DeAngelo's fatherly relationship with his crew

The season begins with DeAngelo being acquitted for a murder he committed in front of and eye-witness. Avon is critical of DeAngelo's negligence regarding the hit and demotes DeAngelo back to leading a crew in the low-rises. DeAngelo begins to manage the crew half-heatedly but then takes Bodie, Poot, and Wallace under his wing. An iconic scene in the season happens in the low-rises while DeAngelo and the boys wait for the next shipment of drugs to come in. The boys are playing checkers on a chess board which bothers DeAngelo because chess fascinates him. However, the boys claim they don't know how to play (often the case in lower-class urban environments). DeAngelo teaches the boys by using their crew as a metaphor (Avon is the King, Stringer is the Queen, the stash as the Rook, the boys as the pawns). DeAngelo knows that boys are expendable like the pawns, but Bodie takes an optimistic approach noting that a smart pawn can become a Queen. DeAngelo knows chess and the drug-dealing game better than the boys and implements authority over them. However, he relates closest with Wallace, who is at a crossroads with what he wants to do with his life. Wallace reaches out to DeAngelo for advice and DeAngelo gives his advice as a father, rather than a boss. DeAngelo notices Wallace's intelligence and believes he can turn his life around while he is still young. However, when Wallace leaves the crew, Avon becomes suspicious of him and orders Poot and Bodie to take him out. When DeAngelo hears of this, he is noticeably upset with Avon and contemplates taking vengeance upon him through snitching to the police. If DeAngelo had not been as close with his crew, Wallace in particular, then Wallaces' death would have been irrelevant to him. However, DeAngelo does not believe Wallaces' life was expendable like a pawns, and, instead, was hurt like his own son had just died.