I can’t say I agree with you. AuntiePam, but I think I see what you’re getting at, even if I didn’t have that same reaction. For instance, it did strain my credulity a little that the cops wouldn’t have looked in the closet where the kid was found. Also, the whole scene in the morgue (penis ensued!) just to set up the technical justification for post-mortem suffocation marks. That was more heavy-handed than usual for The Wire. Likewise, the reporters talking about how hard it is for “mothers of four,” followed immediately by McNulty at the scene of a naturally dead “mother of four.” All just lacking a little of the subtle touch we’ve grown to expect.
So what do we think McNulty is trying to do? At first I thought he was going to set up that body as a new “vacant victim” of Chris and Snoop, to reignite the investigation. But the fake suffocation and his talk about a serial killer don’t support that theory. I guess he’s going to tie that body to the old lady in the bed, but it seems pretty thin.
Carcetti is really pissing me off. Not only are all the problems the city is having caused directly by his overweening ambition to get to the governor’s office in two years, instead of maybe trying one or two full terms as mayor. Then he is too hotheaded to deal with the republican governor and US attorney because accepting their deals would embarrass him personally. He’s betraying his promises to himself and others out of vanity and self interest. (Welcome to the world of The Wire, commasense!)
On the other hand, it was certainly gratifying to see Clay Davis sputtering and fuming. I’m enjoying it while I can, because I’d bet $457,388 that Davis will not be sharing a cell with Avon by the episode 10.
As for Bubbs and the babies, I think he’s thinking about his own child. We did hear he has one, didn’t we? I’m almost certain we did, but I can’t recall the details. I know someone here will remind me.
BTW, did you recognize Dee Dee, the girl at the NA meeting? She was a customer in Hampsterdam. She drove up in a nice car, asked for an eightball (I think) and while she was waiting, the dealer tried to chat her up. She said, “No disrespect, but can I just get the eightball?” “Just trying to be sociable.”
As I’ve re-watched the first four seasons, I’ve become more and more sensitive to all the parallels. It’s almost becoming a little too overdone. Tonight we see Scott the reporter faking (probably) a story, and McNulty faking a crime scene; Gus the editor asking for verification before acting and Michael doing the same; in both cases, they are overridden by their supervisors.
I noticed (and I’m sure you did too) several repeats of lines from earlier seasons. Someone on the loading dock at the Sun says “Some day I’d like to know what it feels like to work at a real newspaper,” echoing McNulty from S1 (IIRC). And just to make sure everyone got it, McNulty himself repeats it in this episode.
Bunk says, “There you go, giving a fuck when it ain’t your turn to give a fuck.” (Also from S1, right?) Presumably this has become a Homicide catch phrase.
Gus’ “Fuckity fuck” recalls the famous S1 “fuck” scene.
For you out-of towners, here are some of this week’s references to real Baltimore people and things: Tommy goes to meet with “Steny,” i.e. longtime Maryland U.S. representative Steny Hoyer; Gus tells a joke about “elder” Thomas D’Alesandro, Jr., whose son, “younger” Thomas D’Alesandro III was also mayor, and was the model for the one-term mayor who told Carcetti the “bowl of shit story” in S3; and the legalizing of slot machines, discussed in the mayor’s meeting, is a perennial issue in Maryland, which is surrounded by two states where slots are legal (Delaware and West Virginia).
I can barely type that…