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"Wire" Thoughts

Spoiler warning for all this, of course.

So the show ends for good on Sunday, after a pair of especially plot-filled but still heart-wrenching episodes. The season, while still the best thing on TV, didn't start as well as most, but it's certainly paying off as we near the end. I don't have much to add in terms of evaluation, if that's what you want visit the Big Three recappers: Sepinwall, House Next Door, and Tim Goodman. Comment sections at all three places are well-worth reading as well.

The 90-minute series finale is Sunday. I have NOT seen it yet, but here's where I see it going:

- It seems pretty clear that since everyone will soon know the wiretap on Marlo was illegal, Marlo and his entire crew will go free. And once the McNulty serial killer lie unravels, that will also jeopardize every single case that he handed out overtime on, since his name will be on the paperwork. Faced with jail, Jimmy gets drunk and drives his car into the harbor, probably while listening to the Pogues.

- While McNulty goes down, Lester's name is kept out of the whole thing and he remains clean. He also, with the help of Clay Davis, manages to knock down Levy the Evil Jewish Lawyer.

- However, once Marlo gets out of jail his stature is diminished on the streets because he never stood up to Omar. Also, the Greeks refuse to work with him any longer. (Marlo's jailhouse rant in the ninth episode- "My name is my name!"- was just priceless. Remember, at the end of Season 2, Vondas says "they know my name, but my name is not my name.")

- Michael dies. There's really no way around this one.

- Carcetti's run for governor- already pretty weak considering he's only spent two years as mayor of Baltimore during which not a single good thing has happened to the city- falls apart when the serial killer lie is revealed. After he's told off by either Norman, his wife, or both, Tommy decides to actually be mayor for a change.

- Something with Daniels' file leaks, preventing him from becoming commissioner; Rawls keeps the job. No one ever discovers Rawls' gay bar habit.

- At the Sun, Gus' pleas to stop Scott from further fabricating fall on deaf ears. He leaves the paper, but Scott stays.

- The courthouse leak turns out to be Judge Phelan.

- And finally, two Philly events this week that I have to miss because I'm going out of town. A local comedy troupe will be putting on a sketch show Wednesday called "Way Down in the Hole: A Comedy Tribute to The Wire." I don't know how something as bleak as "The Wire" could be that funny- a guy on PhillyBlog suggested that they should next do "A Comedy Tribute to Darfur." And Sunday night, Mayor Michael Nutter will be hosting a City Hall screening of the finale, along with several actors from the show. Just the fact that Nutter watches the show, and gets it, says a lot about what kind of mayor he'll be.

Posted by Stephen Silver at March 4, 2008 05:28 PM