The Wire Season 5 SPOILER Thread

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  • haha, did anyone else see jim jones in that episode?

    Yeah, what a weird look.
    i'm honestly
    GLAD[/b] he didn't get his way into a speaking role

  • meatyogremeatyogre 2,080 Posts
    maybe I just haven't thought it through yet, but what is the significance of the switched tags on Omar and the white guy in the body bags at the end there?

  • maybe I just haven't thought it through yet, but what is the significance of the switched tags on Omar and the white guy in the body bags at the end there?

    From the moment of Omar's death to the end of the episode I kept picking up hints at the idea that Omar, once dead, no longer has any significance or meaning... that a man like Omar, complex as he was... as a neighborhood stick-up artist can go from being the most feared man in the entire city to a complete nothing as soon as his number is called. So insignificant that his murder was not even deemed newsworthy and the tag on his corpse was switched with some old white guy.

    I was trying to think of a homeless murder tie-in but couldn't find one.

  • And not to bring the whole "real life" argument into it but people get got in stupid ways all the damn time.

    To quote Carcetti, "it's Baltimore. Nobody lives forever."

    I agree. It's completely fitting that Omar was taken out by a minor character, especially after a few episodes of this superhero bit he's fallen (no pun intended) into. It brings the series back to earth. Even though he was Omar and people would run screaming "omar comin" when he was unarmed out picking up his honey nut cereal, he's no less vulnerable to slipping up. He saw Kenard, he just didn't think hard enough about it. Omar had enough passes through the course of this show, and he had to pay.

  • dollar_bindollar_bin I heartily endorse this product and/or event 2,326 Posts
    So insignificant that his murder was not even deemed newsworthy and the tag on his corpse was switched with some old white guy.

    We've seen this before this season, I remember the murder of Prop Joe and Hungry Man (probably) are mentioned briefly in an editorial meeting in episode 55 but are dismissed as potential stories. Even the most ground shaking events in the narrative scope of the show are below the radar of the mainstream media, particularly in the light of the hundreds of other drug murders that happen each year. It's a pretty unsubtle commentary, but that's the Wire for you.

  • We've seen this before this season, I remember the murder of Prop Joe and Hungry Man (probably) are mentioned briefly in an editorial meeting in episode 55 but are dismissed as potential stories. Even the most ground shaking events in the narrative scope of the show are below the radar of the mainstream media, particularly in the light of the hundreds of other drug murders that happen each year. It's a pretty unsubtle commentary, but that's the Wire for you.

    The narrative on the Wire really belongs to the living. Plus, the season is compressed as-is with 10 episodes. I bet we get some more fallout on Joe with the cheese/slim charles/chris & snoop mix.

    And it's actually pretty subtle compared to other crime dramas. Can you imagine Law & Order or CSI tackling anything of this maturity or scope? Steve Johnson, who wrote a book called "everything bad is good for you," pointed out the increasing complexity of narratives. On most popular dramas there's no room for plot or development outside the primary characters, or pretty much anything outside of what is easily bookended in 1-hour blocks. Even an important side-topic, such as McCoy's philandering with ADAs, is given no time. Each series centers on one or two sides of the crime issue, but The Wire tackles the whole system. It's a tall order, and I don't think it succeeds always, but I wouldn't say it's on the whole unsubtle. I'd rather watch it fall short or leave some areas less than fleshed-out than watch sensationalized copsploitation like CSI Miami. (Horatio: another LSD dosed hooker eaten by a alligator... what's the connection?)

  • NOOOOOOOOOOO! I wanted Omar to just kill everyone and have a happy tv ending.

    ANYWAYS>........I don't get the end with the toe tag? I read what was said here, but they showed it like it was on purpose and the dude thought about it and walked away with a smirk.

    I figured it had something to do with the homeless, but that doesn't make sense either.

  • djannadjanna 1,543 Posts
    I can't believe there's only 2 episodes left.

    x a million

  • my fav highlights:

    - Clay Davis talmbout the rep making a play for governor: "Playing the race card: SHAMEFUL!" lol...

    - Freamon talking schitt to Clay Davis in the bar was dope.

    - Gus SONNED the managing editor; so dope.

