'The Wire': React quotes, Vol. 2

With only two more episodes before "The Wire" wraps up for good (or, well, maybe not), anticipation is building for how the whole thing is going to end. So while we wait for this weekend's installment with only Lake Trout and our bitter dreams as our comfort, here's a sampling of reader mail that's come into Showtracker Plaza the last few days. As always, we welcome your feedback, diatribes and commentary -- not to mention any half-baked theories on how this whole thing finishes.

Can you tell me why "The Wire" has never got the national publicity of other HBO shows? I don't think I've ever seen any of the actors plugging the drama on any talk show. Nor do I think they ever got their just due at the Emmys. Can you fill me in on this? -- David Melcon, Westwood

David, I wish I could. From the beginning of this season I've been mystified why there hasn't been more of a marketing push behind a show as consistently good as "The Wire," especially given this is its final season. There's really a sort of chicken-and-egg aspect to it, I think. Given "The Wire" attracts a small, devoted audience -- and isn't particularly kind to those who dare to try to pick it up for the first time this season -- HBO probably figured there was little to gain by a big promotional push. But, how much of an audience could have been gained for the last five seasons if people were as aware of "The Wire" as, say, middling-to-abominable efforts like "Big Love" or "John From Cincinnati"?

Factor into this the seemingly boundless critical love heaped upon the show in magazines, newspapers (hello!) and blogs, and you could argue that promotion of the show is already taken care of in some respects, and all without HBO spending a dime. A shame, definitely, but one that's hopefully cut by the prospect of the show taking on a second life when watched on DVD. It's how I got hooked.

And finally, from Charm City, a theory for how it's all going to end...

I am pretty sure we have been set up. My guess is that 1) Marlo will come down by the hand of one of his own people; or that 2) absolutely nothing will happen to Marlo because that is exactly what happens to the drug king pins in Baltimore, absolutely nothing. -- Mary Spiro, Johns Hopkins University

Good theories, Mary, and I tend to agree. If "The Wire" has taught us nothing else, it's that while crime may not pay, solving crimes certainly doesn't seem to pay, either (in either the literal or emotional sense). I'd be surprised if Marlo survived this season -- he's just too evil a character to not be punished somehow, even in David Simon's cynical world -- but most likely not because of anything Baltimore PD accomplished. (Though it's not difficult to imagine McNulty just hopping fully into the abyss and taking a shot at him if things really come off the rails). But regardless, as you alluded to, the Baltimore drug trade will still be open for business. The only question is, if Marlo goes, who replaces him? Cheese? Chris? Or, as some have mentioned, Michael?

Thanks again to you all for writing. More to come Sunday.

-- Chris Barton