Let’s Go Home

Spoilers for the last Wire. Ever.

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5 long, phenomenal seasons of television came to an end tonight. The Wire is a darling to both the critics and the people it portrays – apparently too white boys from the suburbs. This last episode was the denouement after the previous’s big bust. In true Wire fashion, all that work adds up to precisely nothing, life for Chris (enjoy hanging out with Wee-Bey) and a couple 20s for lieutenants.

If you want justice, however, don’t worry about Marlo. Like Prop Joe observed, there’s no way you can take the savage out of that man. Funny how “square one” for Marlo means a nice suit and millions of dollars. But you have to take that first corner.

There were a lot of characters taking on the spirits of some that have fallen by the wayside. I thought Marlo might realize Stringer’s dream of becoming a legit businessman, but he doesn’t want to escape the game. He wants to die wearing that crown.

Marlo might not be Stringer, but it looks like Mike’s carrying the spirit of Omar – shotgun, duster, flip comments after you blow out a man’s kneecap.  Dukie, sadly, is following Bub’s down his dark path. Who knows if he’ll follow him out – Bubble’s was probably the greatest triumph of this entire series. Enjoy that place at the table.

Slim Charles dropping Cheese was perfect – I was getting ready to protest. Were they really going to give METHOD MAN the crown? As good a monologue as that was, Slim’s rebuttal let Cheese know that maybe there is nostalgia in the game.

Saint Daniels, after swallowing every lie he had to in order to get that job, refused to once he had it. Admirable, but kinda pointless. At least he got to promote Carver.

Herc is still an asshole. Ditto Carcetti.

Templeton’s downfall-that-wasn’t didn’t even grate me that much. He’s the system’s boy, and he’s playing it the way it wants him to. No way Gus can take him down with something so trivial as the Truth.  At least he knows what he did, with a little help from McNulty.

Ah, noble McNulty. Did our favorite recidivist finally and truly turn the corner this time? I’m willing to believe it. The anger in his eyes when Rawl’s told him to pin the murders on the business card hobo, the relief when Kima told them what she’d done – he looked to me like a changed man. And then his trip to the shelter to pick up Larry showed some heart and reminded us all what this show actually is.

It’s a love letter to the city of Baltimore, and I mean real love, the kind that acknowledges each ugliness and doesn’t care. The always enjoyable montage was good not because it showed us where every character landed, but for those shots of real Baltimore residents, real places. David Simon (who put himself into one newsroom scene, writing furiously with a pen bobbing in his mouth)  and the rest of the crew did something remarkable here. They did a cops and robbers show with a social conscience, one with moral outrage and an unflinching eye. They did grit for real, and they gave us a window into a new and strange world. Most of all – and Gus would appreciate this if he were real – they made something that felt absolutely true.