    - The whole Carcetti disappointed wife scene was lame.

    From the moment of Omar's death to the end of the episode I kept picking up hints at the idea that Omar, once dead, no longer has any significance or meaning...

    word. The Omar offing was sad, and all the more pathetic when Gus says..."run the fire; cut the murder; we don't have room." And then McNulty doesn't know about Omar's death and Bunk talmbout "Schitt Jimmy don't you read the 24s anymore?" So yeah, he's reduced to total insignificance.

    I agree with firmerola he was careless in the bodega though.

  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    maybe I just haven't thought it through yet, but what is the significance of the switched tags on Omar and the white guy in the body bags at the end there?

    From the moment of Omar's death to the end of the episode I kept picking up hints at the idea that Omar, once dead, no longer has any significance or meaning... that a man like Omar, complex as he was... as a neighborhood stick-up artist can go from being the most feared man in the entire city to a complete nothing as soon as his number is called. So insignificant that his murder was not even deemed newsworthy and the tag on his corpse was switched with some old white guy.

    I was trying to think of a homeless murder tie-in but couldn't find one.

    Naw - I think you probably just called it - it's about showing how Omar - larger than life within one world - is just another corpse in the other.

    I dunno - I still find this season to be quite disappointing. Omar getting iced certainly didn't help things, but really, the whole "fake serial killer" angle has been tortured, at best. I'm waiting to see how the house of cards end up falling but I can't say I'm that invested in it despite it being the main arc this season.

    This said, I was feeling:

    Poot in the Foot Locker. I was wondering when he'd show up.

    Jimmy attempt at a mea culpa, only to get the screen door slammed in his face.

    Lester shaking down the Senator.


  • - Fuck punk ass Kenard.

  • BrianBrian 7,618 Posts

    - Fuck punk ass Kenard.
    dont make me bring back the avatar!!

  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts

    - Fuck punk ass Kenard.

    Word.

  • cascas 1,484 Posts


    Lester shaking down the Senator.

    what angle is lester working with clay? grasping at straws to get to marlo somehow?

    things aren't looking too good for mcnutty. i don't think he'll be alive by the end of the season. once the case is done and the girlfriend leaves...he won't have anything of value left and if you look at the artwork for season 5 there's a story of a "fatal accident" on the "W". drunk driving related?

    i know it's nerdy...i'm just trying to piece this shit togther.

  • cascas 1,484 Posts

    From the moment of Omar's death to the end of the episode I kept picking up hints at the idea that Omar, once dead, no longer has any significance or meaning... that a man like Omar, complex as he was... as a neighborhood stick-up artist can go from being the most feared man in the entire city to a complete nothing as soon as his number is called. So insignificant that his murder was not even deemed newsworthy and the tag on his corpse was switched with some old white guy.

    yeah. that's what i got out of it too.

    omar was a great character.

  • my fav highlights:

    - Clay Davis talmbout the rep making a play for governor: "Playing the race card: SHAMEFUL!" lol...

    - Freamon talking schitt to Clay Davis in the bar was dope.

    - Gus SONNED the managing editor; so dope.

    - The whole Carcetti disappointed wife scene was lame.


    I liked the profile of the serial killer.

  • dollar_bindollar_bin I heartily endorse this product and/or event 2,326 Posts


    I liked the profile of the serial killer.

    classic


  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts


    Lester shaking down the Senator.

    what angle is lester working with clay? grasping at straws to get to marlo somehow?

    things aren't looking too good for mcnutty. i don't think he'll be alive by the end of the season. once the case is done and the girlfriend leaves...he won't have anything of value left and if you look at the artwork for season 5 there's a story of a "fatal accident" on the "W". drunk driving related?

    i know it's nerdy...i'm just trying to piece this shit togther.

    I don't know if the shakedown is related to Marlo - I think Lester is hunting after something else but I haven't figured out what.

    As for McNulty - yeah, the season *seems* to be suggesting that when he falls, he falls hard but like all things Wire, few things ever play out like they seem like they're going to.

    See Omar!

