Michael, the gun

[Note: the 2nd Coming is going to take a little longer than expected. Sorry for last night's premature ejaculation.]

[Warning: this post contains spoilers for seasons 1 through 4 of HBO's The Wire.]

Some thoughts after (finally) watching the Season 4 finale of The Wire:

- I never really cared much about Bodie, but when he got bodied, a small part of me died, too. Fuck it, a big part.

- As far as the season-ending musical montages have gone (as evidenced in the blog-defining* PK 27), I'm partial to Jesse Winchester's "Step by Step" from Season 1. But Paul Weller's "I Walk on Gilded Splinters" runs a very close second.

- There has never been a more realistic television drama in the history of the medium. We know this. That said, occasionally the plotlines and coincidences are a little tough to swallow. Cases in point:

a) Cutty dating the hospital nurse. That one gave me a toothache.

b) Wee-Bey suddenly becoming all altruistic. (Though it DID make me sort of like the murderous son of a bitch.)

c) The return of Waylon. Small fucking world. (Word to TMH: Steve Earle sings "Down in the Hole" for Season 5.)

d) Bubbles's boy getting the hot shot. I saw it coming a mile away and kept thinking "please, no," because rarely is The Wire predictable. That shit, though, was predictable like a motherfuck. And Bubs waking up and talking for roughly a minute to the kid before realizing he was dead was excrutiatingly painful. Like that time I got hit with a saucepan while playing "basketball."

- I might be in the minority, but the Season 4 version of "Down in the Hole" has been my favorite. That opening drum and bass groove is on some old school head-nod ish.

- I know it's only television, but I'm more worried about Randy than I am about the heart palpitations you've been experiencing.

- if Omar doesn't survive the series, I won't believe in nuthin' no more. Whoulda ever thunk a gay black thug would become the best character in television history? My apologies to Archie Bunker, The Fonz, and Homer Simpson.

- Speaking of homosexuals, I know the writers won't overtly address Rawls hanging out in the gay bar in Season 3, and it's better that way; but the scene in which he walks into Landsman's office and picks up the porno mag was a sly nod, and it made me chuckle.

- What ever happened to Lester Freamon's girlfriend? You know, the near-sighted stripper from Orlando's. Sure, it adds to the mystique of the character, but with no mention of her for 2-plus seasons, I'm beginning to think the writers are trying to pretend it never happened. Word to Rocky V and Outkast's Idlewild.

- I can't decide which is the better album: Good News for People who Love Bad News, or We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank. It's not Wire-related, I know, but it deserves as much careful thought and discussion as which of The Wire's four seasons is the best. Just know this:

i) Picking one is tougher than choosing which of your children you love more (luckily, since the mold truly was broken with the 18th Letter, I cannot empathize).

ii) If you pick neither and respond with "The Shield" or "The Moon & Antarctica," I will disown you...from something.

iii) Lists are fun.

So here is my ranking of seasons 1-4 of The Wire**:

1 - 1 (Star Wars/Alyosha)
2 - 4 (The Empire Strikes Back/Ivan)
3 - 3 (Return of the Jedi without sucking/Dmitry)
4 - 2 (the prequels without sucking/Smerdyakov***)

- If you think I won't post running commentaries for each of the series' final 10 episodes, starting January 6th, you don't know me very well.

___

I don't often get excited by all-text teasers. But if this doesn't get you amped, you should check your pulse:



(and if you don't like The Wire, you're dead to me anyway. Word to Michael Corleone.)




* for better or worse

** aka Life. Not the cereal

*** that murderous son of a bitch