Corner Boys

Up Through: Episode 55 "React Quotes"
Well, Vic - you've very adequately summed up a lot of what came out of 55 (Omar the Flying Squirrel, a double-helix of bullshit spun by McNulty and Templeton, the foreshadowed rise of Mr. Bond - an interesting character name, that one), so if I may, I'd love to return for a moment to what, in my opinion is a) the crowning achievement of this show and b) the one storyline most at risk of falling victim to an unsatisfying end: namely, Michael, Dukie, Randy and Namond, and the many-sided prism they give us to view the main character of the show: Baltimore as the post-industrial American City, warts and all.

Now, this may be more of a "keep these thoughts in mind as the show goes forward" post than a "the first 5 episodes have led me to the following conclusions" post, but with a thuggish-looking Randy peeking through in "scenes from the next"this week, maybe this is a good time to pause and check in on our 4 boys Edward Tilghman Middle.

One thing you each heard me say a lot as the season was getting going was my theory that, but for his career as a reporter, it seems likely to me that David Simon would maybe have reversed the focus of Seasons 4 and 5, choosing to explore the news media before turning a final "where did this all come from" eye to the education system. It would have emerged as a very different show, I think, and it's obviously besides the point, but it's to his credit and his detriment that he chose to cap things off with the media, because in my estimation, the 4 boys are the most extraordinary thing television has ever seen (wouldn't be a good Wire post without some superlatives right) - unparalleled character development, acting, physicality, risk-taking, etc.


Ellie already spoke some to Dukie and his (finally) connecting with Cutty to share a sense of imprisonment within the many walls of the hood. An amazing scene, one I'm really eager to watch again - in particular, the way the scene transitions from inside to outside, as if to underscore that it's not only physical walls holding these two in, but much more evasive, if more concrete walls - lack of family, poverty, crime, the growing absence of upward mobility in American culture, etc. I was reassured somewhat when Michael echoed Cutty's sentiments by saying "you've got other skills" (Run, Dukie, to Silicon Valley and throw yourself at their mercy!), but the scene in general brought in so much of what the show tries to communicate, and didn't (thank god) bash you over the head with it.

Michael, as before, remains the more complex and more difficult figure. You want to put him out of your mind - he's gone thug now, he's one of them, he's not the boy I knew, peeing in water balloons and whatnot - but they seem to have made a conscious decision not to let us off that easily. Instead, we're going to get a more realistic view - one that shows that just because he's picked up with Chris and Marlo doesn't mean he's an instant sociopath. He didn't shoot the kid, he's trying to manage a new life not just for himself but for Bug and Dukie, and part of that management has been drawing harsh boundaries around himself - witness his cold treatment of his mother and his chilling look at Cutty as he stops, quite tellingly, before crossing the threshold into the gym. Sad to say, I think we all know where Michael is headed - people pulling back from the game are a needle in a haystack. But it's to the credit of all the producers, writers, etc, that they understand the bond they've created, understand Michael as metaphor for the whole game, and (I hope) they are not going to let us dismiss him as easily as we might be inclined to do out of sheer self-protection. If that ship goes down, we might have to watch it fall apart board-by-board.

Will Randy somehow make up for this? Has group home living toughened him too, bled his soul too? Somehow they'll need to make his story different from Michael's (or Bodie's for that matter), but boy I sure can't figure out how. Ms Anna makes a miraculous recovery and they get the hell out of dodge? Sadly, I think not. And I have to think we get to see Namond again, if only because not doing so would mean no resolution for either him or Bunny. Where will his fifteenth year have taken him?

Not too much new here, but just to say, I'll be keeping my eye on the kids - you can't bring something like that into a narrative and let it fizzle out. As goes Randy, so goes the universe. Gulp.