The Wire / Episode 54 / "Transitions" 01/26 (Now On Demand)

[Flay]

"Buyer's market out there." - Templeton

Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. One of the best endings to an episode since

Spoiler:

Omar & Brother Mouzone blasted Stringer in the abandoned warehouse back in Season 3.

This season is really moving along quickly.

FYI to those who hate spoilers, this episode catches up the masses on the net to the next three leaked screener episodes. Be wary of the content in spoiler boxes the next couple of weeks.

[mwbmis]

Damn, this episode certainly moved the story along. Lots of scenes to love this week...McNulty and Freamon working on the body...Prop Joe and Herc talking in Levy's office...etc.

I wonder if Burrell's report on Daniels will have legs. Certainly, it looks like she's saving it to play later.

As for the big scene at the end (hiding out of consideration of those who haven't seen it)

Spoiler:

Joe's death...while not stunning...I'm surprised that he could be so stupid, but I guess he had gotten to a certain level of complacency where he just wasn't seeing all the angles. He got too worried about Omar and not worried enough about Marlo. I think we can all guess Cheese's ultimate fate here, but Slim Charles seems to be fairly astute so I wonder where he'll fall in all of this. I can't see him siding with Marlo which definitely puts him on the outside and in danger. McNulty is right about one thing...Marlo has been winning entirely too much...he shouldn't get to win, but who knows with this show.

[bluetoast]

I agree, fast moving episode. And of course Tom Shales spoiled the ending in his article a few weeks back.

And yeah...I saw 5 & 6 as well...good stuff.

[alfredog1976]

Damn I love this show...saw 5, 6 & 7 as well....shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiet, have to wait a month before a new episode.

[Chauzer]

damn, great episode

i really hope slim charles doesn't die.. but dunno where he would go now, doubt he'll go w/ marlo, so they might just end up killing him

[Manco]

SONAVABITCH! Marlo Has Got To Go!!!!!

[boredsilly]

Originally Posted by alfredog1976

Damn I love this show...saw 5, 6 & 7 as well....shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiet, have to wait a month before a new episode.

Yeah, that is going to be the worst.

[JayDerek]

Originally Posted by Manco

SONAVABITCH! Marlo Has Got To Go!!!!!

after what he did to Butchie in episode 3 and then to Prop Joe in episode 4....yeah Marlo has a bad end coming to him for sure.

[Doc MacGyver]

Hard not to see this coming, I was just surprised at how fast it went down. I thought Marlo's Michael-Corleone-esque takeover of the co-op and assasination of Prop Joe would have been further down the line.

Poor Prop Joe... the man could see all the angles, and yet couldn't see that the pitbull he had on his leash couldn't be domesticated.

Was the Greek (awesome to see him back!) afraid of Marlo? Seems a little odd that everyone's so afraid of this asshole. He's sociopathic, sure... and Chris and Snoop have skills... but still, he's put himself out there a couple of times... cut off the head and I doubt the rest of his organization would be that hard to pick off.

Anyone else hoping that Slim Charles saddles up with Omar? (as a gunslinger, not, you know...) The last remaining Barksdale taking up arms alongside Omar to bring down Marlo? That would seem almost poetic...

Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy... should have stayed in the Western... although having Freamon along does tend to lend legitimacy to this crazy experiment. I'm so going to miss this show.



-Doc

[CKMorpheus]

Yeah I saw Prop Joe getting taken out coming, just didn't think it'd be so soon.

I'm a little lost on some things though...

I thought Daniels was going to be Commissioner, but he's in Deputy Ops while Rawls sits in the Commissioners chair... What's up with that?

What was McNulty planning to do with those teeth? Make bite marks on the corpse? To what end? Will his serial killer have a cannibalistic MO?

Who was the guy Chris and Snoop had tied up in the garage for Cheese?

EDIT: Oh I think I know who it was. That was Prop Joes nephew who was giving Cheese a hard time at the Co-op meeting. Marlo gave Cheese prop Joes nephew, and so Cheese backed away from protecting Joe. Am I right?

Can't wait for next weeks episode! I know these are online, but I just want to stretch this out as long as possible!

[tony99]

Rawls is the interim commish for like 6 months -- until Daniels can take over. City hall didn't want to fire everyone at once.

Hungry Man was tied up. Cheese had infringed on his drug territory or something like that.

[mwbmis]

Originally Posted by CKMorpheus

Yeah I saw Prop Joe getting taken out coming, just didn't think it'd be so soon.

What was McNulty planning to do with those teeth? Make bite marks on the corpse? To what end? Will his serial killer have a cannibalistic MO?

It was just hard for me to imagine that Prop Joe had lived as long as he had on top w/o seeing what was coming. I guess it was a blind spot.

McNulty was just following Lester's advice. His little ribbons were barely worth an article in the middle of the paper. You have sensationalize it. They're probably going to give their "killer" a catchy nickname like Buffalo Bill or the Tooth Fairy.

[Ph8te]

Originally Posted by Doc MacGyver

Was the Greek (awesome to see him back!) afraid of Marlo? Seems a little odd that everyone's so afraid of this asshole. He's sociopathic, sure... and Chris and Snoop have skills... but still, he's put himself out there a couple of times... cut off the head and I doubt the rest of his organization would be that hard to pick off.


-Doc

I didnt see this at all. If anything the Greek has the most power out of all of them. Marlo isnt "stupid" as far as that goes, he doesnt stand a chance if he goes against the Greek. He knows where his money comes from and the Greek is his source. He could try to make a power move much like he did with Prop Joe, but I dont see that happening.

