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The Emmys continue blazing down their path to irrelevance by again missing their final chance to honor one of the best shows television has ever produced. That’s 0 for 5, people, with no more chances to get it right, since “The Wire” finished its five-year run this spring. Scoring a lone nomination for writing, that brings the HBO crime drama’s grand total over its life span to 2. By contrast, “Boston Legal” — which long has followed a Shatner-dropping-trou, Spader-giving-impassioned-closing-argument cycle — received 7, including one for best drama series. In fact, James Spader has won more Emmys for playing Alan Shore than “The Wire” has total nominations. I say all this as a regular “BL” watcher, incidentally. Catch the new season starting Sept. 22.

The inexplicable snubbing had become an industry-wide joke to the point that news that “The Wire” was even in the running for nominations this year was notable.

I know many are happy with the recognition given other cable shows who got recognition — fine shows like “Mad Men,” “Damages,” “Breaking Bad” — but it really is pathetic the way this played out. Who knows why these things happen? Variety did some digging a few years back and came up with some interesting answers, none of which was very flattering to Emmy voters. They range from simple-mindedness to weak stomachs to provincial viewing habits.

Every awards list will be excoriated for what it didn’t include, but in the case of “The Wire,” the neglect is more regrettable because some Emmy recognition might have persuaded more people to tune in. Then they could have seen for themselves what a fine show it was, instead of listening to blowhards like me constantly telling them that they don’t know what they’re missing.

I have an eerie feeling fans of “Friday Night Lights” and “Battlestar Galactica” will be writing similar blog posts a year from now.

Tags: Emmys, The Wire by sharrison76
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For those who don’t know, the title comes from a old journalism tradition of ending stories that reporters hand into their editors with a “-30-”. There are a lot of explanations out there, but no one really knows where it came from. That makes it a perfect note on which to end “The Wire,” which continually questioned why things are the way they are.

With countless characters and even more storylines left unresolved, the final hour and a half had a lot to get done. What will happen to McNulty and Freamon now that the serial killer ruse has been discovered? Will Marlo and his gang go free? Would Dukie fall into drugs? What about Michael? Can Bubbles stay clean? Will Templeton be exposed? How will all this affect Carcetti’s political ambitions? The finale manages to answer all of these questions and more in ways that were sometimes expected, sometimes surprising, and other times a bit far-fetched, which is not something you can often say about this show. Still, for drama you couldn’t beat it, and it was a splendid benediction for what will go down as one of the best shows TV has ever produced. Yeah, even better than “According to Jim.” [Read more →]

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Lester, bless his heart, figured out Marlo’s cellphone code in time to catch Partlow heading to a warehouse out in the middle of nowhere for a fresh supply of product. Cue the blaring sirens, cue the SWAT teams, there’s your dope on the table. Just as the city poobahs are reeling over the phantom serial killer, they get a $16 million drug bust to make things feel a lot better. Lester forgoes the big public press conference, finding his joy instead through a silent encounter with Marlo, on his knees in handcuffs, furtively flashing him the clock that led to his capture. We get a rare glimpse of Lester in celebration, three sheets to the wind while McNulty looks on distractedly, and saying that Shardine better be ready for some lovin’. Go Lester!

This being “The Wire,” though, we know not to get too comfy with the idea that the good guys have won. There’s still that issue of how they set up the wiretap — oh, and then there’s the matter of the fake serial killer that helped start the investigation. Things were made infinitely more complex when Greggs decided she couldn’t let McNulty’s lie go, and went to Daniels, who with Pearlman, confirmed that the investigation was bogus. Will they use the information to take McNulty down, or become his accomplices in order to make sure all the good policework that came out of it isn’t put in danger? And if they don’t bust McNulty — who’s still too guilt-ridden to enjoy the Marlo bust — how will Greggs take it?

[Read more →]

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Nothing shakes up a liar more than a bit of truth. Well, perceived truth, in this case.

