Category: The Wire (Page 5 of 7)

The above quote perfectly describes the feeling I had before realizing that there was indeed going to be one more episode following this week’s, and the set-up couldn’t have been any better. Before I get into any specifics, I have to say that the opening scene had to be one of the best in the show’s history. Watching Snoop and Chris chase down Michael with guns in hand triggered a sudden state of confusion for me. What exactly did Michael do to warrant Marlo handing out a death sentence? Perhaps he found out about the diamond ring that Michael got off Officer Walker? Or maybe he’s just pissed off that his friend snitched about Lex. Actually, neither. Michael is being put through the usual regiment of training, and the guns in question are actually just paint guns. When I saw Chris get splattered with red, however, I was almost certain that Michael had just shot him. Then, it came to me. A very smart red herring by the writers.

Anyways, now that Michael’s slowly being ushered in as part of Marlo’s new generation of thugs, the kid’s gotten downright brutal. He’s moved out of his mom’s place and isn’t acting the same. When Namond discovers that his Lt. (that little hoodrat named Kenard) ripped off his stash, he employs Michael’s help to get it back, but when Michael starts beating the shit out of the little kid, Namond runs for his life. Later on, Namond tries to regain his alpha status by teasing Duquan at Cutty’s gym, but Michael isn’t about to have any of it, and starts smacking (yes, open handed smacking) Namond in the face. Cutty forces Michael to leave and Namond falls to the ground crying. Oh, sweet justice.

Meanwhile, the battle on the streets finally gets some much needed momentum with the actual uncovering of Lex’s body, but the higher ups don’t appreciate ‘ol Lestor adding another body to their piling heap of unsolved case loads. To make matters worse, Lestor is trying to get his detail back into gear, but Herc is forced to leave when he’s picked up by IAD, and Kima is plenty happy with homicide. It looks like Jim McNulty is ready to make his grand reentry, but we probably won’t see it actually happen until the next season. Still, none of this would have ever happened if it weren’t for Randy opening his big mouth, and he paid for it big time when his house was burned down by a bunch of Marlo’s thugs. Randy survived unscathed, but his foster mother wasn’t so lucky.

And with Duquan now out of a home as well, it looks like both will be shacking up with Michael, who will no doubt convince them to join up with him and Marlo. To put it in “The Wire” terms, Michael is probably going to become the next Avon Barksdale, with Randy as his Stringer Bell. The comparisons make perfect sense, and they also have a very similar childhood friendship. And what of Duquan? Who knows, but there’s a very good chance that Prez might adopt him before long. At least, that’s what seems to be happening with the fourth member of their circle of friends, Namond, who will no doubt go to live with Bunny Colvin after that ugly scene with his mother.

As usual, there’s plenty more that I could go on about – like Carcetti’s trip to D.C. to beg for education money, Omar’s impending takedown of Prop Joe and Marlo, or Bubble’s meaningless struggle to get clean – but that would only cheapen the more important events that took place tonight. One more week, and hopefully all of our questions will be answered. And because you know it’s going to happen, feel free to speculate on who you think won’t be lucky enough to stick around for the fifth and final season.

While the pull quotes that I use each week always have a profound explanation on the happenings of several characters in the episode, it couldn’t be any truer this time around for Proposition Joe. During his time on “The Wire,” Joe has become a service whore who picks his partners based on their ability to deliver profit and a safe haven from the law. Now that he’s introduced Omar to Marlo, however, his loyalties are once again about to change. Omar is out for blood (despite what he may have promised to Bunk), and he’s made a deal with Prop Joe to deliver Marlo right into his lap. The question is: what will Omar do once he comes face-to-face with his newest adversary? He seems to believe that he can settle things without resorting to violence, but does Omar know anything else?

Mayor Carcetti is also plagued with some decisions of his own. After surprising the police department with pay raises and promises of change, Carcetti is approached by the black minister group about how he plans to deal with Herc’s wrongful search of the well-respected reverend. Looking to show the black community that he means business, while simultaneously protecting his new relationship with the BPD, Carcetti assigns Herc to Daniels, who’s recently been put in charge of CID and given complete carte blanche to do whatever he sees fit. After a sit-down with Rawls, Daniels decides to enlist Herc in sensitivity training, while at the same time getting Rawls to approve his reformation of the Major Crimes detail with whatever personnel changes he sees fit. This is, of course, before Rawls finds out that Daniels is being primed to take over as Commissioner. Lestor is put in charge of the revived operation, and in his first day alone, solves the case regarding Lex’s missing body. Of course, Lestor’s sudden discovery of Marlo’s body-hiding tactics will hardly matter if Omar gets to him first.

I’d like to talk about more – like how Randy was beat up, how the boys retaliated against officer Walker, how that darn diamond ring exchanged hands yet again, or how Colvin’s pilot program is in danger of being terminated – but none of it seems all that important when compared to the more substantial plotlines. And with only one episode left, it’ll be interesting to see how Ed Burns and Co. manage to wrap things up.

