Take Me Off the Clock

(Spoiler Alert: With the upcoming Superbowl – even though my beloved Packers (I still can’t discuss it) won’t be playing – this Sunday, I will be at a party and probably won’t make it home for the airing so I skipped ahead. How’s that for justification for a week early WIRE fix? I hope there are WIRE’s Anonymous groups coming in a few weeks.)

Early on in this episode, I jotted down the note: Templeton + McNulty = “match made in Heaven”. It was after their scene together in the bar, where I realized they’ve both promoted themselves through their careers on false or shady practices – no matter how based in moral waters their justifications may be. Now, their both benefiting from the same lie, just opposite ends – Templeton with his 30 inches on A1 and McNulty securing unlimited overtime for the duration of the case, the latter of which is just the beginning in McNulty and Freamon’s goal for police resources to be reallocated to the department.

Maybe the writers were setting the feeling up (in which case, kudos to them) or I’m honing my WIRE watching skills (taking notes helps), but either way their collective conclusion to manifest this “serial killer” further with a phone call to some city official – in this case, Templeton – only cemented their motives. McNulty’s shock, quickly suppressed to maintain his procedural professionalism, gave way to his glee (for an opportunity to tap Marlo) rather than to his suspicion of Templeton’s motives: McNulty obviously concluding that the call was placed by some "nut case" trying to seek attention after reading reports in the papers. Haynes’ brilliant skills of observation – no doubt the reason he helms the Metro Editor’s desk – kick in with a fading line about how until now he thought this was all bullshit. He may not be on to McNulty, but Templeton is in his sights.

With that plot line cooking along, it was nice to see some developments, both new and continuing, involving some of the “citizen” characters (I don’t like grouping them under the “street/corner” tag) including Cutty, Dukie, and Bubbles. The creators’ cynicism about the "dark at the end of the tunnel" and no sense of place was dripping in the back and forth between Cutty and Dukie, and with Bubbles’ - being sober and AIDS free - apparent lifetime of reflective idleness. If they're not in the game, either as a player or fiend, where to go?

The expansion on Partlow was brief, but telling. Until now, one would think he was like a shark; no need to sleep and constantly stalking prey. His relationship with Snoop and his guidance of Michael being the only hints towards his humanism. That scene also had dark sense of foreshadowing. His surveillance on surveillance - and ensuing shoot out - regarding Omar sets the table for a near mythical battle, in which Chris’ outcome doesn’t appear good. (But given the creators' penchant for dark outcomes and three consecutive episodes resulting in as many deaths for his respected or trusted acquaintances, perhaps Omar's outcome is in jeopardy. However, I feel that if the story were to eliminate Omar, he wouldn't have slipped the noose of 3 on 1.)

And one last touch from Prop Joe with Levy’s joyous explanation to Herc about becoming Marlo's counsel just in time. Marlo may have taken the cliff notes course from Joe on appearing legit, but his ultimate undoing may stem from his misread on Levy's motives (money from litigation) and confidentiality (letting it slip to Herc that Marlo is using a cell phone – leading to Herc’s one, solid bit of good police work). This may tie in Joe's mentoring and subsequent introduction of Levy to Marlo as the spark that ignited Marlo's demise.

As stated before, many continuing complaints about this season have been about the rushed plot lines and the implausibility to the story, both uncharacteristic of previous seasons. Although, I agree with their analysis to some degree (Omar’s survival of a 3 story fall lacked any of Simon’s much coveted verisimilitude) I’m enjoying the frenetic pace and believe that this season is serving as the slow-release pay off for 4 previous years of storytelling. Much has already been established and identity’s painted, so we watch how their story concludes as the curtain falls.

The great continuity touches remain with Waylon working in the same crab docks as Gary McCullough in “The Corner.” I also like the Baltimore tie-ins with WOLB radio and John Waters filming in the city, “again.”

It All Matters

I was surprised that in a show with this much depth - where every scene, character, action and detail does matter - that Carver's insightful verse wasn't this episode's opening quote.

It all mattered to Joe - whose departure ranks near Wallace and Bodie on the emotional scale - who finally got tripped up on one of his own proposition webs. Joe's very cunning, risky power play pitting Omar against the co-op (read: Marlo) last season in order to save himself from Omar turned out to give Marlo the very ammunition to justify to the Greek his accession to become the "wholesaler" of Baltimore drug scene. ("The Greeks? They're cool with it.") Marlo's lifeless eyes while he watched Joe's death coupled with his icy line about his role not being the son was chilling and furthered his reputation as the personification of pure evil.

