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cletepurcel posted:"The Dickensian Aspect" On that topic...  If you ever wondered what The Wire would look like if it were instead a Dickens era serial, we've got you covered: http://www.hoodedutilitarian.com/2011/03/when-its-not-your-turn-the-quintessentially-victorian-vision-of-ogdens-the-wire/ quote:The Wire began syndication in 1846, and was published in 60 installments over the course of six years. Each installment was 30 pages, featuring covers and illustrations by Baxter “Bubz” Black, and selling for one shilling each. After the final installment, The Wire became available in a five volume set, departing from the traditional three. Toph Bei Fong fucked around with this message at 23:27 on Nov 11, 2013 |
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Nov 11, 2013 23:23
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In Difficult Men, they dig a bit deeper into some of the reasons Season 5 doesn't quite live up to the rest of the show. Ed Burns left production of the show after Season 4 to work on Generation Kill, and wasn't around to 'bounce' against Simon, who did the same for Burns during Season 4's School Arc (given Burns' closeness to the material in that particular area). There also seemed to be a lack of willingness on the part of the Writer's Room to challenge Simon on the Newspaper arc (Pelecanos even admits he felt that they couldn't touch season 4 from a quality perspective), and a ton of controversy/disagreement over the Serial Killer plotline. Apparently, Simon adapted that bit from an unpublished novel of his. And there's the whole 10 instead of 12 episodes to tell the story due to HBO.
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Nov 12, 2013 02:06
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Cervixalot posted:Ed Burns left production of the show after Season 4 to work on Generation Kill, and wasn't around to 'bounce' against Simon, who did the same for Burns during Season 4's School Arc (given Burns' closeness to the material in that particular area). Oh now that is very interesting. I've often marveled at how Burns was able to bring his expertise on the schooling system into the show without letting his own prejudices get in the way, and it seems like Simon deserves some of the credit there. Since Burns wasn't around to return the favor on season 5, that makes a bit more sense now.
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Nov 12, 2013 02:27
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McNulty and Lester's quest for "quality police work" first inspired a lot of sympathy for me. But really, by the end the show seems almost critical of it. We get hooked in season one when they use "The Wire" to take down a big time drug kingpin. But the show makes it pretty clear that it didn't matter. It doesn't stop violence, it doesn't halt the flow of drugs into Baltimore. Hell, in season five McNulty practically sells his soul to take down Marlo, but ultimately it was Bunk who solved the murders. And he did it by just checking things out, running some stuff down. McNulty's loving quest actually prevents Bunk from getting work done, since he's tied up the whole department. With the excitement of building a good case, I guess nobody noticed that they can arrest the highest level possible, it still doesn't matter. It doesn't get boys of corners, it doesn't clean up junkies, it doesn't stop murders. Hell, even if they arrested the Greeks, there would still be drugs in Baltimore every drat day. The game keeps going. Only a few people get out of the game, and only by extraordinary effort on the part of well meaning individuals. The police, be they chasing stats or building good cases, aren't actually fixing the problem. Makes for a pretty good argument for making drugs legal. You can't arrest your way to a drug free world. If people are going to be helped, it will have to happen person to person. Any systemic approach just continues the problem.
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Nov 12, 2013 03:17
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Jerusalem posted:Oh now that is very interesting. I've often marveled at how Burns was able to bring his expertise on the schooling system into the show without letting his own prejudices get in the way, and it seems like Simon deserves some of the credit there. Since Burns wasn't around to return the favor on season 5, that makes a bit more sense now. Yeah, a big part of Martin's take on The Wire's success is that Ed Burns was far more crucial to the show's vision than people realize. For starters, without him there's no basis for McNulty (albeit, McNulty was only loosely based off of Burns), and more importantly there's nobody else in the room who Simon respects enough to listen to. On the other hand, he does note that Burns never liked the political or dock storylines, while I would argue that both are essential to the thesis of the show, so there's that. There's a hilarious quote, I can't remember if it's from Burns or George Pelecanos, where he said that that poo poo always bored him in the writers room, and going "Dammit, I just want to write another scene with Bunk and McNulty in a bar talking about their dicks!" Another thing I found interesting in that book - the Avon case in season 1 was based far more off the Melvin Williams case than I realized. I mean, I knew that's where they got the pager thing from, but it startled me to read that the bosses came down on the case early, in favor of PR-friendly 'dope on the table' stuff, after a cop was killed in a sting gone wrong. grading essays nude fucked around with this message at 07:08 on Nov 12, 2013 |
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Nov 12, 2013 07:03
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Sorry if this was talked about because I'm only up to page 50 in the thread (please link me if it was discussed), but every time I re-watch I can't help but think "what's up with the cats?" Random cats darting across streets, usually in silhouette. I know there are a bunch of strays in Baltimore and it could be an ambience thing, but just wondering if there is another meaning considering how often they pop up and run across the scene. Especially considering how seldom we see other stray animals like dogs or rats, other than the rat Butchie's terrier took down/the dogs under the bridge with the homeless. The only time a cat gets any focus is when the kids and Kenard are pouring lighter fluid on one. Curious if there was any point to the inclusion of all those background cats.
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Nov 12, 2013 08:57
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Kaiser Soze posted:Sorry if this was talked about because I'm only up to page 50 in the thread (please link me if it was discussed), but every time I re-watch I can't help but think "what's up with the cats?" One of the qualities of living in run down areas is the huge number of strays. Perhaps I'm stretching, but the idea of a living thing being born into the world, unwanted, then abandoned, forced to fend for it self, and ultimately treated with nothing but cruelty is pretty familiar in this show.
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Nov 12, 2013 16:24
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I never noticed the cats before. Do you suppose they included them on purpose, or are they just random strays that happened to be moving around during filming?
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Nov 12, 2013 22:17
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The cats are there I think just for the sake of realism. In downtown Baltimore there's probably a few strays on every block, they probably eat pretty well what with the extensive rat problem the city has. It does make you wonder if a few just wandered into the middle of shots during filming though.
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Nov 12, 2013 22:26
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cletepurcel posted:Regarding Kenard, I interpret the character as literally a young psychopath. Before he goes to kill Omar, he's about to light a cat on fire (animal torture/killing is one of the trademarks of psychopathy in the young). Ainsley McTree posted:I never noticed the cats before. Do you suppose they included them on purpose, or are they just random strays that happened to be moving around during filming? Cats are everywhere in the city and many places outside of it. Ignore the symbolism of what the stray cat might mean and it would still be strange to have so much on screen time of urban areas of Baltimore without seeing cats. They're as much of the scenery as anything else.  Don't google for news stories about animal cruelty in Baltimore. 
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Nov 17, 2013 06:56
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Season 5, Episode 3 - Not for AttributionFletcher posted:They're dead where it doesn't count. Last episode ended with McNulty crossing the line ethically, morally, professionally and personally. Strangling the corpse of a homeless man and staging the scene of an overdose to look like a struggle, McNulty went so far over the edge that it is doubtful he could go back now if he tried. Not that he wants to, this episode opens with him sitting in the Homicide Department's interrogation room, going through stacks and stacks of open homeless murders at 4:30 in the morning. When Bunk arrives early to replace the midnight shift because he couldn't sleep, he finds McNulty still there and confronts him once again about his horror over what his good friend has done. McNulty, swigging Jamesons at 4:30 in the morning, is so wrapped up in his excitement over his plan that he ignores most of Bunk's concerns, instead eagerly explaining how he plans to pull his scam, as if Bunk was an eager participant. Without any sense of self-awareness, he talks about how people don't care about the homeless and their murders stay open forever because they have no family, no fixed abode, and their friends tend to have similar issues. McNulty, wrapped up in his own head, doesn't consider how callously he is exploiting the death of a human being - the homeless man's corpse is just a prop in The Jimmy McNulty Show now. Bunk does his best to bring him back down to earth, and seems to hit a nerve when he reminds him that they have kids, houses, car payments etc. McNulty could go to prison for this, and cops don't do well in prison. But when he mentions Marlo, McNulty sees red again, unknowingly echoing Carver back when he was at his most ineffective - "Marlo doesn't get to win!" He rails against the Bosses, saying the case shouldn't have been dropped just because they couldn't find money, and then gets to the real heart of the matter - promises were broken, promises to HIM! McNulty sees everything going on at the moment not in terms of school budgets, or political aspirations, or any other explanation - this is all a slight against HIM, an insult against HIM, a broken promise made to HIM. He bitterly reminds Bunk that he came back out of Western Patrol on the promise of a "new day" and he won't accept that this now isn't going to happen. He doesn't mention the fact that he could just as easily return to Patrol right this very second and go back to working a standard shift where he was happy and actually making some kind of impact, because that isn't what this is about, anymore. Now, this is all about Jimmy McNulty "winning" and getting one over on the Bosses for making him believe their bullshit. He doesn't really care about Marlo or justice for the victims (he even qualifies the fact these are murders by remarking casually,"Ghetto murders.... but still"), he cares about the fact that he bought into the hype. Bunk, disgusted, still won't drop a dime on his old friend and partner, so he simply washes his hands of the whole affair, telling him he refuses to be involved and doesn't want his name anywhere near this case. Like so many others, Bunk's first priority is self-preservation, but in this case can you really blame him? Alma wakes up excited, because her story on the triple murder is going to be on the front page and she can't wait to read it. As she pulls on pants, her boyfriend complains that if she could get a subscription to her own paper so she won't have to go out at 5am to buy a newspaper. Demonstrating a symptom of why print media is dying, she notes that there is no point in buying the paper when she can get it for free at the office, and heads on out the door. She enters just as McNulty is making his purchase and preparing to leave. He's bought some red ribbon tape, after seeing an open homeless murder where the victim had a red ribbon tied around his wrist. Having found another open homeless murder case that belonged to the departed Ray Cole, he plans to plant evidence in the case file, then add a ribbon to his own victim's wrist and thus create a commonality across all three cases. As he leaves, Alma is upset to discover The Sun hasn't been delivered yet, so heads to the Point Covington Plant itself and collects a copy hot off the press. As she eagerly checks the front page though, there is no sign of her triple murder, and she finds it in the next section of the paper - front page, yes, but not THE front page. As with McNulty, Alma's interest lies not in the victims but in how the case/story affects her - she's excited at the notion of a triple murder because it means she gets a front page story. Back at Homicide, Bunk watches fascinated and horrified as McNulty eagerly types away and then drops a copy of his report onto Landsman's desk before giving another to Bunk himself. Kima has arrived and is set to head back out to recanvas her triple murder alone, and offers to give McNulty a ride to the Medical Examiner's. That falls through though when Bunk gets a look at the report McNulty wrote and angrily demands to see him in Bunk's "office", the interrogation room. Inside the two argue some more, McNulty proud of his scheme while Bunk continues to try to get through to him the madness of what he is doing - staging homicides, planting evidence, doctoring casefiles. McNulty again invokes Marlo and the Bosses as excuses/justifications, they've got Kima investigating a triple murder by herself, and they won't pay for an investigation into a REAL serial killer like Marlo... so he'll give them a fake serial killer to investigate instead. He hasn't come out and said it yet, of course, but McNulty's idea is to create a case with enough profile to get money flowing to solve it, which he will then direct entirely into continuing the Stanfield investigation. It's an insane idea, but he's fully committed to it and believes in it entirely, and he isn't going to back down now. Bunk tries to storm out of the room but finds to his embarrassment he has locked himself in, and has to call Crutchfield to let them out. Crutchfield is amused, asking if McNulty tried to gently caress him, and Bunk replies that he tried, but mostly he just fucks himself.   