Season 5 of The Wire -- Episode 1

Why haven't I thought of us doing this before now? Well, it's only right that for the final season of The Wire we are documenting our discussion. This first post will be a bit patchy -- we've already discussed a lot, but I am going to throw some stuff out that will at least give us something to chew on and some background that we may want to revisit as the season continues.

I've already fessed up to having watched the second episode early -- but I did that before we decided on the blog. I think for anyone who happens upon us, we should not discuss episode 52 until it airs Sunday. So, the only ground rule I am setting is that we don't leak spoilers for those who are confined to the regular broadcast schedule.

Episode 51 opens with Bunk questioning someone we can't see. On my first watch, I wondered if he might have Chris or Snoop in the room, but that thought quickly evaporated when he said that the person's partner was "putting you in" in the next room. Lots of things are uncertain in the world of The Wire, but Chris or Snoop cracking isn't one of the things up for grabs. Sure enough, as the episode progresses, it becomes clear that a year has passed since we were last with these characters and Chris and Snoop are no longer not in custody but have had their hearing delayed twice.

Marlo is shown sure of himself, holding court and fully aware of McNulty and his "spyglass." (Did either of you find that terminology strange for Marlo?) I love that we immediately know that Snoop and Chris are clearly unphased by last season's gun charge. We see Snoop right where she has always been, and her great line of the first episode, "We gonna be brief with all you all motherfuckers - I think you know," let's us know that it is business as usual for Marlo's crew, police detail be damned.

Our first glimpse of Chris is also our fist glimpse of Michael, who we see is now entrenched in the game. Michael showed an allegiance to Chris, here, that I think may get him into trouble: his offer to accompany Chris to the meeting with Marlo seemed to me an act of loyalty to Chris, not Marlo. Chris, like Snoop, conducts himself with air of certainty that again suggests the upper hand that Marlo and his crew hold before we get that confirmed from the city hall budget cut.

I thought it was great to see Burrell and Rawls back to working as a team. That seemed right to me. Of course these two would play as a team, despite personal animosity, if that's what had the greatest chance of keeping them individually afloat. (The scene where they deliver the news to Daniels was painful. You could just see the delight on both of their faces when they slapped down Daniels insinuation that he had better suction with the mayor by telling him that he had to return his take-home car.) Carcetti seems like he's grasping at straws. We learn in the interchange between Carcetti, Rupert (can't remember his last name), and Daniels that Carcetti isn't going to be able to make good in his promises to the police department until the new fiscal year --which, by the way, did we get a clear indication of what time of year it is? School's in session and it doesn't appear too warm or cold -- maybe March? The new fiscal year is July, so depending on what month it is, things could get a lot worse before Carcetti is able to do much to dig out the police department.

The co-op meeting was huge for me, and it was also the moment that left the most unsaid. I was unsure how to read the unspoken conversation between Cheese and Marlo. The stare is given heavy-handed air time -- we are meant to notice. Do you think there's a chance Cheese is going to make an appeal to Marlo, or did you read the anger in Cheese's face as being toward Marlo? I love Slim Charles in this scene, "Don't sleep on Marlo. He up in some shit here." He remains a favorite of mine -- he, to me, is an older Michael in some ways -- smart, and able to see beyond the game (recall his handling of Cutty). I also liked the parallel to the Westard expansion here, with Marlo asking Slim if he was ready to "pioneer for us?".

We knew in season four that Marlo was going to make a move at getting access to the Greek himself. Here we see him taking that journey one step further, sending Chris to get info on Serge, who presumably could hook him up with Vondas. We know that if that deal comes to be, a lot is going to happen. First, I think the Greek is the only one with connections enough to be a real threat to Omar (should Marlo ask for help eventually with that); at the same time, Marlo is way out of his league with the Greek, and we may see Marlo finally being put in his place should he try to play the Greek as he has attempted to control and manipulate every other situation.

