I caught the second episode of the new season on OnDemand last night, and it’s the first time I’ve been disappointed in an episode of The Wire. Spoilers to come, stop reading now if you do not want to know.
With Major Crimes disbanded and with his personal life hitting the toilet again via heavy drinking and womanizing, McNulty isn’t thinking clearly. He finds a DOA body, who died of overdose, and chokes the dead body to put bruises on the neck. His plan is to create a fictional serial killer in order to get fresh money pumped into the police department, and to then use the manpower to investigate Marlo Stanfield on the down and low.
McNulty has always been an insubordinate ass, but he has always been honest. He’s never cut corners in his police work, and while he has always fought with his bosses, rarely toeing the company line, he has always taken a moral high ground. This move struck me as being dishonest to the character, and a cheap plot device. I think Executive Producer David Simon, like McNulty, is cutting corners.
Marlo goes to Jessup to talk to Sergei, hoping to get a line to Vondas. He’s met by Avon Barksdale instead. Avon knows what Marlo is up to, and tells him that if he wants through to Sergei, Marlo needs to take “100 large” to Brianna Barksdale. This is a great scene, and while it’s as unexpected as McNulty strangling a dead body, it’s true. Marlo wants to cut out Prop Joe and the rest of the co-op, an organization that Avon was never a fan of and which he battled Stringer over in Season 3. Avon is quick to assist Marlo, who’s equally quick to comply, because, Avon tells him, he doesn’t care about “east side bitches” while “I got nothin’ but love in my heart for west side niggas.” By the end of the episode Marlo has met Sergei and it’s pretty clear that he’ll be taking over the connect, warring with Joe and anyone else in his way, and making a move to run all of the Baltimore drug trade, not just the west side.
There’s a great closing to the scene between Avon and Marlo. Avon: “What about you, how you been?” Marlo: “You know. The game is the game.” The sentiment we’ve been hearing from everyone in the game continues to be the mantra. The only person who didn’t follow the code of the game, who wanted to change the game, was Stringer Bell. And he had to die exactly because he wanted to reform the drug trade, for which there is–and never will be–reform.
There are a couple other good scenes in Episode 2, I especially look forward to seeing what will happen with a now clean Bubbles. If there is redemption for a David Simon character, I would imagine it will be him. And I’m loving Clark Johnson, so wonderful in Homicide: Life On The Street as Metro Editor Gus Haynes. It looks like he’ll be the moral center of the final season, as all the story lines come to a head. Scott Templeton, the Sun writer who Haynes does not trust, is beginning to show us why that lack of trust is well deserved. He fabricates a story about opening day at Camden Yard, and I’m sure he’ll be more dishonest as the season progresses. I can see this story line disappointing me as much as the McNulty one, honestly.
Also, Marlo comments to his muscle that since the cops are off of him, he wants to bring Omar out from hiding and put and end to him. War between Omar and Marlo is definitely brewing.
I’m really pumped to see how the Marlo/Omar/Avon/Vondas thing shakes out, I think this is going to be the most violent of all the seasons of The Wire. But I’m dreading seeing this McNulty lie dragged out for the final 8 episodes. Here’s hoping I’m wrong, and that Simon will end on a grace note that is true to the characters he took such care in building from the start.
6 responses so far ↓
Rhino // January 10, 2008 at 6:45 am
I appreciate the concise well written summary of episode 2 and I agree with most of it except for Mcnulty character cutting corners. I do agree that he has always taken the high ground, nevertheless, with the cutbacks and being kicked to the curb again after a year of investigation McNulty is frustrated. He has been pushed to a point beyond his threshold. Additionally, you could argue that he is still acting morally bc he knows that getting Marlo will ultimately stop more murders from occuring. At anyrate, I do not feel that it was to cut corners at all.
urbanfervor // January 10, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Maybe should have worded it differently. I think McNulty is a stubborn ass, but a brilliant cop. He has always been impatient to take the long road to getting what he wants out of the bosses. But when he has been forced to that long road, he has taken it. Yeah, I get that he’s frustrated and pushed to the edge, but I don’t think anything about the character up to now tells us that he’d do something like this.
itzik basman // January 10, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Nice synopsis, but I agree with the above 2 posters that the McNulty thing works for me, a measure of the frustration he feels with the 22 murders and Marlo left unattended. Only one thing is bugging me–and I hope it’s just me: some of the dialogue seems over-written to me, too pat, like Steve Earle talkin to Bubs about taking a “moral inventory”, some of the Carchetti and his advisors’ conversations, and some of the newspaper guys’ exchanges.
Brian // January 11, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Well, I thought the McNulty thing seemed out of character … but it’s implied that his personal life, particularly alcoholism, is starting to really spin out of control. Severe alcoholism can change someone’s character for the worse, quickly.
kinanice // January 18, 2008 at 4:31 pm
^it’s more than that. McNulty’s character had a sense of morality. Right from season 1 when he told Stringer “nicely done” to show his disgust at the justice system screwing itself over, we saw that this was a stand up guy.
So my bone is, so far, I have not seen one good REASON for McNulty to go off the deep end like he has. The cutbacks at work and the Get Marlo excuse is just a coverup to act an arse.
His poor judgement could cause his whole case to be thrown out of court.
McNulty is a loveable screw up, but a screw up nonetheless.
jumpinin // February 3, 2008 at 2:19 am
I think McNulty’s sense of morality has always been somewhat flexible, in particular how he treats his women. It seems to me like Bubbles and McNulty are to sides of addiction – Bubbles struggling with recovery and McNulty struggling with relapse. Returning to drinking after a period of abstinence can be a demoralizing experience and most alcoholics start with a sense of righteous indignation at the actions of others, only to mirror and later surpass those actions. The one positive thing that can be said of low-bottom dope fiends like Bubbles is they are so marginalized and isolated that they aren’t taking anyone down with them. I suspect McNulty is going to take a whole bunch of people down with before the season is through.
As for McNulty’s frustration, it’s typical alcoholic behaviour. Someone else shortcomings make it necessary for the alcoholic to deviate from his high moral standards. If the rest of the world would just fall in line, I’m sure McNulty would be a pillar of the community.