Imagine Scott Templeton’s surprise when he picks up his cellphone only to hear a heavy-breathing lunatic claiming to be the serial killer on the other end. McNulty and Lester, meanwhile, are having a ball faking the call with the help of a voice modulator and McNulty’s honest-to-God Baltimore accent. It’s just the latest display of linguistic mastery by Dominic West, who makes us forget every week that he’s actually British. Remember that Season 2 episode when he had McNulty doing a fake British accent? He’s certainly more convincing than that Irish guy who plays Carcetti.

At The Sun, the Editors Not Named Gus have the expected reaction, and are preparing their Pulitzer acceptance speeches as they meet with McNulty over the picture of the homeless man assumed to be the next target. McNulty plays along, letting slip, just a little, his disdain — or maybe it’s just an understanding — of the situation. Worked out OK for both of us, he reasons. Indeed. The windfall he expected from the manufactured killings has finally come, and it ends up quickly becoming a case of being careful what you wish for. Once word gets out that McNulty is handing out manpower and other resources from the endless supply the brass are giving him, his desk becomes a regular soup kitchen for homicide detectives hungry to put cases in the black. McNulty also gets a taste of reality from Kima, who interviews the families of the supposed victims of the serial killer. They’re struggling with the idea of their loved ones going out like that — an angle McNulty obviously didn’t take into account when hatching his plan.

[Read more →]

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It is the best of times, it is the worst of times for many of Baltimore’s players.

For Marlo’s gang, they got the drop on Omar, repelling his assassination attempt and forcing him to leap several stories to escape. The trouble for them is, he did escape, and now he’s making life hell for the drug king, burning his cash supplies and wounding his minions all over town. Marlo, too, is feeling good after asserting control over a meeting of the city’s drug dealers — even upping the price of a brick — but he knows Omar is still a problem, and that he missed a golden opportunity to get rid of him.

For Carcetti, he’s getting a major renovation of the waterfront under way, but his ribbon-cutting ceremony is crashed by some angry, disgruntled dockworkers led by Nick Sobotka (yes!) who shout obscenities and curse the upcoming yuppie-condo takeover of their beloved docks. More good news/bad news for the mayor: The national media is in town, but it’s to cover the homeless serial killings. Like any savvy politician, though, it looks like he’ll end up making it a positive, after delivering an impassioned speech to the likes of CNN, MSNBC (Was the Fox News microphone missing? Hmmmm) about the plight of the homeless and how it’s his job to protect them. His advisers say this is an issue he could ride to the governor’s mansion.

The man who gave him those murders is also on cloud nine. McNulty is so sure that he’s about to get unlimited resources to follow his faux killer that he starts boasting about how he’s going to spend them. You need a couple of detectives, Bunk, to work that 22-body case? No problem! Hey, Lester, you need some more surveillance teams? They’re yours!

Only the windfall isn’t quite what he expected. I have a little trouble with this development, since we’re told (and shown) that the case is top priority for the crime lab, and that any report of a homeless corpse brings significant police response. How is it that the department leaves the actual casework to McNulty and one other detective of his choosing? It seems a strange bit of contrivance for a show not known for it.

Lester is also riding high, because of the expected help coming from McNulty, and because he was able to bring Sydnor on board his illegal wiretap (though he told him nothing about the fake serial killer). But the wiretap is useless after Lester discovers Marlo & Co. aren’t talking business on the cell phones. Instead, they’re sending pictures. That requires a whole other technology — not to mention paperwork for the bureaucrats — that McNulty can’t begin to come up with. Their solution involves a complicated scheme using a random, obviously feeble homeless man and portraying him as the next victim. McNulty and Lester begin to wonder if they’ve gone too far, and we are uncertain by episode’s end if McNulty has the heart to go through with it. OK, he probably does, but at least he feels bad about it.

