“The Wire,” season five, episode seven: Preposterouser and preposterouser!
The fifth season of “The Wire” is David Simon’s Iraq. Backed with faulty intelligence and a cadre of wacked-out true believers, he picked the wrong target and went in unprepared. Slightly desperate, he gambled on a plot surge (I can continue this metaphor indefinitely, if I needed to) two episodes ago: the death of Prop Joe, a poignant a moment as the show has yet offered, which is saying something; and the menacing return of Omar. It can’t be gainsaid that things are slightly better; yet, as in Iraq, that just brings matters down to the realm of ongoing disaster, and there’s no end in sight.
I have, frankly, nothing new to say about McNutty’s invented homeless serial killer or the machinations of Smeagol of the Sun, the brooding fabricator whose “precious” is fame as a reporter. Their plot lines come together early on tonight. If McNutty had not created the killer, Smeagol, it turns out, would have had to invent him, which, actually, he does in any case. This is complicated, so I will go over it again: McNutty invented a serial murderer of homeless men, who does not actually kill people; Smeagol, independently, created a fake call to himself from his own killer, who, in addition to not actually killing anyone as well, doesn’t actually exist either. This creates the very real possibility that the two imaginary serial killers might bump into each other on the street while they were not killing people.
In this context, it makes perfect sense that McNutty would call Seamgol and pretend to be the serial killer and talk about the people he isn’t killing; fortunately, at the time he calls, Smeagol isn’t on the other line with his imaginary killer talking about the people he isn’t killing. Meanwhile, back at the police station, McNutty’s plan has finally paid off and he is suddenly dispensing manpower throughout the department. (Why the department would hand such responsibility to the guy who has systematically alienated every one of his bosses is not explained.) The other of the show’s cast members, meantime, politely refrain from asking any of the myriad obvious questions that would expose these quizzical scenarios, and from merely snickering in disbelief as well.
Those of us who watch with no little concentration each week are at a loss to explain what is happening; at this point it all involves helicopters, cell phones placed in kryptonite-lined bags, and a magical device, sported by Freamon, that looks like a cross between a Blackberry and a Kindle and … well it’s not clear what it does. Clarke Peters is looking slightly sheepish, these days. Forced to recite the worst lines of dialogue “The Wire” has yet proffered while explaining what the device does, he tries to keep a straight face by imagining that he is Alec Guinness in “Star Wars,” expatiating about the Force. But we can see it is hard on him. Like Bunk, Peters didn’t sign up for this.
Bunk is now coming into his own; he was the first character we saw this season, and his story arc suggests that he, along with intrepid city editor Gus Haynes, will ultimately be our hero. Bunk’s had at least two previous moments on “The Wire.” In season one, he and McNulty inspect a murder victim’s apartment, digging up evidence and piercing together what happened, uttering nothing but variations of the word “fuck.” And in season two, there’s a fabulous moment when McNulty gets called in the middle of the night to come pull Bunk together after a sexual misadventure. (Bunk had cheated on his wife; afterwards, at the woman’s apartment, drunk as a skunk, he tried to burn his clothes to hide any olfactory evidence of his actions. Bunk had, fortunately, taken the clothes off before embarking on this plan of action, but hadn’t quite thought through what he would then wear home instead.)
Bunk is now methodically trying to nail Marlo using good old-fashioned police work. The repercussions of McNutty’s plan confront him at every turn, however, and much of the time his eyes are afire with anger. His counterpart, at the Sun, is Gus Haynes, in David Simon’s universe a saintlike figure, now hot on the trail of Smeagol’s deceptions. Since he is Smeagol’s boss, he could just ask him about this in person, but “The Wire” is at pains to show that Mrs. & Mrs. Fancypants Editors, who lisp a lot and beam with pride whenever Smeagol is around, would take the fabricator’s side.
Haynes is left to grit his teeth when he sees his nemesis get front-page play with his latest self-aggrandizing story about getting called by an imaginary serial killer, so he goes to a corner watering hole to hang out with some cops and do some police work of his own. He doesn’t even notice Richard Belzer at the bar.