[kms_md]

Originally Posted by CKMorpheus

EDIT: Oh I think I know who it was. That was Prop Joes nephew who was giving Cheese a hard time at the Co-op meeting. Marlo gave Cheese prop Joes nephew, and so Cheese backed away from protecting Joe. Am I right?

IIRC, cheese is prop joe's nephew - which makes his betrayal even more bitter. to quote prop joe, "he was always a disappointment."

[IIG]

The pacing and action of this season really reminds me of the final season of the Sopranos. Every character is expendable, anybody can go at any given time. In The Wire that is true with the gangsters, as well as the politicians, and police brass.

..........Still, why'd they have to take Prop Joe??? He was one of my favorite characters, with his Baltimore "yews", "dews" and "tews". It'll be a different city without Joe's hand in the pot.

[Doc MacGyver]

Originally Posted by Ph8te

I didnt see this at all. If anything the Greek has the most power out of all of them. Marlo isnt "stupid" as far as that goes, he doesnt stand a chance if he goes against the Greek. He knows where his money comes from and the Greek is his source. He could try to make a power move much like he did with Prop Joe, but I dont see that happening.

Oh, I agree - Vondis and the Greek are the top of the chain as far as this show is concerned. But The Greek's line, "If we refuse, he will come back again. This much he shows us." Which seems to suggest that they A - didn't want to deal with Marlo as an enemy and B- didn't want to go to bat for Prop Joe. So instead, they'll respect Marlo and take his money as "insurance" so that if Prop Joe gets taken out, they'd still have a Baltimore distributor. However, by accepting that money and taking Marlo's "insurance", they all but gave the green light on Prop Joe... which they also seem plainly aware of with the remorseful, "No... he's not Joe."


This is smart in the long run. Don't make any enemies. Deal with whomever is on top. Still, it's also a pretty cowardly way of doing business.


-Doc

[Manco]

Originally Posted by Doc MacGyver

Oh, I agree - Vondis and the Greek are the top of the chain as far as this show is concerned. But The Greek's line, "If we refuse, he will come back again. This much he shows us." Which seems to suggest that they A - didn't want to deal with Marlo as an enemy and B- didn't want to go to bat for Prop Joe. So instead, they'll respect Marlo and take his money as "insurance" so that if Prop Joe gets taken out, they'd still have a Baltimore distributor. However, by accepting that money and taking Marlo's "insurance", they all but gave the green light on Prop Joe... which they also seem plainly aware of with the remorseful, "No... he's not Joe."


This is smart in the long run. Don't make any enemies. Deal with whomever is on top. Still, it's also a pretty cowardly way of doing business.


-Doc

I think what you say makes sense. I wonder why they didn't at least warn Joe about Marlo going behind his back.

As they've said. They trust Joe.They know Joe.Everything goes through Joe. The way the Greeks talked about Joe at the end of the last season. They made it sound like their relationship with Joe was something built over time. So why go with some unknown like Marlo?

Another thing about The Greeks. I wonder if we'll find out about their government connection. In season 3 I believe. McNulty's FBI friend put in some kind of information request pretaining to The Greeks and some FBI higher up in Washington or Quantico erased it from a computer.


Does anyone else remember this?

[Doc MacGyver]

Originally Posted by Manco

I think what you say makes sense. I wonder why they didn't at least warn Joe about Marlo going behind his back.

As they've said. They trust Joe.They know Joe.Everything goes through Joe. The way the Greeks talked about Joe at the end of the last season. They made it sound like their relationship with Joe was something built over time. So why go with some unknown like Marlo?

My point exactly. The way they were willing to go to bat for Nikko if he stood tall in season 2 lead us to believe that these guys are stand-up with regard to their associates... be loyal to us, we will be loyal to you. Which is why the situation with Prop Joe is so disheartening.


-Doc

[bunkaroo]

Maybe they thought if they warned Joe, there could be a messy war in the streets, bringing undue police attention and riving down profits. Just a thought.

[Scotts35]

Nice call back to season two with one of the dock workers drinking in the homeless village.

[RUSF18]

Originally Posted by Scotts35

Nice call back to season two with one of the dock workers drinking in the homeless village.

Was that definitely the same guy? It looked exactly like him but he also looked much older...he had a lot of gray in his beard.

[Doc MacGyver]

Originally Posted by Scotts35

Nice call back to season two with one of the dock workers drinking in the homeless village.

Holy Shiiiiiiiiiiiii-yet!!! Good catch, I totally missed that... wow, nice little acknowledgement to how F-ed up that situation was... like the campaign poster for Frank on the lamp-post at the end of season 3.




-Doc

[bluetoast]

Originally Posted by Manco

Another thing about The Greeks. I wonder if we'll find out about their government connection. In season 3 I believe. McNulty's FBI friend put in some kind of information request pretaining to The Greeks and some FBI higher up in Washington or Quantico erased it from a computer.


Does anyone else remember this?

Who could forget Agamemnon Busmalis? He warned the Greek about Sobatka talking to the police, which led to one of the best episode endings of the series.

[Cusm]

Originally Posted by bluetoast

Who could forget Agamemnon Busmalis? He warned the Greek about Sobatka talking to the police, which led to one of the best episode endings of the series.

McNulty's FBI friend said that the greek was giving them terrorist info so he was being protected.

[Flay]

Originally Posted by Scotts35

Nice call back to season two with one of the dock workers drinking in the homeless village.

If you thought that was a nice call back, wait until you hit episode...I've said too much.