    In regards to that...I know it's pointless asking this...but what was the point in all this build-up only to have him popped off randomly? Yes, I know, randomness happens but I'm thinking of Season 3 where the two big guns - Avon and Stringer - are both taken out - not randomly - but through a series of events that fell together slowly but at least there was some narrative logic to it. In Stringer's case especially, it was some classic "chickens coming home to roost" and even Avon getting set up by Stringer was something we saw fall into place over several episodes. With S5...getting shot in a bodega? Really? By Kenard? REALLY?

    *sigh*

  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts


    I liked the profile of the serial killer.

    classic

    Gimmicky. But still funny.

  • OkemOkem 4,617 Posts


    Lester shaking down the Senator.

    what angle is lester working with clay? grasping at straws to get to marlo somehow?

    things aren't looking too good for mcnutty. i don't think he'll be alive by the end of the season. once the case is done and the girlfriend leaves...he won't have anything of value left and if you look at the artwork for season 5 there's a story of a "fatal accident" on the "W". drunk driving related?

    i know it's nerdy...i'm just trying to piece this shit togther.

    I don't know if the shakedown is related to Marlo - I think Lester is hunting after something else but I haven't figured out what.

    As for McNulty - yeah, the season *seems* to be suggesting that when he falls, he falls hard but like all things Wire, few things ever play out like they seem like they're going to.

    See Omar!

    In regards to that...I know it's pointless asking this...but what was the point in all this build-up only to have him popped off randomly? Yes, I know, randomness happens but I'm thinking of Season 3 where the two big guns - Avon and Stringer - are both taken out - not randomly - but through a series of events that fell together slowly but at least there was some narrative logic to it. In Stringer's case especially, it was some classic "chickens coming home to roost" and even Avon getting set up by Stringer was something we saw fall into place over several episodes. With S5...getting shot in a bodega? Really? By Kenard? REALLY?

    *sigh*


    ^^
    I think Lester has realised that the Clay investigation has hit a dead end, cause it can't go federal. So he's just trying to use what he has, as leverage. As he can't touch Clay now, he must be using it to go after Marlo.


    ^
    I think the whole Kenard thing made sense, in a kinda, new sweeps out the old kinda way, the faces may change but the games stays the same.


    side note.

    This season is obviously truncated. And it is the final one, so unlike other seasons they've obviously felt the real need for closure. These things obviously will show. Can we move past this now.


  • I think Lester has realised that the Clay investigation has hit a dead end, cause it can't go federal. So he's just trying to use what he has, as leverage. As he can't touch Clay now, he must be using it to go after Marlo.

    right but HOW? I mean we know there was a Clay-Barksdale connection (see Ashy Larry's arrest in Season 1), but is there a Clay-Stansfield connection that he is pursuing here?


    This season is obviously truncated. And it is the final one, so unlike other seasons they've obviously felt the real need for closure. These things obviously will show. Can we move past this now.

    while this is true, you have to admit that it was (overly) ambitious to add an entire new plotline/cast (newsroom) to an ALREADY truncated season that ALREADY had so many stories to wrap up.

    I stand by my hypothesis that Simon got selfish and seized that last season to tell his own bio/get some digs in on his former employer.

  • my fav highlights:

    - Clay Davis talmbout the rep making a play for governor: "Playing the race card: SHAMEFUL!" lol...

    - Freamon talking schitt to Clay Davis in the bar was dope.

    - Gus SONNED the managing editor; so dope.

    - The whole Carcetti disappointed wife scene was lame.


    I liked the profile of the serial killer.

    yeah forgot that. funny. gimmicky but totally worth it for the look on Jimmy's face.

  • ... also for the "[McNulty] Yeah, the unibomber... [Griggs] Took 16 years, right... [McNulty] ... didn't his brother rat him out?" sequence.

  • that was hilarious...talmobout we work about 300 murders a year and this dude going on Chris Matthews trying to sell his book...

  • dollar_bindollar_bin I heartily endorse this product and/or event 2,326 Posts

    In regards to that...I know it's pointless asking this...but what was the point in all this build-up only to have him popped off randomly? Yes, I know, randomness happens but I'm thinking of Season 3 where the two big guns - Avon and Stringer - are both taken out - not randomly - but through a series of events that fell together slowly but at least there was some narrative logic to it. In Stringer's case especially, it was some classic "chickens coming home to roost" and even Avon getting set up by Stringer was something we saw fall into place over several episodes. With S5...getting shot in a bodega? Really? By Kenard? REALLY?