Still unburdened by his conscious is our intrepid reporter Scott Templeton, whose front-page account of his “conversation” with the serial killer makes him the darling of the newsroom and fodder for the national news channels. Seeing him gab about the nobility of journalism with Nancy Grace, who called him the Jimmy Breslin of Baltimore, was a highlight for me. Makes me wonder if Nancy had access to the whole script before she agreed to the cameo.

All editors not named Gus love their new golden boy, and ask Scott what he’s going to do for them next, a question his alarmingly blank face indicates he hadn’t thought of at all. Like, ever. B.S. artist that he is, though, he comes up with the idea of doing an overnight stay with the homeless, to see how they’re holding up with a fake serial killer on the loose. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed harder during the show’s history than when he pulled up to a homeless camp wearing his dorky Kansas City Star T-shirt. Man, what a tool.

Unbelievably, he comes out of it with an honest-to-goodness story, talking to an Iraq War vet for whom life has gone terribly wrong. Gus loves the story, praising Scott for not having overwritten it. For Gus, those dots gotta be getting closer together, especially after a complaint comes in from a past Scott story where he made stuff up. Unfazed, Scott makes up some more stuff to get out of it.

The thread of decency through it all is Bunk, who’s busy with his real police work. While he goes after the 22-murder case with a renewed enthusiasm for his profession, that’s quickly beat out of him by continuous dead ends and systematic incompetence. The lab is way behind on his DNA work, and they mislabeled the stuff they did complete. When he finally talks his way into some help, the tech assures him he’ll put it at the top of his list … right after McNulty’s serial killer.

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Scott Templeton’s dilemma is laid out beautifully by a walk-on character, the guy who runs the homeless facility where Bubbles is still washing dishes. The newsman with Stephen Glass tendencies is on assignment to get reaction quotes from homeless men over the apparent serial killer stalking them on the streets of Baltimore. Only most of the men he talked to aren’t really homeless. They’re working poor. “That reporter the Baltimore Sun sent over,” the guy tells a nonresponsive Bubbles (more on that later). “Not exactly Bob Woodward.”

No, but he might make a good Elmore Leonard. Templeton proceeds to make up more quotes, this time at least attributing them to a real person, albeit a deranged homeless man who presumably won’t challenge their authenticity.

Templeton meets his match, though, when he tags along with Alma to a meeting with McNulty to discuss the serial killer. Much as I’ve come to loathe Templeton, seeing him with McNulty — both of them obviously aroused (probably literally as well as figuratively) at the notoriety their lies past, present and future will create — tempered my feelings a bit. Or maybe it just dragged McNulty down to the same level. The difference before was in their motivations. McNulty had his eye on the greater good, exploiting the public’s obsession with sensational crime to gain funding for big-time investigations, while Templeton was all about career advancement. But really, they’re both all about ambition. And I fear McNulty is going to drag a good man like Lester down with him. Templeton’s fall will be bad for the paper — OK, Gus may take a hit, too — but the only career ruined will be his own.

Damn the future, though, this game of liar’s poker was above all hilarious. When vague descriptions of sexual compulsion weren’t sexy enough for the reporters (Alma was curiously quiet during the encounter), the resourceful McNulty played the bite-marks card. You could see the gleam in Templeton’s eyes. Or maybe that was just McNulty’s eyes being reflected.

Meanwhile, some real police work was going on, by a former cop. Herc nosed his way into Levy’s Rolodex to fish out Marlo’s cell phone number. He promptly fed it to Carver, who gave it to a lustful Lester. That led to a nice moment of Lester confirming the number, breaking into a Richard Pryor-esque impersonation of street slang, asking if he’d reached a place where he could order chicken.

But Daniels didn’t bite on the cell phone lead leading to further speculation that he’s developing the same water-carrying ways of his predecessors. But here’s where Templeton’s chicanery comes in handy. He fakes a phone call from a pay phone to his cell, saying the serial killer has contacted him. Needless to say, this amuses the hell out of McNulty, who plays along beautifully during a sit-down with the editors at the paper. While he can’t resist probing Templeton’s story, he knows not to blow a hole in something that could benefit him. What do you think? Was that smirk in reaction to how McNulty knew he could spin this to his advantage, or in realizing that Templeton is full of BS? The upshot is, McNulty is granted a wiretap for the serial killer case, which he and Lester plan to use to get Marlo.

