Ubiquitous Marketing

Perhaps we journalists are too blame. A heightened expectation for Simon’s takedown of newspaper erosion was met with great enthusiasm, then disappointment. But — even if we are guilty of being too close to the source - the newspaper angle is, ultimately, of nugatory concern. Even if the last scene takes place in a gutted newspaper office, with morale low and the great, historic watchdog of the establishment neutered, it won’t resolve Omar and Marlo - and the streets and the crime and the poetry. At best, it can be more entertaining then the dock workers. Perhaps I’m part of the problem. Perhaps I don’t see how elegiac the closing of the docks was, and how newspapers were always “just about the truth, man” until recent corporate incursions. I sense the sadness, but the street has always been the draw for me (maybe the docks were a slightly higher level of the streets, but I can’t be convinced - even as a journalist (yes, a trade one at that) - that newspaper cutbacks are as gritty as life-and-death aspirations to get out of poverty).

No, our problem is McNulty and the fantastical serial killer story arc. When I say fantastical, I am not referring to the fabrication of the serial killer. I am referring to the fact that I cannot believe McNulty (and, as we learn in this episode, Freamon) are going to these lengths to catch Marlo. Here’s why.

The gang already got “their man” once: Barksdale. Actually, they got him twice. I could see more of a criminal desperation from McNulty if all of the major crimes squad’s work had failed in the past. But they’ve been successful in a number of situations. They’re not desperate. They’ve just had setbacks.

Treatment of Omar. Yes, Bunk hates Omar. And they still want to get him on all of his past transgressions. But Omar is put on a different field because he does not kill civilians. He didn’t shoot a government’s witness, like Barksdale’s crew did. Onto Marlo. While he has killed scores of people, to my knowledge, most - if not all - have been those in the game. In the moral equivalence given on the show (not my own, thank you), these deaths are of less significance to the police then civilians. He kills indiscriminately, and he’s without a moral compass, but the victims, regardless, are in the game. Right?

Now, if Marlo started killing innocent inner city black people (not in the game), and the police closed an investigation, then I could see McNulty’s arc making sense. But given our knowledge of the characters and their historic actions, I am confused.

I’m still watching, but I worry about the coda.