We will protect you
For fear of ruining it for anybody who hasn't caught Ep 58 (Clarifications) of The Wire yet, I won't reveal the big reveal. Which actually makes it hard to write about. Sweet to see Poot, now a reformed corner boy, working in a trainer shop - it can be done! Meanwhile, Duquon gets a gig with Baltimore's own Steptoe. (Are they going to give us a couple of rays of hope among the young'uns?) Templeton's world is crumbling around him - good. Gus is onto him. I'm not sure how interesting David Simon's indulgent fifth-season insight into of the minutiae of newpapers is, with its "spikes" and sources and paras and Pulitzer submissions, but I really like it. I like the fat, old, whiskery nature of the desk subs at the Sun, permanently welded into their swivel chairs, or so it seems. (If only the Guardian's looked and worked like that.) I also like the way that, thanks to - yes - the wire, the old firm are not exactly back together - Kima disapproves strongly of what McNulty and Freamon and Sydnor are doing - but at least in the same room. And I loved the look on Bunk's face when he rushed through some lab work by getting McNulty's signature on the paperwork, thus turning things back his way. McNulty got his comeuppance when the FBI profiler at Quantico accurately described him when describing the serial killer. The look on Dominic West's big clown face! Lots of politics again this ep, too, with Carcetti really milking the homeless, as it were, and double-dealing with Clay Davis to protect his own bid for governor. (Oh, how quickly Davis has slimed his way back into office having dodged the "head shot.") With only two episodes to go, it's just as well Sydnor accidentally cracked the clock code using his Baltimore A-Z - but time is running out for us all. Sheee-yit.Let's talk about the big twist in the comments. (If you don't want spoilers, read no further. I have deliberately refrained from running a picture clue. It's better not to have an inkling.)
posted by Andrew Collins @ 11:30 PM
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Well, it does start to come together like an Airfix model plane (or a Rolf Harris painting) that seemed to make no sort of sense at first - just a wild collision of random elements - now it's swirling round in a vortex of plot that can only lead to doom, doom, doom!!! And thrice doom.
Morally: can you do a bad thing, to achieve a good thing? Can good come of lies, deceit and self-aggrandizement? But then, isn't that what politics/life is all about? People wanting to do good but stroking (nay wanking) their own ego at the same time.
Am I alone in finding myself *moved* by Carcetti's speechifying?
Slightly off-topic - I would like to see more of Amy Ryan - playing McNulty's other half, Beadie. I feel mucho compassion for her. McNulty is a macho doofus whereas he used to be my macho hero. Meanwhile, Amy Ryan really is a great actress - fantastic in Ben Affleck's wonderful 'Gone Baby Gone' as the doped up mother of the Maddie McCann lookalike lost child & equally great as the new love interest in The American Office Series 4. Both not to be missed in my ig-humble opinion.
Interesting how such a seemingly integral character to the show is made to look on his own, when he's yelling that Marlo isn't man enough for him, then when he least expects it, the kid yelling "It's my turn to be Omar" in Season 3 (big thanks to Alain Sepinwall's blog for pointing that out) shoots him execution style, presumably because his inspiration didn't look that impressive, more like 'gimpy as a motherfucker'. And the lack of importance his death is treated with away from the street - the story scratched from the newspaper, Alma not mentioning a name when describing the story, and the tags on the wrong bodybags in the morgue. It looks as if Simon is deconstructing the heroes/icons he made for the show, but it fits the pattern of the show and seems true.
Next episode I think is the best of the season though.
machine levine
The big twist was brilliant (and horrible) in it's mundane simplicity.
We were expecting a huge shoot out between the main characters. 'It' ended up being done by an anonymous child. I didn't feel robbed I just sat there thinking "yeah, that's probably how it would happen".
You just can't praise the writing highly enough. But we we'll try eh?
This fauxbituary for you-know-who made me smile at the time.
there are only two ways to go with the death of great character like that. very big or very small.
In keeping with the Wire's love of pulling the rug out, they gave us very small. It was also, to my mind, very much a nod to Jesse James' demise, a noble man brought down not by some nemesis in an ironman style dazzling finish, but casually by a nine-year-old, who didn't even really know who he was.
Only someone as glorious as Omar could die so tragically. I prefer to think of him still living with his boyfriend on that idlyllic island. I think it was deliberately filmed to look like Heaven anyway, as I guess that's how we'd all like to remember him ending up. RIP
I've only just started watching The Wire so I'll be able to read this blog, and replies, sometime next year!! Seriously, I'm 2 episodes in, and I love it already! I'm looking forward to watching the 5 seasons over the coming months!
Andrew, this is offtopic but : is there any way to add a search facility to your blog (especially as you don't have tags!). Most blogs seem to have them; I'm getting into the Sopranos boxsets again and would be quite interested to read some of the posts you did on the show.
Glad to see TMITC getting a rerelease too.
Forgot to say Andrew, I'm glad you referred to episode 58. It just feels so much better than episode 8 of Series 5.
I guessed that we would be denied the shoot out with Marlo but I hoped he would take out Snoop or Chris. I guessed as soon as I saw the kid that it might happen but I thought for a moment that Omar might hear something and blow away the young un (Wire Talk).
My favourite clip of the great man.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=20G17K_0ghU
A totally random death seems the only fitting way for Omar to go; plus you can't imagine The Wire giving anyone a "heroic" way out.
As a plot point, I'm intrigued how this plays with Marlo's rep, considering he already killed a whole family based on just the rumour of a slur. I suspect the final two episodes will show the repercussions of a child doing what Marlo couldn't (wouldn't) do himself. Although I'm probably wrong.
I thought it was priceless when the FBI guys described Jimmy in thier profile.
The Mighty Pierre that is a great clip, Omar at his best.
The way to rememeber him.
I loved the scene with Marlo, Chris and Snoop, where he tells them that Omar is dead and he "doesn't care who did it,or the why" great writing and delivery.
The 5 stages of grief rolled into one for me with Omar, I really was in denial for some time, actually convinced he would survive and get some revenge, but in hindsight it was perfect, if he had come back from that it would have started to look like the brave knight from The Holy Grail. 'It's only a flesh wound' Again The Wire manages to remind us how protected from real life we have been in most other TV shows. As an aside, I watch The Wire on my own with a nice cup of coffee when everyone else in the house is asleep, having been through so much alone on this, I am actually planning a party for one for the last feature length episode, I think I'll have a Jameson or two.
Din't realise that both Clay Davis and Steve Earle's character made brief appearances in Series 1 until I started watching it again.
I suspect Andrew will all ready know but, for others, there's a good feature and interview with David Simon in the latest Word.
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