Meanwhile, Clay Davis muttered the longest-drawn out expletive in TV history while the powers that be were trying to persuade him to go quietly, like Burrell did. Nah. Davis is out defending his good name on the radio and on the steps of the courthouse, where a not-so-friendly chat with the former mayor tells him he better not give up the fight. This is all good for a few jabs at the political system, but it’s hard to feel that much is at stake here. The councilwoman laid it out pretty well: Davis may do a year in a minimum-security day camp, then be back in the system to his old tricks. Yawn.

Bubbles was afraid to take an AIDS test — though that term is never used; it’s just called “the bug” — so he enlists Walon to help him. Steve Earle’s sensitive performance is nice, but it in no way makes up for his butchering of the theme song each week. Bubbles’ test comes back negative, which seems to disappoint him. Talk about the ultimate in self-punishment. Sober or not, when you’re bummed out that you don’t have AIDS, you’re not in a good place. Hang in there, Bubs.

That wasn’t the saddest stuff the episode had to offer, though. That would be the further unraveling of McNulty’s personal life, and his unwillingness to do anything about it. Beadie tells Bunk she’s ready to kick the bum out, while McNulty’s ex tells him he’s ruining his life … again. Just as heartbreaking is McNulty’s attempt to reconnect with his kids, who pay as much attention to him as they would a gnat. A hopelessly uncool gnat, at that. The old fogy even has the gall to wonder why his kids don’t listen to the Ramones. While this kind of stuff is usually played for generation-gap laughs, here it’s just further evidence of how removed from reality McNulty is becoming.

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Say it ain’t so, Prop Joe.

The wily veteran finally found himself in one situation he couldn’t negotiate his way through. That would be his weaselly nephew Cheese having sold him out to Marlo, and Prop Joe taking a slug in the back of the head, never seeing his killer’s face. But there’s Marlo, the most ruthless character in a show full of them, telling Joe to relax, close his eyes, and it won’t hurt at all. After the shot, there’s the young buck smiling, delighted that his plan has worked, and the world is now his. Chilling.

But Omar’s back in town, and he’s got a plan to bring Marlo down. It involves going after all his soldiers, and, unfortunately, it looks like that hit list includes Michael.

Prop Joe wasn’t the only old guard leader to see his reign end. Carcetti dropped the ax on Burrell, who decided to take his cushy consulting job and pension instead of airing Daniels’ dirty laundry. Rawls is the interim man, and he is surprisingly bothered by Burrell’s assessment of the commissioner’s job as carrying water (and other varied effluvia) for the mayor’s office. Rawls always seemed to be a happily career-oriented man. Is there still some idealism buried way, way, WAY down deep?

Carver also took a step forward as a leader, breaking the code of silence by writing up an officer who had gotten tough with a civilian during a failed drug bust. Later, Herc assured his old partner he did the right thing, while there was some uncomfortable talk about Randy from Season 4.

Kima began trying to be a good mom, having been shaken by the little boy she rescued from the home-invasion killings a few weeks back. Elijah is nonresponsive at first, but when she finds a way to break through and put a smile on the boy’s face, it’s one of the few unadulterated moments of joy “The Wire” gives us, and we’ll take it.

McNulty and Freamon ramped up their serial killer ruse, trolling the city’s homeless hideouts to interview people just to make it look real, and persuading a patrol cop to give them early access to a homeless corpse, in order to plant some more evidence on him. Freamon really brings his A-game, toting a set of teeth to do God knows what to the stiff. “Work it like a real case, and it’ll feel like a real case,” he says.

