We knew all along since last season that Kenard not only had a big mouth, he was willing to put up or shut up. Kids his age are fearless and therefore dangerous, because they are very bad at estimating risks. He can only feel emboldened now (in fact, he must feel pretty much invincible, having taken on a living legend), which could spell a lot of trouble for Michael or Dukie, who've had run-ins with him before.I loved McNulty's trip to the FBI Academy. I thought this was going to be a complete waste of time. The bits about the Unabomber and the senior FBI guy selling books seemed a little too overt. But in a funny break from reality, McNulty's FBI profile was, ahem, spot on.Many posters in earlier threads thought Lester was too by-the-book to go along with McNulty's scheme in the first place. It's time to let go of that idea. Lester is McNulty, or perhaps a slightly smarter version of McNulty. I was going to say "more successful version", but then again he was in the pawn shop unit prior to the first season. Like McNulty, Lester has had enough, feels superior (justifiably so), and righteous: the bad guys cannot be allowed to get away with it. He's got the Clay Davis situation completely figured out, and I love seeing the smooth con man out-conned by someone smarter, while at the same time I shudder to think what else Lester is capable of.Things are not looking good for Marlo. Bunk has a warrant for Chris. Sydnor figured out the clock code, and it seems it's now really just a matter of time before Lester will catch Marlo (i.e. we're back to the state of affairs circa episode 2). I see trouble ahead for Snoop: it's clear she somehow manipulated Marlo into giving the orders on Junebug. At the time she made it sound that Marlo was very concerned with his reputation, and Junebug was killed on a rumor or less. Omar on the other hand repeatedly tried to provoke and insult Marlo, but his taunts were not passed on. (Selectively hyping intelligence, anyone?) Also, the lady does protest too much: Snoop gets defensive (in her own special way) when questioned by Michael about the Junebug killing and the Omar situation. Looks like she's pursuing her own agenda here. We could see a more direct confrontation between her and Michael when his mentor Chris is arrested.Meanwhile at the Sun, Scott is shown to be petulant and sloppy. I have to go back a few episodes and rewatch his original conversation with Terry. I don't recall whether they talked about a firefight or not, but I do recall the milk vs. coffee issue. So it looks like Scott was very sloppy on the details -- he instinctively knew that there was an interesting story to tell (and he was right), but didn't bother to get his facts straight (the story was just too good). I have to agree with a poster in another thread that this makes Scott a somewhat less interesting character. If we has smart and meticulous, yet entitled, he would be a much better parallel to McNulty and Lester, plus he might find himself in the situation where he figures out McNulty's ruse but can't tell anyone about it because of his own lies.Instead the parallel in this episode is between McNulty and Gus: both use the new focus on the homeless to divert resources to projects they consider worthwhile. Gus sends Fletcher to spend some time with Bubbles, which hopefully, finally will be a Good Thing for both.
Dread is spot on.I loved the smile on Dukie's face when he got on with the Arabber and later when he saw Bug in his school uniform -- you could see the wheels turning in Dukie's head thinking that maybe this was a way out of the game, even if it doesn't take advantage of his brain. Just seeing him try so hard to find an escape, it breaks my heart to think that it might not work out for him & I dread the thought that DS won't let him. I realize the odds are slim that two of the four S4 leads will get through, but I can hope (I expect Michael won't, we already know what happened to Randy, & I really hope Namond has taken advantage of the gift of an escape that Bunny has provided). I was so horrified by the (unshown but inevitable) cat torture & killing -- the message that we were seeing a psychopath in the making was unsubtle and I got the point (& I'm not naive to think it doesn't happen), but I wished Omar had intervened. Simon certainly brought home the point that the torture of helpless creatures evokes compassion, yet we ignore the helpless children trapped in their surroundings (harkening back to the message on the doors of the vacants re: trapped animals). Exhibit A: Kenard and Dukie (please please please let Dukie get free). Just before I started the ep, I made a mental list of characters not seen yet that I'd like to see at least one more time (Bunny, Namond, Wee-bey, Poot, Prez, Donut, & Shamrock came to mind, but I'm sure there are more if I "think on it" for awhile). So, I was glad to see Poot is out of the game - perhaps the demise of Bodie was the nail in the coffin, so to speak, in Poot's direction. Hope to see more of Slim, too, even though we've had lots of him so far.I'm worried about what Kima will do now that she's in on the homeless scam (McNulty should have left her out). Great to see Sydnor crack most of the Greeks' code. Lots of humor in the ep - can't even begin to list, but the guys patrolling in a G35 (or 37) cracked me up (I think that's what it was, or maybe a Lexus coupe?) cracked me up. Oh, & Norman's line about Carcetti having to kiss a lot more than the PG County Exec's ring. Rawl's comment about some kinky shit was good. Great to see the ironic sign in the newsroom near Gus's desk about supporting staff when he was in the midst of tangling with the Managing Editor over Scott's coverage of the vigil.Loved seeing Freamon put fear into Clay Davis (but if Clay does consult with Billy Murphy, the latter will see right through the bluff). No way is Lester trying to get $$ out of Davis (other than perhaps trying to catch him in a bribe, in which case the headshot is useful). Lester's a true believer that the BPD and the public, not the criminals, get to win.Ditto the comment about the possibility of Jimmy's demise, given the demise of the show's other rogue. Beadie's speech about funerals followed shortly thereafter by seeing Omar in the morgue - the foreshadowing is obvious, so I'm hoping that it's just more dread for us, not a precursor to McNulty going out. R.I.P. Omar - at least his name is on the right body bag.Jammed packed episode -- really incredible, with all the strands coming together, but giving no real hints about how the big stories will end up.
