Note:
updated article on Kima Greggs in Season
Two now available.
HBO's
new series The Wire premiered
Sunday, June 2nd at
10pm EST, introducing the first regular asian-american lesbian
or bisexual character on television and only the second regular
lesbian police officer in TV history (Officer Abby Sullivan of
NYPD Blue was the first, in 1997).
The
Wire follows two Baltimore detectives paired together to
bring down a drug dealer: Narcotics Detective Shakima "Kima"
Greggs, a lesbian played by the African-American/Korean-American
actress Sonja Sohn (of Shaft, Bringing Out The Dead,
and Slam), and Homicide Detective Jimmy McNulty, played
by Dominic West (of 28 Days and Rock Star).
Wood Harris plays the drug kingpin Avon Barksdale, in a radical
departure from his role as the earnest football player Julian
in Remember the Titans.
The
setup for this unlikely partnership between Greggs and
McNulty is the focus of most of the first episode, and since the
story follows not only the detectives but the drug dealers and
addicts as well, it can be difficult to follow and sort out all
of the characters. But the show quickly (and wisely) focuses in
on the drug lord's nephew, D'Angelo Barksdale (played by Larry
Gilliard Jr.) as he works his way up the ladder of the drug dealing
hierarchy while questioning the moral implications of what he
is doing. By humanizing the people caught up in drug dealing,
The Wire goes beyond the usual "good vs. evil"
approach that most shows take, and also avoids the easy answers.
The
show does initially go a little overboard on the "gritty
realism" approach, with a few too many shots of strip-clubs
and drug addicts getting high, and so much profanity that by the
end of the hour, it's like white noise - you almost don't even
notice it anymore. But the show seems to have settled down a bit
after the first few episodes, as if, having proved itself edgy
and "real," it can now get on with just telling the
story.
The
sexual orientations of both detectives are introduced
in a casual manner at the end of the first episode - McNulty's
through a conversation with his partner (actor Wendell Pierce,
of Get on the Bus, Waiting to Exhale, and the
TV show My Wife and Kids) about custody problems with
his ex-wife, and Greggs' through a scene in which her live-in
lover Cheryl (also a black woman) greets her at home at the end
of a long night.
In
an interview in the July 9th edition of the Advocate magazine,
Sohn praises her character as "not some really glamorous
lipstick-type lesbian." Entertainment Weekly describes her
character as "languidly cool" in their review, and this
pretty much sums up how Det. Greggs is regarded by the other characters
on the show (the other police officers, that is; the drug dealers
probably describe her differently).
Surprisingly,
the show doesn't just drop Greggs' lesbianism after this
introduction, but continues to incorporate it in small ways through
the next episodes. In Episode 2, a fellow cop asks Greggs how
she figured out she was gay, and she tells him to mind his own
business. In Episode 3, however, she is relaxed and open when
she comes out to McNulty in conversation, saying simply, "I
dig women." She explains that she's upfront about her sexuality
with other (male) cops because it's the only way to keep them
from hitting on her:
"Cops
are dogs...It's not like I was walking around waving some dyke
flag in the air or some shit. I know I look like I can go either
way, it's just something I had to put out there to get through
the day."
They
go on to have an interesting conversation in which McNulty asserts
that the only female cops he's known that are any good are lesbians,
and Greggs explains that the constant physical intimidation that
female police officers face on the job weeds out a lot of straight
women. Whether this assertion is accurate or not, it makes for
thought-provoking dialogue.
So
far, Greggs' relationship is the only stable one on the
show. McNulty is fighting with his ex-wife over visitation rights
of their son, and occasionally sleeping with the D.A. even though
they broke off their affair awhile ago. Drunk and lonely, McNulty
shows up at Greggs' door late one night ostensibly to update her
on a case, interrupting Greggs' time with her girlfriend; she
politely declines to invite him in, and then she goes back to
the couch to have sex with her girlfriend.
Sohn
is critical of her performance in this sex scene in the Advocate
interview, saying "When I saw it, I was just not happy with
it" and chalking it up to first-show jitters with promises
to do better in the future. But even if the scene was a little
"lackluster," as the Advocate describes it, it is a
step in the right direction to portray lesbian sexuality so casually
and comfortably as part of the subtext of the show. According
to Sohn, this kind of inclusiveness is exactly what is so appealing
about The Wire:
"I
think it's important that we have realistic portrayals of people
on television, whether it be lesbians or black detectives or gangsters....because
it helps break stereotypes, hopefully broadening the viewpoints
of people who don't have the opportunity to be exposed to any
type of diversity-cultural, racial, or sexual-in their lives."
Sohn
(who is heterosexual in real life, with a boyfriend and two daughters)
is clearly comfortable and happy with playing a lesbian character.
Responding to the Advocate's question about the possibility of
being seen as a lesbian icon, she says "Is it going to be
disconcerting for people to see me as a lesbian sex symbol or
some shit like that? That's actually kind of hot."
The
reviews of the series so far have been mostly positive
and the ratings fairly solid. Showing in the time slot following
The Sopranos is likely to help it attract viewers, even
if The Sopranos is in Summer reruns (or perhaps because
it's in summer reruns, as HBO viewers will be looking for something
to take its place). The Wire's biggest challenge, though,
is likely to be retaining viewership once the large crop of new
cop dramas on the Big Three networks premiere in the fall.
Meanwhile,
Det. Greggs is a welcome addition to the small number of lesbian
characters on television - especially since, with the cancellation
of Dark Angel and the ending of MTV's The Real World:
Chicago, Det. Greggs may well be the only African-American
lesbian on television next season.
June
2003 Update: Season 2 of The Wire premiered
June 1st on HBO; an update on Greggs is available here.
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