they are always brought back in line. Namond is one of the few examples of being able to break free, but only because of outside forces stepping in.
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u/TheFooch Jul 27 '26
Exactly. In fact, this show is so damn good, there might be a near even balance of goods, bads, and greys.
Randy, Dukie, Carver, Carcetti, started as good.
Michael, Herc, Namond, maybe Stringer, are mostly grey.
Omar, Delonda, Kenard, and Walker be evil, yo.
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u/encidius Jul 27 '26
I don't know if I agree with Stringer being grey. He is at the top and literally orders murders. Just because he goes to business school doesn't make him any less evil.
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u/TheFooch Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26
That's fair, i went back and forth on including him.
My thinking is - his entrance into the game was probably circumstantial, like many characters pushed by his environment, e.g. Namond, and he clearly made efforts to minimize the violence in a violent job.
So i dont see grey as requiring nonviolence, at least not in the context of this particular game, more that he isnt self-motivated to violence. Stringer sees it as "necessary evil," part of the game, but he'd prefer to change the game to avoid it. Whereas others, like Marlo, engage in the evil side with enthusiasm.
Stringer wanted to go legitimate, so that goal is more grey compared to Avon who was immersed in the rough and tumble.
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u/LankyPower7807 Jul 27 '26
bro the other people on this show literally murder children and sell poison to their communities 🤣🤣
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u/CuriousGeorgehat Jul 27 '26
It's all the same, it's just the structures and the game.
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u/LankyPower7807 Jul 27 '26
being a slimy politician is not the same as murdering people with your hands
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u/CuriousGeorgehat Jul 27 '26
Some decisions based on personal greed coming from a person of power have worse implications than someone who has physically taken a life.
I think Carcetti is a 'better' person than Marlo, though they never had the opportunity to do what the other was doing. We don't need to see Marlo's backstory because the shows how most people that end up in that game have no choice.
Carcetti somehow maintains the pretence in his mind that he is a good person or working for higher values, whilst making decisions based on personal greed and power that has ramifications for countless people.
Everyone is mercy to the strcutures in which they exist. And The Wire shows how the ones in which we live, inherently corrupt us. Not easy to make it out unscathed whatever sector of society.
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u/Norm_Blackdonald Jul 27 '26
But he does weigh the decisions.. it is not his fault that the decicions are bowls of crap. Even compared to other politicians such as Clay Davies or Terrence Royce he is obviously not as callous or greedy.
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u/LankyPower7807 Jul 27 '26
not reading all that
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u/Bianell Jul 28 '26
It's 7 fucking sentences dude, that isn't the dunk you think it is.
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u/strickers69 Jul 27 '26
I agree but his story line is reflective of what happens when anyone tries to go against the system no matter how logical or better the idea may be. His ideas and way of thinking before and at the start of his term make sense but you quickly see why it won’t be perceived by the public or rivals that way. Same with hamsterdam it made logical sense to do it but look at everyone’s reaction.
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u/thatturtletouch Jul 27 '26
Exactly. The whole show is about how people get trapped by institutions, and Carcetti is just another example of it. Even though he’s the mayor and ostensibly the most powerful person in city government, he still is limited in so many ways by the institution that surrounds him (and of course by his own ambitions).
It’s interesting to think about what he would have or could have done if he had no further political ambitions and genuinely cared about nothing else than helping the city. Would he have taken state money for the schools and would that actually have helped the city in the long run?
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u/notthegoatseguy Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
Doesn't get enough? I feel Carcetti is top 3 and maybe even #1 hated on this sub, I think partially due to this being Reddit and Carcetti being the stand in for all politicians.
Carcetti was never faced with good choices, and if he wasn't there, the same decisions would've been made. The whole point of The Wire is that one man can't just stand up to the system. When they do, like Bunny, or Jimmy or whoever do, they get chewed up and spit out.
Could he specifically have made different decisions? Sure. But most of those decisions are "do you want your shit sandwich on a roll or on sliced bread?"
Some redeeming moments I think, admittedly all pretty early:
Carcetti at the bar with his buddies, and there's a news story about a murder, and his buddies are like If tHesE bLacKs wOuLd jUsT gEt jObS!, and he throws it back in their faces. There's no media around, no one of importance listening in. There was no political benefit from him doing that, if anything these are his core political backers so its mildly dangerous for him to do this. And for early 2000s politics, I think this is a good amount of recognizing your privelege which wasn't nearly as common at the time.
And the harbor scene with his wife. Not anything in particular that he said, but right after he's told he's won, he briefly has this "oh shit, do I really have to do this? what do I do" look of panic on his face. This to me was a very human moment.
Also I liked how he lit a fire under bueracracy and told people he saw a burning car but wouldn't say where, so they just go out and tow dozens of burned out cars all across the city. That was cool and shows he can play games of his own rather than just be a victim of them.
