To get it right out of the way, I'm glad she's dead.
I've never really been a fan of Snoop the character, all engine and no subtlety. Hilarious, sure, and utterly captivating, but entirely unconflicted except for that odd moment in the beginning of the season when she's upset because she hasn't gotten to kill anybody recently. Which maybe wouldn't bother so much if Snoop weren't played by herself, if Snoop didn't have that history; if Snoop the actress' personal rehabilitation weren't at least largely fuelled by a pretty unambiguous glorification of gang violence, a deeper examination of which is beyond the scope of this thread (I hope).
But otherwise, this episode was very hit-or-miss with me. One of the things I loved most about the direction (cinematographic rather than narrative) of The Wire after season 1 was that it dealt with its most tragic moments if not quite at arm's length, then at least a step removed. The camera stays outside of the visitor's room with Kima when Waylon goes in to see Bubbles after the suicide attempt; it stays outside of the car when Carter leaves Randy at the group home. In season 1, they handled it differently, of course; we've been talking a lot locally about Clay Davis's accusation about a rat in the courthouse, and who it can be, and why I love Bill Rawls so goddamn much. Chief reason being the episode after Kima gets shot, when he rolls up, takes absolute command of the scene, and drags McNulty to the hospital and sets him straight, thereby making the case that although he's inarguably a huge, swollen asshole, he's *our* huge, swollen asshole. Or, as I prefer to think of it, he's far too much of a tool to be dirty.
But as much as I loved the whole line of response on McNulty's part: the bloody hands at the crime scene, the crying in the hospital, the whiskey and regret in the unit office, as fatuous as a complaint as this may be (particularly when watching a fictional TV show), it was acting, and the direction called attention to the fact that it was acting.
And boy was there ever a lot of ACTING! in this episode. Great speeches, to be sure, but even so. Marlo with "MY NAME IS MY NAME!" and Freamon's "I dooooo belieeeeeeve!" and all (and the newspaper bit which I'm just going to pretend never happened). And Michael saying goodbye to Bug, and then to Dukie, which veers so close to being soap opera except that Tristan Wilds is just masterful. That one moment when he's outside the car saying goodbye to Bug when his voice breaks is worth more than everything else thrown into the scene.
The best moments and the best lines have pretty much all gone to the players, and Marlo and Chris walk away with this episode, at the end of the scene of them in the holding cell, reading their warrants, trying to figure out who's going to have to take what, and who put them all in. And Chris doesn't see Michael snitching because he likes Michael, he trusts him and identifies with him, because on some understated level he's as human as everybody else on the show. But then Marlo actually agrees with him, and for the first time in three seasons, Marlo Stanfield shows some emotion, some compunction, some sense of perspective on who he is and where he is and what kind of a world he lives in. That as much as Snoop can step back and be fatalistic about the process, he can't--he's the engine of fate. You can't be abstract when you're giving the word.
I just wish this Marlo had shown up sooner.
I also absolutely love Clay Davis's face turn as the most likeable character on the show. The heavy breathing and the false indignation and perfect timing almost make Freamon's total corruption worthwhile. I don't think the fingering of Levy will have much of a resolution because this, whether Marlo stands or falls, represents the sort of systemic corruption whose removal would require an unambiguously happy ending for the series. But then it's still a very open question how this will all tie together. Carcetti's and Daniels' careers pretty clearly rely on keeping the dirt under wraps, but Rhonda's not only an officer of the court, she's in charge of the CID end of investigations--she's the only one with a professional code of ethics requiring her to act nobly, and I wonder if there's time to show that pulling her and Daniels in different directions. The parallel between Haynes' investigation of Templeton and Daniels' of McNulty are pretty blindingly apparent, and I wonder how far that symmetry is going to carry, since I think it's a pretty foregone conclusion given Simon's biases that Gus will take his information to Klebanow, get ignored and either be fired or resign. But what does that mean for the police investigation, which has so much more at stake? Is it as simple as Kima goes back to law school?
Bubbles with a shape-up makes me happy. Namond at the debate makes my eyes roll, but "yo, Mr. C! You know the mayor?" in the background as Colvin refuses to shake Carcetti's hand is perfect. Seeing Dukie go out this way is probably easier than what I would have predicted (in which he returned to school just before Michael was arrested/killed/put on the run).
So who else is there left to show? Prez is in the preview for the finale, like Colvin, sporting a beard in summer. Speaking of, this makes Colvin, Prez, Haynes, Carver--oh, nevermind. Freamon has a beard, and he's no angel no more. I was all set to make an argument that facial hair == innate goodness in Wireland, and obviously that won't hold (Chris, Michael, Sidnor also counterexamples).
I don't expect to see Brother Mouzone again, but do the cops have any outstanding warrants on the Greeks from season 2? Do we have any idea if Vondos and the Greek were ever indicted (based on Sergei and Nick's testimony) and whether that's a possible moral payoff for Marlo walking? After all, The Wire likes to hammer home the idea that when you get sloppy, you get burnt, and the Greeks in backing Marlo have been very, very sloppy. |