No documented BS from Templeton this time — though his attaboy from Gus makes me suspicious — just a humbling trip to D.C. to interview for a spot at the Washington Post. The verdict is thanks but no thanks, with the editor treating him like the bumpkin from Kansas that his resume reveals him to be. Elsewhere at the paper, Gus is steamed over getting scooped on Davis’ grand jury investigation, thanks largely to the cutbacks having eliminated the staff’s court reporter. As much as I like Gus, his “back in the good old days” comments can wear a bit thin, and it’s just doubtful he would spend so much time talking about it instead of focusing on running the daily paper. Much more entertaining is when he picks apart Carcetti’s comments during the pony-show press conference announcing Burrell’s resignation, only to have the nebbish editor tell him to cut down on profanity and be more “collegial.”

So we’re left wondering where Marlo will go from here, other than the bull’s-eye for an Omar bullet. The preview for next week shows McNulty sitting down with Alma and Templeton, with Templeton arguing — go figure — for a sexier story. The true test of the whole serial killer plotline will be tested when it goes from the abstract to reality. I can see it going either way at this point, but I’m more than ready to give everyone here the benefit of the doubt.

From this week, my favorite moment came between an unexpected encounter between Herc and Prop Joe. They were both in Levy’s office, with Joe having brought Levy a new client in Marlo, and Herc pondering his new station in life as Levy’s gopher. Prop Joe nods and points at a copy of the Baltimore Sun lying on a desk, and Herc nods his approval. Joe thumbs through the paper, sees the Burrell story and mentions that they went to the same school, then share a laugh at Burrell’s academic shortcomings. The term “stone stupid” is used. I’m a sucker for these stolen-moments scenes, where two characters naturally at war just take a break and interact as human beings. Sadly, there won’t be anymore of these moments with Prop Joe. As an RIP, take a look back to see how it all started for the big guy.

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McNulty’s serial killer concoction drew some traction after he stumbled upon an old vagrant murder where the victim had a red ribbon tied around his wrist. After a couple of unauthorized additions to old casefiles and planting one on a corpse in the morgue — hark! — a madman is loose in the streets of Baltimore! It even says so in the pages of the Baltimore Sun, thanks to McNulty stroking the ego of ambitious reporter Alma Gutierrez, who’s ready for big-time stories after recently being spurned from the front page. The problem for both of them is, the story is buried on Page 3B.

And instead of being the voice of reason, Lester points out that Mr. “We have to kill again” McNulty didn’t go far enough. Make it sensational, give the people what they want out of a serial killer. All the while a horrified Bunk looks on. The scene is played just a little for laughs, but Lester’s reasoning that they can get away with it because nobody cares is heartbreaking, the kind of hopelessness that “The Wire” trades in and makes so compelling. It’s also a rare moment when the smooth operator losing his cool, dropping all pretense of keeping people focused on the task at hand and instead just playing the game. He wants Marlo Stanfield. Bad. I wonder when Bunk will start planting evidence. If he were going to rat McNulty out, he would have done it already. Right?

Marlo has other problems, trying to get the Greeks to take his (literally) dirty money and seeking Prop Joe’s advice on where to keep his extra cash. Poor Prop Joe doesn’t seem to know he’s being set up, so seeing him help Marlo is pretty unnerving. Part of the advice he gives Marlo is to set up some offshore accounts, so Marlo takes a trip to the islands, where tax laws and trials aren’t a concern, to check on his money. His impatience with the French-speaking teller is hilarious. I love scenes like this, where we see characters so entrenched in all that is Baltimore interact elsewhere. Any other environment on the show seems like a distant planet. I’m thinking Bodie in Season 1, not realizing that radio stations are different when you go to New York, or the kid from that same season who hides out at his grandma’s house in the country. It doesn’t happen often that the action leaves Baltimore, but this week we get three out-of-town scenes. The others we’ll talk about in a minute.