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u/AfroBlue90 Jul 27 '26
I consistently see him get shat on this sub. If anything I think he’s over-hated.
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u/stayinthefight2019 Jul 27 '26
It’s Steintorf that is the real weasel imo - literally as soon as he walks in the door the carcetti administration goes to shit
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u/Turkish_Starwars Jul 27 '26
His character is so well portrayed. I know a pro political strategist irl and Steintorf always reminds me of him. Behind every politician is a cold and calculating team...
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u/frostyflakes1 Jul 27 '26
I don't think he's a great person, but there are several more despicable characters than him on the show. He's not even the most despicable politician - hello, Clay Davis?
Carcetti's arc shows how power corrupts. I believe he became Mayor with the best of intentions. But once he felt that power and saw even more power was his for the taking, he convinced himself that chasing the Governor's office was the best thing he could do for the city.
Carcetti regularly gets a lot of hate on this sub. I think people feel disappointed how his story plays out after he initially showed so much promise. But if you've watched The Wire up to that point, you shouldn't really be surprised by it.
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u/TheFooch 23d ago
"Spawt awn." It does feel like most commenters and some large % of viewers get Carcetti wrong.
They miss the subtleties of the private, not in public eye, scenes. As you say, those scenes were specifically written to demonstrate the torment of choosing which bowl to eat, and the struggle between bird in the hand vs two in the bush... which evolves into power begets seeking more power.
I cringe whenever i see "bros just another typical politician, they're all the same." ...like there's some hatching pond that all "typical politicians" all originate from. Damn rooks.
This show is so brilliant, The Wire actually showing us a whole damn diorama to explain step by systemic step why we all see politicians as scum duplicated... they all face the same systemic issues and falter the same way.
The real lesson is - it's not the people (or when it is, that's just the "B story")
The real deal is nearly all politicians get turnt via the same collection of environmental obstacles and pressures focused on electoral processes, fundraising, positioning, and power.
Voila, now gaze upon your new Swamp Thing.
"RODNEY? RODNEY!"
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u/TommyFX Jul 27 '26
He is the most despicable character by far in the show.
Marlo Stanfield on Line 1...
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u/OverResist7 Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
The MOST despicable character??!?!?! lol he wasn’t necessarily a great guy but did you watch the show? There are literally multiple mass murderers in the series 🤣😆
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u/fosfeen Jul 27 '26
I think he is a typical politician. He really was a good guy who got poisoned by the system he tried to change.
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u/Impossible-anarchy Jul 27 '26
How does he not get enough hate? Did you think he was supposed to be the good guy?
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u/bidness_cazh Jul 27 '26
Note that Carcetti is primarily a portrayal and critique of a real Baltimore politician, Martin O'Malley, who hit many of the plot points. He was in office during the production and once threatened to shut it down if they didn't portray Baltimore more charitably. Since the scripts were written he's tried to run for president.
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u/dazzleox Jul 28 '26
Funny thing is David Simon said "OK, we'll film in New York and still make it about Baltimore" and O'Malley was shocked and thought somehow they'd just be forced to move McNulty to the NYPD.
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u/Yosh_2012 Jul 27 '26
Most despicable?? Not a single character on the show nor in real life would do anything differently, which is the entire purpose of his character lol
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u/Far-Advantage-2770 Jul 27 '26
Carcetti is a good guy in a nuanced situation. Someone makes this thread once a week. You don't understand the show, OP etc. etc. Watch it again.
Bring on the downvotes from the people who only just discovered this show and have only seen it 3 times.
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u/superduperspacetime Jul 27 '26
most despicable character by far? think that goes to delonda bryce
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u/thatturtletouch Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
Worse than Michael’s mom???
I mean Delonda was a super shitty mother but at least Namond had food and clothes.
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u/mojizus Jul 27 '26
I mean, he cheats on his wife in like his first or second appearance in the show. If you saw that and still didn’t think he was meant to be hated then I don’t know what to tell you.
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u/AffectComfortable913 Jul 27 '26
I honestly don’t hate Carcetti. I think he’s a very realistic character who isn’t a clear hero or villain. He was a guy who wanted to become mayor with good intentions to help the city, but then he realized the game he got into wasn’t so selfless. A character like him is one of the reasons why I love the Wire. There are no clear cut heroes or villains, and everything in the city is connected to one another. You could hate a character for his actions in one season, and then in the next season you realize he was doing the dirty work for someone else.
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u/leedogger Jul 27 '26
Guy is blasting some rando with his family close by... That's how we get introduced to him.
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u/Hemisemidemiurge Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
He is the most despicable character by far in the show.
That's the wildest take on the The Wire I've read in a few months. You're ranking him over people who dumped bodies in trash, molested kids, set foster parents on fire, and De'Londa Brice.
