Category: The Wire (Page 3 of 7)

We’ve already hit the midway point of the season, and as the many subplots continue to creep along, they’ve also finally begun to merge together into one cohesive story. McNulty’s serial killer remains the center of attention, and for good reason. After calling Alma with news about the killer’s most recent victims, the two meet to discuss the case in detail. McNulty is hesitant to disclose any information at first, but when Scott (who tags along) admits that juicier details would give the story better coverage, McNulty lets them in on the fact that his killer has been biting people in very inappropriate places.

That alone is enough to send the story to the front page, and within hours, Daniels is at the mayor’s office to speak with Carcetti about the investigation. It turns out Carcetti is a little bothered by the spotlight a high-profile serial killer could bring to the city, and so he lifts the OT cap for McNulty and one other detective to work the case. Unhappy with the lack of commitment from the mayor’s office, McNulty is left to figure out another way to get surveillance on Marlo and his crew. As it turns out, McNulty left it up to luck.

After Marlo meets with Vondas to discuss the details of their new business venture, Vondas gives him a cell phone so that he’s easily reachable. Marlo then gives his lawyer the number in case of an emergency, and when Herc steals it from his boss’ rolodex, it winds up in Lester’s hands. Unfortunately, Lester ‘s bid for a wiretap doesn’t go well, so instead of calling it quits, he and McNulty plot a way to fudge the paperwork on a wiretap for the serial killer case, and instead use it for Marlo’s cell phone.

The case gets additional help when a disgruntled Scott (who’s sent out to get react quotes from the homeless community) ends up faking a call from the serial killer to his cell phone. When combined with McNulty’s “call” (which just so happened to be dialed from the same location), the bid for that wiretap is a slam-dunk. Of course, now we know that Scott really is the sleazy scumbag that he appeared, but if his selfish motives end up helping McNulty and Lestor’s case, then so be it.

Meanwhile, Omar is back in town and staking out one of Marlo’s lieutenants. Being patient so as to not walk into a set-up, Omar waits for the best moment to strike. What he doesn’t realize, however, is that Marlo has remained one step ahead, and when Omar busts through the door to take out a few of his men, he’s ambushed by Chris, Snoop and Michael. Cornered behind a sofa, Omar makes a run for it and jumps out of the third-story window. When the three shooters run to the balcony to see where he landed, Omar has already disappeared. I was actually a bit surprised to discover that Omar made it out of the shootout unscathed, but the guy has shown in past seasons that he’s virtually indestructible, and while he still might not make it out of this season alive, he certainly won’t go down without a fight. And personally, I can’t wait.

As the title suggests, tonight’s episode was all about transitions – from expected promotions to unexpected (ahem) demotions – and the biggest of them all was Burrell’s resignation as Commissioner of the Baltimore Police Department. Yep, you heard right. After a visit from Daniels assuring Burrell he had nothing to do (or knew nothing about) Carcetti’s plans to replace him, and another visit from Council President Campbell promising a pension and comfy gig if he leaves quietly, the grizzled vet officially threw in the towel. Of course, not before he entrusted Campbell with the dirt he’s got on Daniels – which may or may not affect Carcetti in the future.

I can’t imagine it will, however, since this is the final season of the show, but if it were to go on, Campbell might just have exactly what she needs to deny Carcetti the Governor’s chair and replace him as Baltimore’s new mayor. Then again, if McNulty’s able to raise the profile on his fabricated serial killer, Carcetti will undoubtedly earn serious brownie points by claiming himself a man of the people, and by default, of the homeless population as well.

For the time being, McNulty’s still searching for more bodies, but that should get a little easier over the next few weeks now that Lester’s old partner has agreed to give them a heads up on any victims that float his way. You can also count on Alma’s next article about McNulty’s killer hitting the front page; especially when dead homeless start popping up with teeth marks (Lester’s idea) all over their bodies. Sure, it’s sick and twisted, but it’s also pretty funny.

What’s not funny, however, is the fact that no one seems to take Marlo seriously. I mean, McNulty and Co. obviously want to catch the guy (but only because he’s bad), Omar wants to kill him (but only because he drew first blood), and Prop Joe (perhaps the most clueless of the bunch) wants to domesticate him. For being such a smart gangster, Joe sure trusts a lot of the wrong people. Upon hearing that Omar believes he had something to do with Butchie’s torture/murder, Joe decides to take a leave of absence, but before he’s able to get the hell out of the city, Marlo arrives to bid farewell.

Joe’s death is probably the most surprising revelation of the fifth season thus far, but believe it or not, he was the glue that held together Baltimore’s criminal hoi polloi, and with him out of the picture, you can expect some blood to be shed over the next few weeks. Slim Charles will no doubt be gunning for Cheese after hearing of his disloyalty, and without Joe to oversee the co-op, Marlo will probably take out the rest of the major drug runners as well. The Greeks are also going to learn that agreeing to work with Marlo was a bad idea (especially if McNulty and Lester have anything to do with it), and Omar is going to do what Omar does best. Sorry, Chris and Snoop. This truly is the beginning of the end. Here’s hoping David Simon and Ed Burns can piece together an ending a little more compelling than onion rings and Journey.

The second episode of season five has come and gone, and you can officially color me worried. Not for the quality of the show, mind you – because that’s always remained first-class – but of the questionably slow pacing. True, previous seasons of “The Wire” have always taken four or five episodes before jumping into the meat of the story, but with three less episodes than usual this time around, doesn’t it seem like David Simon and Co. should be getting a move on? It seemed like that may have been the case with tonight’s show, but when all was said and done, I still felt like that there was something still missing from the big picture.

With Lester and Sydnor working on the Clay Davis case (who, as we all saw, is so worried about the upcoming Grand Jury hearing that he never once uttered his trademark, confidence-boosting phrase), and the rest of the Major Crimes detail back on Homicide, Marlo has been given the all-clear to get back to business (i.e. killing people). That includes hunting down Omar (who has yet to make his season five debut) and going behind Prop Joe’s back to make a deal with the Greeks. And who other than Avon Barksdale to help the kid out? Sure, Marlo declared war on the Barksdale clan when he was on the rise, but we all know how Avon feels about Prop Joe, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that he’s chosen to side with a fellow West-sider.

What Marlo doesn’t realize, however, is that a lack of OT pay hasn’t stopped Lester from bringing the drug-slinging murderer down, and within days, he’s back on stakeout duty. When he discovers that Marlo, Chris and Snoop are already back to their sloppy tactics, Lester enlists the help of McNulty for the case, but without any financial backing from the BPD, the pair go looking for help elsewhere, including the local Feds. Unfortunately, not even the FBI wants anything to do with the hanging 22 murders (nor any other federal task force, for that matter). Bunk and Lester claim that it’s because most of the dead bodies are blacks, so what does McNulty do? He creates an imaginary serial killer by “strangling” an already dead (white) male with the hope of gaining the mayor’s attention. Will it do the trick, or just land McNulty in some serious Vic Mackey-type trouble?

There’s plenty more to talk about – like how Carcetti’s mayoral decisions seem to favor his upcoming run for governor (though is that a bad thing?), how Bubbles is clean but doesn’t seem happy about it, or how the Baltimore Sun scenes still don’t fit in with the main story arc (seriously, who cares about that whiny reporter, Scott?) – but it simply isn’t worth spending time on until it actually begins to matter. Here’s hoping it’s sooner rather than later.