At City Hall, there's politicking going on as usual, though in this case it is coming from a police, not from the politicians. Stan Valchek has brought Carcetti early releases of the crime stats, and they don't make for good news - 4% bumps for both the previous quarters, after a campaign promise for a double-digit decrease. Having delivered the numbers, Valchek isn't subtle at all about what he wants, though he has the good sense to couch it in mutually beneficial terms - why not dump Burrell and Rawls for failing to get the decrease and make Valchek Acting Commissioner for six months? That way, they still have time to groom Daniels for the top spot while getting rid of dead wood.... and hey, Valchek gets a pension bump! Carcetti smiles, thanks him again and promises to think about it, and the moment Valchek is gone Norman has to laugh at the idea of Nerese and the Ministers dealing with Commissioner Valchek. Carcetti can't help but laugh too, but they do have a serious issue, what will they do about these bumps in the stats? Carcetti has to admit in this case that he is to blame - he cut the budgets and the crime rate went up, that's on nobody but him. So when Burrell brings him these numbers, he'll have to give him a pass, that's just the reality of the situation. So there you go, Burrell's job is secure so long as he is just open and honest! At The Sun, Gus comes to see Alma to both commiserate and apologize for the fact her front page story wasn't just shifted from the front page, but cut down by two thirds. A 35 inch story on a triple murder gets reduced to 12 inches below the fold in the Metro section? Gus accepts the blame, he told her it would be a front page story because he was impressed by it, but last second changes were made. While he provides the usual justifications - advertising is down, the newshole is shrinking, etc - he does accept responsibility, and tells her that the story deserves better before giving her a pat on the shoulder and heading away. Alma has echoed McNulty's complaints re: Kima having to work the triple alone - does a triple murder home invasion REALLY not warrant a front page? - but like McNulty her real reason for being upset is very much a personal one - this was going to be her first front page story credited entirely to her. Sitting in the cubicle beside her, Fletcher is amused to hear her admit she drove to the plant to collect a copy and tells her that she isn't the first to do so. But he also has a far more cynical reason for why the story didn't make the front page - they're dead in the wrong zip code, dead where it doesn't matter. In other words, like McNulty so breezily noted to Bunk, they're "only" ghetto murders. At the Medical Examiner's, McNulty finds his victim on a stretcher tucked away in a corridor, ignored in death like he was in life. Telling the clerk that he needs fingerprints as a priority over collecting trace evidence during the cleaning process, he quickly ties the red ribbon around the corpse's wrist before the clerk can arrive. The Medical Examiner performs her autopsy and explains to McNulty that given the condition of the victim's heart, he was only a month or so from death regardless. McNulty shrugs and says it is what it is, and explains the signs of struggle around the body, some "witnesses" who think they may have heard a struggle, and brings up the red ribbon as maybe linking to another case. The ME is irritated that her investigator failed to notice the ribbon, but she gives McNulty what he wants - death is homicide by strangulation. At The Sun, everybody senses something is up when Klebanow and a smiling Whiting come walking through the room. Everybody is asked to gather around, and muted discussions ponder whether they've got new owners AGAIN, after the paper was recently sold to two different parent newspapers. A more optimistic take is that they might have won a Pulitzer, but Gus notes that Whiting - who is standing on a chair - would be noticeably "tumescent" if that was the case. Indeed the news is bad, and just like Gus did with Alma earlier, the usual justifications are jotted out first - advertising is down, the newshole is shrinking etc. The bad news is that The Sun's international bureaus are closing, a decision handed down from their owners in Chicago, and that there is going to be a fresh round of buyouts - redundancy packages to cut down on staffing. That old management standby of "We'll have to do more with less" is thrown out there, and then Klebanow is thrown to the wolves as Whiting leaves him to deal out the details and answer questions. This is perhaps the only reference we ever get to the external pressures coming down on Klebanow and Whiting from the owners of the paper, as well as one of the few references to the massive impact that the internet was having on print media. Klebanow reads through the management-speak prepared speech about pension plans, moving on to new opportunities, transitions to new positions etc and lauds everybody for their excellent work.... but that is cold comfort when a bunch of people are about to be fired. The very first questions are about how many buyouts there will be and how this will effect current union negotiations, and everybody knows that is going to be bad news. With buyouts and downsizing, any Union chance for a payrise is basically a fool's dream. Gus gets to the heart of the issue with a very specific and important question - why are they downsizing when the paper is still making a profit? It's a fair question, and an example of how business/profits have overtaken the pursuit of journalistic excellence. It isn't enough for a company/paper to make a profit, especially when the owners have shareholders - profits must be up on the previous years and showing signs of continuing to grow. Downsizing, once the result of losses and financial hardship, are now commonplace for when a company is "only" making more money than it spends, and not making MUCH more money than it spends. Klebanow avoids answering and insists they'll have a better idea of things once he can meet them all one to one (and thus negate their collective strength), and everybody is troubled to see a veteran reporter the first to be taken aside by Klebanow - this is a very bad sign indeed, not just for the rest of the "senior" staff's position, but for the newspaper. Institutional knowledge is vital, but it seems the more with less mentality means they plan to fire as many old hands as possible and replace them with young, eager and cheaply paid inexperienced journalists.   At City Hall, Burrell and Rawls present Carcetti with the latest stats - no bump in felonies, a 1% bump in total crime. Carcetti sits quietly for a moment absorbing what he's just been told, then very pointedly asks Burrell if he vouches for these stats. Burrell is confused but Rawls immediately picks up that Carcetti is setting a trap, and sits quietly as Burrell agrees with Carcetti that he was told to bring them clean, unaltered crime statistics. Carcetti dismisses them, shakes Burrell's hand as he leaves.... and the moment the door is closed they're discussing the end of Burrell's career. All he had to do was bring them clean stats and his job would have been secure, but now they have definitive proof that he altered crime stats and they can prove it - so Burrell will be told to retire and he WILL retire, or they'll ruin him in the press and force him out in disgrace. But who to replace him with? Rawls? He brought them the same juked stats, after all. But Carcetti says he will expect a call soon from Rawls insisting that he warned Burrell not to do this. Carcetti thinks that Nerese and the Ministers will accept Rawls as Acting Commissioner for six months, and while Daniels has only been a Colonel for a year, he thinks he can sell them on Daniels being fast-tracked to Commissioner. He asks Norman to test the waters and see what the perception of Daniels as Commissioner would be, delighted to finally be ridding himself of the Royce-era Commissioner. At a small, lovely little diner in the middle of nowhere in Baltimore.... the West Side's leading Drug Kingpin attempts to make contact with a powerful Crime Lord responsible for drugs, sex slavery, trafficking in stolen goods, murder, illegal immigration, smuggling etc, etc. Behind the counter, Andreas peers up as Snoop walks in, looks around and leaves to let Marlo know nobody else is present. Marlo enters and attempts to tell Andreas who he is, who sent him and who he is looking for, but Andreas just ignores him, drinking his coffee and turning up the music on his radio louder. Marlo may appreciate the discipline or he may be outraged by the lack of respect, but he accepts it (for now) because it's a dance that must be danced. He leaves a briefcase on the counter, tells Andreas he'll be back tomorrow, and leaves. Grumpy, Andreas opens the briefcase and is surprised to find it full of money. Sydnor and Assistant State's Attorney Gary DiPasquale sit patiently outside of the Grand Jury room along with those summoned to testify in regards to the Clay Davis case. One of the summoned in particular is loud and irritated, wanting to know how much longer they'll be, can he go earlier, etc? DiPasquale tells him he can go earlier if he's important enough, and when the man huffily responds he is the Vice President of a major Financial Institute, DiPasquale just grunts,"Who the gently caress isn't?" Inside, Pearlman takes one of those who IS important enough through a document, and has him explain exactly what it is term by term to the Grand Jury. She's doing the legwork, slowly building a massive and inescapable web of Clay Davis' own actions to use against him - the only way Clay could escape now would be through corruption or somebody else acting in their own self interest to get head politically.... but surely THAT would never happen! McNulty, still unable to grasp how much Bunk is opposed to this idea, shows off the Medical Examiner's report stating the homeless death was a homicide strangulation. Passing by Barlow, he loudly ponders about the red ribbon around the victim's wrist, wondering what it could have been for, wanting Barlow to make the connection himself. Barlow responds by lifting one leg and farting. Marlo and Chris visit with Prop Joe in his store, where a very interesting choice of framing shows them at an angle and seen through a mirror - what if anything does this say about their relationship? Doe it show things aren't what they seem? What about the fact that Marlo is seen higher up than Joe? Does this demonstrate Marlo is on the rise and Joe is on the way down? Marlo has come to Joe with a problem many of us would like to have - he has too much money. Joe knows exactly what he means, it's easy to see dope and coke (they sell themselves, he notes) but what to do with all that dirty money coming in with no legitimate source of income? Joe has a few ideas on what Marlo can do... but he isn't offering answers unless Marlo is asking. At The Sun, Gus, Scott, Fletcher and Price watch as Twigg is given the bad news, after 20 years he has been given the choice of either taking the Copy Desk or the buyout, but they won't keep him on as a reporter anymore, they can hire young inexperienced reporters for far less than it costs to keep him in print. Gus is sorry but Twigg takes it philisophically, saying maybe it is time for him to write the great American novel. Price comments that it is more profitable to run a lower quality paper with less staff, and Scott massively insults Gus by commenting that he hopes they're only losing dead wood. Gus gets the call to see Klebanow, and arrives to find Whiting is present too. Whiting is quick to try and put him at ease though, they NEED him to stay, they have to have somebody to manage the transition to the new team. What will that team be? Using the same old management-speak, they insist they'll retain the core for a strong news team, they just need to do, you guessed it, more with less. McNulty continues to try and trigger Barlow's memory, loudly musing on the ribbon, declaring that he just found one in Cole's old casefile along with a note to check against other cases. Barlow doesn't appear to be listening at all, calling his wife to discuss a stain before heading out the door, leaving McNulty frustrated. He complains to Bunk that the hard part is making the other detectives give a poo poo about his (fake) case, and amazingly actually suggests to Bunk that they go out to get a drink. Bunk shakes his head, asking if he really thinks he wants to drink with him now, and warns him to go home and think his weak poo poo through. McNulty, still completely committed to his madness, smiles and jokes with his unimpressed friend that he can't rest, he's chasing a serial killer.    Michael sits in the old hangout where he and the rest of the "Fayette Street Mafia" used to hang out, in simpler and (comparatively) more innocent times. Bug and other kids his age play around happily on the ground, while Michael moodily ponders things. Dukie joins him and asks if he wants to speak about what is bothering him, and to his credit Michael does actually decide to open up - it's still bothering him that the attack on Junebug involved his family, more importantly that it involved children. He asks why everything has to be so serious now, longing for an innocence that he never really had - Devar, his mother and the streets took care of that. He asks Bug if he has done his homework yet, since it's getting late and will only get later, but Dukie tells him that school is off tomorrow for a staff meeting... maybe they should take a day and just enjoy themselves? Michael shakes his head, he has to work his Corner, and is amused if confused to see Dukie laugh at this response. It's easy to forget that Michael is essentially a kid himself, and Dukie hits him with something too tempting to resist - 6 Flags will be open. Outside a church, Chris Partlow and Slim Charles wait for their respective Bosses to be done with their business, and Chris attempts to further Marlo's work on the outside. Having a joking, fun conversation with Slim, Chris appears to be just a guy shooting the poo poo with an associate and forming a bond. What he's actually doing, in his careful and deliberate manner, is attempting to create some distance between Joe and Slim. When Slim says things are taking a long time because they're complicated, Chris (good naturedly) responds that things are complicated because Joe MAKES them complicated.... unlike Marlo. Slim laughs, agreeing that Marlo certainly doesn't make things complicated - but this in itself is as much an insult as a compliment, and Slim's loyalty isn't so easily broken... if it was, it wouldn't be worth a drat anyway. Inside, Joe explains to Marlo one of the methods of laundering drug money, deceptively simple and depressingly corrupt. The Pastor takes large amounts of cash as donations for all kinds of good causes on small Caribbean islands - building a new school house, a hospital etc. But the buildings are never finished, the money just keeps coming into the banks down there as cash and coming out again as cashier's checks - now perfectly legal tender. Those small banks can't be subpoenaed and won't give over customer details, and provide a safe place for drug dealers and other corrupt types to store their cash. The Pastor gets paid 10 cents on the dollar for every dollar he launders, a perfectly reasonable thing in Marlo's mind, who shakes the pastor's hand. Joe is pleased, but Chris is right, he complicates things too much while Marlo is much more direct. Joe has just shown Marlo how to launder money.... and taken away from just one of the many things that Joe knows how to do and Marlo does not. He's signing his own death warrant. A VERY drunk McNulty staggers out of the men's room to the bar to continue making out with a woman who, though less drunk than McNulty, is clearly just as guilty of poor decision-making as he is. A brief time later, a patrol car drives beneath an underpass and catches them having sex on the hood of a parked car. McNulty, not even pausing mid-thrust, fishes out his badge and flashes it to the police who laugh and drive away from this act of public indecency. It is played for laughs, but even ignoring the way that lawbreaking is dismissed because of McNulty's position, we're also looking at a man willfully destroying his life. During Gus' meeting with Klebanow and Whiting he'd received a text message. This turns out to be from Norman, who at Carcetti's request has reached out to Gus to test the waters on what the reaction to Daniels as Commissioner would be. Norman knows Gus from his days as a former journalist, and they meet at a bar, share drinks, catch up on what is going on with The Sun and then get down to business. Norman explains that Carcetti is "investigating" replacements to replace Burrell as Commissioner, and Gus confirms that he can attribute this to "a City Hall source" . Rawls will fill the vacant position for a few months before being replaced by Daniels, the Chief Of Detectives with a law degree, a proven history of closing high profile quality cases, and an ex-wife who was recently elected to the City Council. Gus knows he's being used, but it's a mutually beneficial arrangement - like with the police, you need to know how to use a CI and not be used. He understands that Norman is giving him this story so they can get it out there and see how Nerese and the Ministers react, even if Norman won't confirm that. What Norman does do, however, is further Gus' appreciation by handing him a photo of Daniels - now he doesn't need to hunt up art, he's been given a story AND a picture. Earlier I commented on the importance of institutional knowledge, but just as important is networking and contacts. Norman gave Gus this story because he knows him, knows he can trust him, and that the story will be well written and not blow up in their faces. They part amicably, a source and a journalist who will be able to call on each other in the future if needed.   