What Day Is It?

From the standpoint of pure viewing enjoyment, I think last night's edition of The Wire was the best season four has had to offer.

Let me single out the economy of narrative achieved by letting the plot thread about Namond's lieutenant stealing the stash on claiming it had been jacked allow Prop Joe's dilemma at the end to move forward without explication. That sort of internal echoing has always been one of the show's great strengths -- the kids were engaged in a kind of Russian doll version of the grand scheme playing out between Omar, Joe, and the co-op members. Getting Bob Ehrlich to do a cameo is also a pretty sweet touch.

Let me also note that I thought I'd caught the shows writer's in a continuity error. Watching Episode 48, I got confused as to where we were in the calendar. Carcetti had taken office, implying that we were in January 2007, but the narrative seemed to have just skipped over the month of December. Episode 48 further clarified both that Carcetti was no longer mayor-elect and that it was, in fact, still late 2006. Big problem! But then I looked up the Baltimore charter and it states that "The term of Mayor shall commence on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in December succeeding the election and continue for four years and until a successor shall have been elected" so it's all good.

and qualified.

Comments

Fuck. I was just about to head out to the gym, and Episode 50 finally popped up on HBO On Demand. Decisions, decisions...

Posted by Petey | December 4, 2006 11:23 AM

Totally agree, last night's Wire was the best, and most disturbing, episode of the season. That last shot of Carver leaving Randy in the burn unit as he cries out "You got my back right!" was devasting. It was brutal, since we've never seen Randy, a genuinely trusting, good-natured kid, lash out before. It's now clear he'll never trust anyone in authority ever again.

And what about Michael? It's interesting to see what kind of thug he's growing up into. He can be as cold-blooded as Marlo or Chris, as when he beat the hell out of Namond's leuitenant, but he also can rise to defend those in need, like Dookie and Cutty.

Can't wait to see how this season ends, and I hope that nobody gives away anything about the final episode on this thread.

Jose

Posted by Jose | December 4, 2006 11:29 AM

A whole show full of incredible pain. Bubbles inadvertently poisoning his boy...Cutty getting shot for trying to do the right thing...Namond scared and vulnerable in the police station...Randy in the hospital waiting room, yelling after Carver. Damn.

Posted by Tom Hilton | December 4, 2006 12:43 PM

Watching episode 49, the father-son relationships really struck me. Not one of the kids has a father who plays any significant role in their lives (with the possible exception of Namond), and all of them seem to have paired up with surrogate fathers:

Dukie - Prez
Namond - Bunny
Michael - Flirted with Cutty, but seems to be going with Chris/Marlo
Randy - Carver

Obviously some of those worked out better than others (especially if you include Bubbles and his little buddy). I'm curious what, if anything, we're to draw from this? I guess that Prez and Bunny were more actively involved in their kids' lives than Cutty and Carver, and Dukie and Namond seem to be a bit better off than the other two at the end of the episode. Whether that holds up in the finale remains to be seen.

Posted by Ben | December 4, 2006 12:56 PM

This show is amazing, and I have to give credit to Simon and Burns (and HBO) for daring to show it as brutally as they do (which judging from the Baltimore Sun article yesterday isn't even as bad as it really is). But now I find myself really feeling despressed and hopeless about the situation, and wondering what can even be done, the problem is overwhelming and systemic.

Posted by brett | December 4, 2006 1:34 PM

Ben's on to something, re the fathers. Namond is the only kid to have had anything like a "normal" middle-class upbringing, and he's ergo unsuitable for life on the streets. BTW, since I don't know from Bob Erlich, whom did he play in his cameo?

Posted by Charlie Murtaugh | December 4, 2006 2:23 PM

Not to get all Bethlehem Shoals here, but 49 completely validated the agony any fan of the show has come to expect, dread, and crave in equal measures. In previous seasons, they've managed to spread out the heartbreak - this year, they dumped it on us all at once. In a way, it was a relief, because my expectations being what they were, I felt a great deal of foreboding as to what precise terrible things were about to happen.

Is there any way that Child Services lets Bunny take Namond in? Is the world only big enough for one of Michael and Bodie? How does the rug get pulled out from under Daniels?

I 100% agree with Petey on the coolness of Herc getting to be the good guy and Carver being the fuckup for once.

Posted by Pooh | December 4, 2006 2:27 PM

Not to get all Bethlehem Shoals here, but 49 completely validated the agony any fan of the show has come to expect, dread, and crave in equal measures. In previous seasons, they've managed to spread out the heartbreak - this year, they dumped it on us all at once. In a way, it was a relief, because my expectations being what they were, I felt a great deal of foreboding as to what precise terrible things were about to happen.

Don't exhale just yet.

Posted by WillieStyle | December 4, 2006 2:39 PM

In keeping with the surogate father theme, one thing that stuck with me all week after watching it last Monday was how Michael chose Chris vs Cutty. I think his life experience has made it impossible for him to accept that someone genuinely cares about him vs has an agenda. So he can only assume Cutty is a pedophile because in his life experience that would be the only reason an adult man wants to be involved in his life. With Chris (and Marlo) he knows they want him to be part of their gang because they respect his abilities and the way he refused to take money from them. He knows it is ultimately a utilitarian arrangement and so he can understand it.

