I think I’ve watched the finale about 7 times in the last week and change. The first time I watched it, I was blown away. After a few more watchings to pick up nuance, that opinion isn’t changed. It wasn’t a stirring, suspense-filled finale, but that’s not what the show’s ever given. The endings have never been particularly unpredictable. The fun was in seeing just how we got there, the expositions of the conflicts underlying all the decisions, all that fun stuff. This was a finale built in that mold, and it was great TV.
So forget just recapping everything. Let’s just go through and list the winners and losers. Because, in the end, The Wire is all about the winners and losers. I feel comfortable saying you’ll notice a pattern.
Rawls – Winner. Absolute winner. Good things happen when you’re concerned with little more than playing the game. That also puts you in a position to know which of those rare moments an underling has when he can flip the game.
Daniels – Loser. And you know what? It’s his own damn fault. He somehow thought that he could play the game all the way to the top and then change it, as if the game isn’t designed to prevent that. Also funny–the dope boys know to launder their money, but a cop doesn’t. Fool.
Pearlman – Winner. Because she’s no longer wiht Jimmy McNulty. Just keep it real.
Levy – Winner. He cut that deal, and now his leak is no longer a concern. That’s all gone away. He’s the king once more.
Herc – Winner. And for his presence on earth–even a fictional presence–we’re all losers.
Slim Charles – Winner. Actually, let’s broaden that….
Slim Charles and the rest of America – WINNER!!! I stood up in my house and clapped when Slim laid Cheese out. I’ve been waiting all season for that. The best part? That scene was largely unnecessary. The only reason for it was because David Simon knew we wanted to see Melvin Wagstaff get killed. THank you, Simon. And thank that little dude with the classic line, “this sentimental muthafucka cost us money.”
Marlo – Winner. Yes, Marlo’s a big winner. He got out the game with a golden parachute–kept his money, stayed out of jail, $10 million for the connect, and he’s out the game. It was like he just got disbarred and sold his practice. So what if he’s got nothing outside the game? What did he really have in it? Now, he can actually spend his money…assuming he has any idea what to get.
Chris – Loser. Something to think about…you ever noticed the intimation that Wee-Bay and Cutty were snuggly in the joint? Cutty referred to Bay as his “cut buddy.” Hey man, I know what that meant when I was in college. Well, Wee-Bay and Chris are hanging and…well, I’m just saying. And Chris loses because of that whole life, no parole thing.
Michael – Loser. Sad part? The kid’s been losing his whole life in every way. New Omar? No, he’s a kid like Omar. No way he makes it to live as long as Omar did. Look at it that way, and he loses.
The Greeks – Winners. Again. Just posted up where they always were, and nobody gives a damn. See-why-see-ell-eye-see-ay-ll. Cyclical.
Freamon – Winner. Know why? Cuz he was always gonna be OK without the job. Remember what he told Jimmy in season three. Said he needed a life. “A life, Jimmy. Know what that is? It’s the shit that happens while you’re waiting on moments that’ll never come.” Lester was good without it. He had his miniatures and his scripper. What else is there, really?
McNulty – Winner. That’s right. The job was taking him to the grave, man. See how much less drinking he did once he knew he was done for? That’s victory.
Bubbles – WINNER!!!! Finally let him in the house!
Gus – Loser. Ugh, the copy desk? Could someone in the writing game explain how foul that was?
Templeton – Winner. Boo.
Kima – Who Cares? Snitch.
Dukie – Loser. Dude, he went straight to fiend status fast. That was a classic fiend speech if I’ve ever heard one, all the way down to the convoluted story that ultimately led nowhere. “Teacher must love yo black ass” is classic material.
Carcetti – Ugh. I despise him. He won governor? Stuff like that makes me wonder if voter registration is little more than a jury duty trap.
The Game – and still Champeeeen! Look, we all knew this. THe winner in all of this was The Game. The gods in these stories are the institutions, and we knew that from jump. You thought McNulty would go down? Noooooo….wasn’t no way to pull that off without taking everything down.
You thought Marlo’s people were gonna be spared because of tainted evidence? How many people do you know that have gotten off because of stuff like that? I guarantee you there are more that just never got to find out they were getting screwed.
The Game wasn’t going to lose. Not to a reformed dirty cop or an editor or a kid that doesn’t think killing should be so arbitrary. What we have to give Simon for this series is finding a way to do that without being whiny. This is just how things go, folks. Yeah, we can fight it, and we must fight it. But don’t think for as econd this isn’t gonna be a monstrous fight.
Now the newspaper stuff? Often whiny, yes. Two-dimensional characters? Yes. But here’s the thing–the detachment of the papers from the rest of the plot was perfect. The point was how detached the paper was from the life of the city. None of the crucial elements of the story this season were in teh papers except, really, for the stuff that was made up.