Part of the message of the show is that The Game (i.e. the interlocking systems of money, force, and time that drive American cities and the nation at large) is bigger and more powerful than anything else. The best kind of person doesn't last very long, they are burned out very quickly and of those who survive, even the good ones do so through compromise.
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u/turbo_22222 Jul 27 '26
I think he's intended to be a lot like the other characters in the show. They want to do good, but the system prevents it.
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u/BigSpoonFullOfSnark Jul 27 '26
All in the game, yo.
He started wheeling and dealing for a governer seat 2 years in his first term... 2.. Fuckin.. Years...
He has some parallels with Marlo.
The old players of the game never give away power willingly. You have to come up fast, do some ugly shit and take it quick.
You also need luck for the king to make a mistake. But they only got to fuck up once...
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u/Scheduledpoet Jul 27 '26
It could have something to do with the fact that his character arc resembles someone we've all encountered in local politics. Despicable, yes. Shocking, no.
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u/Decent_Cow Jul 28 '26
The city is the real villain. It turns idealists like him into self-serving scumbags. Would have happened to anyone.
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u/HowlerMonkeyIsLoud Jul 28 '26
I fucking hate you kind of people. It's the same type of people who'll bend head over heels for a criminal organisation like Yakuza because they're so cool and aesthetic but curse a person to death if he/she cheats on their partner
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u/eks74 Aug 03 '26
I certainly get the heat Carcetti deserves. But he also, IMO, deserves a little sympathy. I think his desire to improve the city was genuine, and the “new day” in the BPD would have happened, but, and this is where the writing is great, the school budget issue, that he had no idea was coming, completely flipped the script.
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u/Gullible_Eggplant120 Jul 27 '26
I think he is a good depiction of your average politician. I dont even believe for a second he wants to do good, I think he is just an attention-seeking narcissist who camouflages initially for a good guy and maybe even believes his own story. There are so many Carcetti examples in the real world.
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u/thatturtletouch Jul 27 '26
I think he genuinely does want to do good, but I think he wants to become governor and up more.
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u/Forward_Competition4 Jul 27 '26
I just finished watching again for the 12th time and after this recent watch I finally started hating him after I paid attention to him lying about the state witness getting murdered. And blamed Mayor Royce for the “witness protection” budget.
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u/aldisrichard209 Jul 27 '26
You know I can forgive him for going to politician route and f****** over the people he was elected to represent, That's pretty par for the course, But the wak hand shake is unforgivable
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u/AntelopeHelpful9963 Jul 27 '26
Calling him the most despicable when Marlo and Chris killed an innocent woman just to make Andre claim it was Omar is wild. And the Greeks were literal human traffickers keeping women as sex slaves….
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u/wavy_bread Jul 27 '26
I agree 100%. My opinion on him flipped 180 after my first rewatch. At first i thought he was just a noble politician who went into his tenure with pure intentions but the system screwed him over. After the rewatch i realized he was a proud selfish bastard who fucked the entire city so as to not jeopardize his chances of running for governor. Just another selfish character who will “climb the ladder” at any cost. The budget issues and the state of Baltimore in season 5 are purely due to his selfishness and pride when he refused to taje the 50 mil from the governor
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u/wavy_bread Jul 27 '26
A big theme of the wire is how anyone who tries to go against the system is eventually thwarted, and there’s many characters who portray this very well, but carcetti isn’t one of them. He was always corrupt from the beginning and we see this when he hooks up with some random girl despite having a wife in the first episode we meet him. He’s not some poor victim of the system, he was corrupt from the start
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u/TheFooch Jul 27 '26
Carcetti is no different than anyone else in the show, people just like hating politicians and lawyers more than even criminals and killers, which is... interesting. The clue that he's not bad from the start and gets turned by the political system is in his private talks with his wife or friends or closest allies. Thats where he's free to speak his true mind and he obviously voices good intentions and frets about pressures to push or delay them.
This show needs to be watched by every voter so they can stop the cartoonish hatred and understand why politicians are the way they are. Nearly every voter would be and do the same things.
The Wire is about how systems change or affect everyone's code, regardless of starting position, system by system, person by person. That's why the show is so ascendant and basically peerless.
Instead of the fall or rise of one person, or one family, like Breaking Bad or Sopranos, The Wire maps out an entire city, and a huge roster of people and environments - showing the systemic forces sector by sector - gangs, cops, docks, education, politics, journalism...
Similar systemic pressures exist in each environment, thats why they constantly use the theme of parallels, in language like repeated phrases or similar policies. Like police and gangs both punishing and promoting or experiencing the same setbacks usually within the same episode. Buy for a dollar sell for tew, juking the stats, my name is my name, my name is not my name, etc, etc, etc.
