The Wire Season 2 Epsiode 7: Backwash

The Wire Season 2 Episode 7: Backwash. The relationship between dock worker Nick Sobotka and his feckless cousin Ziggy is one of the more interesting in the second season and mirrors the familial tragedies found in the Barksdale clan. Casting the towering Pablo Schreiber as Nick and the comparatively diminutive James Ransone (whose acting was often too cartoonish by half) as Ziggy was smart and the stark difference in their physical presence signalled (perhaps to pointedly) the differences in their personalities, as well. Nick's physicality demands respect; Ziggy's, derision, which he receives in mounds. When Nick takes over the little piece of drug dealing action that his cousin tried to foster, Ziggy fumes and pouts. Ziggy has been bested by his tall, handsome cousin, and moves on to more reckless dealings that, inevitably, lead to his downfall. And, to add injury to injury, the loyal and industrious Nick is closer to Ziggy's father, union boss Frank Sobotka, than Ziggy is himself. What's a boy got to do to get his father's attention? Kill somebody?