Grid Effect

Well, at least Omar severely broke his leg and is hobbling around the streets after going all Heroes on us, much to the chagrin of Marlo and Co. It’s probably a good thing they didn’t actually show the fall, and I wish Omar still had an ally left because I want an explanation as to what motivated him to leap off a five story balcony (other than a lack of options). Did this suffice the audience at large?

Probably not. When you have a series that runs four seasons on the foundation of a gritty depiction of crumbling American institutions and urban despair, then in its final season one of the more beloved characters plunges dozens of yards to what’s probably his death (albeit one of its more farcical characters, but never portrayed as super human) only to have him tape himself up in a utility closet, people are going to complain. David Simon has enabled us with these high expectations, so I guess he can only blame himself.

But we fear Omar might be in over his head this time. Marlo runs his operation like a military outfit, and I would never underestimate the determination of someone like Chris Partlow. His knife play while in hideout is indicative of military training, the same as when he cleared out that apartment building. We know he has a family, now we want more back story. We know that Omar excels at catching his victims off guard, but when have we ever seen Marlo, Chris or Snoop alone and vulnerable to one of his sneak attacks. He can roll up on someone with limited muscle, be it Fat Face Rick or Slim Charles or anyone else, he can also take out Marlo’s mules and cash collectors, but I can’t anticipate him getting the drop on any of those three.

Not that the rest of the drug community seems all that eager to do his bidding, but with a bounty like the one Marlo placed on Omar’s head in a city as poor as Baltimore, anyone could give him up. Maybe Marlo’s unveiling will be him dismantling the co-op and increasing the selling price on drugs. We’re hoping at least, because the rate this season is going, the street is much more likely to get to him than the police department, which is depressing in its own right. We’re still holding out for a Slim Charles rebellion.

Someone needs an breathing inside fucking source.

But should the cops take put him behind bars, Bunk would be getting much better odds than McNulty. His actual investigation of Bug’s dad seems to have promise now that Mike’s mom helped him connect the dots (given her drug habit and her kids who abandoned her (rightfully), I guess she doesn’t mind the snitch label anymore). He’s a nose hair away from having DNA on Chris, but yet more unintended consequences from McNulty’s scheme, everyone and every resource is being occupied by his nonsense.

Speaking of which, this is when McNulty begins to fall apart at the seams and become utterly despicable? Great. For awhile now we’re been apologists for the crime and punishment chap, while people found what he was doing was utterly reprehensible from the start (and obviously we’re not disagreeing, but we could understand the motivation better than most), we tended to let it slide because of his natural, simplistic understanding of good vs. evil and how relatable that often is, especially when his target is someone like Marlo, whom even if he had a middle class, salt of the earth type upbringing, we’re quite certain he’d still be a serial killer.

As immune as we generally are to the more depressing scenes in this series, the depiction of the mentally-ill homeless man had our jaw dropped for the entire ten or so minutes he was on screen. While it is darkly comedic in a lot of ways, and despite how sensationalistic it would have been, we didn’t put it past McNulty to murder Larry when we saw him on the street. What they did was bad enough, and we’re not entirely sure how McNulty can actually get away with this after showing his face at that D.C. shelter, and the case getting national attention, but we’ll see how it plays out. But we are officially at the point where even if they catch Marlo and excusing McNulty’s immorality, the ends do not justify the means.

Scott finally does some actual journalism, and wouldn’t you know it, he turned in something everyone could get on board with. We’re not certain he had an attack of conscious listening to that Iraq war vet tell his story, but it looked like something registered with him. Not that we’re expecting him to confess all his questionable decision making or anything, but it painted him as something more than a stock character. Someone for us to point the finger at and say, that’s the bad guy. Because before this transpired, if he is actually disgraced and terminated, he might as well pull a Scarface when exiting The Sun. At this point its just a matter of which lie will unravel the other: McNulty’s or Templeton’s. Since Jimmy is wise to Scott’s bullshit and not the other way around, we assume the latter.

The thing with the woman dying from food poisoning definitely reminded us of his character, and watching Gus play him so haphazardly was beautiful. The way constantly makes Scott believe he’s relating to him, calling the woman in question an, “ol’ biddy who probably doesn’t know what she’s talking about”, and in no way lets on that he is skeptical of him, really puts him in the echelon of great Wire protagonists, which includes Daniels, Sobotka, Bunk, Kima and…I suppose that’s about it. Several characters have had their transformations, but those are the only consistently virtuous personalities we’ve been introduced too.

One thing I love about this series and particularly this season, is how even the moments that send a chill up your spine are predicated on lies. Like say, for instance, Carcetti’s speech to the press about the homeless. As impassioned and determined as he sounded, it was A) Politically motivated, and B) ultimately pointless. And while it’s humorous, when you think back on it later in the episode while watching McNulty kidnap, abduct and use another human being for his elaborate hoax, it’s hard not to take Carcetti’s speech seriously.

Other notes:

-Not sure if it was nice to see Randy again. We probably just could have assumed what happened to him, but at least it didn’t appear like he was getting brutalized anymore, but rather enforcing the brutalization. God, what a depressingly necessary transition that kid was forced to make.

-Sobotka was another alum to make a reappearance, just as disgruntled as ever. Krawcheyk’s line, “That’s nobody Mr. Mayor, nobody at all” really summed up Carcetti’s and every other politicians disconnect from the cities they run.

-Phelan is just as stubborn and hesitant as ever, but is seemingly still the best the city has to offer in the way of overseeing the progress of major cases. It’s good to see McNulty is still as petulant as ever.

-Which reminds me, the department is fully aware of the leak that Prop Joe was supposedly the recipient of. Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t all the information Prop Joe had made available to the public? Or was that just a cover to protect his source(s)? If the latter, it’s pretty depressing that a noted drug dealer has more journalistic integrity than actual journalists.

-Speaking of which, his “excuse me” when he was talking to that statue might be the comedic highlight of the season.

-McNulty is seeming downright homicidal at the moment. His temperamental, hostile tone with Lester is why we almost expected him to go all Patrick Bateman on Larry.

Things are really starting to piece together, and the fact we only have four episodes after this is almost unbelievable. How in the hell are they going to wrap up all these stories in a critically (not personally) satisfying manner? Virtually nothing has been resolved and very little of it has even gotten off the ground. Buckle up kids, its only going to get more heart-wrenching.

Might come back with some links before the day is up.