S5, Episode 4

OK so I've only had my blog for less than a month and I'm already falling behind on my Wire commentary. Things certainly are heating up. To backtrack abit to the previous two episodes, it was great to see Avon back in the game. After a full season with no mention of Avon, I assumed he would not be back but it only seems fitting that he make his presence felt as a "what you call ... an authority figure" in the final season. I'm not exactly sure why Marlo called Sergei Boris but it was a nice little inside joke ("Why is it always Boris?").

Episode 4 also contained a great scene between Beadie and McNulty. It's been obvious the relationship between Beadie and McNulty is deteriorating but we finally get to see where it currently stands and it elaborated on further in episode 5. Props to Amy Ryan (Beadie Russell) for her Oscar nomination for her role as Helene McCready in "Gone Baby Gone". She does an excellent job in the part and it's a fine film. Probably not co-incidentally, "Gone Baby Gone" was based on the novel by Dennis Lehane (Mystic River), who has been working as a writer on the Wire since season 2.

One of the things I read prior to this season starting was David Simon saying the only character who escapes without being drawn into corruption or scandal is Sidner. Of course that probably doesn't include Bubbles or my man Omar. I find it hard to believe Omar is going to go down. I loved Prop Joe's line about Omar coming back - "Out of respect for the man’s skill set, I’m gonna take myself out of the line-up tomorrow after the meeting." . This week's episode shook my confidence a bit and while Omar may not have met his match in Chris and Snoop, he's definitely found worthy opponents.

Mostly I've been thinking about Marlo - about that blank expression on his face as Prop Joe gets one in the back of the head. He doesn't look like it pains him to kill Joe, a man who has gone out of his way to help Marlo, but he also doesn't look like he enjoys it either. It just needs to be done. There's a lot of emphasis in previous seasons on the streets not being like they used to be, how there's no code, no rules, everyone is ruthless and without remorse. "These corner kids today ..." Marlo seems to be the epitome of that ethic - hard just for the sake of hard and totally, completely without emotion. However Marlo and others have made a few references to the crown and the burdens which come with it and it makes me wonder if that will be Marlo's downfall. I don't think Marlo even does it for the money. I think Marlo wants the crown and he wants the power. The money is a means to that end but I don't think its an end in itself for Marlo. And I keep wondering how long the other members of the co-op are just going to take this shit from Marlo.

Right now Omar has been manipulated by Marlo to come out of retirement by Butchie's murder but Omar knows he's being setup now, or atleast he should. I expect tonight to see Omar's game plan change and like most Wire plots, we probably won't know exactly what's going down until its almost upon us.