(Season 5, Episodes 1-3)
At this point I’m voting for moron, but I’m getting ahead of myself…
I said that I needed to take a bit of a breather after the highly emotional ending of season four, and I have. Now I’m back, and diving into season five, the final season of The Wire. Early on in the season, it’s clear that McNulty will be playing a much larger role than in season four, where he took a back seat. It also seems like the show isn’t going to be focusing on the school systems at all this year. It’s not terribly surprising, since most of the kids we were following last season aren’t in school anymore. Hopefully we’ll at least get to check in with Prez and the crew.
“More With Less”
It’s nice to finally see Bubbles off the drugs. I was really hoping that he was going to get clean back in season one when he was toying with the idea. I would have liked to have seen his journey to a sober life drawn out more over the course of the series, instead of just in this season. It could have been a nice ray of hope in an otherwise gloomy show.
I’m really annoyed that McNulty has returned to his old ways. I really like him and Beadie together; I hope that he is able to turn things around before she gets fed up.
“Unconfirmed Reports”
So, it’s pretty clear that this Scott Templeton is a creep. In this episode he was hitting the street trying to find a good subject for the baseball season opener. It was obvious that he fabricated the story in order to make it interesting.
This was also the episode where McNulty crossed the line to complete moron, or at least I think so. In order to get resources out of the police department, he decided to fabricate a serial killer. First there was Colvin and Hamsterdam, and now this. Is there any sort of oversight in this department? I have a feeling this is going to end very badly for Jimmy.
“Not For Attribution”
It looks like Clay Davis is finally going to meet his comeuppance, and I couldn’t be happier. I think he really is the one character I love to hate the most.
I am so disappointed in Lester for jumping on the fake serial killer bandwagon. I thought he was smarter than that. Even when The Wire is dealing with crazy ideas, like the fake serial killer in this season, and Hamsterdam in season three, it presents them in a really compelling and believable way. I’m almost convinced that McNulty is really a genius for this idea. Almost.
Man, it was rough watching Butchie get beat up and killed. Marlo’s crew is brutal. I suppose it would have been too much to expect Omar to get a happy ending living by the beach with his boyfriend, but it would have been nice. He certainly is likable, despite his career choices.
Clacked by Bob Degon
on Mar 12, 2009 @ 12:00 EST5EDT
I first thought the McNulty/Freeman’s plotline was over the top ridiculous. Then I heard someone on a NPR call in show say that she helped divert post 9/11 bioterrorism funds to do something useful… so maybe it’s not far fetched after all. Some people just have crazy risk tolerance, and it makes sense than McNulty would be one of those people.
Jimmy and Lester are two of the most arrogant characters ever on television, neither believe that they could ever be caught – at least not by anyone in the BPD. Both believe that they are the smartest person in the police department (for Lester, however, it might actually be true). Both have been jerked around by the bosses time and again through their careers. Although he doesn’t wear his emotions on his sleeve the way Jimmy does, Lester is as pissed for having to come down off the wire on Marlo in S4 as Jimmy was for getting jerked around in his pursuit of Stringer.
Couple this with the fact that Jimmy cannot work a case without it consuming him. He simply cannot. Simon has stated many time that Wire characters are fated just like those of Greek tragedy.
One note about the newspaper storyline. Templeton’s story is entertaining and as it weaves with Jimmy’s story it gets even better. However, the fact that there are people out there in the media who clean stories up, liven them up or just plain make them up – this IS NOT the main point of the media storyling despite the fact that it gets the most amount of screen time. The real point about the newspaper story line is to show us how much DOES NOT get reported – namely pretty much everything that is happening in the city that we the viewer are aware of. Keep that in mind.
If you think McNulty is a moron now, just wait a few episodes lol :)