The Wire, Season Five, Episode 9 – Late Edition

Grade: A

Sometimes, it’s truly beautiful to watch a plan come together. To watch great writers construct great storylines over three seasons and then bring it all together, executed with pitch-perfect performances, and have it come off perfectly is a stunning achievement. With the ninth episode of the fifth season of The Wire, every note hit perfectly. It’s the best episode of the season. Shoot, it might well be the best episode of the past two seasons.

Oh yeah, SPOILERS follow. It was a royal pain in the ass to write around the spoilers last week, so I’m not even going to attempt it this week.

This show is divided into too halves: one where everything goes right for the “good guys” and one where things finally fly off the rails. The first half deals with the fall of Marlo Stansfield. A season of maneuvering and conniving by McNulty and Lester finally pays off as the Baltimore PD finally makes it’s big bust, taking down damn near all of Stansfield’s entire crew, as well as the Greeks’ entire heroin shipment. There are bad guys in bracelets. There’s even a press conference held by the Mayor was lots of dope on the damn table (Reporter William Zorzi’s running commentary during said press conference damn near steals the show). It’s a good day for the good guys. So why does McNulty still feel miserable?

And then everything falls apart in the second half. It was obvious that the bottom would eventually fall out of McNulty’s scheme; I’ve been waiting the proverbial other shoe to drop since the end of Episode 2. But watching it unfold still had striking dramatic power, as Kima decides to spill the beans to Daniels. This not only imperils McNulty, but also the Stansfield case, as if it comes out that Lester Freamon is lying about the source of the information on Marlo, everything they’ve gathered is inadmissible. Despite the fact that it was clear that McNulty and Lester were totally out of control as the season wore on, I’m still not sure I agree with Kima’s decision to turn McNulty in. I’m not saying she did the wrong thing, but I’m really not sure it was the right thing to do either.

Things look increasingly grim for Scott as well, as Gus continues running a full court press to check if he’s been piping stories. It’s sort of interesting the Scott comes off completely unsympathetic, whereas McNulty doesn’t seem nearly as bad. I guess it’s the motives that make Scott so despicable: he’s piping stories out of ambition to improve his own career. And while stroking his own ego is a component of why McNulty started this whole mess (He doesn’t want to let Marlo win and wants to prove yet again he’s the smartest guy on the block), he’s well beyond trying to improve his standing in the police force. He has a legit desire to help cops get their jobs done.

The last 15 minutes of the episode made me want to cry both tears of joy and sorrow. Bubbles achieve gets a long-deserved measure of measure of redemption. His speech is one of the most uplifting scenes of the season. It’s good to see that he might be one of the few characters that get a happy ending. Meanwhile, things take a perilous and tragic turn for Michael and Duqan. It’s clear that Michael, despite seeming like such a natural at living the street life, really isn’t cut out for life as a gangster. Alas, he learns this too late, and there’s nowhere else for him to go. And Duquan again gets the short end of the stick. The episode’s final moments are absolutely heartbreaking.

Last week I foolishly worried that they were going to blow their dramatic wad on this episode and there would be nothing left for the series finale. Jeez, I’m a schmuck. This episode indeed raised the stakes, but left more than enough room to raise them even further. If there’s any justice, HBO has given Simon and company tow hours to wrap this up.

The Wire: Season 5, Episode 8 – Clarifications

I understand that time is running out

Grade: A-

Again, I’ve been slacking on this; many apologies. But for the home stretch of the final three episodes, I’m going to be on top of things.

Things look alternately grim and hopeful, in a perverse way, in Baltimore. A major turning point for the entire series occurs in this episode. Although I’m not going to spoil it, (even though it happens a scant 20 minutes into the episode) I will say it’s executed about as well as you could expect it to be, and it demonstrates we quick things can change in the streets.

McNulty’s crackpot scheme is actually bearing fruit. He continues to successfully smokescreen the police brass and the Mayor of Baltimore with his non-existent serial kille,r while securing the funding to keep the police doing actual police work. Thanks to his scam, the Baltimore PD is back to the funding level that they were at before the massive cuts. They’re finally able to put surveillance on an increasingly sloppy Marlo, still convinced that no one is watching him. Much like Colvin in Season 3, by breaking the law, McNulty has managed to help people. Of course, it cuts both ways.. His efforts of sharing the wealth that his make-believe serial killer are undermined by the fact that a few too amny people know what’s going on, to one extent or another. Furthermore, his family life continues to deteriorate, and his conversation with Beadie towards the episode cuts to the core of his character.