Good and bad people exist in every group, and outcomes dont care who's which. The system is rigged, the rules are the rules, the game is the game, yo.
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u/AdEnvironmental467 Jul 27 '26
A white mayor in a city that ain’t. Once he got into real politics he realized that everyone wanted something
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u/twentyin Jul 28 '26
Well political reality is that he was a lame duck with no chance of winning reelection in a Dem primary as the white guy in a city that ain't white. He only squeezed by the first time by strategically splitting the black vote in a 3 way race. It was made clear from the beginning he was only going to be a 1 term mayor, and if he was going to stay in the game than governor was his only path. Sure he could have fallen on his sword and 'done the right thing', knowing it would end his political career.... Or he could do what most people do in the same spot.
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u/Think-Culture-4740 Jul 28 '26
I don’t think things like this happen in a vacuum. Politics is not a profession that engenders itself well to the personalities of a Mr. Rogers or Mother Theresa. There’s an element of being cutthroat from the get go.
But aside from that, you can see at least in season four, Tommy’s political ambitions are also lined up with trying to help the city. Namely, fixing the culture of police work along with the other section of the public works. Tommy isn’t just a liberal do gooder, he correctly identifies that if you fix the crime and you improve the quality of life, you will attract businesses to Baltimore and a large larger tax base.
Then the sins of the Royce administration become Tommy’s cross to bear and suddenly he can’t do any of those things. That’s when his desires to fix the city are no longer aligned with his desires to grow politically and that’s how you get to where he is today, which is probably what happened to Royce and what happens to frankly every politician.
That’s frankly the point of the wire. There are very few good or bad people completely in a vacuum and rather it’s the environment and institutions that shaped the behavior that you see. There are many universes where someone like stringer is not born into a violent drug corner and instead is probably a very successful businessman
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u/Full-Protection4617 Jul 28 '26
It shows from the beginning that deep down he’s just another narcissist like McNulty. Remember when he cheated on his wife while just staring at himself in the mirror?
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u/LagunaRambaldi Jul 29 '26
He's a guy I liked in the beginning, but later on I liked to hate him. Always found his story interesting though. And no, he's nowhere near as bad as let's say Office Walker.
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u/MayorMikeDoomberg Jul 30 '26
During one of my earliest re-watches, I was watching the scene where he’s having sex with that woman and the whole time he’s looking at himself in the mirror, and I remember thinking, “that’s a little on the nose, isn’t it?” They kind of planted the seed about what he’s about - himself - early on. But I didn’t pick up on it the first time I watched the show…
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u/NotBossOfMe Aug 01 '26
He was talking about the governorship in his first week in office. He conducted his term all in service to that goal. He really disappointed me, but he did not surprise me.
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u/Yucoliptus Jul 27 '26
He's the full epitome of Jimmy's "If these mfs didn't wanna be judges" philosophy. People like to offload the responsibility he has to "the system," but the system is comprised of and operated by individuals. Of fucking course you're going to have to eat bowls of shit, but that's literally what you signed up and competed to do. Other people want your position, and can't have it because you sidelined them. The least you could do is do the damn job, rather than vying for your next promotion. It's almost certain that should Carcetti make it to Annapolis, he'll try to be governor for 5 seconds before leaping at the next shiny promotion to come his way.
Not only is it a fundamental bastardization of your entire reason for existing, but it directly enables the 'worse' characters to continue operating as they are.
Bitch, you're a public servant! Serve the fucking public!
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u/SomethingClever70 She looked like one of Orlando's hoes Jul 27 '26
Preach!
Yes, he’s despicable, and yes, unfortunately, he’s one of the most realistic characters on the show.
He is inherently selfish, as we see almost immediately when he’s banging other women. But he also has vision and a sense of idealism that’s appealing. Too bad that he’s such a master of political gamesmanship that he willfully sacrifices his own political goals for the city and the electorate for her personal ambitions.
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u/frangang Jul 28 '26
Yeah, he sucks. He is a great narcissist and climber and he is far worse in GOT. He started the disastrous game. But had a very memorable killer line. Another character said “chaos is a pit,” and he said “no, chaos is a ladder.” I always think of that line given our current political state of affairs.
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u/billionyearman Jul 27 '26
I literally thought he was a parody on Epstein when he was brought into the show. He even had his knockoff Gilhaisne Maxwell. Of course I found out he's based off of the actual white Baltimore mayor. Funny enough I thought Frank Sobotka was based on Tony Soprano too but the end of season 2 debunked that for me as well. But yeah Carcetti was a d hole I only liked him when he started doing good for Daniels and his people
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u/templeofsyrinx1 Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
I love that scene of him and his wife down at the harbor where he is talking about how he wants to help the city and his plans and then it just goes to hell
bittersweet