Grid Effect

It stands a good chance that I begin to write all my posts hungover. With the whole TMJ thing afflicting me so immensely, being hungover is about the best I feel on a weekly basis. Then again, it could be my thought process and how I am continually sidetracked. For instance, you know how when they occasionally visually illustrate Homer’s mindset and it typically involves something like a monkey cranking a wheel or a leprechaun juggling? Well, mine is similar, except it’s something along the lines of “thewirethewirethewirethewire-eat-thewirethewirethewire-eat-thewire-lift/jog-thewirethewirethewire-sleep.” It’s draining, yet this is how I live my life. Sad? Maybe. Totally fucking worth it? I have many regrets in my life, but this isn’t one of them. Yes, absolutely worth it.

If you watched “Not For Attribution” then you might be able to relate. After the much maligned first two episodes in which even Wire faithful were questioning the direction this season was taking (a dissent I could understand, but disagreed with), this episode probably put everyone on board. Whenever you have a torture scene, an Omar introduction, three divergences outside the Baltimore city limits and intertwining stories that include the same torrid message about government and institutional failure. Well, there’s little for us to nitpick.

First, obviously, is the development of McNulty’s serial killer. Just when he appears to be in dire straits and is potentially considering throwing in the towel, in comes Lester to validate the shennanigans. I once said I could almost see justifying the plan, but that just kind of feeds into the whole notion that, “no one gives a good fuck” (Thanks Jay, you soulless dick). Like everything else on The Wire, shades of gray are the overwhelming circumstances. Should McNulty throw in the towel, Marlo owns the western uncontested and countless others die. If he throws together some ungodly scheme to generate funding, then he is playing God, desecrating the deceased and is certainly going to hell. All depends on your individual values, I suppose.

Personally, we were relieved all he was doing with that corpse was putting a ribbon on his arm.

Still, throwing Lester into the mix, with the ever disgruntled Bunk playing their ineffectual moral conscious, really creates quite the riff. How long is Bunk going to tolerate what he so clearly and adamantly disapproves of? He would never go to Landsman, but probably attempt to sabotage their efforts if he continues to grow more and more despondent. Nice to have the Barlow back complaining about interior housing design.

Marlo’s ever-growing desire for power is fascinating, sickening, disturbing all at the same time. What isn’t he willing to do? And how far can he really expand with his diminutive insight for anything beyond killing? We’re all kind of hoping The Greek keeps him at bay, but a suitcase full of money can be pretty, pretty persuasive. It makes sense Cheese would see Marlo’s strategy as more effective than Joe’s, given the generational gap and all, which this show likes to focus on rather regularly. For instance, I don’t think Avon or Prop Joe would have ever done to Butchie what Marlo sent Chris and Snoop out to do. And I also don’t think any of them would have betrayed a family member like Cheese did by giving Butchie up (though Stringer and Avon bother sort of did such to each other, it was out of survival and not vanity or ego).

Watching Prop Joe’s neutrality betray him is kind of depressing. He’s content and has never done anything on camera that was too illicit, but he probably did went through a similar series of events that Marlo is going through to get where he’s at. Marlo’s just the symbol of natural progression that The Game was going to take. The generation under Michael is probably going to be taking out cops on a regular basis. Still, you’d expect a kingpin to be a little more worldly. Marlo’s demonstration at the bank ran counter to that. Is he even familiar with the concept of foreign languages? Did he notice that what was coming out of her mouth didn’t even remotely resemble anything coherent? The manner in which he just raised his voice is a resounding “no” for both of those questions.

In what’s probably my favorite scene from this season, Michael, clearly disconcerted with the path his life has taken, takes off to Six Flags with Bug and Dukie to live a semblance of the last leg of their childhood. What’s separates Michael from others of his ilk, is that even though he’s killed and will undoubtedly kill again, he isn’t desensitized to it. And ultimately, wants a normal life. And that’s what made the scene all the more tragic. How this innocuous trip to an amusement park filled with riding rides, playing games and flirting with girls will be a distant memory for all three of them sooner than later.

So it looks like Burrell is finally on his last legs and Daniels has been incriminated falsely in the process. It’s amazing to see how systemic all these issues are, even when he has a viable excuse and is implored by his boss to produce clean, untampered numbers, he still goes against all conventional wisdom. Amazingly, this could effect Marla’s standing on the city council as well. Speaking of which, I know it must be tempting to use an anonymous quote like the one Scott gave Gus, but isn’t Gus just as culpable for approving it when he is so innately skeptical? I figured he would at least go back on the story and double check with Nareese Campbell. I’ve never worked in a newspaper, obviously, my writing is evidence of that, but this seems like a perfectly acceptable reaction. Seems everyone falls victim to convenience, even our overly lionized city editor.

Other notes:

-Day Day grand jury scene and subsequent panicked conversation with Clay Davis was another flashback to season one (along with Barlow, whom we hadn’t seen since the pilot), and also hysterical. His “focus” quote was one of many laugh out loud moments, including “we have to kill again” and McNulty’s colorful dismissal of all his counterparts poor skill-set.

-The scene between Norman and Gus, wherein the latter is forcing a story onto his former coworker. If this seemed random and contrived to you, Norman has mentioned his stint in the journalism field before. In season four after Mayor Royce’s attempted smear campaign against Carcetti with the slumlord, Norman said something along the lines of, “I didn’t work at The Sun for twenty years not to have any connections”.

-One last McNulty scene, when he walks out of the bar bathroom, studies his distraught and discombobulated expression, the walks up to the woman he was talking to and opens up with, “I’m back”, then women speaks for the audience and replies, “I can see that”, then flashes to him fucking her on the hood of his car is about McNulty’s character arc in a nutshell. And I like it.

Couldn’t ask for more or better, we are absolutely content with the quantity and quality thus far. Enjoy tonight’s episode and we’ll be back tomorrow morning.