Don’t forget that Stringer tipped Colvin about where to find Avon. And now McNulty is making a beeline for Colvin after D’Agostino’s clumsy attempt to dig up dirt on Colvin. (I loved the fact that McNulty caught on to the honey pot trap she was setting and for once didn’t let his dick lead him around.)
So if Colvin tells Jimmy he knows where Avon can be gotten, Jimmy will be all over that. But I’ll bet they don’t find out about Stringer until after they make an attempt on Avon (that will probably fail, since I think they’ll keep the main bad guy.) Or else they delay on going for Avon while trying to find Stringer, and Avon slips away then.
I’m talking about later on, the intercepted phone call that was the big smoking gun for the Police, in which Shamrock (who’s probably more loyal to Stringer than Avon) tells Stringer that he’s talked to the hitters. If I’m right about Shamrock, and he finds out that Avon was behind Stringer’s death, he might try going for Avon himself, or use the hitters. Maybe I’m stretching, but you have to wonder about the power vaccuum that’s developing in Barksdale’s gang.
It looks like Slim (I think that’s his name, the guy Stringer tried to get to hit Davis) will be Avon’s next lieutenant, taking Stringer’s place.
If the past two seasons are any guide, each new season starts at least a year or two after the previous one (in The Wire time, not our time), with many off-stage developments that are alluded to in the first few episodes. That’s why I was predicting Mayor Carcetti.
Carcetti is clearly conflicted about that, since he saw that it really was working. And he’s troubled about using his buddy on the council to split the black vote, too. I like that about The Wire: characters who aren’t stereotyped pure good/pure evil, but a messy mix of both.
Sobotka, last season, was a great example: he was involved in all sorts of dirty stuff with drug dealers, smugglers, and bribery, but he was doing it all to save his brother union workers. There was no sign that he ever personally benefited. It’s not often you see someone doing the wrong things for the right reasons, and that makes it even more heartbreaking when he’s killed for it.
And now that I think about it, that same inner conflict is part of all of the most interesting characters: Stringer, who might have eventually become a legit (or almost legit) real estate developer; D’Angelo, in the first season, who was also trying to get out of the game; Cutty, who actually managed to get out of the game alive (the only one!); and of course Jimmy, who can’t integrate his personal and professional lives.
You watch each of these characters struggle between doing good and doing bad. You’re hoping they’ll do the right thing, and it’s a little victory when they do and a disappointment, almost a betrayal, when they don’t. Carcetti is not quite as colorful as Sobotka, but it’s still interesting to root for him to do the right thing, if you can even figure out what that is!
The most persuasive voices near each of these characters (D’Agostino, in the case of Carcetti) are usually pulling them to the wrong side. So they’re usually on their own trying to choose the right. Which is just like life. I’ve had people tell me, in urging me to do something that I considered unethical, “It’s just business,” a line we heard many times in the last episode. And it’s very tempting to start thinking that way.
As for unresolved story lines, I had a strong imression that the whole thing with Prez was cooked up to get the actor off the show quickly. This is only a gut thing, no info, but I have a feeling we’ll never see him again. Which is too bad, because he was another interesting character who, like Cutty, couldn’t handle one life, but found another in which he could succeed.
I’m waiting to see if Brianna will go up against Avon for killing D’Angelo. That could be the next big conflict inside the Barksdale gang.
I can’t wait for the next season! Has anyone heard when it will start?