In some respects this was an odd episode as you can see the threads of the story progressing in parallel but it’s tricky to see how they’re going to come together before the end of this final series in nine episodes time. And you have to hope they will come together as the alternative is the horrendous let-down that was inflicted at the finale of The Sopranos.
On the legal side Senator Clay Davis is hauled in front of a grand jury to be accused of corruption and embezzlement. This is all well and good and while we hope that Davis gets his comeuppance it’s difficult to see why he matters. He’s one sleazy politician among many and while it’s clear that Davis has been lining his own pockets it’s not as though he’s running the city into the ground in the same manner as Carcetti who is clearly determined to advance his own career at any cost. In court Davis pleads the fifth and leaves to find the TV media waiting for him but there’s no-one from The Baltimore Sun which causes consternation in the news room as they had no idea that the grand jury was taking place.
McNulty is continuing his quest to invent a serial killer while his home life disintegrates. This is, to put it mildly, a bit odd. If he feels so strongly about Marlo’s murders he could surely take radical action that would slow Marlo’s drug trading activities by killing him or one of his lieutenants or maybe by planting evidence. The serial killer approach could lead to him being drummed out of the police or, at worst, he might go to jail yet it doesn’t seem to have much hope of success. Our dose of Omar is strictly rationed to a couple of scenes. In the first he finds out what happened to Butch and in the second he goes after Slim Charles to find whether Proposition Joe is involved. Charles persuades Omar that Joe had no part in Butch’s murder and it’s all on Marlo so the scene is clearly set for a show-down. It’s hard to have any sympathy for the characters in The Wire but Joe’s demise is a sad moment and you have to hope that Marlo will meet a sticky end. As things stand that’s the only thread of the story that grabs our attention which is surprising for a series that has always managed to be multi-faceted. Let’s hope episode 5 steps up a gear.