It appears as though the Co-op may dissolve with Joe, seeing as how Marlo has absorbed anyone useful from the group (Cheese) while eliminating those weaker lions. It will indeed be interesting to see how Slim Charles plays out his next career move. Subtle scenes earlier this season suggest that Chris and Marlo value his skill set, but having been on the wrong side of Omar's gun, I'm not so sure Marlo and Chris are the two Slim wants to saddle up with.

But as always, Joe gets in one last, beautiful line before he passes filling Herc in on the soon to be departing Burrell's membership in the high school glee club, and informing us that he was "stone stupid."

Stupid or not, Burrell played the game for 35 years ("any five of which could get him indicted.") and earned a pretty golden parachute. With Burns at the helm of this episode, we got a full dose of the cop touches including Carver's touching moment with Herc, Freamon's friend in the Southern District who had a dust up with Rawls, and the final chapter - let's hope - in Colichio's destructive career. But his introspective messages regarding the head chair from Burrell were the most poignant. Ascending the departmental ladder just means that your closer to where the bureaucracy begins. You always have to "carry the water" for someone.

You get the feeling, if you've been watching this show from the beginning - not in bunches on DVD, as if Carver and Daniels' promotions carry that empty prize with them. Viewers have grinded out these past six years with these two characters and cheered their success, only to to witness Carver's bleak outlook of how much help police really do for the community and Daniels' inevitable conclusion of not being able to change that even from the highest seat.

In one of the countless interviews, commentaries I soaked in prior to Season 4 with the Burns and Simon, one of their goals was to show the viewer the inception or creation of an Avon Barksdale/Stringer Bell. I always figured it was one of the kids from Season 4, but watching Omar stake out Monk had a sense of familiarity similar to his stalkings of Stinkum in Season 1, giving me the sense that the character they were discussing was Marlo. That brief scene felt like a slow release pay off bringing us full circle, and further slammed home the feeling that Simon and Burns have indeed - after this season - said all that they could about Baltimore and the WIRE world.

Some great small touches were Johnny Fifty - former dock union member - sitting in the homeless village underneath the overpass, the flower vendor from Season 2, Freamon's near bibilical line, "it's the coming out that tells the tale" to Sydnor, or his buddy's ducking out on a shift becoming so regarded that when he finally takes a call on Lester and McNulty,'s behalf he is berated by his fellow night shift colleagues. Nice touch including the voice of the dispatch from the woman who has doubled as the receptionist in the city hall office from season 1, and the school's receptionist in Season 4. (I'm fairly certain she is part of the crew or was someone in Simon/Burns' professional, pre-Wire Baltimore life.)

Nice Dolphin

(Note: I finally broke down and skipped ahead to the on demand schedule, so spoilers below. *I justified it by knowing I would be drunk come WIRE time this Sunday as my beloved Packers play in the NFC championship game, and I was unlikely to catch the show anyway. :)

So we see Jimmy (looking the worst we've seen him) burning the midnight oil on creating his Baltimore serial killer. Bunk, apparently unable to sleep behind his unwilling participation in this lie, inadvertently locks him and Jimmy in "his office" - the interrogation room - to try and talk his longtime friend and partner out of this briar patch he's made for himself.

My first thought was that this story line was going to stumble across the path of Sherrod - whose murder was perhaps filed, and therefore considered open, before Landsman and Norris sent Bubbles to "soft walls." Far fetched perhaps, but needless to say that Bubbles - and his guilt to protect Sherrod's name - might come into the picture if it's involving the homeless sector of Baltimore.

Stan Valcheck makes another chess move of his shifty career. I hated Valcheck during his premiere in season 2, but have come to love the character even though he embodies all the traits - selfish acts to ensure promotion, thinking only of the pension - the show's creators are preaching against. Although his pension will remain at a Major's level when Carcetti compares Valcheck's numbers against Burrell's massaged stats and subsequently outlays his plan to remove Burrell and announce his intent to promote Daniels to commissioner in lieu of Valcheck. (Interesting that we didn't see a reaction scene from Valcheck later in the episode when the newspaper story came out.)

McNulty gets his serial killer authenticated from what appears to be the same M.E. from the previous episode, while it appears certain - due to corporate cutbacks - that a handful of newspaper careers will soon head to the morgue so that the paper can do more with less. However, I found it funny when the veteran reporter who was first to be victimized by a buyout - claiming that two twenty somethings could be more efficient for less than what it would cost to retain his services - displayed why it wouldn't be efficient at all when he used his built up knowledge, bunkered in contacts and veteran news reporting skills to steal the aforementioned commissioner story from the younger reporter, Templeton. That's doing more with more experience. Templeton reverts back to his Jayson Blair/Stephen Glass mode by falsifying a react quote and attributing it to Council President Campbell.