    It's hard to imagine an end for Omar that wouldn't leave you guys crying and moaning. Seriously, though, I don't think we've yet seen all the consequences of Omar's war on the Stanfield organization and its somewhat abrupt end. There seems to be some strain in the relationship between Michael and Snoop and Chris stemming from how they were handling it. Furthermore, he's very hard to read but Chris seems troubled by something, possibly by Marlow's ego dragging them into a pointless conflict. They've shown that Chris has a family, and therefore is not invulnerable.

  • well it definitely it looks like Mikey kills Snoop or Chris. in the previews there's a shot of him shooting someone prefaced by him saying "this is just like you taught me..." or whatever.

    now I know Mikey hasn't been 100% on board with the way Marlo is running things this season, but with Omar gone now I don't see Mikey gunning for Chris or Snoop absent some major event that would serve to piss him off further.

    1. Dookie somehow gets caught up? I mean, he's certainly the one person Mikey seems to genuinely care about in the show. If there's anyone he'd kill for on a personal, non-assasin level, it's Dookie.

    2. Bunk has a DNA match on Chris...Chris gets arrested...Chris tries to pin the murders on Mikey...Mikey offs him when he's out on bail? I mean, I could definitely see Snoop and Chris conspiring to screw Mikey if their own asses were on the line. He's become somewhat unruly in his criticisms of Marlo, plus they've got seniority and they might feel that Mikey should take a rap for them...

    3. Any other possible "triggers" that would have Mikey gunning for Snoop or Chris? I don't see his general discontent with the Stansfield operation leading to some "I'm gonna kill you guys" especially since Omar is now out of the picture and that potential "wedge" has been removed. There's gonna have to be a triggering event if, indeed, Mikey offs Snoop or Chris as it appears he might.

  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    forget all this. The real question?

    Where's Prez?

    I thought for sure Lester would reach out and have Prez break down the code for him or shit. I mean, now that we've seen Poot, there's just a handful of cats left on this reunion/farewell tour.

  • dollar_bindollar_bin I heartily endorse this product and/or event 2,326 Posts
    forget all this. The real question?

    Where's Prez?

    I thought for sure Lester would reach out and have Prez break down the code for him or shit. I mean, now that we've seen Poot, there's just a handful of cats left on this reunion/farewell tour.

    I predict half of episode 60 will be Prez and Ziggy spending a night in the haunted prison tormented by the ghost of Snot Boogie.

  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    well it definitely it looks like Mikey kills Snoop or Chris. in the previews there's a shot of him shooting someone prefaced by him saying "this is just like you taught me..." or whatever.

    now I know Mikey hasn't been 100% on board with the way Marlo is running things this season, but with Omar gone now I don't see Mikey gunning for Chris or Snoop absent some major event that would serve to piss him off further.

    1. Dookie somehow gets caught up? I mean, he's certainly the one person Mikey seems to genuinely care about in the show. If there's anyone he'd kill for on a personal, non-assasin level, it's Dookie.

    2. Bunk has a DNA match on Chris...Chris gets arrested...Chris tries to pin the murders on Mikey...Mikey offs him when he's out on bail? I mean, I could definitely see Snoop and Chris conspiring to screw Mikey if their own asses were on the line. He's become somewhat unruly in his criticisms of Marlo, plus they've got seniority and they might feel that Mikey should take a rap for them...

    3. Any other possible "triggers" that would have Mikey gunning for Snoop or Chris? I don't see his general discontent with the Stansfield operation leading to some "I'm gonna kill you guys" especially since Omar is now out of the picture and that potential "wedge" has been removed. There's gonna have to be a triggering event if, indeed, Mikey offs Snoop or Chris as it appears he might.

    Let the show breath! I'd be surprised if it was any of these theories. You can't outpredict the show, mang!

    I mean, did anyone call Kenard, in the bodega, with a 44?

    Saying.
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