The Clay Davis story line comes to fruition this week, abruptly, amid a compressed time frame so extreme it seems like Davis hires a lawyer just before court that day, sits through the trial—voir dire, testimony, deliberations and verdict—that afternoon, and gets out in time to get on that evening’s news to crow about his exoneration. This sequence may be the most cartoony, unbelievable event in “The Wire” thus far this season, which is also saying something.
Our last best hope is Omar, who is now … God, wrathful and omnipotent. His most compelling scene comes when he grabs one of Marlo’s henchmen on a side street. He recognizes him as former muscle for Alvin Avon Barksdale, now shuffling drugs around for Marlo. Omar’s modus operandi right now is merely to wound Marlo’s myrmidons, leaving them to deliver his taunts at Marlo back to the boss. After what might be described as an intriguing disquisition on the difference between the practical and transcendental concepts of free will and moral responsibility, Omar shakes his head with irritation and spatters the guy’s brain against a wall.
Making an appearance on Michael’s corner shortly afterward, Omar seems frail and vulnerable. (Whether this is a feint remains to be seen.) Omar is thinking large about the world he inhabits in a way he didn’t before. In the past he has been an articulate defender of “the game”’s rules. He seems now to be losing patience with it.
Marlo, incidentally, is MIA this week, as are Chris and Snoop. Their absences aren’t building the desired tension; rather, given the tediousness of the fake serial killer story and the Clay Davis trial, we just feel a bit ripped off. One of the many sadnesses of Iraq is the resources squandered. In David Simon’s quagmire, Omar and Bunk are all we have to remind us of what we are missing.
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If you’re interested, Hitsville’s analyses of this season of “The Wire” are available below …
Episode one: As a journalist, David Simon is a pretty good showrunner
Episode two: David Simon continues to go crazy
Episode three: David Simon and the obsession that passeth all understanding
Episode four: “They call me Mr. McNutty!”
Episode five: David “McNutty” Simon and the Quantum of Solace!
Episode six: McNutty says, “I drink your milkshake!”
… with additional tangential expatiations on David Simon’s growing leave-taking of his senses here and here.
Finally, there’s a list of a lot of the ancillary reading of this season of “The Wire” here.
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AVON!!! Avon Barksdale!!! NOT Alvin!!!
I agree with pretty much everything you’ve written about “The Wire” this season…because, frankly, this season’s storylines pretty much all suck…but nothing takes the credibility out of a critique about the downfall of a show like the critique’s author screwing up the name of one of the primary characters for three plus years of that show.
And yes, I couldn’t believe how incredibly rushed the Clay Davis storyline was. Unbelieveably bad. And the prosecution let the guy just ramble on with a completely bogus story and let that stand? They didn’t bother to cross-examine and rip him a new one based on the fact that he had just incriminated himself by openly admitting on the stand to embezzling money from a charity (regardless of what he claimed to spend it on)? Seriously, does David Simon think that all juries are that a) stupid and b) racist? And that entire thing took all of one day? God, this season is a disgrace.
Thanks for the Avon correx. Yeah, I’m surprised at how the Davis trial has been received by other commentators, too. It was so … un-”Wire.” In previous seasons, we would have seen the granularity of it all—the pair, Davis and his lawyer, working with mock juries to find out what approach would work. We would have seen his appeal work with one or two real jurors, and the looks of disgust of those who voted to convict. And we would have seen the state’s attorneys *expecting* Davis to do that, and hustling up their own counterattack in advance, but ruefully conceding defeat in the end. As it was, they acted like total rubes in the big city.
No kidding. Somebody over in the comments on Slate suggested that perhaps it’s the fact that the season’s been condensed to ten episodes that’s cutting into the dialogue and character development (which I could see), but seriously, David Simon wasn’t able to adapt his script at all to take into account the missing episodes? Actually, it’s more like two full seasons’ worth of subplots here that Simon’s tackling and it’s frustrating because he’s not devoting sufficient amounts of time to any of them…he’s just beating us over the head with the Clift Notes.