As far as “The Wire” goes, this week’s episode was pretty uneventful. McNulty returned to work on some robbery case that was never really made clear, Prez continued to bitch and whine about the impending state tests, and Omar followed Marlo around some more. There were a few storylines that got a little more play time, however.

Senator Davis showed up again to play the part of the governmental weasel, advising both Burrell and Carcetti about how to handle the other. I’m not really sure which side he’s on, but that seems to be the point. He’s got himself covered so that he profits no matter which way the boat tips, and that’s why he’s the character I’d most like to see get screwed by the end of the series. It nearly happened last season with Lestor’s subpoenas, and I can’t imagine he won’t run into some more trouble in the near future.

Back on the streets, Herc goes to Bubble’s hideout to apologize for not showing up the other day, and for some reason feels that he’ll still receive the help he needs in finding the camera. Bubbs agrees, of course – and is even given a burner to call Herc the minute that leech comes around again – but wouldn’t you know it, when Bubbs does call, Herc is yet again too busy to take the call. As a result, Bubbs decides its best to screw Herc over by giving him false information about a recent Marlo drop. The tip leads Herc on a citywide hunt that concludes with him pulling over a church minister he believes to be delivering the latest package. Operating Western style, Herc treats the guy like a common thug, and will probably be reprimanded for doing so.

Meanwhile, when Namond is picked up by Carver for slinging on the streets, he’s forced to call on his teacher, Colvin, for a favor. Colvin takes him into his own home for the night (supposedly because it’s better than sending him to prison for the night, where he would likely be raped), and believe it or not, Namond is actually a pretty stand-up kid. Of course, it isn’t long after that Colvin discovers the reason behind Namond’s bad behavior: his mother, who verbally berates him for not being man enough to spend the night in jail. It’s good to see that Namond can rely on Colvin as a sort of father figure, and it’ll be interesting to see how that relationship further develops.

Speaking of father figures, Michael is more than ready to get rid of his. He points out his “problem” to Chris and Snoop, who guarantee to take care of it – especially after Chris more or less gets Michael to admit that the dude used to molest him. This seems to strike a note with Chris (maybe he had a rough childhood too, or was just always the bitch in jail?) because when they take Bug’s father down the alley to kill him, Chris goes apeshit on the dude and smashes his face into a pulp. The guy’s face is so physically destroyed that Snoop doesn’t even bother with all the usual steps and they just leave him for dead.

We still don’t know what, exactly, Michael means to Marlo in the grand scheme of things, but it’s curious to note that Chris called him boss earlier in the episode. Is Michael being fast tracked to success, or was that just a manor of speaking? Also, now that Little Kevin’s been killed by Marlo, it looks like Slim Charles and Prop Joe are looking to make a move – they’ve just told Bodie what happened, and he’s not very pleased.

It hasn’t taken very long for Prez to make the obvious connection between the school system and the police department, but I think it’s absolutely outrageous that these kids are being forced to learn some form of language arts (the lowest-scoring portion of the upcoming state tests) in every single one of their classes. Doesn’t anyone realize the effects of overexposure? These kids are already sick and tired of the damn subject and it’s only the first week, so how do you think they’ll react during test day?

Randy has figured out his own way to continue utilizing his math skills: candy. So much so that he’s convinced Prez to order bulk amounts online with his credit card with one exception: he’s paid in advance to confirming the order. It’s no problem for Randy, who quickly earns the necessary start-up cash by playing some dice in the alley on his way home from school. When Prez finds out, he’s not all too happy about Randy gambling…until he discovers that Randy was using math to win, that is.

And speaking of the police department, it’s interesting to see how much Greggs’ life has changed since the end of season three. She’s no longer working on the streets (which is a major bummer for Bubbles, who could have used her help when he was getting his ass kicked), she’s making good money in Homicide, and she’s apparently paying child support for a baby she never even wanted. Note: Trust me, I know how bad that sounds.

Meanwhile, the war on the streets begins to heat up with the release of Omar from prison, and Chris has got to be feeling a little vulnerable now that his recent homicide robbery might be coming back to bite him in the ass. That’s the least of their worries, really, since Marlo doesn’t even know he’s being watched by Omar, and though the stick-up man has promised Bunk that he won’t be behind any more killings, he never mentioned anything about having someone else do the dirty work. The bottom line: while it might be time to say farewell to our good friends Marlo, Chris and Snoop, it most certainly won’t be before they introduce Michael to life as a Baltimore soldier. Shame on Michael for going to Marlo for help with Bug’s father. Now he owes him, big time. Isn’t this the sort of thing that kept Michael from receiving handouts in the first place?

Oh, and one more thing: who here things that Colvin’s “free dinner” treatment of the corner kids actually decelerated their progress? It seemed like they were completely broken after experiencing a nice meal at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, but when they returned to school, it seems that’s all they could talk about. Man, these kids are really messed up.

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.