The next day, Michael, Dukie and Bug set out to find a cab to take them to 6 Flags, but nobody is stopping for three kids out during a school-free day. A man on the street spots them and makes them an offer, he'll drive them to 6 Flags and back for $200 and the cost of gas money. Michael would have once been horrified at the idea, fearing the worst kind of ulterior motive, but now he is a large, more confident young man with boxing experience and the knowledge that he has killed backing him up. He eyes up the man's drive, a decrepit looking station wagon, and makes a counter-offer - $150 for the trip INCLUDING gas.... if the car can even get them there. The man tells them his car is tried and true but agrees to the offer, and Michael - no fool - shows him the cash and tells him he'll be paid half when they arrive, and the rest when they get back. The man, presumably unemployed or underemployed, is happy to make the deal - $150 for a day's work that involves nothing more than driving somewhere, waiting a few hours and then driving back is a hell of a lot better than whatever he would have been doing with the rest of his day. At The Sun, Gus jokes with Twigg about whether he wants a story and gets flipped the bird. Gus was expecting that and with a smile turns to Scott, who is eager at the idea of getting a chance to get his teeth into something. But when he doesn't know who Daniels is, Twigg can't resist speaking up to show off his own knowledge. Gus is impressed as Twigg lists off Daniels' work history, his personal life (including his relationship with Pearlman!) and his growing political suction given his closeness to Carcetti. Deciding he's still on the clock so he might as well work, Twigg agrees to take the story and gets on the phone, instantly showing his rapport with Rawls' secretary who obviously knows him well. It's another example of the strength of networking and experience, and Scott is appalled to see how casually his story has been taken from him. He complains to Gus that he would have had it covered in a couple of hours and Gus agrees he probably would have, but then rather vindictively whispers to him to get some react quotes while "Mr. Dead Wood" works the story. There is a certain savage satisfaction to be had from showing Scott the error of his ways in dismissing Twigg as useless and past his prime, but from a management standpoint it is an awful, awful way of handling the reporters beneath him. Wouldn't it have been of better benefit to the paper to have Scott shadow Twigg on this story and gain some valuable on the job training? For Twigg to introduce Scott to some of the various connections he has made over the years? Instead, all Gus has done is score some meaningless points on a junior reporter who now isn't just frustrated but actively antagonistic towards Gus. At the cafe, Andreas and another man can't stop staring at Snoop as she sits at the counter. Vondas and Marlo sit in a booth across from each other, where Vondas carefully but pointedly tells Marlo that he doesn't want or need his money. Marlo doesn't understand, money is money after all. Vondas opens the briefcase, winces at the crumpled notes and tells him that the money is from the street, it is dirty and it stinks. With Joe, everything is clean, does he understand? Marlo does and doesn't, assuming that Vondas' concern is that the money has come directly from the street to him. While this is a concern, Vondas' point is that he doesn't want to deal with anybody BUT Joe, who he knows and trusts and has a mutually beneficial relationship with. Marlo has no empathy for the points of view of others though - to him Vondas has just reinforced the idea that Joe is an obstacle between him and direct access to the Connect. At Homicide, McNulty spots Barlow passing by and makes another attempt to jog his memory. He calls out to Bunk to ask about the knot in the red ribbon, still expecting Bunk to play along. "gently caress your red ribbon," replies a grumpy Bunk, but unfortunately for him this does actually job Barlow's memory. Coming over, he tells McNulty he caught a case with a dead vagrant with a red ribbon around his wrist too. McNulty pretends to be amazed and impressed by Barlow's memory, and asks if he can see the casefile. Marlo goes straight to Joe, using him as a tool in his own efforts to remove him from the playing board. He wants "clean" money, as in clean and straight like it came from a bank, not as in laundered. Joe, again misreading the situation, explains that he'd usually charge 20 on the dollar to do this but given they are in the Co-Op, he will do it free of charge. He's still trying to hold Marlo close and build their relationship, thinking he can "civilize" Marlo and make him see the benefits of cooperation. Marlo will be back in a couple of hours to pick up the "clean" money, but before he goes he asks Joe to put out the word to all of the Co-Op that he is putting up 50k for a line on any of Omar's people. Not Omar himself, just a family or friend, somebody close to him like a sister or grandmother or a lover. Joe tells him he wouldn't go looking for Omar and Marlo agrees that this is what Joe would do, because Joe is "smart like this", but not him. This line, ostensibly a compliment to Joe, is actually carefully designed to appeal to somebody else entirely. Cheese is also in the room, and he looks pleased at the idea of Marlo getting revenge on Omar for the humiliation of the stick-up of the entire shipment. Marlo leaves, Cheese commenting that he wants Marlo bad, but Joe says he isn't going to pass the message on - Omar's been gone and took a lot of bad history with him, why the hell would he want him back?   On a far lighter note, Michael, Dukie and Bug enjoy their day at 6 Flags immensely, going on rides, laughing and joking and just enjoying a chance to actually be kids for a change. When a couple of young girls about their age spot Michael peeling off cash for a ball toss game, they quickly introduce themselves and soon all five of them are enjoying the park together, the girls marveling at the fact that they're from Baltimore and have their own place - that's so cool! With a final hug to each of the boys they head on their way, Michael (who has had sex before, remember) and Dukie clasp hands, delighted at how smoothly they dealt with the ladies. It's a rare chance to see them acting their age, just being young boys out for the day and trying to score with girls their age.   McNulty and Barlow bring Landsman their report - three linked vagrant murders, at least. Landsman passes an eye over the report, notes that the victims are vagrants and mimes a sad ejaculation - like Fletcher noted to Alma, the wrong type of people are dead. McNulty smiles and takes the reaction in stride, but once outside he asks Barlow who covers crime reporting at The Sun, Twigg? Yep, Twigg or the new girl, Alma something. McNulty immediately puts in a call, and at The Sun as Alma agrees to meet him to discuss what he has to say in further detail, in the foreground Scott is pondering the unfairness of life as he prepares to call for a react quote. He picks up the phone, thinks for a moment and then puts it back down and just writes something on the keyboard, calling out to Gus that he just got a good react. Gus reads it and immediately calls him over, impressed with the quality of the quote which accuses Daniels of gunning for Burrell's job and doing everything he can to bring him down since Carcetti won the election... but it comes from an anonymous high ranking source, who is it? Scott, who clearly just made up the quote out of whole cloth, hides behind confidentiality, and Gus respects that.... but such a powerful quote can't be printed without a source, he'll have to scrap it. The moment he says that, Scott pipes in with a name - Nerese Campbell - she's the one who gave him the quote. Gus is impressed, he really got the Council President to say that? Sure, lies Scott without any hesitation, not for attribution of course since she can't so publicly attack a Carcetti favorite, but that's what she told him anonymously.... Twigg isn't the only one with game. Scott walks away, having committed fraud not quite on the scale as McNulty's, but still fraud that will have major implications. Gus, for his part, is surprised but not incredulous, he accepts Scott's word at face value because, to be fair, who the hell would be stupid enough to just flat out make something like that up? Marlo returns to the diner, this time with Chris, and again leaves a briefcase on the counter with a message to Andreas that he wants Vondas to know he meant no misunderstanding. He leaves and Andreas opens the briefcase, sighing when he sees stacks of pristine money - Marlo really doesn't understand. Alma grills McNulty on his case, and he gives her just enough (and importantly, "slips up" with some details) to leave her wanting more. He stresses the importance of getting the word out, he wants there to be a story as soon as possible. As she makes notes, he can't help but flirt, telling her he's read her stories ("bullshit" she replies,"But thank you") and asking what kind of a name Alma is. When she - clearly long used to such treatment - tells him she has a boyfriend, he smirks and asks if he's bigger than him. The Grand Jury goes on, with an old familiar face giving testimony now. It's Day Day Price, the driver for Clay Davis who was caught with $20,000 in a garbage bag driving out of an open-air drug market. That detail REALLY gets the Grand Jury's attention, and Day Day doesn't help anything by refusing to answer any questions on advice of his attorney. Everything Pearlman asks him just drives him deeper in the hole, as it seems Lester's digging has revealed he draws three salaries from Clay Davis, totaling over 100k a year in money. Of course most of that won't go to him, but this is another version of the money laundering that Joe demonstrated to Marlo. Bring in contributions for various charities, but then money has to be paid to people staffing positions in those charities... but those people aren't getting the money, or at least not the greater bulk of it. I'd be surprised if Day Day was getting 10% of those extra salaries he "earns". Cheese meets with Chris, having been tantalized into crossing his Uncle where Slim Charles held firm. He tells Chris where to find Butchie, insisting that Joe doesn't know about this and doesn't need to know... but Cheese doesn't just want money, he wants to be in on the action when Omar gets caught, he wants revenge for Omar sticking a gun in his face. Chris, looking none too pleased about dealing with a man with such little loyalty (especially to a family member), hands over the 50k... perhaps I'm reading too much into it, but the money actually looks pretty crisp and clean too. Michael, Dukie and Bug return to Baltimore, and Michael gets brought crashing down to earth. Monk is standing on Michael's Corner, and he's furious that Michael disappeared for a day without telling anybody about it, meaning HE has to spend all day there keeping an eye on things. Michael, who once lowered his eyes every time an older authority figure got in his face, doesn't even blink as he comes right back at Monk that he came back now to check on things at the end of the day. He calls out to Spider to check on the count who tells him it is good, still glaring at Monk who is glaring right back, still angry and snarling that this isn't the point... and Chris has already been told about this. He stalks off, grumbling,"Nice dolphin, nigga" at Dukie as he passes, Dukie holding a stuffed toy won at 6 Flags with him - fun and charming at the park in the sunlight, but ludicrous in the Baltimore night. Michael snaps that they'll deal with this bullshit later and they all head home, but the residual good feelings of the day are gone. Marlo meets with Joe who shows him a bank statement for the offshore account he now holds. Marlo questions how he knows it is really there, and isn't satisfied with the idea of checking it out online, as far as he is concerned if he can't hold it, it doesn't exist. Joe takes this in stride, saying they'll get him a passport and he can fly down there and confirm the money is there for himself. Marlo accepts this and leaves, and Joe - still no wiser to the fact that he's gifting Marlo with the tools to remove Joe from the picture - comments to Slim Charles that it won't be easy civilizing this motherfucker. Gus and Twigg say their goodbyes in a bar, where they discuss the diminishing nature of The Sun and admit to themselves the fact that for all the troubles and issues it gives them, they're both newspaper men. They each tell the story of the moment they first knew they wanted to be in this industry, and then Twigg quotes from Henry Mencken before "forgiving" Gus. For what? Perhaps because Twigg is going and Gus is staying, or because Gus - for all his big talk - is just meekly going along with whatever changes come down from Klebanow and Whiting? In some ways, it even echoes Bunk and McNulty's drunken,"When it came time to gently caress me, you were gentle" chat from an earlier season. Twigg leaves, and an introspective Gus is left alone at the bar. The next day sees an equally introspective Burrell staring out the window of the Commissioner's Office, an office he knows is soon to no longer be his. The phone rings constantly, all lines engaged, and on the front page of The Sun on his desk (below the fold!) is the story - Burrell is on his way out, Daniels is on his way in. Ervin Burrell's long career as a Baltimore Police, a career that took him to the very top, is coming to an ignominious end. One of those trying to call is Rawls, who gives up, looks at the article again and then tosses the paper into the trash. In his own office, Daniels is seething as Pearlman reads the article in astonishment, furious at the react quote from a City Hall source that claims he stabbed Burrell in the back. Pearlman sees things in a different light, gasping that he is going to be the new Police Commissioner, who cares about the other poo poo - this is good news!   