And that’s so important because the papers, ostensibly, remain a voice of the people. They are the ultimate check and balance for authority, really. And when they’re looking at the wrong stuff–and doing so for the wrong reason–then what happens?
Simon attempted to show what gets reported and why. He didn’t do a great job of that. He did, however, do a good job of making the larger point, and the larger point was what was most important in driving Carcetti’s behaviors. Then we got to everywhere from there, including ignored schools.
Yeah, schools. See how we all forgot about that little problem? That’s kinda how we forget things when they get off the front page in real life. And if the schools slipped your mind, you have to acknowledge some of the effectiveness of the newspaper plot. Even if it is the weakest thing Simon has given us.
I don’t wish for anything else from the story. Am I curious? Yeah. But did I see everything I needed to see to wrap up that five-season narrative? I did.
And I’m pleased. More later, once I realize what I forgot.
17 thoughts on “The Wire–Episode 60”
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Simon slid into that last newsroom scene, too… look for the cameo.
the “sentimental… cost money.” line was hilarious
this is definitely one of the best overall views of the wire I had read so far. I’m not really mad at Kima though, she was just doing what she thought was right. That and she saw that Carver did the same thing at the risk of being alienated. I wish there were more cops like them.
Love your site and your recaps, been reading them all season.
You forgot about Randy-loser (but maybe not, he’s surviving, adapting). Also, why didn’t they show Damon, he would be in the winner column. Something about WeeBay and Chris at the end reminds me of the movie Life.
Oh yeah, will you be doing “24”.
Signor – Winner! Didn’t go down with McNulty and Lester, and gets to step into McNulty’s just don’t give a f*ck shoes.
(Though hopefully Signor would sanitize those shoes of their pungent blend of booze, cheap floozie perfume, and shame)
The “Cut Buddy” line is (I believe) and example of Simon (or someone) writing out of their league.
We know that “cut” refers to genitals, and “buddy” refers to one with whom one shares. So, in the streets “cut buddy” is like the suburban “friends with benefits” or the vulgar alternate “fuck buddy”.
I don’t think Cutty and Bay actually fucked each other… or at least they wouldn’t talk about it so casually.
They might have laid up in some cut together… but not in each other’s cuts. Ya know? 🙂
I sincerely believe that the writer didn’t know what the fuck “cut buddy” meant and assumed it meant something like ‘one with whom I’ve helped pull a tag team on a willing female specimen’ or a ‘(non-sexual) companion with whom one has shared hard (non-sexual) times.’ 🙂
But I could be wrong.
—
As for Kima… she did right. I’d love to see more cops leaking info on their corrupt sistren or bredren.
—
But what about the people missing from the final montage?!?!?!
Randy
Clay Davis
And Simon’s sly revelation that season 2 was a mis-step is in the fact that NO ONE from that story line was featured. Yeah, they showed the gray girl scoring some white girl, but it wasn’t no familiar S02 face.
And how the fuck did dumb ass Valchek get to be Commish? Narese!?!?!? Say it ain’t sooooo!!!!!
Sydnor is the next gen Lester Freamon.
—
Damn, why does this show have to end? Why? Why? Why?
—
Anybody seent viewer stats for Sunday night?
Oh yeah…
Michael is not a good enough actor to pull off the Omar steez. Sorry. It felt forced.
And Dukie… Damn Dukie… beware the hot shot, playa.
—
Why the fuck wasn’t Donut anywhere around this whole season?
Why no Officer Walker?
And yes, I weep because Mouzone never got to play. 🙁
Still… It was a good sendoff as far as sendoff’s go.
In Maryland, and several other places I’ve lived on the East Coast, “the cut” is another name for jail or prison. So, in that context “cut buddy” also means prison friend.
I didn’t know cut or cut-up referred to…you know…until my senior year of college. Before that, I was HELLA confused when a cat from the South told me he needed to find some cut or he was gonna go crazy.
Let me put y’all on point. The writers weren’t intimating that Wee-Bay, Cutty or Chris were jailhouse lovers. The Maryland Department of Corrections-Jesup where most of Baltimore goes for trafficking is nicknamed “The Cut”. So when you hear someone say dude was my Cut-Buddy it means they served time together at Jesup-DOC probably in the same pod or tier. A “Cut-Buddy” is a dude an inmate rolls with in the yard.
Loser: Kinard about to do a serious bid where he’ll likely wind up a hardened killer.
Loser: Alma She deserved better but ya know that’s how they do. You rise to the level of your incompetence which means Templeton will be the next Ed-In-Chief at the SUN.
Winner: The Bunk -through all the crap McNulty had going he still managed to put together a case that sent Chris away forever.