There were a lot of subtle details that I loved in episode 51, one of the aspects that makes The Wire so great for me. This episode was also very tightly packaged and framed, something that becomes much more obvious on a second viewing. Before I end with what I noticed in terms of parallels and balances, I want to comment on a few things I need to see more of before I can say I think it's working.

The newspaper still has to be developed more before I can respond fully. It's my recollection that I often don't love the way one of these institutional characters is introduced. I had concerns about the port and the school as a character due to heavy-handedness in each of those respective first episodes, and I think this is just the inevitable outcome of the first time you try to bring one of these big themes into the show. I am hopeful that it will begin to feel more natural once the background doesn't need to be established in every moment dealing with that theme (a feeling present here and in the other respective first episodes with a new focus). Gutierrez seems a bit unbelievable to me so far -- she's just too passive. Also, I know why they chose to have her look up evacuated in the dictionary, but let's face it, she'd look it up on the computer not a desk copy. She's not Spry. Also, I am sure it's not intentional, but... I am just saying that Templeton is the name of the rat in Charlotte's Web...

On to what I noticed in terms of how tightly this episode is balanced. David Simon has gone to a lot of trouble to give us foils, mirrors, and parallels in this episode. We see the Western meeting, the newspaper meeting, and the meeting between Daniels and Major Crimes as essentially the same meeting. In fact, the same sentence is spoken in the context of two of those meetings (though both are not actually at the meeting itself) and that is the "wonder what it feels like to work at a real..." (fill in newspaper or police department). Even the co-op meeting, come to think of it, is a parallel here with Prop Joe giving out bad news and Marlo acting as the "restless native," in Mello's terms.

We see some interesting parallels using Michael's character. First, there is the Connect Four lesson, which heavily recalls D'Angelo's instruction in Chess to Wallace, Bodie, and Poot. We also see a comparison drawn between Michael and Freaman. Michael struggles to keep things on the corner under control while also balancing the morale of Dukie and his corner boys. Freaman wants to stay on Marlo in a way that will get the job done, but he's got to keep the morale of Kima and Sydnor high. These two scenes are butted up against each other, and I don't think it's by mistake. We also see the parallel drawn between the street and the police when Kima remarks, "Every day, same shit," in the first surveillance shot, and it cuts immediately to the command meeting with Carver, the first of the official bad news meetings. In his final season, I think Simon is going to make a lot of efforts to show the degree to which the show has always been about a single fabric, Baltimore, but I just hope he doesn't getting carried away with weaving the threads. I prefer the more subtle nod, like when we get that great moment where Simon throws three of the worlds together when Chris interrupts Rhonda, Rupert, and Daniels in the courthouse (street, law, city hall). And, of course, he's on his way to grab a picture from the port plot, so really the only one missing is the paper.

As I sign off, I have to say that watching this episode again I was struck by the misanthropy of this episode and something of a pervasive sense of contempt for everything. Throughout the episode there is a sense of fatalism -- the idea that the future is inescapable and unfixable is stated more than once. In addition, we have a Marxist argument that seems too big too miss -- down to Landsman saying, "The machine is never wrong, son." All of these people are just cogs in a machine that will use them until they break and then they will be replaced without pity or pause. It's bleak.

And then there's Norris's comment, "Americans are a stupid people by in large; we pretty much believe what we're told." I kept thinking of that statement while watching the episode again, and I wondered why Simon used "Americans" and not "people." Does he really meant to indict America and Americans here? I'm inclined to think that the ignorance that he speaks of is inherent in any society where there is a ruling class or government. It just works better when people believe what they're told, and I don't think Americans are alone in that.

Before I sign off, some trivia. I have always assumed that Jay Landsman plays Jay Landsman. But today, when I looked up Mello's name, I learned that he is the real-life Jay Landsman. He apparently read for the role based on him but was told he wasn't right for the part (a smart decision since he is not a very good actor). Anyway, if you want to learn more about the real life Landsman, check this out: http://www.thefader.com/articles/2006/12/07/listening-in-part-iii

Can't wait to hear what you guys have to say about episode 51.

Until then.