McNulty rushes up to a newspaper kiosk and grabs a paper out before the man who just bought one can close the front. "Cheap motherfu-" grumbles the man as he leaves, while McNulty eagerly looks to the front page just as Alma did on the night they didn't meet... and just like her finds no sign of his story. He shrugs, bemused, at seeing Daniels listed as the next Police Commissioner and then leafs through the aper looking for his story.. .and finds it in section b, page 3, above the fold but still second story down, with a rather timid,"Slayings of homeless men could be related" headline. Like Rawls he dumps the paper in the trash. At Butchie's bar, he jokes around with his staff as they stack beer and clean up ahead of opening. Snoop enters, asks if they're serving, and leaves when she's told she's need id. Butchie asks who that was and is told it was just a little girl.... and then that little girl and Chris Partlow come back through the door shooting. One man goes down with a hole in his head, the other is dropped with a shot in the leg, and blind Butchie is left at a loss - who is robbing him? Why would anybody rob him? Who the hell robs a bar anyway? He tells them that the cash is in the register, and Snoop tells him gently caress the register, and his eyes narrow - something very, very wrong is happening here. Day Day is freaking out in Clay Davis' office, they knew everything and they're both going to go to jail! Clay is focused entirely on the paper though, and the news that one of his most important political allies is about to lose his job. He grabs his coat and heads out the door, Day Day yelling after him to focus, motherfucker - he sees the writing on the wall. Burrell is finished, and so is Clay Davis. At Homicide, Landsman mocks McNulty over the story that he KNOWS McNulty must have leaked. His serial killer fantasy was below a story about a proposed name change for a school. Landsman explicitly lays out the problem - nobody cares about the homeless, nobody. He warns him he gets one more day to investigate the killer (the "killer" is McNulty!) and then he's back in the regular rotation. He leaves, and a pissed off Bunk asks McNulty if he is finally done with this bullshit, storming away as well. Daniels meets with his ex-wife, Marla, where they discuss the potential ramifications of this story and quote falsely accusing him of being out for Burrell. Marla wants him to go straight to Burrell and tell him that it is a lie, and that he doesn't want Burrell's job. But Daniels knows that Burrell won't believe this, and they both know that means that Burrell may bring out the last weapon in his arsenal, the long buried report on Daniels' assets. Daniels considers the bluff, surely there isn't enough in there to warrant anything, there can't be or it wouldn't have been sat on all these years. Marla points out that there doesn't have to be, he doesn't need fire, just smoke, to taint Daniels politically and save Burrell's rear end. That would bring Marla down with him, and ruin both of their careers... all because of a quote that Scott made up to impress Gus. Of course, there IS fire somewhere in there, it's long been clear if never outright stated that Daniels did something dirty in the early days of his career, something(s) that made him a reasonable amount of money - not a fortune, but enough that they could afford assets that should have been beyond their means. That action has followed him throughout his entire career, and the higher he has risen the more dangerous that information has become. Butchie is woken by Chris pouring alcohol into his mouth. Tied to a chair in the back room, his wounded staff member/muscle on the ground behind him, Butchie is tortured for information he refuses to give up. Chris wants to know where Omar is, and Butchie won't tell him, so Snoop shoots him in the leg. Butchie screams in pain, Chris smashes the bottle into his head and Snoop shoots him in the leg again, but while Butchie screams he still refuses to talk. Chris admires loyalty, and admits that Butchie is a tough old man, but he doesn't really NEED Butchie to tell him where Omar is, he can be used in a different way to get the same result. Without ceremony, he puts a gun to Butchie's head and pulls the trigger, silencing the old man forever. He stares fascinated at Butchie's blind eyes, then kneels down beside the injured man and warns him that when Omar comes looking, he wants him to tell Omar EVERYTHING that just happened in this room. He and Snoop leave, the latter complaining that now Omar will be coming after them and they won't know from where. Chris takes it in stride, they'll need to change up their patterns, move Marlo inside and put every enforcer/lieutenant to living on the run. Snoop thinks that is a hosed up plan but Chris offers back that Marlo wants Omar, so that's all there is to it. She accepts that - they both long since accepted the idea that when Marlo says things are going to be one way, that's the way they are going to be. Clay Davis, meanwhile, is trying his snake-oil salesman act on Carcetti once again, attempting to emulate the plan he used so effectively in season 4. He offers to ease the passage of Burrell (his friend!) out, and Daniels in. He'll talk with Nareese, he'll talk with the Ministers, he'll make them understand.... all he needs in return is for Carcetti to make the Grand Jury thing go away. The trouble is, this time Carcetti is holding all the cards. Steintorf notes that the story about Burrell being considered to be replaced has been out all day and NOBODY has called to kick up a fuss or get angry - nobody is backing Burrell on this, nobody has a problem with Daniels replacing him. Carcetti takes great delight in dismissing Carcetti, thanking him for his offer, and a visibly shocked Davis slowly gets to his feet and asks if they think he's done, and gets nothing but a smile from Carcetti in return.   Bunk, in an effort to make McNulty see reason, has gone to the most reasonable and patient man he can think of - Lester Freamon. In the interrogation room, Lester goes over McNulty's plan and his motivations for it, and at first he seems to be critical and disbelieving of the stupidity and madness of the idea. Bunk leaps on that eagerly, telling McNulty to listen to Lester's wisdom... and then listens in growing horror as Lester calmly explains that McNulty hosed up.... because he didn't sensationalize the "murders" or give the newspaper an angle to capture the minds of the readers. Turning to Bunk, he tells him he only needs a few weeks to solve the Stanfield case and he can use the money that would come for a serial killer investigation to do that... and who cares if they fake some murders that are never going to be solved anyway. He repeats it, a message that has been made apparent all too much in regards to the homeless - nobody cares. Bunk storms out again, horrified, while Lester and McNulty eagerly discuss the best way to plan their next "murder", McNulty out and out declaring happily,"We need to kill again!" This has been one of the criticisms of the serial killer storyline. People could maybe buy a drunk and hosed up McNulty being too shortsighted to see the consequences of stirring up a panic over a serial killer... but Freamon? The truth is that Freamon is just as guilty of obsession/stubbornness/pride as McNulty, just with 13 years (and 4 months) of humbling to make him learn patience. That he wouldn't see the long term consequences stretches credibility a little, but perhaps that cynical part of being police made him figure that people would just eventually move on... hell, they did with the 22 rowhouse murders, after all. Finally, two scenes (though I've moved them about slightly for the purposes of this write-up), show us a momentary glimpse of life outside of Baltimore. Marlo arrives at the Banque Populaire Des Antilles, having gotten his passport and traveled overseas to see his bank in person and confirm his money is there. The teller speaks French but Marlo - being Marlo - makes not even a token effort to acknowledge that another language exists, he doesn't even ask if she speaks English or comment on the fact she is speaking French, he just blankly asks to see his money, is his money here? Where is his money? As she struggles to get across to him that she doesn't speak English, he shows his account statement and demands to see his money. Doing her best to be friendly, he reacts with hostility,"What?" his angry response to her attempt to ask him for ID. In the end she has to demonstrate and mime to get the message across, and he hands over his passport, irritated that he has to jump through any hoops at all to see HIS money. In contrast, in San Juan we find Omar and Renaldo enjoying a peaceful life of early retirement. The large amount of money Omar took over the years, in particular that final heist, have allowed him to live in great comfort, and he and Renaldo seem very happy. It's a little over the top, but they're greeted by happy children running down the beach road towards them as they bring their shopping home, and he hands out candy to them. Though they don't live in luxury, they're essentially in paradise, though the old instincts die hard and Omar isn't pleased to see a friend of Renaldo's ride up on a scooter. He heads inside to unpack the groceries, joking about the lack of Honey Nut, and then looks up as Renaldo and his friend quietly enter the house with the bad news - Butchie is dead.  
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Nov 18, 2013 06:42
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cletepurcel posted:It should also be noted that Whiting's use of "Dickensian" (as well as the title of an upcoming episode, "The Dickensian Aspect") was probably a jab/nod at critics who often described The Wire as "Dickensian". I think Simon was trying to make the same "You people are missing the point" thing that he's done recently with people who watch The Wire and then just argue over who was the best character or whatever. I mised this before but david simon interview posted:
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Nov 18, 2013 07:01
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Well poo poo, I only just noticed this, but the framing of the "ethics?" can't just be a coincidence, can it?
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Nov 18, 2013 10:39
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Jeez dude it doesn't say ethnics man.
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Nov 18, 2013 10:53
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In all seriousness, though, note how Price, Fletcher and Gus are dressed similarly, with Price and Fletcher standing close (reporters) with Gus similarly dressed but slightly distanced (he's their editor), and then you've got Scott right off to the side, dressed entirely differently from the others and standing out. Or maybe I'm putting too much stock in a still image that just happened to catch them in a particular position during the scene v  v
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Nov 18, 2013 10:59
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Jerusalem posted:Or maybe I'm putting too much stock in a still image that just happened to catch them in a particular position during the scene v With any other show I'd say this was the case, but The Wire pays insane attention to details like that so you may be onto something.
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Nov 18, 2013 11:59
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Sweater vests = unethical.
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Nov 18, 2013 14:42
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escape artist posted:Sweater vests = unethical. A good rule for life in general.
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Nov 18, 2013 15:45
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escape artist posted:Sweater vests = unethical. If Rick Santorum was a character in The Wire, people would complain about the unrealistic character.
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Nov 18, 2013 21:56
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Jerusalem posted:If Rick Santorum was a character in The Wire, people would complain about the unrealistic character. Rick Santorum doesn't seem like a real person... in real life.
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Nov 19, 2013 01:01
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Jerusalem posted:If Rick Santorum was a character in The Wire, people would complain about the unrealistic character. On that note, I don't think David Simon made the newsroom bosses slimy enough. Trust me, if you've worked in that context it was far from "unrealistic".
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Nov 19, 2013 21:01
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escape artist posted:Sweater vests = unethical. So that makes Jim Tressel the devil?
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Nov 19, 2013 21:39
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gently caress the loving numbers already! The loving numbers destroyed this loving department! Oh wait, it's not purely a product of a fictional representation of the Baltimore PD? I'm not shocked
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Nov 21, 2013 00:39
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I know the goal behind Joe's showing Marlo so much like how to launder money was to "civilize" him (create an ally/stability). Not sure what Joe was thinking giving away the few skills that would have made him indispensable to Marlo. I think Joe's problem was that he couldn't see Marlo for the ruthless carnivore he was. I think the main reason is probably because Joe always thought he could talk his way through problems. That is offer a proposition which would never work on Marlo.
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Nov 27, 2013 02:03
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DropsySufferer posted:I know the goal behind Joe's showing Marlo so much like how to launder money was to "civilize" him (create an ally/stability). Not sure what Joe was thinking giving away the few skills that would have made him indispensable to Marlo. I think Joe's problem was that he couldn't see Marlo for the ruthless carnivore he was. I think the main reason is probably because Joe always thought he could talk his way through problems. That is offer a proposition which would never work on Marlo. The funny thing is, there was a journalist who watched the season five Wire premier with several current and former NYC drug lords. After watching the scene where Marlo was tossing poo poo around in the co-op meeting, they immediately declared that Marlo was not to be trusted, and that if Prop Joe didn't have him killed ASAP he was a fool.
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Nov 27, 2013 02:38
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ShaneMacGowansTeeth posted:gently caress the loving numbers already! The loving numbers destroyed this loving department! Oh wait, it's not purely a product of a fictional representation of the Baltimore PD? I'm not shocked Baltimore publishes their data on this website which I turn into maps. I always have to wonder what's valid and what's not. 