Loser: America – fake leaders continue to talk loud, say nothing and take payoffs that encourage more illegal sheet. A paradigm that further saddles the poor and middle class with the worst schools, more crime, higher taxes and fewer services. And Hilary Clinton stands for all of that crap.
Oh Bargain Alert! Amazon.com has Seasons 1-4 for the low $170 and free shipping. Buy it now avoid the high bootleg fees ($5/disc at 10 discs per season). Not selling just saying. call me though at 555-555-5555
Jake and Larry, thanks for schooling me on the B-More slang and real meaning of “cut buddy”.
So, based on your explanations, it looks like “cut buddy” was a proper term for their relationship and has no sexual overtones.
Claro que si.
I was just browsing the net and I realized that there’s one good outcome from the ending of The Wire…
We’ll have fewer suburban Opies piping up as if they are clued in to “the game” because they have a photographic memory of how things happen on HBO.
I noticed similar trends when The Sopranos mattered. There were all these internet groupies talking about “Bosses” and “Dons” and “Capos” and ‘who could touch who’ or ‘what it takes to get “made”‘.
These fools thought they knew a lot about the Italian Mafia, but really all they knew was The Sopranos
Bo is on point about the fun being in how we got there. Simon said that was one of his focuses and the reason the story veered to the ports and to the schools.
Over the last couple of weeks I have been focused on who would become younger versions of who. There were some that were obvious. Bunk is Lester. Smart, dedicated police not destined for or really wanting to be Upper Management. Carver as Daniels. More driven and respected and headed for the upper levels of the force. We got smacked in the face with the Dukie as Bubbles thing and I have to say that bothers me. Not because it wasn’t likely. It bothered me because he was a good kid in F’d up circumstances and he never stood a chance. You could see it coming from the beginning of the season and you knew the streets would eat him up. Hopelessness is a motherfucker.
The Sydnor as Jimmy thing surprised me a little bit but I guess I hadn’t thought about how it is you become jaded. He just wanted to do the right thing and the right thing turned into a juggernaut that was all about political gain. I’m wit you Bomani. Garcetti can eat a dick.
MIchael as Omar is a stretch. The kid was questioning why people in the game had to get got and now he’s a stick up kid? Robin Hood in the SE? Forreals?
Here’s the part of the whole show that I dug the most; Marlo is “out of the game” for what, a week? He HAS to go to the streets even though he’s got AT LEAST 10 mill banked and is now hooked up with the movers and shakers of polite Baltimore society(Yeah right). As he’s walking up to the boys on the corner they are discussing Omar like he’s Bmore’s version of William Wallace, and guess what???? They don’t even know who Marlo is! You can take the man out the Game but you can’t take the Game out the man. The game is the biggest winner.
Is my life so empty that I don’t have anything else to do? NO! I’m dickin around at work.
I can’t shake this thought though. How do Marlo and Levy not suspect Herc for giving up the number. They discussed the fact that there were only 4 people that had the number 3 times! And all of them ecept the greeks get busted because of it. Everyone knows Herc was a cop. Hell, they make fun of his ineptitude!
I honestly cannot see Fat Face Rick & Slim Charles lasting long. They’re too soft. Omar held up Rick with a beer bottle. Omar clubbed Slim on the head and left him crying in front of his apartment door.
The Co-op are a bunch of pussies. Marlo had them by the balls all season. He made them pay up 10 million for a connect that he got for $100,000 from Avon Barksdale. Marlo punked all them bitches and he walked away free with all his money. The Co-op didn’t even have the guts to kill him. It’s pathetic!
As soon as another hungry young buck like Marlo rises up, Rick and Slim are done. I can even see that kid Michael capping them when he takes their money. See how he blasted that old head and robbed their bank. Now that Marlo is out of the picture, that kid thinks he can do anything. Marlo left a power void. I think Michael is gonna be way more ruthless than Omar. He’s too much like Chris Partlow in his temperament.
Kenard is gonna be a serial killer when he gets out of prison. He’s already a psychopath. Loser: B-more.
Adisa could not disagree more with you. One of the main goals of the wire is to illustrate to mainstream America the huge problems facing any inner city in America. The fact that mainstream America payed attention to the show is a victory. In order for the inner city to improve main stream America needs to help both financially and politically. By no means has the Wire currently changed America. But at the same time it may lead to more mainstream America paying attention to the problems of the inner city. Just look at the sports guy column on espn.com. This column would not have been made if not for the wire’s influence on him. The fact that preppy people know about the show is a victory in itself.
Hey about the whole Cutty saying WeeBay was his cut buddy. If the writers were going to throw us off, why would they have Micheal say he thought Cutty was gay?