Marlo's desire to overtake the Baltimore drug scene via Vondas needs help from the very man he plans to weed out - Prop Joe. Joe feels as though he is solidifying his relationship with Marlo and Marlo to the co-op, and "civilizing" him, but it appears Marlo's lessons are going to be turned right back on the teacher. During one of the lessons, however, it appeared that another subtle move was made towards Slim as Chris made small talk with him as the two drivers awaited their bosses.

Michael escapes the horror of the corner life for a day of teen bliss at Six Flags. This sequence resonated with me so much, as my friends and I often drove from Milwaukee to Chicago for a day "away" from it all during high school. (The scene with the teen girls was as realistic as can be, as theme parks are the single bars for teenagers.) But their utopia shatters almost immediately upon return when their "serious" life slaps them in the face with a furious Spider announcing he has already told Chris of Michael's truancy. This news, coupled with his earlier questioning of murdering someone just on heresay, may make Chris rethink Michael's commitment to the game.

Gus Haynes has two revealing bar scenes that kind of bookend the episode, one revealing a prior relationship with Norman - that will connect another string in the WIRE world - and the latter with the veteran reporter offering a quiet moment of reflection about their profession that mirrors a scene from season 1 where McNulty and Freamon exchange stories about how they got into policing.

Speaking of Freamon/McNulty: Just when you thought that McNulty's bat shit crazy move was about to die quietly and that no one would be the wiser, in steps one of the wisest characters of the WIRE and jumps off the cliff with McNulty. Both have a history of swimming upstream against the bureaucracy, but this seems dangerous. And while I applaud their reasoning - to generate interest and then money into major crimes - they are walking a fine line here. But, I guess, as they see it, "no one cares."

Someone does care about Butchie however, who thanks to info from Prop Joe's man Cheese is given up to the lethal Chris and Snoop, and that is Omar. The two killers - who horror author Stephen King says are the two deadliest characters in fiction (now that's saying something!) - torture the blind consigliere and bank to Omar to find the whereabouts and offer up closure on the modern day Robin Hood (or Rob -n- the Hood).

Note on Omar: Unbeknownst to me until pointed out on another blog, that Omar's storyline and first appearance each season is always in the third episode.

And indeed it is, as we see him in his generous ways on the ocean front of some tropical city that has an eery similarity to Baltimore.

And last, but not least, this episode offered a brief payoff to longtime viewers with the apparent fall of Clay Davis. (I will not bet against Davis slipping the web though) It was great to see the noose tighten and watch Davis scramble to cash in favors from people who have had just enough of his cons. The scene with Carcetti was knee slapping enjoyment for this fan. (Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!)

My Desk Says...

The pace of this final season has been expectedly upped given the decrease in episodes, so an episode like “Unconfirmed Reports” is kind of uncharted territory for the average WIRE viewer. Whereas in past episodes, the same amount of plot material would’ve slowly developed over a pair of episodes, this season lacks that luxury, so the result is a jam-packed, extremely engrossing hour chugging along with the energy of a penultimate episode. I thought this strategy (“more with less”) was also the brilliance of the final season, or Part 2 of season six, of “The Sopranos” (although Chase and Co. were more frequently guilty of supplying an episode with needless filler than Simon, Burns and Co.)

Bill Zorzi, former Sun journalist, penned this episode, and it had great newsroom touches including the “deadline” nightmare experienced by Gus Haynes and the “my desk” joke down at the loading dock – which is becoming the equivalent of the train tracks used by the cops. But the plot theme introduced was the Stephen Glass like story turned in by Templeton, and the obvious disregard for fact checking by the over-impressed brass.

Some have been critical of this episode as being too similar to an “ordinary” TV series in glossing over certain scenes, force feeding the plot, and painting certain characters in broad strokes – a trait uncommon to the WIRE’s creators. I’m less skeptical of a declining product and more likely to believe that this final installment’s pacing might be the necessary byproduct of the creators’ attempts to connect all the plots. Simon has said that after this season, he’s said all he has to say about the city of Baltimore. I believe that it would break the cart if he tried to maintain his “it’s all connected” theme by weaving yet another storyline into his fabric.

But speaking of being connected, Avon’s return, albeit brief, offered up a slight closure to his character – a nod to see that even in jail, he carries weight, and the game goes on. Simon is anything but subtle in his continuing, cynical theme that the more things change the more they stay the same.

Snoop and Chris’s loyal and lethal service to Marlo continues to make me wonder how that power dynamic got set up. Their all-business approach to heinous acts needed to keep Marlo in power makes me fear what Marlo has done or is capable of. I know that he was briefly on the hook for a murder, but their strict adherence to his seemingly continuous order for death sentences makes me feel that something deeper is going to be unearthed. And maybe Michael’s transformation to solider might not be so soon. As willing as he may have been to “throw down” in the alley, was as quickly as he flashed the kid that he is when the youngster stumbled out of the house. Another great moment.