The paper receives some bad news and, uh oh, one of those “doing more with less” speeches after hearing of corporate cutbacks that will pretty much gut the staff. As the veterans line up to hear the buyout pitches, the loathsome Scott Templeton chimes in with a comment about how they’re just cutting dead weight. Which makes it so delicious when Gus asks Templeton to jump on a story about a police department shakeup involving Daniels, Rawls and Burrell, and Templeton has no idea who the heck anyone is. Who should pipe up to fill in Daniels’ background but one of the dead-weight old veterans, letting the twerp know pretty much Daniels’ entire career. Templeton further proves himself a colossal douchebag by making up a reaction quote to round out the story. It’s perfect and gets right to the heart of the story and, naturally, it’s anonymous. Man, this guy needs to go down. Hopefully, David Simon will indulge himself a little bit and actually tar-and-feather the guy instead of going all realistic and ambiguous on us.

As for that whole police shakeup thing, Carcetti wants Burrell out, after Burrell cooked some crime statistics to save face. What Burrell didn’t know is that Valchek (where ya been, Stan!) already brought in the real numbers to try to put himself in position for acting commissioner. The mayor’s office is trying to float the idea of Rawls taking over temporarily, warming the seat for Daniels. So here comes a front-page news story that says as much, along with Templeton’s made-up quote about Daniels stabbing Burrell in the back. So instead of enjoying his upcoming promotion, Daniels is worried Burrell will turn over information all about “the old days” that could wreck his career. You gotta think that after five seasons, we’re finally going to see just what Daniels could have done that he’s so worried about. Couldn’t be that bad, right? Not like he fabricated a serial killer.

Two other out-of-Baltimore scenes alternated between character development and tectonic plot shifts. We see Michael, Dukie and Bug hanging out at an amusement park, riding roller coasters, picking up girls, you know, just being kids. The harsh reality of their world is hammered home when they get back and Michael is yelled at for ditching his corner for the day. This plot line doesn’t seem to be going to a nice place.

The other scene shows the one, the only, Omar Little running the gamut of emotions. One minute he’s enjoying a nice walk around his retirement villa, and the next he’s mourning the loss of Butchie, who was tortured and killed by Marlo’s thugs. Butchie didn’t talk, though. So look out, Marlo. You wanted Omar, now you got him.

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Oh no he di’int!

Was that our good and faithful Detective Jimmy McNulty rearranging a murder scene to make it look like a serial killer is on the loose in Baltimore? Well, what else can you do when city hall just won’t cough up enough cash to let the police do their job? As Freamon says, if it were 300 white people who were killed every year in the city, the National Guard would be deployed immediately. Don’t count on public outcry to help, either, because apparently the problems in Bodymore pale compared with a blonde girl who went missing in Aruba.

So you see where McNulty’s coming from and where he’s going. This victim was male, but perhaps they will be getting more tow-headed and female as time passes. It was enough to make the usually unflappable Bunk wash his hands of the situation and high-tail it out of there, but McNulty is betting that the media will eat it up. And based on what we’ve seen from the folks at The Sun, he’s probably right. They fell hook, line and sinker for a fishy lead about a 13-year-old kid in a wheelchair who tried to scalp tickets to see the Orioles play baseball on opening day. The objections from our lovable old Gus — the reporter provided no last name, no pictures — weren’t enough for Whiting to give up what promised to be a heart-tugging read.

I gotta say, I’m all on board for beating up on incompetence in authority positions, but Whiting has the be the most clueless editor ever put on film. I get the whole aiming-to-win-a-prize, not-write-a-good-story mentality they’re going after, but he seems a bit of a caricature, like something a spurned lover would portray. David Simon is merely a disgruntled former employee, but I expected a bit more depth than what we’ve gotten so far. It’s also implied that the reporter — the slimy and ambitious Scott Templeton — Stephen Glass-ed his way through the story, having come up empty in his canvassing of the opening-day crowd for a compelling angle. Which leads to the question that if a cop gives a made-up story to a reporter who makes things up, does that make it real on some level, using the two-negatives-make-a-positive theory?

