Fran brought Gary down. - The Corner (2000) Discussion

[–] anewvibe 18 years ago

How?

"I wouldn't change a stroke cuz baby I'm the most"
formerly known as "PJaMz4eva"

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She turned him on to that lifestyle you will see more of how when you finish the season out next week. I wont spoil it for you but its crazy. Fran really did turn gary on to shottin up you hear her say in almost every episode that he should have never got caught up in that s**t. In later episodes they show a flash back of Gary coping some dope from a dealer and Fran and andre see him.

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[–] anewvibe 18 years ago

Dang..I'll make sure 2 watch it. Seems like it's gonna get even more interestin'...

"I wouldn't change a stroke cuz baby I'm the most"
formerly known as "PJaMz4eva"

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[–] cclub 18 years ago

I believe so. She started going on crack during their marriage. Gary was on a straight path until he met her. This is a very good and accurate miniseries.

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[–] prikencam 17 years ago

Yeah I think it was pretty sad how she got hime hooked, then she got the help she needed to get clean and he wound up dying.

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[–] defusethefire 16 years ago

you can only change yourself

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[–] girljms 16 years ago

yeah it was her fault and i hated when he died.

www.myspace.com/jaleesathebossybitch

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[–] Lisa11171 16 years ago

Although you can say Fran may have had something to do with Gary's addiction, only the person him/herself can turn into an addict. It has to do with something inside you, and obviously Gary needed it. I don't like to blame anyone for another's addiction, but if he wasn't around it, he probably wouldn't have ever found it.

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[–] butterfly_lover 16 years ago

yes that's true but when you love a person, they cam bascially get you to do anything, and i think thats how he got hooked. i know a girl who used to be a huge meth addict, and she said she was such a good person (charity work, good grades, never got in any trouble, etc.) but she fell in "love" with her then boyfriend, and she stills says that if it had been anyone else she'd never had taken that hit of meth, but because she loved him, she did it anyway and got hooked instantly.
so i think that fran had big influence on gary starting

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[–] mia-beach 14 years ago

Exactly! Gary brought Gary down. If it wasn't Fran, it would be somebody else.

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[–] laxpv30 14 years ago

dude wtf put spioler before you type that *beep* damn now I know what happens.

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[–] lornamd-1 16 years ago

I felt a lot of sympathy for Gary but he was still a grown man responsible for his own behavior and its not like Fran in any way urged him to take drugs. Fran had her own problems that led her to addiction - her sisters death - and its not her fault she got clean and Gary didn't, that happened because she went through rehab and thats something he never did.

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[–] vscalesptt 15 years ago

I'm a recovering addict and have been clean since 11/22/92, I used because I wanted to, there was heroin, weed, moonshine and speed in my hood I choose crack cocaine. "We" turn our will and our lives over to drugs, in the 12 steps it tells us that we made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, it's to counter the life style. No one forced us to use drugs and no one can force us to get clean, we have to want to.

When You Know Better, You'll Do Better.

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[–] shanehaynes 15 years ago

I agree Fran destroyed Gary. It seemed like in the beginning Gary was a good, hardworking, upwardly mobile guy tyring to achieve the AmeriKKKan dream and Fran was a no good partying woman and somehow (it was never explained fully and I kept wishing the show would've delved more into the HOW,WHY Gary became an addict) her influenced made Gary begin doing drugs.

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[–] blindnil9 15 years ago

I disagree. She didn't help matters, but ultimately it's up to Gary to decide what he wants to do with his life. Gary was a very intelligent and caring person, almost to a fault. He was very emotional and loving, and clearly felt that he wasn't getting that love returned back to him, whether it was from his wife, his friends, whoever. As he said in the show, he felt that if he went back to the streets, maybe people would like him more. It wasn't Fran who made him this way, it's just who he is; he obviously had issues as a child and didn't get the love he needed back then, which just turns everything into a big cycle (as seen with Deandre and Gary's relationship).

You can't just up and blame one person for "bringing someone down" (unless they straight up caused them physical harm) - that's looking at things very simplistically. Ultimately Gary wasn't strong enough to prevent himself from being trampled on by others, and while you can't really say that's his fault, you can't blame other people for his emotional state (except maybe his parents, but unfortunately the show didn't get too much into his childhood).

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[–] Calinks 15 years ago

Yep, she was a bad influence and if he had never met her he may never gotten into drugs but in the end it was his choice. You can't just say Fran did this to him. The community he lived in and his own choices ultimately were the biggest reasons why he started.