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Nov 27, 2013 02:58
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TheBalor posted:The funny thing is, there was a journalist who watched the season five Wire premier with several current and former NYC drug lords. After watching the scene where Marlo was tossing poo poo around in the co-op meeting, they immediately declared that Marlo was not to be trusted, and that if Prop Joe didn't have him killed ASAP he was a fool. Link for reference (at least I assume this is what you're talking about): http://freakonomics.com/2008/01/09/what-do-real-thugs-think-of-the-wire/
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Nov 27, 2013 03:47
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empty baggie posted:Link for reference (at least I assume this is what you're talking about): http://freakonomics.com/2008/01/09/what-do-real-thugs-think-of-the-wire/ All those features are pro-read material. The"thugs" are endearingly fond of that interviewer.
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Nov 27, 2013 08:15
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Sorry for the lack of a write-up, I'll have something up in the next day or so, I was kinda wrapped up in Doctor Who for most of the last week 
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Nov 27, 2013 09:34
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TheBalor posted:The funny thing is, there was a journalist who watched the season five Wire premier with several current and former NYC drug lords. After watching the scene where Marlo was tossing poo poo around in the co-op meeting, they immediately declared that Marlo was not to be trusted, and that if Prop Joe didn't have him killed ASAP he was a fool. IIRC they weren't drug lords but just run of the mill Bodie types. Could be wrong. Though my favorite thing from that story - they all took one look at Bunk and concluded that in real life he would be on the take. (I think this must have been because of his fine suits.)
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Nov 27, 2013 09:43
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Season 4, Episode 4: TransitionsScott Templeton posted:Buyer's market out there. Michael sits on his corner, reading a magazine and keeping an amused eye on the police watching his corner from their car, parked in an incredibly obvious spot. It's Colicchio, who was the dumbest cop in the BPD even before Herc got run out, and he proves as much here. Michael is confused when he sees Kenard blatantly place a paper bag beneath a stoop, seemingly openly placing the stash in full view of the cops, but Spider just mumbles that Kenard is loving with the cops. Michael grins and goes back to his magazine, while an outraged Colicchio decides he has enough to get a charge on them now and pulls his car up to the corner. Santangelo's wagon joins them as the crew are all sat down on the curb, traffic backing up as the lanes are blocked off, much to Carver's chagrin when he arrives to observe the bust. Colicchio triumphantly grabs the stash bag from beneath the stoop, reaches into it and... pulls out a lump of poo poo. Disgusted, he tosses it away as the crew (and Santangelo!) laughs, and rubs the rest off on Kenard's shirt and snaps at the kids that they're all truant anyway. The humiliation, the honking from the traffic, the heat of the day, and the ongoing financial problems of the department are all too much for Colicchio to deal with, and after slamming Spider into the back of the wagon he takes exception to a civilian in his car asking if they could just move their vehicles a LITTTTLE bit forward so traffic could get by. He launches himself at the civilian and tries to haul him out of his car, having to be physically restrained by several officers. The crew leap to their feet and rush about babbling excitedly, adding to the chaos of the scene - this is a police department in complete disarray, and it sure as hell doesn't help that a white officer just assaulted a black civilian. At the MCU, Freamon is going over the Organizational Chart for the Stanfield Organization, still focused on that case even as he is given the chance to pursue "the money" as he has always professed to want to do. Sydnor, going over files re: the Davis case, lets out a loud,"gently caress!" and explains that he has just wasted an entire day trying to track down an $80,000 withdrawal from Davis' personal account, only to discover it was a legitimate repayment of a loan to his mother. Freamon perks up at this and asks Sydnor for the file, eyes gleaming as Sydnor explains that Clay's mother loaned him 80k six years earlier so he could put a down payment on a home that he then paid for in full later that week, before repaying the 80k to his mother.... so, no crime, right? For Freamon, however, who understands the ins and outs of the law, he knows that Sydnor has inadvertently just guaranteed a conviction of the Senator. Taking the file, he declares it,"The head shot" and heads out the door to share the good news with Bond and Pearlman. In Burrell's office, Daniels is determined to convince Burrell that the recent newspaper article where a source accused him of actively working to replace the Commissioner with himself is a complete falsehood. Burrell gives no reply as Daniels continues to plead his innocence, going so far as to say that if offered the job by Carcetti himself he would turn it down. Burrell gives no reply, just walks slowly around an increasingly uncomfortable Daniels while clutching his putter (you even get the impression he'd like to beat Daniels' head in with it), turns his back on the Colonel and misses a putt before simply standing and staring out the window. Daniels finally gives up and leaves, resigned to the fact that the Police Commissioner now believes he is out for his blood.   At The Baltimore Sun, Templeton asks Alma for advice on what examples of his writing he should bring for his interview at The Washington Post. While Templeton is looking to desert what he sees as a sinking ship, Alma's focus is on what could be a big story. She's been ringing around as part of her own effort to build connections/a network and a Desk Sergeant has told her that the word going around is Burrell could be fired as early as today. Scott seems relatively impressed but not all that interested, his thoughts entirely on the Post and getting out of Baltimore, showing the major difference between him and Alma. Scott often talks a good game about being deeply interested in journalism.... but only insofar as it helps HIM, we'll see as much during his interview with the Post. Alma goes to Gus and gives him the news, and after a quick look over at Twigg he gives her his blessing to work the story. She asks if he is sure he doesn't want to use Twigg, who has much stronger connections, but Gus can't ask Twigg to work a story on his last day (he's currently packing up his desk) so from now on, the young and inexperienced journalist is his Senior Crime reporter. McNulty visits the Morgue, where he has an officer show him the number of dead unclaimed bodies that have come in. He's interested in homeless deaths, all those bodies found with no fixed abode, where they were discovered and at what time. He's rather shocked at the sheer number of homeless that are dying every year in the city, as like most people he tends to ignore the homeless problem. Picking up where and when the most homelss are found dead, he calls Lester and asks him who he knows working that district at that time, leaving the morgue officer confused as hell - what the hell is McNulty looking for? At Pearson's florist, where Bodie once bought a garish floral arrangement for D'Angelo's funeral, Prop Joe goes through a photo-array of more traditional arrangements for Butchie. He tells the florist, who can't place Butchie, that he was an old school former soldier who lost his sight to a bullet early in his "career" and after that took a step back and lived a quiet, careful lifestyle. Picking out the arrangement he likes, Slim pays the florist while Joe tells him what to write on the card - a message clearly mostly intended for Omar, whom Joe knows is coming and doesn't want anything to do with. They leave the florist, and out on the corner Slim reminds him that no kindly note is going to slow Omar coming at them. Joe knows this, but says that the note IS genuine, he does feel bad about Butchie's death and did consider him a friend... or at least somebody he respected. So what about Marlo then, who has caused all this trouble? Joe grunts that Marlo is Marlo, and doesn't blame him for taking a shot at Omar since that's the kind of thing the Marlo's in this world do. Who he blames is whoever got close to Marlo and told him about Butchie, and he cuts off Slim immediately, saying he won't make a move against Cheese - who is kin - without more than suspicions. He knows that Cheese probably did it, but he needs more than that suspicion... and he figures he'll probably get it, if he knows Cheese then that 50k in his pocket will soon be spent, and he won't be able to spend 50k without Joe finding out about it. In the meantime, Joe is planning on getting out of town out of respect for Omar's skillset, though not before chairing a Co-Op meeting tomorrow night. While he is out of town, Cheese will be keeping his eye on things for him.... and Slim will be keeping an eye on Cheese. Meanwhile, Marlo meets with Vondas, who has received the briefcase full of "clean" money left during the previous episode. Vondas apologize for the misunderstanding, and using careful terms designed to not insult Marlo explains that when he called the money dirty, he wasn't referring to the physical condition. Marlo comes from the street, and Vondas and his people have no interest in a connection directly to the street level of drugdealing. They deal with Joe as a middle-man, he keeps them detached and "clean" the way they like it, and they can't accept Marlo's gift as it would give him the wrong impression. They know Joe, they don't need to know anybody else, they don't need anybody else to know them. Marlo, not willing to give up on his bid to force his way into the relationship, reminds Vondas of the Omar heist the previous year and explains that he needs insurance to make sure things like this don't happen again, either to him.... or to them. Vondas quietly points out they need to insure Joe too, Marlo not bothering to hide his distaste - he isn't interested in Joe, he wants to remove Joe from the equation and gain direct control over the Connection relationship. Vondas continues to be diplomatic... but there is another man there who, like Marlo, has no interest in playing games or not being direct. The Greek, who operates at a level far above Marlo's own dreams of being "the King", grumpily folds his paper and walks to the table. Marlo is surprised, having dismissed the old man as just some old regular at the counter, but he quickly grasps the significance of who The Greek is as he tells Vondas that Marlo is being reasonable in showing concern for the future. He tells Marlo to go and take care of his business and his people, and Marlo takes the open-ended comment for what it is - The Greek is giving tacit approval for Marlo to make his move. Marlo leaves, telling a surprised Vondas to keep the briefcase full of money as expenses for coming out to meet them. Left alone, The Greek explains to Vondas that Marlo has shown them he will not take no for an answer. Vondas, clearly troubled by Marlo and his aspirations, reminds The Greek that Marlo is not Joe, and The Greek agrees. So why give the tacit approval to Marlo to make a move? DID he give tacit approval? It seems to me that he told Marlo to make his move, and it makes a certain kind of sense - if Joe can't hold his own then maybe he isn't the guy to deal with anymore? If Marlo can pull it off, hasn't he shown he deserves to be the guy with "the Connect"? Either way, The Greek wins, he'll either deal with Joe or with Marlo, and whoever it is will be the top guy in Baltimore. That's capitalism for you, loyalty and a proven track record are only invaluable up to the moment that somebody new, younger and hungrier can come in and take your spot, and the guys at the top will just keep on making money - the King stays the King.   