The Wire
March 3, 2008
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Episode 5x9
Freamon finally has what he needs to take down Marlo and his crew, however McNulty isn't jumping up and down with joy. He feels both guilty and stuck dealing with the loose ends on a case that really didn't exist in the first place.
Marlo suspects someone is snitching and pretty quickly points the finger at Michael. Michael catches on quickly, and when Snoop asks him to take a ride with her to kill someone else of snitching, the boy doesn't take any chances. Down goes Snoop.
City Editor Haynes still is uneasy about the Templeton homeless vet story. He enlists the help of a displaced Sun Reporter, Robert Ruby, from the now closed down London bureau. The goal: to vet not only the homeless story (which ironically may have a shot at the Pulitzer), but also every other story Templeton's written. Haynes says he needs "fresh eyes on the fellow". We'll see how that plays out next week.
Bubbles is at one year of being sober, and finally mentions Sherrod's name. This was a big step for his recovery.
We have the first appearances of Namond Bryce and Bunny Colvin this season at an Urban Debate function, which Carcetti attends as well. Later on, Carcetti attempts to apologize to Colvin for how the whole Hamsterdam thing went down last season. Colvin blows him off.
And finally Greggs ends up telling Daniels everything about the homeless case, while at the same time warning Carver to cover his ass.
This may have been one of the best episodes of the season. Next week fireworks are going to soar.
February 25, 2008
Episode 5x8
Everything is seemingly coming to a head. The fake homeless murders are becoming bigger than what McNulty and Freamon had in mind. McNulty is obviously stressing about it, and also feeling a sense of guilt. He ends up telling Greggs and Beadie, however they completely disapprove of it. Freamon still claims, with a big break in the wiretap itself, that the case is soon coming to a close. That knowledge still doesn't have McNulty sleeping well at night.
An injured Omar is shuffling through the streets of Baltimore on a rampage, however all of this comes to an end in the most ironic, yet real ways it could go down. With the risk of giving spoilers, just watch the repeat.
Templeton writes a piece on the Homeless candlelight vigil that Mayor Carcetti spoke at, however Haynes, not really trusting Templeton, disapproves of his sourceless opening and "spikes the lead". All season there has been this internal struggle at the newspaper between the Managing Editor and both the City and Metro Editors. You boil it down and it's a philosophical battle between having good news content and sales, and how sales is winning. David Simon, the creator of The Wire, used to be a Baltimore journalist, so one can see his personal touch in a definite way on this storyline.
February 11, 2008
Episode 5x6
McNulty and Freamon are seemingly having second thoughts on their scheme. Guilty conscious maybe? Omar is seeking revenge for Butchie and himself. The Mayor is trying to tackle the "homeless murders" as quickly and efficiently as possible, of course this is all at the detriment of other ongoing cases. Bunk is striving to do detective work on said cases by the book (or as "by the book" as they usually do) but is halted at every turn. Templeton spends the night with the homeless in order to investigate the murders, and ends up writing a real honest news story about a homeless marine who fought in Iraq. Who knew this guy had more than just career ambition? And finally Marlo is essentially breaking up the co-op telling everyone that he's the reason Prop Joe is dead and that he has the drug connect, which doesn't set to well with Slim Charles. Marlo is putting himself out there and risking a lot. The question is, will it pay off for him?
Oh and Nick Sobotka, last seen at the end of season 2, makes a cameo.
February 4, 2008
Episode 5x5
McNulty and Freamon's serial killer scheme seems to have gone past the point of no return. First McNulty spiced up the details of the "crimes" to Gutierrez and Templeton just to give them, as reporters, something to go on. Herc snaked Marlo's phone number from Levy with it eventually trickling down to McNulty and Freamon. Now all that's left is an excuse for a Wire. And in comes Templeton, the do anything to move up reporter, who "got a call" from the serial killer, giving the info to his news team and McNulty. The Wire goes through, but for how long? Also, lest we forget that Bunk knows pretty much everything and yet stays silent because of his loyalty to McNulty. And it seems that loyalty was tested yet again when Beadie came in the station looking for her gallivanting and alcoholic man. Bunk remained loyal, but you can tell is frustrated. Will he turn on his old partner this season?
