S05.E03: Not for Attribution

[ToxicUnicorn]

"Carcetti's master plan for the police department is leaked to the press, sending the brass into a panic. Marlo turns to Proposition Joe to help with an enviable problem. Whiting and Klebanow drop a bombshell on the newspaper staff."

 

I couldn't believe the shenanigans of the reporter making up that reaction quote (and the fallout it is likely to have).  Oddly enough, I sort of sympathized with McNulty's outrageous making up of the serial killer story.  I can't decide why the reporter seems worse to me than McNulty.

 

It's all pretty warped.

 

Just amazing how this show continues to keep track of so many characters.  It was great to see Michael and Bug and Dukie again.

[Constantinople]

I couldn't believe the shenanigans of the reporter making up that reaction quote (and the fallout it is likely to have).  Oddly enough, I sort of sympathized with McNulty's outrageous making up of the serial killer story.  I can't decide why the reporter seems worse to me than McNulty.

McNulty is, in my opinion, misguided, but I believe his motives are good, or largely good. He wants to send criminals to jail and make the city better for everyone else (although some of it is revenge and guilt for Bodie's murder at the end of Season 4). In contrast, the newspaper reporter has no motive beyond advancing his own career.

 

Plus, perhaps we're just more used to police shenanigans -- some good, some bad, some mixed -- after watching the first 4 seasons.

From the Small Talk thread:

 

http://freakonomics.com/2008/01/09/what-do-real-thugs-think-of-the-wire/ -- first in a series of blog posts, but don't read any of it until you've seen the whole series, since there are spoilers galore.

It's a link to a blog written by a sociologist (or anthropologist) who studied gangs.

 

Here are some excerpts from the blog for this episode

Thugs don’t cry.

 

At least that’s what I was told when I hung out in the projects.

 

This ghetto legend was quickly dispelled when I watched episode three of The Wire with the usual cast of thugs from New York and New Jersey — ex-gang members and drug dealers who prided themselves on being impervious to emotional outbursts. These weren’t supposed to be girlie men.

 

But as soon as Butchie received the first of two gunshots to the knee, about 40 minutes into the show, a pall was cast over the assembled crew...

 

...“Oh sh-t!” Orlando shouted. “Butchie? He’s my boy. And a good, hard-working man don’t deserve this. He’s like my father.”

 

After a final shot to the head claimed Butchie’s life, Flavor couldn’t hide his disappointment. “I say we find Snoop and that other [guy, Chris], beat their black a– to death.”

 

“It’s a TV show,” I said, sarcastically. I was surprised at the display of pro-Butchie sentiment.

 

I was thrown a “f–k you” stare that only men with deep knowledge of hand-to-hand combat could give.

 

...Even though I was chiding Shine and the others in the room, I knew exactly why Butchie’s death led to misty eyes. None of the guys in this room could have survived on the streets without a Butchie in their pocket.

 

http://freakonomics.com/2008/01/25/what-do-real-thugs-think-of-the-wire-part-three/

 

 

[Dobian]

Just finishing up season 5 and only have the finale left.  It's been interesting watching McNulty's scheme spiral out of control.  Templeton is the worst kind of reporter, and I read that he was based on a real reporter for the Baltimore Sun who falsified sources. I liked when Mcnulty met with the newspaper staff and the two of them realized they were both full of shit when McNulty corroborated Templeton's own fake phone call from the serial killer.

 

Carcetti's plans also are spiraling out of control as his ambition to be governor has warped his decision-making as mayor and the deals he has to make.  All this goes back to season 4 when he refused to take the state bailout money to get the schools out of debt, because he didn't want to lose votes for governor in two years.  This led to the drastic police cutbacks, which resulted in McNulty's crazy scheme to get everyone their overtime hours and the resources to take down Stanfield.  I love how everything is intertwined on this show and you can see the cause and effect.

[ToxicUnicorn]

Dobian, I also only have the finale left!

 

I still have a level of disgust for this reporter that seems irrational, given that we've seen so many other crimes on this show.  I think it is because a) he is being dishonest (many of the criminals we have seen have been pretty straightforward, and dishonesty is a trigger for me), and b) because it seems so gratuitous.  Of all the reasons to be sleazy on this show, he is the only one I can think of who is doing it because he is too lazy to have any real standards.  Hate him.