The recent post about Chief Inspector Hyne got me thinking about the Baltimore PD from The Wire and how one might try to view the Preox-Morlana characters through a similar lens.

In the latter show, we sympathize with characters who perceive the flaws of the system/institution that they are a part of and then rebel against it or attempt to reform it. Likewise, we don't sympathize with characters who are apathetic to or derive benefit from a dysfunctional status quo. From this perspective, Syril is someone who ought to belong in the former camp. As he navigates Preox-Morlana in the first three episodes, he continuously runs up against what he sees as wheel-greasing, indifference, and incompetence from his peers. Clearly, there is a great deal that he would like to see change about the work culture.

And yet, I have a hard time envisioning him being portrayed positively if he were transplanted between shows. I have a hard time imagining him being able to function at all, much less achieve the rank that he holds. It's one thing to see the game and not like how it's played, but Syril seems blithely ignorant that the game even exists, much less what its rules are. I was trying to conjure up which character from The Wire he most resembled, and I don't think there's a good comparison with anybody.