There are three episodes left apparently, and honestly the only story lines I give a damn about are Marlo and his crew, Bunk’s investigation, and Carcetti (sort of). The rest of it’s just filler and distraction. I’ve been hoping that they’ll focus the remaining episodes on Marlo’s final push to the top and showdown with Omar (since Jamie Hector gave us one of the absolute best scenes in the entire series with the death of Prop Joe), but judging by how it’s gone so far I suspect the rest of the episodes are going to focus on that stupid circa 1999 newsroom that’s full of caricatures and has got nothing to do with anything.
If he goes that route, as far as I’m concerned the fifth season of The Wire will be just like Godfather III…it never happened.
I agree with your assessment of this season; it’s pure garbage. While HBO could easily blamed for only doing 10 episodes, the vast majority of the fault lies with Simon. I’ve seen episode eight and I’m sorry to say it doesn’t get much better. You’ll be happy to know that Bunk’s investigation is on the move, though. The pseudo-serial killer angle this season is pathetic, it’s just pure fiction. I thought Hamsterdam in season three was pushing it, but this is just so far over the top it’s unbelieveable. As for the newspaper story? It’s just Simon venting his frustrations with his old editors; as of episode eight is has nothing to do with the primary storyline and is just about Haynes’ vendetta with Templeton. And as for what happens with Omar’s pursiut of Marlo and his lieutenants…words cannot encompass my disappointment. Oh, and the Carcetti angle is going nowhere fast, we’re getting the same story about politicians abandoning their promises for their own self-interests.
UCrawford you are absolutley right, this season is The Wire’s Godfather III. This season is to Wire fans what this football season was to Patriots fans. I plan to solve my problems with season five the same way I did the Superbowl: alcohol and denial.
Trout,
Well, you’ve still got the Red Sox to look forward to.
I’m also half-wondering if maybe the reason Simon was so miserable at the Baltimore Sun was because he was kind of a self-righteous jerk with a tendency to nurse grudges.
And I’m also wondering if perhaps the reason that Season 5 has been so crappy is because Chris Albrecht’s not at HBO anymore to keep Simon in check. Honestly, if you look at most of the stuff HBO has trotted out over the last year (Tell Me You Love Me, In Treatment, John From Cincinnati) to replace their Albrecht-sponsored flagship programs (Sopranos, Deadwood, Six Feet Under), it’s absolute garbage…and unpopular garbage at that. I don’t think that Albrecht’s replacement is actually capable of distinguishing good programming from bad, and from what I’ve read David Simon strikes me as the kind of person who needs a competent head of programming to QC his work from time to time.
I think those are both excellent points; I wrote about Simon’s grudges early in the season. Some of my friends think I’m nuts, but there seems to be such a perfect storm of knuckleheadedness here: His source of disagreement at the Sun was fundamentally journalistic differences, which he turns into a good vs. evil fight (though I have to say I have come around a bit on his Haner obsessions); he has energetically tried to besmirch the rep of two folks who don’t deserve it, a serious crime; he’s revealed himself to be an old-school newsroom dick, the ones largely responsible for the decline of the industry; and, finally, he just gets so much wrong! (The “evactuate” silliness, his lack of feel for net issues.)
The HBO leadership issue is going to turn serious at some point; those DVD cash cows—”Sopranos,” “SATC,” “SFU”—have to be replaced, and there aren’t any on the horizon.
hitsville,
I agree…Simon comes off to me a bitter, disillusioned idealist who’s decided that the problem with the world is that not everybody’s recognized his inherent rightness and genius so his response is to go off the rails and start preaching and beating people over the head in the hopes that they’ll finally pay attention. He made a few comments at the beginning of the season that indicate he’s quite angry that his show and the actors in it haven’t been getting the recognition he feels they deserve (and I think he’s got a valid point) and basically I think that bitterness has crept over into the show…sadly killing the qualities he thought the show should be recognized for.