Freamon and Pearlman meet with Bond and show him "the head shot", explaining the significance. Essentially, Clay has lied to the bank and falsified a loan application, even though it is a common practice for many young adults just out of college who need to borrow a deposit from their parents to qualify with a bank to purchase a home. By the letter of the law, anybody who does what Clay has done gets a sentence of THIRTY YEARS IN JAIL, and thus it is no wonder that Freamon is practically drooling. With this leverage, they need to take the case Federal (it's a Federal law), but they'll have Clay Davis dead to rights. Freamon's happy face slowly fades as he watches Bond hesitate, and his heart sinks when Bond dismisses him with a smooth,"Outstanding work" and a request to speak with Pearlman in private. Realizing that he has just seen a dead-to-rights case be potentially scuppered for political reasons, he leaves. Bond asks Pearlman what they can do on the charges they're already preparing, and she says the case is basically a lock - they have at least four cases of him stealing money from his own charities, and each charge brings a 10 year sentence. Bond seems satisfied, they can put Clay away for a long time even without "the head shot". By which, of course, he means that he wants all the glory, not the US Attorney. Templeton arrives at The Washington Post and he's immediately in awe, walking happily through the newsroom and drinking it all in. Spotting a Budget Meeting, he asks the lady leading him to his interview if he can sit in on it after his interview, keen to see how a "real" newspaper works. He's greeted warmly by his interviewer, who goes over his samples and praises them, the writing is raw but good, with the language a little more flowery than they're used to at the Post. Templeton, who loves to wax lyrical in his writing, immediately claims that he prefers dry but works in the style that the Sun asks of him. He's questioned on his work history, two years at The Sun so far, before that he was in Kansas, before that in Wichita. When the interviewer comments that The Sun is a fine paper, Scott has no problem throwing them under a bus, saying that was true before the cutbacks. The interviewer insists though, his Maryland desk takes them seriously because they often beat them on stories regarding Annapolis. He asks if Scott had anything to do on last year's excellent ground rent stories, and Scott clearly has no idea what he is talking about, just shaking his head. Perhaps it is unfair given the shrinking market he has found himself in, but Scott's indifference to actual journalism is on display in this episode. He was uninterested in Alma's scoop on Burrell's fate, he says whatever he thinks people want to hear, and the moment he gets given the,"Try again in a few years" knock-back, he suddenly loses all interest in setting in on the Page 1 budget meeting and loses a great deal of his easygoing charm. Scott is looking for job security and prestige, he may think he's a good journalist not being given a fair shake, but really all he cares about is the perception of, he wants to work at The Washington Post or The New York Times, he wants people to think of him as a great journalist, and he doesn't want to have to do any of the actual legwork to get to that spot. While Templeton is being turned down for a job, Carcetti is working on firing Burrell from him. Now that the Commissioner has lied to his face about the stats and the leaked story has gotten no angry reaction, it is time to put rumor into reality. Carcetti, Norman, Steintorf, Watkins and Nerese Campbell sit in on a meeting and one by one go through the ministers who MIGHT make a fuss and figure out what they'd want to keep quiet and watch Burrell go. Each one has a pet project or a problem that Carcetti can ease or fix, and one by one they're crossed off the list as they figure out what they can take to them to get them to agree to not make a fuss. But Nerese is included in that group, and the price of her support is a bit heavier than the Ministers - she wants to be able to approve the sale of some city land that just so happens to sit next to a prime development spot owned by Andy Krawcyzk. In other words, she is helping Krawcyzk make a great deal of money so that in the future he will support her political aspirations - she does want to be Mayor, after all. The moment she has what she wants, she's straight to Burrell's office to let him know the lay of the land - Rawls will take over from Burrell for six months, and then Daniels will become the next Commissioner. But this isn't some "play both sides against the middle" strategy, Nerese is there to smooth the transition from Burrell to Daniels, and she knows exactly how to do it so that everybody benefits - once again, she's playing the long game of making sure she has allies everywhere. When a desperate Burrell pulls out the file on Daniels and reveals he was part of a drug squad that skimmed money from busts, she pretends like the file doesn't interest her even as she locks away that information in her memory. She cuts him off in his complaints, reminds him that destroying Daniels will just leave them with Rawls as new Commissioner, and points out that the Ministers will live with Daniels because Carcetti gave away the farm to get him. Burrell is cynically amused, so everybody got their 30 pieces of silver? Nerese doesn't bother to protest, and offers him his own in return, and a reminder of just why it pays to play ball in the dirty world of politics. If he goes quietly, then he'll be taken care of. He'll get a full pension on a Commissioner's salary, he'll get a transitional role on the Mayor's Criminal Justice Coordination Council, and then after that they'll get him a nice six figure salary on a Police Association of some kind in Washington.... not a bad severance package at all! On the other hand, if he goes kicking and screaming then none of his old allies will be there for him. Playing a very careful hand, she stands up and offers him the Daniels file, telling him it is his choice... and he simply sits and does not take it. Tucking it under her arm like an afterthought, she tells him to play along at the press conference tomorrow and Carcetti will do the same, and he can leave his role with dignity. She leaves him sitting in his office, and in the corridor she eagerly looks through the file, knowing that she's just gotten her hands on long-term political dynamite, she now has dirt on Carcetti's golden boy. At The Sun, reporters are making frantic phone-calls trying to get the word on what the hell is happening with Burrell. Gus arrives wanting to know what they've got, but while they have the framework of confirmation - a source says Steintorf says Burrell is gone, a press conference has been scheduled etc - they haven't been able to get anybody who actually knows to go on the record. Gus is upset, they've been working all day and gotten nothing? And where is Templeton? Why isn't he working the phones too? Twigg sighs, tells Gus that he'll do him this one last favor, and Gus beams as he picks up a phone and puts through a call to Stan Valchek, and with casual familiarity tells him not to gently caress him around, is Burrell gone or not? It's an example of the institutional knowledge, the invaluable networks are built up by time and experience. Of course, we've also seen no sign that Alma has really been groomed or otherwise introduced around by Twigg to assist her - Gus gets upset when his novice reporters don't have the experience and networks that his senior reporters do, but doesn't really offer them anything other than empty,"Keep at it" encouragement. Yes there is a lot to be said for experience, but what is the use of that experience if it all goes with the senior reporters when they go? Michael is bailed out from the nonsense on his corner by his mother, who harangues him as he leaves the Western, wanting to know where his gratitude is for her doing this for him. Knowing what is coming, he snaps at her to just tell him what she really wants, and she immediately shifts into a quiet sad story about how tough things have been around the way lately, and since he is doing so well maybe he could give her some cash. "I ain't paying you to be my mother," he responds coldly, and walks away into the night. Freamon and McNulty go to the Southern District together and look up the duty roster, where Freamon spots a name from his old days in patrol - Oscar Requer. Oscar was his side-partner, and he and McNulty drive out to his "hole" - Oscar works a day job in real estate and spends his nights "working" a patrol car, which apparently involves a fair amount of finding a little out of the way spot and taking a nap. Freamon has gotten hold of a pair of false teeth and is filing away at them, making a distinctive bite mark for the escalation he has planned for McNulty's "serial killer". Finding Oscar, they wake him and he and Freamon embrace warmly before McNulty is introduced. Oscar gives McNulty his card, telling him to keep him in mind if he wants a new home - it's a buyer's market out there - before asking what Freamon wants, as this clearly isn't a social call. Freamon explains they need to be given advance notice of any recent deceased homeless he discovers, they need to get to the body before anybody else does. Oscar is confused and a little troubled, but he agrees to Freamon's request and takes his card, surprisingly McNulty when he doesn't want to know WHY they need to get to the body first. They head away, McNulty concerned about what happens if Oscar mentions this to anyone, and Freamon (whom Oscar calls "Socks") explains why that won't happen - Oscar was a former Homicide Detective who got into a loud argument with an Area Chief who was walking through a crime scene Oscar caught, and refused to take the 2 weeks of patrol punishment he was issued since by the rulebook he was in the right. He ends up being busted out of the unit and returning to patrol full time, where he has remained ever since, much like Freamon spent 13 years (and 4 months) in the Pawnshop Unit. The Area Chief? One Bill Rawls. A ghost from the past walks the back alleys. Omar is back, dressing in his familiar clothes, moving with purpose, back in Baltimore like he was never gone. He visits with the injured bodyguard who was left alive by Chris and Snoop, Omar demanding to know why he is alive while Butchie is dead. Donnie arrives, explaining that he was left alive to pass on a message to Omar - he robbed the wrong people, and Butchie died hard because of it. Furious, Omar insists those who killed Butchie will pay - sweet Jesus will they pay - but he wants to do it alone, declining Donnie's offer to support him. But Donnie points out that Omar doesn't know the people who killed Butchie yet, and tosses him a shotgun, another ghost of the past. Omar will need help to do this, he's been gone and retired, is this really his Baltimore anymore?   The next day in Homicide, Norris sits in Landsman's office where the Sergeant reads the front page news that Burrell is to go. Norris comments that they're about to get another white Commissioner but Landsman, who joked about being a candidate himself, knows that this won't last - Daniels will be Commissioner by the end of the year. Bunk arrives with a request which Landsman immediately puts into his drawer, not even bothering to read it since all Bunk ever does is change the dates. Bunk is exasperated, he's working 22 murders and yet the lab still hasn't returned any trace evidence results from the 14 different crime scenes they collected from. Landsman is indifferent, they can't keep up with THIS year's murders, let alone the LAST year, so all Bunk can do is keep his rear end covered by filling int the requests to expedite the results. It makes a huge difference to the CSI "results in a few seconds" idea we get from other shows, and later in the season we'll discover just how appallingly inefficient and unhelpful the (over-stretched, underfunded) crime labs can be. Frustrated, Bunk stalks back to the square of desks he shares with McNulty, and becomes even more exasperated when McNulty reveals he's working on a bullshit chart that links the common threads of his serial killer's "victims". Not even able to work up the energy to be angry at McNulty, he just storms away with a grumpy,"gently caress you, motherfucker,", McNulty still not quite grasping how offensive Bunk finds his "silly" little fraud. Kima pops in and notes McNulty's chart, figuring he's doing something real with a real case, and heads on out to try and get an interview with the only witness to her triple homicide - the shocked child she found hiding in a cupboard. At the Western, Colicchio is refusing to accept he was in the wrong for assaulting the driver during his abortion of a drugbust on Michael's corner. Carver is furious at him, having learned that things have only gotten worse - the victim of Colicchio's assault was a school teacher trying to make it to an After-School program. Officer Brown complains that he should have said so and Carver reminds them he was never given a chance, and Carver - who once drunkenly drove to the drug towers with Herc and Prez and ended up having crap thrown out the window at them - says it may be the stupidest thing he has ever witnessed. I.I.D are involved, currently talking to Major Mello and soon to be down to take statements from everybody else. For the first time, Colicchio's facade cracks as he realizes just how serious his little case of assault was. Carver, having read him the riot act to make him aware of the seriousness of what is happening, now attempts to work out the best way for them all to get out of it - Colicchio has to write it up "smart", blame the excessive noise of the incessant horns for preventing the securing juvenile prisoners who then became volatile, and he warned the driver several times.... but in the middle of his careful and helpful interpretation of events, Carver is shocked to silence when Colicchio declares angrily,"gently caress that motherfucker," and refuses to make even the slightest attempt to couch anything in careful terms, insisting that the teacher should be locked up for using his horn, and then with an amazing lack of self-awareness opines,"gently caress his ignorant rear end!"  Yeah, that's about the right reaction. Carver looks around at the other officers present, all of whom seem either embarrassed or amused, and realizes that things have gone too far. Taking an important step in his own development, Carver quietly tells Colicchio that he is going to write him up for excessive force and conduct unbecoming. Colicchio is horrified, his Sergeant-in-Charge isn't going to back him? Even now though, he's too stupid and short-sighted to react with anything but anger, and he declares angrily that if Carver charges him, then he is a rat. Carver, having finally realized you can only let so much slide in the name of protecting your own, replies calmly,"Then I'm a rat," and walks out the door, leaving Colicchio standing amongst the others, confused and angry, still no closer to understanding why he was in the wrong and that this is all a problem of his own making.