But all of that pales in comparison to the budding plot development of McNulty’s frustration with the institutional powers that be boiling over into what looks like career and personal suicide. As with the notion that Avon won’t be changing anytime soon, Simon keeps his cynical clutches on McNulty’s lifeline. And once again, the lines of morality, of good and evil are further blurred. A convicted felon, murder, and drug kingpin swindles a deal to make sure his sister is taken care of, while the cop and “good police” abandons Beadie and any real semblance of a family structure, reverts back to drinking and reinvents himself as a “new serial killer of Baltimore.”

"True, True, False"

Apparently the “episode guide” writers for The Wire’s HBO web page are trying to do “more with less.” (Maybe they’re on strike) It’s disappointing because one of the best things to do after viewing an episode was reading the in-depth re-cap that would supplement some of the more subtle touches (“there’s a ‘B’ in subtle) and plot movements of the program: along with providing much needed character names to keep all the new ones straight. Guess that means, I’ll just have to watch it again.

But that was about the only thing disappointing from the final season opener. As always, the season opens with a beautiful scene meant to encapsulate the entire season. This time, the ever engrossing Det. Norris provides us with the line about how Americans will eat any shit you feed to them. It’s a cynical message from the show’s creators about the focal point of season 5: The Media.

When I first heard about this story arch for the final season, I was thrilled. Having studied and graduated with a degree in broadcast journalism from Milwaukee, I have always had a fondness for the newsroom: Two of my favorite films – due to their off the scale re-watch value – are All the President’s Men and Shattered Glass. Both movies create a sensational view out of the mundane, daily chore of form writing. So when I found out that my favorite show would offer its prolific and detail-dense treatment of one of the more interesting vocations, I was thrilled.

After spending the first half of the opener “catching up” with familiar characters, Simon, Burns and co. introduce us to this season’s focal point. To that end, I was sold seconds into the newsroom scenes. Clark Johnson – who directed the first two episodes - proved his acting capabilities mirror his directorial ones. His Lester Freamonesque ability to make a “under the fold” page one story out of the obligatory city council minutes was topped only by the audible he throws out midway through his answer to his boss about who nailed the lead - crediting his news staff with the find. (This was one of the most realistic reactions of an actor displaying thought in film/TV history.) Needless to say, I’m ecstatic to see how this storyline threads its way into Simon and Burns’ portrait of Baltimore.

As for the rest of the painting, I am anxious to follow Marlo’s power play for the entire city. Judging from the preview of the next episode with his “through glass” meeting with Avon regarding the "Greek", it appears as if Marlo is hoping to wholesale to all of Baltimore. I'm also excited to follow the transformation of Michael from student to solider.

Some other nice touches from the opener were Herc’s new job with Levy and Chris Partlow’s inquiry into court records to an oblivious Daniels/Pearlman (although I find it hard to believe that A. McNulty didn’t run into them as he was following Partlow and B. that Daniels and Pearlman – both privy to the discussion about securing a warrant to search Parlow’s SUV in season 4, and him being the top suspect in the very murders whose investigation they were meeting with Bond to plead to fund – wouldn’t have been slightly familiar with him). Maybe I’m stretching here, but I love the ambitious and successful attempts to collide characters that have no business being in a scene together. On that note it was nice to see old Sergei back in the fold - even if it was just his storyline. For as much as Simon declares that characters are here to serve the story and not vice versa, he still obliges to follow some rules of the television medium and give glimpses of fan favorite characters and let the story circle back on some old faces. He’s seems to have done this with all of my personal favorites from each season including: Wee-Bay, Sergei, Spiros, (I’m still waiting for a “Niko” sighting) and apparently with Avon next week.

All in all I thought it was a superb re-entry into The Wire’s final chapter. I found myself chuckling and smiling during Landsman and Co.’s impromptu lie-detector scene – not only due to the hilarity of the scene, but because I had that feeling that I’m back with the gang, at least for 9 more episodes.

PS: I noticed that when showing Clarke Peter’s (Freamon) surveillance of Partlow, that the camera strangely never showed him walking – minus a glimpse of a long shot that displayed a severe bow-legged walk. The rest of the sequence used above waist shots of Peters. That got me to do the “Mind Rewind” to recall if they’ve ever showed Freamon without a desk or in a full shot actually walking. I know that he was exploring the vacants, but I can’t recall a specific shot showing him in the act of walking. Just thought it was interesting.

"Tech"ed Out

Happy New Year Everyone! As we await the WIRE opener (Still not on "On Demand" yet) we will always have the bowl games. Tonight's pick is the Hokies straight up over the Jayhawks and the Over (51).