Meanwhile, Omar continues to carry out his vendetta against Marlo, taking out corners and trashing Marlo’s stash and good name. Things progress on this end about the way that they have to.

There are lots of other good moments throughout the episode. The reappearance of Poot was sort of heart-warming, and shows that not all of the characters non-essential to this season have met tragic ends (e.g. Savino, dead in an alley, or Randy, a sweet kid turned hard-ass trapped in a group home). Dukie continues his efforts to extract himself from the dope game. The quick resurrection of Clay Davis is a sight to behold. Even though it’s clear that Lester isn’t about to let him off the hook. The episode also shows the further moral slippages of Mayor Carcetti, who becomes increasingly willing to compromise his principles in pursuit of a seat in the statehouse. And the McNulty and Kima’s visit to FBI headquarters is about as funny as anything on the show this season.

The only drawback I can think of that after months of me complaining that they weren’t being given enough time, it looks like their wrapping things up too early. From the looks of things, a lot of the show’s plot-threads could be tied up by the next episode. And clean-up episode for the show’s finale doesn’t sound that interesting. But that’s more perception on my part, rather than what will undoubtedly be the reality.

The Wire, Season 5, Epsiode #5, “Reaction Quotes”

Grade B+/A-

Thousand pardons for skipping the episode four recap, but the weight of Prop Joe’s death weighed heavy on my soul. Or I was just pretty busy. Whichever you choose to believe. So now the season is halfway over, and they’ve safely moved past set-up made to get into the meat of the plot.

The cuts of the metaphorical prime rib, just to extend this silly metaphor, continue to be McNulty’s fictitious serial killer and Marlo’s impending war with Omar. The focus for most of the episode is on McNulty’s scheme and how it intertwines with getting more resources for the cops to go after Marlo. McNult manipulates everyone who surrounds him while they try to play their own games. Watching McNulty and lowlife reporter Scott trying to out-weasel each other was priceless, especially when it’s clear McNulty has the upper-hand as always.

As an unexpected side effect of McNulty's maneuvering (at least for me) is the reintroduction of “the Wire,” as all of the grand-standing leads to the tapping of two phones: one completely useless and the other legit. With all the “big” issues that this series covers (schools, the media, the decaying city) it’s easy to forget that the wire itself is the common thread throughout all five seasons. It shouldn't be so easy to forget, 'cause it's the name of the show, but still. Other good little bonuses are the further inclusion of Carver and Herc, as the former coninutes to be good police and the latter does something right only after getting booted from the force.

When the story turns to the impending Omar/Marlo battle royale, most of the episode centers around the waiting game. Omar and his new partner Donnie sit in a car listening to Oldies while staking out the home of Monk, one of Marlo’s lieutenants. Omar knows it’s likely a trap, but he’s a patient man. As always Michael K. Williams does an excellent job of portraying a man of singular focus, even if he spends most of his screen-time smoking Newports in a hooptie.

One area where the episode lacked was in the lack of reaction to the death of Prop Joe. I mean the man was the Kingpin of East Baltimore and probably the most powerful drug dealer in the city (in terms of influence that went beyond Marlo’s muscle). I know the Co-Op doesn’t that meet daily or anything, but you’d think they’d have some sort of reaction. Especially Slim Charles, who must thinking things look a little fishy. I know there’s time and likely budget descriptions, but this reinforces why they need 12 or 13 episodes this season. There’s so much plot, that characters like Herc, Carver, and Beatie have to wait two episodes between appearances.

Speaking of two-episode hiatuses, Bubbles is back from his, apparently spending his time off-screen scrubbing pots at the soup kitchen. This time, his story is considerably more interesting, as he’s still gripped by grief and guilt, this time convinced that he’s contracted HIV, and gets his sponsor Waylon to take him to a free clinic. The interplay between Waylon and Bubbles this time is extremely compelling, suggesting that maybe Steve Earle had a bad day on the set the last time around.

Here’s hoping next week the plot continues to thicken. And maybe Omar can spend a little less time sitting in car.