All hail Mayor Carcetti (snicker snicker). That seems to be the general attitude among the Baltimore police department when it’s announced that the mayor-elect will be making the rounds throughout the week. He’s not out to cause trouble, however, but rather to get a feel for how the department operates. Unfortunately, the answer is not very well at all, which takes us back to last week’s discussion about replacing Burrell. While it initially looked like Carcetti would be pulling Daniel all the way up from Major rank to that of Commissioner, the Mayor has instead chosen to promote Rawls to the top spot, with Daniels as his number two. That’s probably a smart choice (promoting Daniels so quickly might turn heads), but it doesn’t necessarily mean that he still won’t catch heat for canning Burrell and hiring a white cop.
Carcetti’s decision doesn’t come without reasoning either. A change does need to be made, or the city is only going to continue to crumble. Heck, he doesn’t even know about half of the shit that’s currently going on in the department. Bunk has proven Omar’s innocence thanks to some grade-A stupidity from Andre, convenience store clerk, and Herc is catching heat for his recent miscue with Marlo at the train station. Herc could really care less, however, because he’s more interested in getting his surveillance camera back on one piece. He even goes all Western District on Marlo’s crew by poking around their hangout, smashing stereos and making empty threats. Marlo actually seems a bit irked by Herc’s guerilla tactics, so it’ll be interesting to see what develops between those two in the coming weeks. Will Marlo buckle under the pressure, take care of Herc himself, or will Herc go all Vic Mackey on us and get his hands dirty?
It’d be nice to see Marlo unleash his top guns (Chris and Snoop) to dispose of Herc, if only because the gun-toting pair light up the screen every time they make an appearance, but he’s far too smart to know that killing a cop wouldn’t be the best thing for his future as the King of Baltimore. That doesn’t change the fact that Chris and Snoop (much like Omar) are some of the most interesting characters on the show, and this week we saw them schooling a new litter of recruits (in a slightly humorous sequence) and cleaning house on all of the New York boys who have come down to Baltimore to swipe up open corner territory. Chris and Snoop even get a little scare when he’s randomly pulled over by Herc (in an attempt to piss off Marlo even more), but never one to take risk, Chris promptly dumps their handguns and the nailgun. Smart man.
On side note, Michael’s complicated home life was brought even further into focus this week when the unreliable “father” figure returned home to take back control. As of now, it looks like the dude’s really trying (i.e. helping Michael’s little brother with his math homework), but Michael still seems weary.