Posted by Eric | December 4, 2006 2:45 PM

his life experience has made it impossible for him to accept that someone genuinely cares about him vs has an agenda

This might be the season's greatest accomplishment, to show, in a clear and believable way, how the kid who is in many respects the most responsible and competent ends up as the "worst" criminal of the bunch.

Posted by ogged | December 4, 2006 3:18 PM

BTW, since I don't know from Bob Erlich, whom did he play in his cameo?

Charlie,

After looking at Ehrlich on the Maryland website, I believe he played the desk guard that intercepted Carcetti right before they left to say that the Governor had finished his call. Is this right, Matt?

Posted by stand | December 4, 2006 3:26 PM

In a word, a heartbreaking episode.

In response to the Herc-Carver comments: it was Herc's bungling that lead to Randy being tagged as a snitch. In Herc's botched interview with Little Kevin, Randy's name came out, then Little Kevin reported that out to Marlo. Carver stepped in to try to protect Randy in the more recent episodes, but a couple of bored cops on a stakeout took the phony phone call bait and left him unprotected. I don't see how Carver is at fault there. It was Herc who fucked things up for Randy.

Herc is being used to show how an incompetent cop can mess up a person's life. Herc's going voluntarily with the IID cops about the video camera doesn't mean much to Randy or his foster mom.

Posted by Lame Man | December 4, 2006 4:08 PM

I agree about Carver. I think you could subtitle this season the disillusionment of Sgt Carver or something like that. Colvin taught him what it meant to be a real policeman and he is getting an understanding of what community policing is all about, but as Matt has touched on before, it only takes 1 cop to screw-up and all the good Carver attempts to do is undermined.

Posted by Eric | December 4, 2006 4:16 PM

While it's true that Carver's dealings with Randy have been a tragic focus of the season, what about his dealings with Nammond? Carver's arrest of him couple of eps back along with his developing relationship with Bunny have forced Nammond to come to grips with the fact that he is not his father. While Nammond doesn't seem happy with this, I think this is a net positive, no?

Posted by stand | December 4, 2006 4:49 PM

Stand,

True, Carver is doing a lot of good, but I think that is one of the points they are making, unless all the cops are on board it doesn't matter, one guy screws up and all the good Carver was doing with Randy goes poof.

Posted by Eric | December 4, 2006 5:32 PM

The Wire has a way of getting rid of characters in the last episodes of a season and I think that's why Herc went down, Cutty got shot, and why the woman detective (can't think of her name) kind of dissed Lester when he asked her about a new assignment. She's history, and I'm guessing a few more of the old faces aren't going to survive episode 50.

The macho posturing/male bonding of three cops going out at night to find corpses was good.

I'm having a skosh of trouble with Namond's numbskull mom. Insofar as the kid is her meal ticket she's being pretty goddamned shortsighted. Yes, the maternal instinct may be weak but not the one for self-preservation.

Posted by Christon | December 4, 2006 7:03 PM

I liked it that Randy told Herc the complete plot of a murder; who did it, where and at whose behest and in what manner, as cold blooded as a zombie.
Herc could not hear or understand what he was being told.

Herc will go down for the camera, but is there even one of his fellow cops who thinks he is a good cop. The head of the police benevolent society is making threatening noises on Herc's behalf but does he represent Herc's fellow officers. Is every city like mine where the head of the police union will fuss in the newspapers and on TV in support of even the most incompetent
officer?

Posted by Dick | December 4, 2006 10:25 PM

This might be the season's greatest accomplishment, to show, in a clear and believable way, how the kid who is in many respects the most responsible and competent ends up as the "worst" criminal of the bunch.

I think another great accomplishment was with Namond. To take a kid who seemed brash and unintelligent and show that he was in fact smart and sensitive, but had poor role models and poor guidance.

Posted by brett | December 4, 2006 11:58 PM

#49 was great TV and it depressed for a couple days- It was the climax of the season- saw 50 last night- though one major character is killed- it really is a prep. for season 5.

Posted by raoul | December 5, 2006 11:34 AM

The 'father/ role model' angle is really one to stick with. And it's not simply that a role model exists for each boy leaving the remaining drama in sorting out whether they 'take' to the role model. It's also that institutions intermediate the relationships. Dukie being told he's moving on to 9th grade is the institution's way of separating Dukie from his role model. Similarly, the killing of the special school program is an institution severing Bunny and Namond (with the hope that another institution- parental rights- can mitigate that... although we're not left with much hope). On and on it goes.

Posted by tegwar | December 5, 2006 11:54 AM

In response to Dick's question regarding the union representative's support of their officers, I think that you have to understand the relationship between the officer and the union before you criticize the union-heads. Each union owes its employees a duty of fair representation, which, at least in my jurisdiction requires them by law to represent their members equally. Moreover, officers need to operate with the understanding that the best and worst amongst them will be represented zealously when they get "jammed up", as Herc is, since their leaders both within the Department and in local government will run for cover, if not help to crucify the officer when the S%#t goes down. A perfect example of this is the mayor of NYC's recent characterization of a police shooting as excessive force without even having the requisite facts to make that kind of judgment. Anyone who has seen episode 50 will note that a favorite character on the other side of the law gives an excellent statement on what I have just described.

Posted by DMoficio | December 5, 2006 12:55 PM