Shame Ain’t Worth As Much As You Think

Up Through: Episode 55 “React Quotes”

To begin - wow wow wow. I may be wrong, but that felt like the most densely packed episode of any show in the history of television. Woe be unto the casual viewer who checks in for the first time on Sunday to see what all the hype is about.

Each of the following plots could have been the central thread of the episode:

-Nerese making moves to become the Prop Joe of the political sphere

-Dukie’s frustration with being out of place and having no outlet (my top prediction for the season - Dukie becomes a blogger!)

-The domestic situation of one James McNulty

-Clay Davis circling the wagons, in style of course (I wager that ep 55 featured the longest “Sheeeeeeet” by at least 3/4ths of a second)

-Ingenious Freamon setting up the old bait and switch because nobody understands how wiretaps work

-Daniels eating crap from the mayor and then rolling it on down the hill

-Herc doing right by Carver

But no, the heart of ep 55 was McNulty and Templeton, squared off in The Sun’s newsroom, each feeding off the other's bullshit and then realizing they're being fed bullshit but can't call it out without showing their cards, destabilizing both of them. Jimmy, there's more than one of your kind out there. There’s a touch of the Cold War in that situation, and no small amount of Infernal Affairs (sorry, The Departed).

I thought of Templeton as a less charming McNulty (they even look alike), but hell if I saw this one coming. What I wouldn’t give to see the live MRI of Templeton’s brain at the moment Jimmy says the killer also mentioned the number 12. What an amazing set of calculations he has to be making. Scott’s invented killer was so obviously cobbled from 1990s movies (especially Seven), that there’s no way he can believe the call to McNulty was genuine - it’s too much of a coincidence. When both sides wield their institutional golden fleeces - confidential sources for the journos and ongoing investigations for Bushytop - McNulty and Templeton know the truth will not out for some time, so the paranoia will start to ratchet. To Wong Foo Thanks For Everything Judith Miller!

Hm, let me think, what else did we learn this episode?

Michael is becoming Chris.

Chris’ loyalty to Marlo has a breaking point.

Snoop aims for the head.

Royce is working his way through the facial hair varietals - goatee, clean shaven, mustachioed.

McNulty likes the Ramones and one of his sons has their haircut without knowing it.

Bond will become a bigger character.

For some reason, Chris thinks it’s a better plan to bait and wait for Omar’s assault than to creep up and shoot him as he reconnoiters.

The only time Michael and Dukie get to experience nature is when they train for killing.

Bubs wants physical suffering to cleanse his soul - very medieval if you ask me.

The old imitate-a-racial-stereotype-to-confirm-a-target’s-phone-number-trick isn’t solely licensed to Carver.

When Freamon says “thh-ree” he sounds like the owl from the old Tootsie Pop ads.

The Wire was originally a show about a wiretap investigation to stop crime. It’s now about an unauthorized and extralegal wiretap run with the cover of a fake and useless wiretap ordered by the court to investigate a fake criminal. It’s like the Iran-Contra deal, but the hostages are leprechauns.

I figure that weird signal at the end was some sort of data package, like an image of Zorba, sent by Marlo’s phone. Stanfield’s reaction when Vondas shows him the communication method points to this or something like it. Maybe it was encrypted.

Did we learn anything else?

Oh right, OMAR CAN FLY.

Your thoughts on this episode?

Stupid Moves Thus Far

Up Through: Episode 54

With Prop Joe's end justly taking the air out of the room as far as commentary goes, (Slate discussion here, another good post here) I wanted to note a few mistakes that seem to set up a few more major falls.

Levy

What is he thinking, letting Herc stay in the room as Marlo and Joe pop by? Even if he hadn't vetted Herc's prior police investigations, it's a dumb move to have your freshly exed-cop acting as a pseudo-receptionist for such a specialized clientele. Levy knows that Herc still keeps up with his old friends - this one blows my mind for stupidity.
Prediction: Herc steals files and breaks Levy after Marlo baits him once more.

Marlo

Too much too fast. I think that the po-po detail coming off let Marlo's id and ambition explode outward, heedless of timing and strategy. Marlo's big mistake is combining his takeover of the co-op package with baiting Omar to come a-callin'. Those are two wars that didn't have to coincide. He could have sat on the Butchie tip for a while, or waited until the takeover was done before trying to smoke out Ay-yo. Marlo sees the throne and has no patience for putting anything on the back burner. He can't find peace as the king without eliminating anyone who's ever crossed him. That said, I love this storyline, and the line "I wasn't meant to play the son" should've been Shakespeare's.

Prediction: Omar wreaks substantially more havoc (bye-bye Snoop in ep 55 or 56) on Marlo's crew with information passed along by Marlo's former co-op partners, especially Mr. "Got mo' fierce" himself, Slim Charles.

McNulty

You might view this whole season as one big mistake by 'ol Bushytop, but if we take his dubious mission as gospel, he's going about it in a highly-traceable way. For a man that's about to launch a sadistic serial killer into the minds of the city and its public servants, McNulty is being needlessly careless, acting in ways that one might remember as "hey, wasn't that kinda funny?" once McNulty is on the front page scaring the crap out of Bawlmore. No smoking guns of course, and Bunk, Lester and Lester's old partner are each positioned to bring the axe down were they to decide to do so, so McNulty might not be brought low by such sloppiness. Still, he's in full rapscallion mode, where perhaps a stealthy and tight-lipped approach might serve him better in his new serial-killer-inventing and corpse-defiling hobby.
Prediction: I think McNulty gets put-in by a busted Templeton (who will presumably jump on the serial killer story - the irony of a fabricating reporter writing sensational real news about a fabricated killer is delicious), but prior to getting locked up, he drunkenly sidles up to Marlo late at night and talks trash. Night, Jimmy.

Am I wrong in thinking there were a higher number of ill-advised moves by savvy characters this episode?