'The Wire': Opportunities beyond the Sun

Well, so much for Lester being the level-headed one.

In the wake of McNulty pulling a nutty last week, much of last night's episode followed the many difficulties involved in fabricating a serial killer. Who knew? Oily and sleepless, McNulty started building his case by piecing together details from stacks of old files, but after inspiring only indifference from his co-workers and B-section coverage in the morning paper McNulty needed an accomplice to bring his imaginary friend to life. Someone with an eye for detail.

Enter Lester. Always the dignified conscience of Major Crimes, his awestruck initial reaction to McNulty's plan gave Bunk some hope of gaining an ally in putting a stop to all this, but the horrified look that fell over his face as Lester started offering suggestions was priceless. Nice try, Bunk. Lester wants the manpower to catch Marlo by any means necessary, even going so far as to suggest the killer needs a name to really capture the "hearts and minds." How about the Ribbonist? The Giftwrapper? Suggestions welcome!

Speaking of selling papers, I'm still on the fence with the goings-on at "The Sun." The rumpled Snidely Whiplashes of the Chicago-owned newsroom announced "The Tribune" is up to its old "tricks" -- meaning layoffs, buyouts and bureau closures. Advertising is down, the Internet is still free, and it all makes Executive Editor Whiting wander around repeating "we have to do more with less" like some blissed-out accounting cyborg. His trusty managing editor and hatchet man swears to Gus he's just sick about having to cut jobs, but come on, Klebanow, man up. What's the worst that could happen?

Naturally, this means the paper is losing another hero in buyout-bound police reporter Roger Twigg, a crusty veteran reporter who just might be a broad sketch of David Simon himself (he did, after all, say he was leaving to write the Great American Novel). When word comes down that Daniels is being floated as the new police commissioner, Twigg has just enough facts at the ready to seem somewhere between brilliant and mystical. And contrasting that with Templeton's out-and-out invention of a reaction quote a short time later just smacks of overkill, especially in showing the inevitable fallout on Daniels' end.

Simon obviously shares all the passion of Gus and Twigg, who at one point reverently recount how they got in the newspaper game, but the impact of that passion is cut by the inescapable feeling that they're both less characters than they are ideals. Inspiring stuff, sure, but characters -- and the rest of "The Wire" cast -- are a lot more complicated, and in turn a lot more interesting to watch.

Meanwhile, out on the ever-complicated streets, you almost have to feel bad for wise ol' Prop Joe. All this time he's "civilizing" Marlo in the ways of money laundering (in the figurative and literal sense), and his ambitious little protege is going behind his back and leaving freshly pressed bundles of cash for the Greek. But that wasn't the biggest development -- Omar's coming back. Or at least it sure looks that way once he heard that Chris and Snoop tortured and killed poor blind Butchie, his only friend back in Baltimore. Beachside hideaway or not, Omar is nothing if not possessed of a spaghetti western's sense of vengeance. Marlo's crew will be ready, but Omar is Omar. Who do you like in that match-up?

-- Chris Barton

(Photo courtesy HBO)

Comments

[wirefan]

I just got caught up on The Wire thanks to ondemand, and it's been an interesting turn all the characters have taken since the semi-hopeful, semi-not ending for Season 4. The theme of lying, and all the problems lies can bring, is clearly going to be one of the themes this year - the newspapaer brass are liars, demolishing their newspapers by firing off the people who make it worth reading, and hiring liars who make up stuff, and McNulty's crazy plan to invent a serial killer just to get more police work (this is going to end in tears), and so on.

Personally I love the revenge Simon is getting on the hacks that run the newspaper business (oops did I say "run" I meant "run into the ground and cut their own throats in the process") as he not only is making the money with a successful show, but now has a platform to discuss the intersections of race, poverty, crime, politics and more - exactly the kind of stuff that white moron executive editor was too stupid to comprehend

this must all hit a little close to home for you kids at the LA Times, given how your paper is going to the dogs too....what's that I heard about an editor being fired? Hmm.....

[Teresa]

I personally don't find the Sun characters as appealing as the others. They feel cheap and one-dimensional. I keep thinking to myself, "I get it, move on."

I'm also tiring of the boozing, almost outlandish McNulty. This was the first episode that I didn't watch in real time. The show is losing me.

[Chris - LATimes]

You're right, wirefan, Simon's totally grinding a meat axe throughout the "Sun" storyline, which is fun stuff but may be why some of the characters are coming off a bit one-dimensional, at least when compared with the rest of the cast. And it's totally easy to see the parallels between the Times and what's depicted in Baltimore (note the link toward what would happen if Klebanow was a man of his word and defied the layoff mandate) -- it's even rumored that Whiting is loosely based on the Sun's editor during Simon's tenure, John Carroll, who eventually went on to lead the Times, only to eventually leave in opposition to Tribune staff cuts. Oh we're all just one big happy family. But the question is will Whiting's character show that much complexity?

Don't give up yet, Teresa. Simon's slipped here and there but I think he'll right the ship soon.

[Chris - LATimes]

Also, I'd completely spaced on this, but Simon confirmed Whiting is essentially a stand-in for John Carroll in a great Times story by Mateo Gold. Check it out, it really gets into Simon's bitterness toward the Sun's management -- and how the Sun views Simon in turn:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-ca-wireside6jan06,1,1133894.story