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Nov 29, 2013 04:51
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Carcetti is dealing with a similar problem, he's made every concession possible in order to finally rid himself of Burrell, only to have Nerse Campbell come to him on the day of the press conference to remove Burrell and tell the Mayor he needs to talk him up. Carcetti is astonished, does she really think he's going to laud a man he's been trying to get rid of since he got into power (he was more than willing to be his friend when he was just a Councilman)? Nerese insists though, and points out that after 34 years in the Department, Burrell is likely to be able to make things VERY difficult for all of them if he doesn't get some kind of consideration. She brings up the possibility of dirt, though Carcetti seems bewildered at the notion that Daniels could have any dirt on him, and she is careful not to reveal that particular ace up her sleeve just yet. She says she is talking in generalities, but it makes sense to smooth the transition, to have Burrell go out looking like a valued servant of the city - hell, with the right incentive, he'd probably happily put his arm around Daniels and make out like they're the best of friends. Carcetti, loath as he is to eat yet another bowl of poo poo, sees the sense in what she is saying. At the Grand Jury, Lester goes over the facts and figures of the Davis case with Sydnor and Pearlman ahead of their upcoming appearance. It paints a picture of corruption - money from donors going to charities and then to Clay's personal bank accounts. As they talk it over, Clay Davis himself walks into the corridor, acting as cool and collected as possible as Pearlman greets him warmly and tells him he's been asked in today to discuss "financial irregularities". Sydnor and Freamon turn their chart around as Pearlman asks if he'd like to talk in her office or go straight to giving his testimony, and he opts for the latter, handing over his subpoena and moving with apparent unconcern after her. Sydnor notes how cool he seems, but a pleased Freamon says it's the way he'll exit the room that will tell the real story. Kima watches through two-way glass as a social worker attempts to break through to the child who witnessed the triple murder, but he is utterly unresponsive to any attempt to communicate with him. In the Grand Jury room, Pearlman shows Clay and the Grand Jury the various deposits and withdrawals into and out of various charities to his personal accounts. Clay looks over the files as if disgusted and confused by their contents, and then complains that he showed up today to help her with inquiries only to discover a witchhunt, and he refuses to take any further part. Pearlman, hiding her pleasure as much as possible, asks if he is invoking his right not to incriminate himself and he declares,"drat RIGHT!", so she calls a happy halt to the testimony, knowing just how damaging doing this is to Davis - he now looks like he has something to hide. The man who leaves the Grand Jury room is a broken man, a dead man walking. Clay actually has to put a hand out to support himself as he contemplates what Day-Day was trying to warn him about so recently - he stands an almost certain chance of spending a great deal of time in jail and he knows it. Slowly he shuffles on past Freamon and Sydnor, looking like an old man, causing Sydnor great mirth and Freamon to note that he barely got a lovetap this time, when they hit him with everything it will destroy him. Pearlman exits and Sydnor asks why they called him to the Grand Jury today if they knew he was going to take the 5th so quickly, and she reveals the reason is waiting outside. As Davis leaves the building, he is horrified to discover the press waiting eagerly for him, sniffing a juicy story and read to pounce. Just as quickly though, like hitting a switch, Clay's face suddenly blooms to life and he struts confidently down the steps where he smoothly makes out that his presence here today was at his own insistence, and that he is helping everybody to figure out a few misconceptions. One has to wonder how much of this is practiced political patter and how much is a genuine thrill to perform, but Sydnor and Freamon sense something disturbing happening as they watch. A Grand Jury is meant to be secret, so how did the press know to be here for a "perp walk"? The answer is that Bond put out the word so everybody would know he was going after Clay Davis, because he wants to be a major political player himself and sees a Clay Davis scalp being his ticket to the big time. But now, for the first time, the case is becoming more than the facts and figures, and more about a case that can be fought in the media.... and there's nobody better at that than Clay Davis.   At the Co-Op meeting, Marlo is disgusted and bored as Hungry Man and Fat Face Rick eagerly talk up the amount of legitimate money they're making by working the system, greatly cheered by the notion that if you can get hold of property and hold on to it long enough for white people to show up, you can make money. When Hungry Man starts talking about using convict labor to lower overheads, Marlo has had enough and snaps at them to shut the gently caress up, telling Joe that he's here purely for business, not to listen to people brag. Joe seems bemused, but he's once again missing the vital warning signs before him - Marlo is utterly indifferent to the money they're all making, he's here for power plain and simple, and money is merely a means to an end. When Hungry Man reveals that Cheese has made incursions into the new territory that was set aside for Hungry Man (again, Marlo goaded Cheese into thinking he could make such a naked grab for territory), Joe brings his kin into line harshly and apologizes to Hungry Man for the insult. Meeting adjourned, Cheese storms out in a rage, watched with fascination by Marlo who has long since identified him as the weak link, after his earlier attempts to ingratiate with Slim failed. He joins Joe and shows him the check he withdrew from his bank overseas, satisfied that Joe was right and his money is being stored safely... but again, the money isn't what concerns him. He wants power, and so he is carefully figuring out everything that Joe can do which he can't so he can remove Joe from the picture. Joe, for his part, can't conceive that Marlo is ONLY power-hungry, assuming that the money matters and that time and "civilization" will make him see reason. Jokingly he suggests that Marlo work on honing his people skills and learns to work with others, which to Marlo is yet another perceived weakness - why should he cooperate or work with people he doesn't respect, when he could just take everything that is theirs for himself? Marlo asks Joe for another meeting, wanting to discuss the next step now that the basics of money laundering have been established, and Joe - normally so sensible and far-sighted, is happy to agree. In his office, Burrell slowly packs up his personal belongings, preparing to leave the job he worked so hard to get over his 30+ years on the force. Rawls joins him in the office, Burrell self-deprecating when he asks if he has come to see a dead man walking. Rawls notes how Burrell is being taken care of and tells him he deserves it, which Burrell is quick to agree with... but not for doing his job as Police Commissioner.... no, he's been taken care of because he's carrying their water. Relieved at last from the pressures of the job, Burrell complains with a fair bit of justification that Carcetti and Royce before him thought him a hack, and that maybe he is, but it's only because he had to deal every day with shifting priorities and their whims. One day it was a call for mass arrests, then a call for quality of life work, then a decree to bring down the murder rate, then to focus on high profile drug cases, then to run the whores out of a city park etc, etc. Rawls chuckles, but Burrell has a foreboding warning for him - Carcetti is no different from any other Mayor who came before him, and first Rawls and then Daniels will soon face the reality of directives/priorities changing at the whim of the Mayor. Again with justification, he complains that every politician who gets elected Mayor suddenly seems to think they're an expert at law enforcement, taking a more direct role in that Department than they would in teaching or sanitation or the health department. Rawls, uncomfortable, leaves the office, and Burrell is left alone to pack up the last remains of a 30+ year career. Kima is still watching the social worker trying their best to get through to the traumatized child witness. They're having no luck at all, though watching the child is making a lot of thoughts run through Kima's head, thoughts about her own regrets in life. Taking out her phone, she calls Cheryl and asks her if it would be alright if she could see Elijah (Cheryl's child, who was supposed to be Kima's child as well), admitting that it's been some time since she took an interest. When Cheryl asks if she could get time off to see him tomorrow, she eagerly agrees - it's a shame that it took a traumatic event like this for her to realize what she could have had, and who knows how long that enthusiasm will last, but for now she wants to be part of his life. Daniels stands uncomfortably next to Burrell as they wait for the Press Conference to begin. Daniels again insists that he didn't want this or seek it out, but Burrell just grins and tells him to relax, as Daniels once told him, Burrell would have done him already if he was going to do him. He makes a point of saying he can't even remember what was in that file he had on Daniels, it was all so long ago, acting as if he didn't have a care in the world even though - even with the jobs lined up for him afterwards - he knows he's being forced out of his dream job.   Carcetti arrives, shaking first Rawls' hand, then Burrell's, then Daniels, and steps up to the podium to make a celebratory speech about Burrell's long history of public service. Alma is amongst the journalists present, and the press conference is being watched on television in The Baltimore Sun newsroom. I mentioned back in season 4 that the very first scene - Snoop buying a nail gun - was probably my favorite scene in ALL of The Wire. Unfortunately, this press conference scene is probably the WORST, as every bad aspect of the newspaper storyline is in full force with essentially zero redeeming features. As Carcetti gives his speech, Gus provides a running commentary in the newsroom, making "humorous" quips about what Carcetti REALLY means. Adoring staffers hang on Gus' every word, including Klebanow who is dazzled by Gus' superior wit. To top things off, Klebanow asks how much of that insight will be present in the article on Burrell's departure and Gus unprofessionally insults him in front of everybody, telling him that little will be present because of the way Klebanow and Whiting run the paper. It's a dreadful scene, painting one character as unnaturally witty and intelligent and too cool for school, while another is painted as a gaping doofus incapable of dealing with just how "real" the super-cool dude is. Even Klebanow's quiet word with Gus afterwards provides no nuance, as he just whines that Gus shouldn't use profanity. It REALLY stands out after that recent scene of Burrell revealing to Rawls the incredible pressures he was facing every day as Commissioner - sure Burrell got four seasons of development, but Klebanow is just such a one-dimensional loser it provides absolutely no depth either to himself OR to Gus, who is basically just taking potshots at a strawman. However, things improve quickly. With Klebanow gone, they notice that the Press Conference story has been replaced with the Clay Davis perp walk.... and that's VERY bad because this is the first time that The Sun knew it had even happened, this story completely passed them by. Now it is Gus' turn to face the wrath of a junior, as he calls over Bill Zorzi to complain about him not catching this story, only to get ripped a new one - he is their Federal Court reporter and they haven't had a Daily City Court reporter since the buyout before last. Clearly this is a City Court case, and if they want him to cover both then they might as well stick a broomstick up his rear end and use him to sweep the floor too. Gus quickly mollifies him, unhappy to be in the Klebanow role but probably not making the connection that if he wasn't responsible for Zorzi's woes, then Klebanow probably isn't responsible for his. He asks Zorzi to get what he can, including WHY this isn't a Federal Case, and puts Scott onto the story as well, telling him to get hold of Bond who will be more than happy to catch them up on what is going on. But as he struggles to get them caught up and laments the fact that in "the old days" a perp walk would never have happened without a newspaper being present, he doesn't really think about the reported fact that this case has been built for over a year now and The Baltimore Sun never caught a whiff of it, even when they DID have all their old, experienced reporters onboard. Freamon takes McNulty down to a point where a number of the homeless congregate at night, to canvas them as if he was conducting a real investigation. McNulty doesn't see the point but Freamon points out that if he doesn't treat the case like a real case, it won't feel like one to him or any of their superiors, and the whole facade will come crashing down. McNulty complains that Landsman didn't even notice him so deliberately working on his case with his chart earlier in the day, and again Freamon has to remind him that he needs to think beyond Landsman. Like Templeton, McNulty lacks the patience to really work a case/story properly, he just wants to jump to "the good stuff". Freamon insists, so McNulty moves amongst the homeless, some of whom do have jobs but make so little they can't even afford rent, others who have become "excess to requirements" in society, and others who are suffering from obvious mental illness. Amongst the homeless is Johnny "Fifty" Spamanto, one of the Checkers from season 2 who worked with Ziggy and Nick Sobotka on a couple of heists but turned up his nose at getting involved in drugs. His appearance goes unheralded, McNulty doesn't recognize him despite working the docks case. and he soon moves on to exchange business cards with a clearly mentally ill man who takes great offense at how unimpressive McNulty's card is and retreats into his own shelter. McNulty's all too brief encounter with the reality of the often overlooked/forgotten homeless leaves him rattled, and he tells Freamon they should go get a drink. Slim Charles runs up the stairs of a building where loud music is playing, heading for his(?) apartment. But as he prepares to open the door, he's slammed into it by Omar, who appears from around the corner gun drawn and ready to kill... once Slim has told him where to find Joe. Slim, knowing he is a dead man, musters up his dignity and tells Omar to go ahead and do what he has to do, but Joe wasn't involved with Butchie's death. Omar slams the gun into the back of Slim's head and drives him to the floor, in no mood to hear justifications or protests of innocence, but Slim hits him with an undeniable truth - why would Joe give up Butchie to Marlo knowing that if Butchie talked, he'd expose the connection between Joe and Omar on at least one deal where Marlo was the victim? He offers his own demonstration of his character as well, if he for a moment thought that Joe had given up an "innocent" like Butchie, he would help Omar to kill him - Slim, often considering a mercenary working solely for the money, has a code. He wouldn't turn Marlo's bait when he tried to lure Slim away from Joe, and he wouldn't defend Joe if Joe had given up the likes of Butchie to torture. Resigned to his fate and having gotten that off of his chest, Slim lowers his head and waits for Omar to finish him off.... and Omar hesitates then backs away, disappearing from the building and leaving Slim to sit in the corridor, blood seeping from the back of his head, in pain and having come within a hairsbreadth of death... but still alive.   At The Sun, Gus goes over Alma's article on the Commissioner "stepping down" and has a slight, convivial disagreement over whether to use the word "incensed" to describe Carcetti's feelings towards Burrell's failures. In the end they pass it over to Jay Spry, the Overnight Copy Editor, who says its too loaded a term and suggests something less volatile, like vexed, annoyed, or displeased. It's subtle, but it's an example of the dangers of overwriting an article, of avoiding hyperbolic terms that sound great but give the wrong impression. Gus was almost guilty of allowing such a word through, whereas if Scott had his way he would write nothing but hyperbole and flowery language (regardless of what he told The Post about preferring to be dry). Gus does offer Scott some encouragement, though, thanking him for his work with Zorzi catching them up on the Clay Davis story. Alma notes that Scott finally got his "attaboy" from Gus, and asks how his interview went. "Buyer's market out there," he replies, echoing Oscar and providing the epigraph, before telling her that The Sun isn't such a bad paper to work at after all. Oscar overhears a call about a DOA on the radio and speaks up, informing dispatch that he's close by and he'll take the call. The officer who was responding is surprised given Oscar's usual non-proactive stance, and asks if he misheard it as donuts. Oscar suffers the jibes patiently and puts through a call to McNulty, who is in a bar drunkenly showing off his badge to a lady when he gets the call and immediately excuses himself. Elsewhere, Cheese walks down a dark alleyway with Chris Partlow, joking about Chris' CIA poo poo, taking him somewhere secret and not telling him what is going on. Belately he seems to recall that usually a walk down a dark alley with Chris means death, and asks nervously if he's done anything to piss him off recently. Chris doesn't answer, just opens the door to a garage to reveal Snoop waiting with a gun.... and a tied up, gagged, shivering, terrified Hungry Man. Snoops reveals that Hungry Man already poo poo himself and they haven't even gotten started with him, and Chris turns to the surprised Cheese and tells him this is a gift from Marlo.... you give a gift, you get a gift back. Cheese understands exactly what he means, and approaches the man who he blames for his earlier humiliation by Joe with great anticipation.   