"Cool will get ya dead." -Former NBA Power Forward, Karl Malone

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[–] Valkyrist 15 years ago

But then again, it was Gary who dealt drugs to Fran when he was trying to earn money to go to college. And even though Fran seemed to only use drugs as a party stimulant, it originated from the death of her sister and her abusive father. You can't completely demonize her.

-- Exeunt the Wolfe --

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[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] projectmanster 14 years ago

Ummm, no. Fran IS a real person, she lives in Baltimore MD as I write this.

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[–] jurassicmarc 14 years ago

Thats why i love the show so much its all about the grey areas, you can see that Frans party lifestyle wasnt for Gary but at the end of the day he could have walked out he didnt need to stay and become a part of that world he choose to do so, so yes maybe Fran showed him the drug world upclose but he was a grown man and coulda left at anytime.

Great program by great writers, Charles S Dutton aslo directs really well I love the quasi documentary style it really works.

"Its just a ride"

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[–] John_Stone 14 years ago

DeRodd wasn't Gary's son, Gary and Fran had separated before Gary started using.

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[–] 14 years ago

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[–] mojo2004 11 years ago

I read the book. The real lesson is you can't marry a person thinking you can change them. Fran liked to party and live in the moment. In the "street". That was her family's life style too. Gary's family was about the future. His sisters & brothers wanted more out of life and they made their dreams come true with education & jobs. Gary did it also but Fran's demons pulled her back to the street and in order to be with her Gary started using drugs more & more. The job, the house, the desire to move up the ladder all went away as obtaining drugs became his number one priority. Fran was definitely part of the problem. But Gary could have gotten clean had he wanted it bad enough. You have to want it for yourself. Fran did and she got clean.

You have the right to remain silent because whatever you say will probably be stupid anyway!

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[–] marbleann 11 years ago

As someone who was with a dope fiend for almost 20 years I can attest no one can make you do it. I never touched the stuff. Seeing him and his friends messed up gave me the incentive and I am admittedly a narcissist, they looked terrible and they smell like drugs. It is not that I was such a smart person. What smart person would stay that long to try to save a person they loved. But I can can you do not have to join the crowd if you don't want to. I find there has to be something in you missing to make you even want to do heroin, it takes a special type of pain.

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[–] brendan16-1 10 years ago

It certainly would seem that way, if judging only from watching these 6 hours of TV.

For me, the most telling scene is when Gary is having a flashback and he's trying to wake Fran up and get her out of bed for work (presumably before he became an addict). He rips the covers off her and says something like "Come on, wake up, you're gonna get fired!" Fran responds with "It's a union job, nobody ever gets fired." Then she pulls the covers back over her head to go back asleep while Gary just watches, incredulously.

And that, to me, is where Season 4 of The Wire missed the mark. You can blame all of our civic institutions for the drama & heartbreak our inner city kids face, you can call No Child Left Behind a scam, but I wish Simon and Burns had pointed the finger more at the parents and their value systems as a reason why children grow up with no future. They did illustrate it -- we saw Michael's mother and step-father, we saw Naymond's mother, we saw how Dukie was neglected and left homeless...but it almost seemed like those circumstance were meant to be shown as the result rather than the cause.

I don't know. Maybe it's a classic "chicken or the egg" arguement. But going back to The Corner, Miss Ella didn't succumb to the same environmental stresses and challenges despite being African American and living in West Baltimore. She treated the children of the neighborhood with love, respect, caring, and maintained her dignity. Drugs didn't devour or even tempt her.

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[–] JaysonT 8 years ago

How did Fran bring Gary down when FRAN was the one who decided to stop doing drugs?? She turned her life around for the better, and even tried to get Gary to do the same. But he was an idiot. Sympathetic, deep thinker sure. But he was a bit of a doofus. He couldn't change. He had to keep getting high. Fran did a complete 180. And look how well she turned out.

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[–] Born_Tomorrow 8 years ago

Fran was doing coke when they were married. I think after they separated, she started doing heroin. She might have been mixing her heroin with coke. However, it's mentioned in the movie that Fran never shot up. She only smoked or sniffed, which is not as strong as shooting up but Gary went all the way. He was actually shooting up, while Fran wasn't. In fact, if you go by the movie, I don't think Gary started doing drugs at all until after they [he and Fran]separated because when Fran saw him cop for the first time she looked genuinely shocked and concerned.

I woke up this way...

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