“It’s a new world, Frank.”
Welcome
back, Kotter Jimmy McNulty, it’s good to have you. After a season adrift
at sea, we find everyone’s favorite British-actor-playing-a-Baltimoreite at his
lowest. It’s in turns heartbreaking and hilarious. Drunk driving is played for
laughs a few times, and its no funnier than when Jimmy nearly totals his car,
backs it up, and does the same damn thing again. Of course, McNulty being
McNulty, he goes to a diner and immediately picks up a reasonable-looking (but
not stunning) girl for a one-night stand. I don’t always like McNulty’s roguish
side, but this is its pinnacle, and I’m along for the horrifying ride.
McNulty is,
at his core, a wounded, likeable puppy, one that Bunk can’t help but take pity
on. McNulty comes as close to saying he’s (depressed, suicidal, worthless. I’d
say pick one, but the truth lies somewhere in the void between) to Bunk
drunkenly at the tracks. From there, Bunk uses his own charming nature to
convince Daniels, the hardass with a heart of gold, to get Rawls’ permission to
detail McNulty. And, 8 episodes in, we have our man back on the job. Is it the
most thematically exciting plot? No, but I loves me a good alcoholic cop story
as much as the next guy, so I’m damn pleased about it.
Meanwhile,
the cops as a whole have a pretty successful week. Not “Law and Order” done in 43 minutes
successful, but “The Wire” successful nonetheless. They’re dealing with the
Sobotkas, not Stringer Bell (who is absent for the first time ever this week),
and manage to get and execute their wiretap. Frank isn’t that slow on the
uptake: when he can’t afford his cellphone bill, he realizes that something is
amiss when they refuse to cancel it. He realizes something is wrong just in
time, and sends along a bogus package to see if the cops will follow it.
Although the plan works, Lester Freamon catches both Frank and Sergei’s boss
calling Spiros, leading them further down the trail. “The Wire” isn’t a
procedural, per se, but it does find its own take on making policework exhilarating,
Even if that exhilaration comes from, say, number-crunching and mountains of
paperwork to get a wiretap.
This
episode also does a fantastic job fleshing out further who Frank Sobotka is,
even as he’s already a wonderfully fleshed-out character. We see, first, his
frustration at his brother for denying the cushy job he’s gotten for him. This
could be a simple scene, of Frank’s brother calling him out for his sins, but
it’s played a bit differently. Both of these men are hardheaded and stuck in
their ways, and can’t see why their family member would want anything different
from what they have. It goes both ways, but for Frank it explains why the only
future he sees for Ziggy is on the docks, even if that’s as piss-poor a plan as
any.
That’s
Frank’s fatal flaw: not seeing any other angles. In his quest to save the docks
for his son, he barely pays attention to what Ziggy is actually up to. Ziggy
tries to take on Maui, and fails miserably with a sucker punch so terrible I
for once thought “yeah, I could hit harder than that.” Ziggy isn’t cut out for
a world of strict masculinity; he’s too easily manipulated into humiliation for
the other worker’s entertainment. He’s not the most beautiful or most talented
creature, but he needs to get out of there. Unfortunately, Ziggy Sobotka wasn’t
raised to think that way.
“How come they don’t fly away?” –Ziggy
Observations and What-Have-You’s
n
I didn’t mention it in the review proper, but
I’m a huge fan of the scene of McNulty going back to Beadie’s place (it’s an all-around
Dominic West showcase week). McNulty is not irredeemable, nor is he addicted to
self-destruction in the way that, say, Bubbles is. He realizes he would
probably just damage Beadie in the way he usually does, and that now is a
terrible time to engage in anything like a relationship with a single mother.
Beadie, meanwhile, plays the disappointment as he leaves just perfectly, with
only the slightest hint of sadness covered with a smiled chagrin. She closes
the door on him, walks away, and goes onto the next thing, not even looking out
the window or the camera. It’s great work by both actors.
n
Herc and Carver are at it again! They hatch an
unsurprisingly eggheaded attempt to recoup some of their losses, and it works,
even though Daniels clearly knows what the shake is.
n
Ziggy buys a duck, since apparently his other
fowl source of entertainment, his cock, is no longer appreciated by the bar.
n
No Avon, no Stringer this week. I think the lack
of the drug game proper this season really makes it a divisive one, and an
episode like this goes to show how difficult a commercial sell “The Wire” is.
Most shows wouldn’t drop one of their biggest plots for a full episode that
still has about 8 other threads running through it.
n
Bodie and Poot, however, do show up, fretting
over territory and trying to make money with their crap drugs. Both guys are
good at what they do, and realize that something has gotta give. They have
their corner back for now, but it might not be for long, especially if they
can’t sell anything of good quality.
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