Today's posting on Marlo as a pure capitalist-automaton who cares for nothing but power - and thus not believable - ignores a critical sequence giving rise to his true motivations.

Marlo's portrayal this season is that of something different from Avon Barksdale or Stringer Bell. Rather than being a typical outlaw gangsta (Avon) or a wannabe-straight empresario (String) Marlo is instead the pure psychopath/sociopath - his exceedingly calm demeanor has always given hints of this. The dead giveaway, however, is during the murder of Prop Joe - Marlo's ghoulish angel of death routine and his trance-like expression in watching Joe take one through the back of the head made it clear what his real passion is.

This is of course in contrast to the fake serial-killer routine. As the pretend psychopath is grabbing media headlines, the real psychopath is on a rampage, racking up bodie that get barely a mention in the backpages of the Sun.

Good point.

It's clear to me that what Marlo desires above all things is to dominate. It's almost childish in it's simplicity and lack of long range planning.

& given that Chris and Michael found their way into a violent life through the horrifying trauma child molestation, I always imagined that Marlo got that scar on his face from his father, maybe spending his 8th birthday in the hospital getting his face stitched back together, his little hands clenched into white knuckle fists, promising himself that NOONE would step to him ever again.

He's basically a psychopath, obsessed with dominating everyone. He wants no bling, no future, just to have "his name ring out." It's this unsophisticated and uncompromising aspect of the drug thing that Prop. Joe forgot about. He thought, "Who doesn't want to just make tons of money, be safe from murder, safe from the police, and have their future secure?" Marlo Stanfeild, that's who.

Without disagreeing with the above, I should add a few points.

First, Marlo is seen with the occasional hot girl. In season 3 Stringer and Avon use a woman to lure Marlo, (though Chris catches the trap and the girl is killed).

Second, Marlo does show interest in material things - I do believe that he and the aforementioned girl/bait have sex leaning up on his Escalade, that vehicle fairly pimped out.

Thus, Marlo is not a sociopath devoid of any discernible motivation. He likes his rims and his girls. Marlo can certainly be defined by his sociopathic tendencies - they are his most prominent feature. But he is also something of a sensualist, seeking thrills and possessions to fills what is otherwise an emotional void.

Also not disagreeing with the above and definitely co-signing the general view that Plotz is off on his argument concerning Marlo. Sasha's right. We've seen Marlo with girls - both in Season 3 and then briefly in Season 5 (the chick he put up in the hotel room) - and he does roll in expensive cars. Moreover, if The Wire's taught us anything it's that only the stupidest of drug dealers would be engaged in over-the-top displays of success because such displays attract the attention of the cops. Marlo's no fool.

If we're going to criticize (and I wouldn't because I don't view this as a failing), the issue is not that Marlo is a poorly-done character because he represents an identity that doesn't exist, ie, a capitalist with no appetite. It's that we really don't see much of him other than when he's ordering a hit on somebody.

Nobody said pathological personaliities had to be monks. Marlo can be a sociopath/psychopath while being materialistic. But his materialism is different and not the same quality/quantity as Stringer Bell's or Clay Davis or whoever, and tends to be almost a shallower form if that is possible (rims, some cars, etc) and a means to an end rather than an end in and of itself - as it was for some of the other characters.

tanya75: Moreover, if The Wire's taught us anything it's that only the stupidest of drug dealers would be engaged in over-the-top displays of success because such displays attract the attention of the cops.

This is an important point here. Marlo has avoided spoiling himself because he is not able to do so without drawing unwanted attention. Remember earlier this season when he was asking Joe to teach him how to launder his money? If he had no desire to ever spend it, he would have no reason to wash it. Also, in one of the first scenes of the series involving Marlo, we see him at the rim shop owned by his confidant. He is admiring a particularly gaudy design, but remarks that a person with those rims is just asking to be pulled over.

While Marlo is probably more concerned with the power and reverence that comes with wearing the crown, he certainly has plans for spending his money. The fact that he does not flash his wealth is evidence that he is a smart man, not that he has no material desires.