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!)