Elsewhere, Omar patiently waits for the right moment to strike on Marlo's crew. When he does move in, he gets more than he expected.
Bubbles gets tested for HIV and comes out negative, yet believes he deserves to be positive. He still has a rough time adjusting to sobriety considering all the things he did in the past. I certainly hope that Bubbles keeps on this track.
Dookie s wants to toughen up for the streets, and ends up going back to Cuddy's gym. This is the first appearance by Cuddy this season.
And as expected, State Senator Clay Davis isn't going to go down without a fight. He brings in former Mayor Royce to stump for him.
Everything is coming to a head, and we're only halfway through the season.
January 28, 2008
Episode 5x4
If there is any one thing that is great about The Wire, it's that it takes chances. It is not afraid to do what it needs to do, with plot and with characters, in order to tell the story they way it should be told.
McNulty and Freamon are still fashioning a serial killer who murders homeless people. This is a means to an end, with that end being the arrest and conviction of Marlo. Bunk still disapproves but is not ratting them out. How long will it be til they get caught? If they get caught? Who knows?
Mayor Carcetti wants to axe Commission Burrell, and succeeds but has to go through of crap to do it. And even in the end it didn't play out the way he wanted it to for political reasons. The media has already leaked the fact that Carcetti is grooming Daniels to be commissioner, a factor that indeed sped up Burrell "early retirement".
Omar is back and he's very pissed about the death of Butchie. He confronts Slim Charles about it. Slim said it wasn't Prop Joe's people. So in Omar's head that leaves one person: Marlo. It should get very interesting in the coming weeks.
Marlo has been going around Prop Joe's back to Vondas in order get a direct supply of drugs. In the end Prop Joe's nephew, Cheese, double crosses him and set's him up to get killed by Marlo and his men. When word of this gets back to Slim Charles, what will he do, align with Omar? 'Til Next week.
January 21, 2008
Episode 5x3
The majority of this episode focuses on McNulty and his newly cooked up scheme to bring down Marlo by tampering with evidence and the body of a dead homeless person so that it looks like a serial killer did it. Even though one can see that this may be the only way for the department to refocus on Marlo and his crew, it definitely represents a moral issue; especially with Bunk who wants nothing to do with it.
At the newspaper, the head office in Chicago, for financial reasons, needs to shrink its staff and close down many international bureaus. The staff constantly hears, "We must do more with less". But as is implied throughout this season so far, one does less with less not more. Many employees are being forcibly bought out of their contracts. Real stories like the one that Alma Gutierrez wrote about involving the 3 people killed in their home, got butchered and buried, because as Fletcher said "Wrong Zip Code. They're dead where it doesn't count."
And finally Omar shows his face at the end, realizing that he needs to come out of hiding and back to Baltimore because his friend and confidant Butchie just got killed by Marlo's crew.
January 14, 2008
Episode 5x2
McNulty thinks Marlo Stanfield is getting a free pass and there is nothing he can do about it. He is pissed. CID is shut down. The FBI only likes dealing with terrorists and political criminals, and yet Baltimore's big drug kingpin is let loose from the grips of a year investigation purely for political and financial reasons.
We also are getting more of a sense on how the local newspaper works and what its effect on society is. Templeton brought a definitely incomplete story about a kid going to a Baltimore Orioles game in a wheelchair, but it was decided by the top dog to put it out on the front page anyway because it was a feel good fluff piece. We can see that the big thing the newspaper room storyline is going to deal with this season is "what is news". What is important enough to be written about in a city with a high crime rate like Baltimore?
And more importantly… where is Omar?
November 13, 2007
Jimmy McNulty and crew are coming back this January for the 5th and final season of HBO's critically acclaimed Baltimore crime series The Wire. A show that for most of its run didn't pull in the ratings and was threatened with cancellation has finally emerged triumphant to end on its own terms next year.
The Wire has not only been lauded as a gritty and realistic crime drama, but as a social commentary to end social commentaries. About not only inner city crime and the police who investigate it, but also about the system that perpetuates it.
Since the show finished filming in early September, its run is not affected by the strike.
Creator David Simon has revealed that the theme for the final season will be about the media impact on crime and on the system itself. But until January, you can catch up on past seasons through HBO On Demand.
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