McNulty calls Freamon from the DOA site, telling him not to bother coming in, the body is too far gone. He tells Oscar as much, and Oscar just replies that he'll just report them to McNulty, and what the detective does after that is up to him. Since he's here though, and Oscar is doing him a favor, then McNulty can do one back and fill out the report for him. McNulty can't argue, much as he dislikes paperwork, and he settles in to write it up. The next day finds Marlo and Prop Joe at the offices of Levy, Weinstein & McHale. Marlo recognizes the name, this is Avon's lawyer, and Joe reveals that Levy represents many of the bigger drug dealers in Baltimore, and not just in regards to criminal law. He is an expert at turning their laundered money into prospering investments, and that is the next step that Joe promised to show Marlo after the Co-Op meeting. They enter the office where Levy greets Joe warmly, and Marlo exchanges a surprised look with Herc who is also present. "You ever find that camera?" he asks, and Herc grumpily replies that it cost him his job, which just makes Marlo smile. Levy, picking up the hostility from his investigator, suggests they adjourn to a meeting room, and Marlo is surprised when Joe doesn't accompany them. Joe explains what happens next is between Marlo and Levy, wanting to demonstrate just how trustworthy Levy is, and thus how trustworthy HE is. They leave, and Joe and Herc are left behind. Joe checks with Herc before taking the other half of his paper to read, and reveals to him that he was a year behind Burrell at Dunbar School, and Burrell was in the Glee Club. Herc is amazed, and can't help but ask, and Joe reveals happily that Burrell was stone stupid. Herc is delighted, of course, and the Drug Kingpin and the former cop go back to happily reading their newspaper. Cheryl leaves Kima with Elijah, a little nervous about going but grateful to have been given the chance to catch up on any number of things that have been requiring attention - she's been off her feet at the station ever since Burrell was fired. Kima joins Elijah who is happily coloring, though unresponsive to her attempts to chat with him. Finally she breaks the ice by talking to one of his toys and declaring she is going to build a house. She grabs out the lego, which every child knows is the greatest toy you can ever have, and the two set about building something together. Daniels moves into his new office - the Deputy Commissioner of Operations, responsible for much of the tactical and day to day running of the Department, overseen only by the Commissioner who issues directives that are in turn often the dictate of the Mayor. Carcetti promised a new day that didn't come, but in one respect at least Daniels was right to hitch his wagon to the Mayor's star, he's risen faster than any police would ever usually expect, especially one who not so long ago was relegated as a Lieutenant to Evidence Control. He sits in the chair and the phone immediately rings, but it is for Rawls. Daniels has to explain that Rawls is now in the Commissioner's office, and after hanging up a huge smile crosses his face - he's now the Deputy Ops for the Baltimore Police Department, and within six months he is going to be Commissioner of Police. That night, Herc meets with Carver in the parking lot of the Western to discuss Colicchio. He's come to Herc hoping he can convince Carver not to write him up, and Herc offers all the usual justifications for a bad-tempered officer's mistakes - he was under pressure, he's proud etc, etc. Carver won't budge though, and reveals this isn't about making rank or even about Colicchio personally. He finally tells Herc what he never told him before, about the impact that Herc's mistake re: Randy had. Rather depressingly, Carver doesn't even remember Randy's name (a kid he offered to adopt!), but his point still stands - what Herc did mattered, and everything that they do as police matters. He and Herc used to think it didn't, that they could just run around doing whatever and their badges and their superiors would protect them in the name of being "police"... but it shouldn't work like that. Herc points out that this means Carver will be hanging Colicchio out to dry, and asks if Carver thinks this means HE deserved to lose his job the way he did too. Carver doesn't answer, but Herc reveals a surprising maturity... or at least, just how deep his loyalty to his friend goes. He agrees that maybe he did deserve to be kicked off the force, and while other officers will give Carver poo poo for this for at least a little while... gently caress them, Carver needs to do what has to be done. The two friends toast each other and take a drink, both have taken very different journeys since season one, but the depth of their friendship has remained strong.   McNulty returns home, doing his best to freshen up, gargling mouthwash. All his (terrible) efforts to clean up are for naught though, because Beadie is up and catches him, and she wants him to face up to a few things. He tries to bullshit his way out of things, but she knows his hours and won't accept his excuse that he was late because he got a call, because they had to call him somewhere and he sure as hell wasn't as home. He admits that he was having "a couple of drinks" when the call came through, and seems exasparated that she won't grasp the fact that he's chasing a serial killer and that requires commitment. The scope of the lie has grown enough for him now that HE is the one getting upset that she won't take the serial killer that he made up seriously, and when he gets another call form Oscar in the middle of her essentially giving him an ultimatum, he's preparing to head out the door again. She asks him if he doesn't want to be with her anymore, and he throws his arms wide, insists once again that it's a serial killer and then he's out the door. McNulty is a smart guy, but you have to wonder how much self-awareness he has if he can't see that wrecking his relationship in pursuit of a made-up case that he plans to use to defraud the Department out of money to pursure a DIFFERENT case... well maybe there's a problem with his priorities in life? Omar and Donnie peer out the broken glass window of the spot where Omar and Renaldo once performed surveillance on Marlo... but Marlo is nowhere to be seen. He's changed up his routine, and Donnie says the word is that he and his people went to the mattresses the moment they'd finished with Butchie... they knew Omar would be coming. Omar is unconcerned though, he knows that Marlo's people have to be out on the streets if they want to run those corners, and that means they're vulnerable, and if he takes out enough of them then Marlo will have to surface. Donnie points out Monk, one of the Lieutenants, and Omar tells him to take note of Monk's ride - they're going to start with Monk and work their way up. Freamon arrives to the latest homeless DOA, where Oscar is waiting outside. Inside the vacant he finds McNulty already positioning the body and setting up the scene, creating "defense words" on the OD victim's corpse and then taking the false teeth from Lester to put bite marks onto the skin. They need to give the papers something sensational, something to capture the public's imagination and get them worked up enough that the Bosses start providing money to McNulty to solve the case.... which he'll then pass on as resources to Freamon to work the Stanfield case. All it requires is ignoring the fact that the dead body they're using was a human being with thoughts, feelings and their own background history - regardless of whatever caused him to end up where he is now. Prop Joe packs his bags, ready to get out of Baltimore until he can be sure the Omar situation has been resolved. He would have been gone earlier, but he agreed to spend the day introducing Marlo to Levy, a kindness that will ultimately cost him. Cheese joins him and comments on the old fashioned property that Joe owns, asking why he doesn't get something bigger or more elaborate considering how much money he has. Joe points to an old black and white photo of Cheese's great grandfather, explaining that he was the first colored man to own property in Johnson Square - and that means something, something that Cheese and his generation have lost. Cheese is unimpressed by this nostalgia, and unconcerned by Joe's warning to be on the lookout for Omar, who left Slim Charles alive but may not be so merciful where Cheese is concerned. Cheese tells him he'll wait for him outside and heads out the door, and Joe is just about to follow... when the door opens and in walks Marlo, making one last invasion into Joe's inner sanctum, taking even that from him. Joe pauses in mid-motion for just a second, the angles running through his mind as he grasps too late what all of Marlo's interest in the way he operates has been about - Marlo isn't here to see him off, at least not in the way he would like. He asks if Cheese betrayed him and Marlo nods, and Joe sighs that Cheese was always a disappointment, then raises a stern glare to Marlo and tells him he treated him like a son. Marlo's cold response says it all,"I wasn't made to play the son." Joe, mind always turning, reminds him about his Connection, and Marlo sighs and reveals he knows all about the Greeks, and that they're okay with what he is doing. Like something out of a nightmare, Chris Partlow appears out of focus and in shadow in the background and steps up behind Joe, who makes one last final bid to negotiate with a man who sees negotiation as nothing but a sign of weakness - he'll step out of the way, retire for good and leave Marlo to run things as he likes - his life is more than enough for Joe. Marlo disagrees, he knows Joe and Joe knows Joe, and he wouldn't be retired for more than a few minutes before that crafty mind of his was running the angles again and getting up to mischief. "The truth is," Marlo notes, showing an awareness of his own nature,"You wouldn't be able to change up any more than me." In perhaps the only demonstration Marlo would ever make of softness, he quietly tells Joe to close his eyes, to breath and relax. Giving the nod to Chris, he watches as Chris pulls the trigger and blows Prop Joe's brilliant brains out of his head. The look on Marlo's face is almost orgasmic, not because he gets off on violence or pain, but because by that gesture and Chris' response, he has solidified his own power. He wasn't made to play the son, but he's just symbolically killed his "father" and replaced him, and now the last two great drug kingpins of the West Side and East Side have fallen in battle against him. Avon Barksdale's empire is destroyed and Avon in prison, Joe's empire remains intact but Joe is now dead and his nephew in Marlo's pocket.... behold the new King of Baltimore. 
Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 03:55 on Nov 30, 2013 |
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Nov 29, 2013 04:51
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Jerusalem posted:Carver looks around at the other officers present, all of whom seem either embarrassed or amused, and realizes that things have gone too far. Taking an important step in his own development, Carver quietly tells Colicchio that he is going to write him up for excessive force and conduct unbecoming. Colicchio is horrified, his Sergeant-in-Charge isn't going to back him? Even now though, he's too stupid and short-sighted to react with anything but anger, and he declares angrily that if Carver charges him, then he is a rat. Carver, having finally realized you can only let so much slide in the name of protecting your own, replies calmly,"Then I'm a rat," and walks out the door, leaving Colicchio standing amongst the others, confused and angry, still no closer to understanding why he was in the wrong and that this is all a problem of his own making. I believe Carver actually gets the nod from Michael Santangelo (the former Homicide detective).
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Nov 29, 2013 09:04
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Couple of corrections:Jerusalem posted:Marlo recognizes the name, this is Avon's lawyer, and Joe reveals that About the headshot, from what I understand, the idea is that, by taking money from someone and then later paying it back, you essentially have an outstanding loan, which must be declared on a credit application. I can understand why this would be illegal, but the punishment seems completely over the top given the actual money involved. 30 years over $80,000 is incredibly excessive, but, from what I can tell, you can face similar sentences for far, far less money. Why is the sentencing so harsh on something that seems rather innocuous?
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Nov 29, 2013 13:44
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dwazegek posted:About the headshot, from what I understand, the idea is that, by taking money from someone and then later paying it back, you essentially have an outstanding loan, which must be declared on a credit application. I can understand why this would be illegal, but the punishment seems completely over the top given the actual money involved. 30 years over $80,000 is incredibly excessive, but, from what I can tell, you can face similar sentences for far, far less money. American law is such a vast clusterfuck that basically everyone has something going on that could send them to prison at all times. It's really convenient to have laws like this that don't regularly get enforced because nobody investigates for them at all, but then can put someone away for basically life whenever it comes in handy. David Simon wrote a little more on the Head Shot here: http://davidsimon.com/kwame-brown-another-federal-case-another-head-shot/ Orange Devil fucked around with this message at 15:51 on Nov 29, 2013 |
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Nov 29, 2013 15:49
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They got Capone on tax evasion.
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Nov 29, 2013 15:50
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Note also that Ed Norris was charged with a Head Shot plus two other charges of corruption and tax fraud. He plead guilty to the corruption and tax fraud and took 6 months in prison, presumably to get out of the Head Shot. The Head Shot was over $9,000.
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Nov 29, 2013 15:58
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If your parents give you $5000 when you're in the process of buying a house, you're fine, right?. But if they loan it to you ("just pay us whenever you have the money"), you're screwed. Since these sort of loans between family are probably undocumented, could you argue that they gave you the money, and a couple of years later you gave them some money as well, with no relation between those two gifts? Or is this one of those cases where everyone will just take any sort of plea rather than risk facing a massive sentence?
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Nov 29, 2013 16:32
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dwazegek posted:If your parents give you $5000 when you're in the process of buying a house, you're fine, right?. But if they loan it to you ("just pay us whenever you have the money"), you're screwed. Based on what I read the moment you pay the money back you create insurmountable evidence that you are guilty of the Head Shot and that means you are proper hosed. If it was a gift then someone is still probably on the hook for some kind of tax liability but that's way less of an issue. The statute of limitations appears to be 10 years so I guess theoretically if you pay it back to them more than 10 years later you might be alright. Alternatively try to make the paper trail really hard to follow, like paying a holiday for them or something.
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Nov 29, 2013 18:53
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Orange Devil posted:David Simon wrote a little more on the Head Shot here: http://davidsimon.com/kwame-brown-another-federal-case-another-head-shot/ I think if David Simon felt this way about the head shot, then he should have portrayed its use as something less than an unambiguous good that Bond was too cocky to use.
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Nov 29, 2013 22:45
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