Wayhaven Chronicles: Book One Crack Code
Very few people have mentioned the scene with Carcetti and his wife, where he's more interested in his TV appearance than the truth about his prospects for helping Baltimore. I think they've done a great job showing how idealists like Season 3 Carcetti turn into the me-first bureaucrats like Royce, Burrell, etc. He had good intentions all the way through, and still generally does, but staying in the system essentially means selling out is inevitable.A lot of people seem confused about Lester's motives with Davis; he is using him for information, since he can't get him otherwise. He likely wants info about the money trail and connection between politicians, drug dealers, etc...Also, I noticed people conjecturing that Snoop lied about Junebug to get him killed, hence her being short with Michael when he questioned Marlo. This seems unlikely. More likely, she and Chris were frustrated because he was showing contradictions in their logic (why go after Junebug for nothing but not Omar for a ton??), and they knew it, and didn't like it. They are part of an institution--same as police, politics, media, schools--and we've learned those institutions don't like challenges to the way they operate.One question: if Lester was right about the clock code, in that the time simply means "within an hour or so," and Sydnor has all of Marlo's crew under constant surveillance--what need was there to crack the code? Couldn't he have found out where they were meeting simply by following them? (it reminds me of Bubbles' hat game to identify the drug dealers in season 1: they were taking photos, and then discussing them with Bubs afterwards; what need was there for the hats when they simply could have shown Bubs pictures and he says who they are?)
my guess is the cat being let go, notice it walking out as marlo peers around the corner at the hoppers, is that Kenard moved onto bigger prey.Different cat. The cat being tortured was a solid grey long-hair. The cat that came around the corner was a short-hair with a white chin (looked like it might be a tabby - also looked like it had on a collar, which I wouldn't expect). There was also another cat in the background when Omar was coming through the alley. Other observations/amusements:The car rental company. Carcetti mentioned Hertz & Avis, but when Carver said "Enterprise" all I could think of was RICO and "continuing criminal enterprise" - plus the enterprising nature of McNulty & Marlo/the Co-op. Plus Enterprise's slogan - perfect for the police ("We'll pick you up."). The comment by Gus on the loading dock re: the calendar year being applicable to Pulitzer Prize submissions, so that a story has to be wrapped up by December or they'll be on to the next big thing -- reminded me of the priorities in governmental annual budgeting.Loved the irony that Sydnor cracked the clock code because he had to turn to a map versus Dozerman digging the GPS system in the Infiniti from Enterprise. If Sydnor's car had a GPS, he wouldn't have cracked the code. Loved how McNulty told Kima that the FBI profile would reveal "some shit you already know" and then, after the fact, Kima asked him what he thought of the profile and he said, "they're in the ballpark." Home run is more like it.Then there was that jerk detective (whose name I've forgotten) who extracted OT and a car out of McNulty to check out a bogus similar homicide in SC when what he really wanted was a free trip to play golf in Hilton Head - a junket, which he got by blackmailing McNulty. Unbridled corruption - a familiar DS theme. It was sad to hear the dialogue about the Mark Steiner radio show because he's just been canned (a shocking development - he's a local institution). 2ff7e9595c
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