Simon comes off to me like a guy who’s very smart and knowledgeable about the subjects he tackles, but he’s got serious anger management issues and an inability to let go of a grudge and ultimately he just couldn’t keep it all together until the end. And that’s unfortunate because for the first four seasons he really did put together a brilliant show.
Don’t forget that they also decided to cancel “Inside the NFL” this year as well…which I’d argue actually was the best football analysis on TV (ESPN’s football analysis has severely gone downhill…especially in regards to MNF).
On HBO, I tried to be fair keep an open mind and gave “Tell Me You Love Me” and “In Treatment” a shot and honestly they were some of the most godawful, boring television I’ve ever had to sit through. It was depressing, cliched, and (worst of all) absolutely boring…sort of like a bunch of “Lifetime” network shows with a slightly better production budget and better casting but overall crappy stories that you’ve heard a thousand times before on other programs on free TV. I just can’t see how they thought that any of these shows were going to be appealing to the same people who liked shows like Sopranos, SFU, Rome, or Deadwood (or even those who liked Larry Sanders or Dream On)…it’s like they just decided overnight to alienate the entire demographic that they built their network on.
[…] Episode one: As a journalist, David Simon is a pretty good showrunner Episode two: David Simon continues to go crazy Episode three: David Simon and the obsession that passeth all understanding Episode four: “They call me Mr. McNutty!” Episode five: David “McNutty” Simon and the Quantum of Solace! Episode six: McNutty says, “I drink your milkshake!” Episode seven: Preposterouser and preposterouser! […]
[…] the Quantum of Solace! Episode six: McNutty says, “I drink your milkshake!” Episode seven: Preposterouser and preposterouser! Episode eight: Whenever I call you […]
I see we have reached that tipping point obviously where it is cool to bash the show now. The show is now recognized enough that idiots bash it to make themselves feel important and sound like a refined critic. I think much of this season’s criticism is due to the fact that the media is scrutinized and it is cutting a little too close to the trade of many blogger\writers. This show is unbelievably good and this criticism is hilarious. Why not enjoy it instead of being offended and fronting like pompous “critics”.
This may be an annoying question to the readers of this blog, and I apologize in advance if it is. But I HAVE to find the answer. I heard David Simon interviewed on NPR yesterday, and he referenced a movie upon which “all the managers” in the show are based. Did anyone hear the interview or know the name of the movie Simon referenced?
Jane - Richard Price’s “Clockers”
I would agree with Patrick. Simon has taken aim at every institution in a major city before he hit the Sun. The only reason there is now a ruckus is bloggers/journalists are the most likely to vent their frustrations at being portrayed poorly in writing. Do you see cops, checkers, school teachers or drug dealers checking the web day after day to comment on stories that make them look bad? They might sit around work and gripe but that is as far as it goes. Message to hitsville dude, season two was the weakest, don’t let your personal feelings get in the way and if you doubt that converse with your local checker or stevedore.
MJ– Thanks for taking the time to write. I have to disagree with you, though. As an alternative press critic and someone who had worked, periodically, at mainstream dailies over the past gulp thirty years, i *welcome* criticism of journalism. Bring it on! The second season was the weakest of the first four, I agree, but so many things are wrong this season there is just no comparison. And at the center of it is his monomaniacal obsessions with the Sun. What’s wrong with journalism today, as I have written about much on the blog in reference to “The Wire,” is timidity. Not an hour ago I was at the gym talking with a former editor at the LA Times who was saying the watchword there was always, Don’t cause trouble. Write short and nice. And that’s at the LAT, considered one of the best papers in the country. The problem is *not* aggressive pursuit of Pulitzers! The very idea.
[…] the Quantum of Solace! Episode six: McNutty says, “I drink your milkshake!” Episode seven: Preposterouser and preposterouser! Episode eight: Whenever I call you friendo! Episode nine: The Passion of the […]