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What I don’t understand is how Kenard has not grown at all since last season.
He didn’t spell it out, but I think he wants Davis to leave public life. I’m just extrapolating. The threat was something like, if you don’t go away, I will expose you.
Oh, but he will. It was the list that Bunk found in his hand that led Lester and Sydnor to figure out the code by giving them street addresses for reference. I think that is going to lead to some arrests.
What will the signficance be of McNulty asking Bunk to delay arresting Chris Partlow? I got a bad feeling about that.
Me too. I hope it doesn’t give Chris an opportunity to get away. Seeing Chris with family a couple weeks ago has to mean something. Omar on the warpath may have caused Chris to rethink his options. Maybe it’s my imagination, but Chris looks stressed. I can see him saying “Fuck this” if Marlo gets cocky and orders some more murders.
Seriously. All those bodies. Their luck won’t hold forever and maybe Chris will realize that.
I like your comparison of Kenard to McCall and Ford. I thought of Ford but forgot all about McCall, and me a Deadwood fan!
I really, really liked the FBI profiler giving his description of the serial killer, which perfectly fit Jimmy McNulty. 
That bothered me as well. I was like, Hey that wasn’t Omar, he wasn’t limping…
I was waiting for Omar to get it ever since he starting plugging Marlo’s muscle. I mean, dude is lame, walking around by himself in broad daylight. Someone was going to take a shot at him… from a window, a car. It’s probably poetic justice that one of the “best” of the bad guys was taken out by one of the “worst.” Ever since we’ve seen Kenard he’s just been a complete bastard asshole - something I would think impossible in an elementary school-aged kid. Didn’t Michael beat his ass once? Well-deserved I say.
I’m mollified a bit about that little rat bastard Kenard being the one to take Omar out. Some sharp-eyed TWOP’ers remarked that Kenard was one of the kids in season three who played at being Omar. It’s sort of poetic justice, if you look at it that way.
Link to a YouTube video of the kids who play Kenard and Bug being interviewed for a radio show.
No spoilers for future episodes. The kids say they don’t know what happens next.
Maaaan, I’ve always HATED Kenard. But now that I see the kid who plays him, I can’t hate him so much. Boooo!
Wow, that interview was amazing, especially the kid who plays Kennard: he’s a little preppie who goes to private school in Baltimore and never had a clue about street life downtown before doing the show.
I’m in a quandary about the rest of the show. I’m leaving Sunday morning for a two-week trip. I could watch the next ep On Demand before leaving, but then I’d have to wait two weeks for the last one. Or I can just wait until I get back to watch the last two together.
I think the latter option is the better. In past seasons, the penultimate episode is usually where a lot of big things happen, and then the last one sort of wraps things up.
What do you guys think?
I’d watch 5.9 On Demand. You’re right about how everything goes down in the penultimate episode – that’d be the one I’d worry most about being spoiled for.
The previews looked pretty exciting – if I had On Demand, I don’t know if I could resist.
ETA: Are you going someplace fun?
I’ve already watched 5.9 and I’d recommend watching it. I have to wait 2 weeks to see the finale, so I want to share the misery.
Yea, Kenard’s back story is one I really wanted to see; his brand of assholery in one so young is quite extraordinary-- there must be some external reasons. If he doesn’t get capped and learns some people management skills, I could easily see him becoming the next Marlo.
If he does get capped, I almost want it to be Dukie, but that would not be good for someone trying to get out of the Game. Poor Dukie’s suffered enough.
I think that’s pretty clear. The real question is, who is Michael going to turn out to be, if he lives long enough. The next Avon? Stringer? Prop Joe? Omar? Any chance he’ll get out of the life?
Michael’s options are limited. He needs money to make a home for Bug, and he can’t keep Bug on the kind of job a teenager can get.
If he’s got some cash stashed away, however, maybe he could do it, but he’d need guidance.
Marlo wouldn’t let him go though, so Marlo needs to be out of the picture for Michael to have a chance.
Too bad there aren’t more Bunny Colvins.
I do. You could not. 
So jealous.
I heard they aren’t releasing the final episode On Demand until after the regular airing. Is that true? I don’t know how I’d feel about waiting almost two weeks between 5.9 and 5.10.
I had NOT heard that. If true I would go berserk. I guess we’ll see Monday…
Yeah, I’m just going to wait until I’m home, sometime after the 9th, to watch both 5.9 and 5.10. It’ll be hard, but easier, I think, than watching 5.9 now and having to wait for 5.10.
BTW, I just saw Gone Baby Gone on DVD the other night, starring our own Amy Ryan (Beadie Russell), who earned a deserved Oscar nomination for this performance. It’s a great film, and one I think most Wire fans would really like. It was written by Dennis Lehane, who wrote Mystic River and three eps of The Wire, including “Clarifications.”
Gone Baby Gone has a lot of the qualities that I like in The Wire: gritty realism, strong supporting characters and performances, and the kind of moral ambiguity that characterizes the real world and our favorite TV show. I won’t say more, to avoid spoiling it. But if you’re a fan of The Wire, I would be really surprised if you don’t enjoy Gone, Baby, Gone.
I watched In The Valley of Elah, too, and many of the same comments could be made about it, although it is a bit more conventional. But very watchable.
See you all in a couple of weeks.