As for those who more routinely break the law and flout ethics, Marlo finally managed to persuade Avon to broker for him a jailhouse meeting with Sergi. Not quite sure what they’re up to yet, only that it involves a power play with the Greeks and Prop Joe’s crowd. And probably a few caps going into a few a****. Speaking of which, Marlo ordered the killings of some of his naysayers, one of whom was only thought to have said something pertaining to Marlo’s oral fixations. This troubled one of the assassins, who let a young boy flee unharmed out the back door. Among Marlo’s hit list was Omar, who has yet to surface this season.

Quite a bit of time was spent on Bubbles struggling with his sobriety. He goes to his group meetings, but can’t quite engage fully, still stinging over his role in the death of Sherrod. Not sure how he’ll end up, but there was a scene at the homeless shelter that consisted of little but Bubs washing dishes and doing a slow burn. Not sure what was going on, but it didn’t feel right.

Not much was revealed on the preview for next week, other than a few clips of the Greeks doing business and Bunk telling McNulty that his serial killer ruse is going to lead to his downfall. Probably, but McNulty seems to be preparing himself for ruination, reverting back to his alcoholic, womanizing ways, and alienating his girlfriend (poor Beatie!) and now his best friend. But seriously, you never thought “The Wire” was going to end with a surprise wedding, didja?

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OK, first off, not a fan of Steve Earle’s version of “Way Down in the Hole.” Normally, Earle does all right, but he’s bland here. Like, Rascal Flatts bland. This is not the musical sendoff this monumental show deserves. Bring back Tom Waits, please.

Otherwise, the final season kicks off with a typically enthralling episode that shows a police force in crisis (having to go without OT pay and a bunch of other niceties, like operational cars), a neophyte mayor clumsily trying to wheel and deal his way out of the budgetary mess, a surveillance unit facing the prospect of a year’s worth of work going down the tubes and a city newspaper trying to maintain relevancy amid a punishing financial reality. The unifying theme: Everyone is being asked to do “more with less,” — a concept that would be amusing if it weren’t so frustrating to those who have to live with it.

The cops — including McNulty, Freamon, Greggs, Sydnor and Dozerman — are still hot-tailing Marlo Stanfield and his crew after the 22 bodies were found in the drug house last season, but they’re not making any significant headway. Maybe that’s because Marlo is on to them, and rarely breaks from his routine. The biggest development raises more questions than answers, when McNulty finds that one of Stanfield’s lieutenants has been doing some courthouse research on Sergi, an old adversary who played a pivotal role in the port case that dominated Season 2. Hmmm …

Could this have anything to do with Marlo’s bold performance at a meeting of Baltimore’s drug lords, during which he openly challenged Prop Joe’s authority? As the man says, “Don’t sleep on Marlo.” By the way, I love that they all met at a hotel conference room. Did they register under the old “Simpsons” gag line, “Legitimate Businessmen’s Social Club”?

As the promos have been touting, the media is going to play a significant role this season, and it’s thrilling to see David Simon write about his old digs, The Baltimore Sun. Everything that is so great about “The Wire” is on display in scenes like the one where the young reporter is dressed down for not knowing that you can’t “evacuate” people. No other show pays this much attention to detail, and makes it interesting.

It’s too early to tell what the paper’s role will be this season, but it’s apparent that city editor Gus Haynes will be at the forefront. He’s an old dog, still energized by the newsroom and trying to break news despite continuing corporate cutbacks and editors who are more interested in PR than in the truth. In a break from “Wire” tradition, Gus sees his efforts rewarded with a front-page story that reveals a sweetheart deal between a drug dealer/strip club owner and the city council. The councilwoman’s reaction is priceless. I guess Simon had to throw his former profession a bone before presumably dismantling it in the nine episodes to come.

Previews of next week’s show reveal that Barksdale will be back, lording something over the ever-ambitious Marlo. Can’t wait.

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