Ten years ago today,The Wireended.
The first four seasons ofThe Wireare still great, better than anything youre convincing yourself to watch this week.
The fifth season ofThe Wirehas a stranger reputation.
Credit: HBO
I revisited it late last year for the first time since 2008.
There are mass murderers onThe Wirewith more virtues than Templeton.
(McCarthy was clearly so disturbed by the role that he performed elaborate print-journalist penance and directedSpotlight.)
Paul Schiraldi/HBO
But a decade later, the fifth season ofThe Wirelooks better, or at least more purposefully weird.
Simons work is strenuously realist.
Season 5 ofThe Wireis something else.
Its about as close as Simons work comes to self-aware commentary,almostsatire.
The problem is money, and the fact that nobody has it.
The newspapers got cutbacks, and theres no money for cops overtime.
(One defining bleak joke ofThe Wirewas always how drug dealing was often the citys only effectively-run industry.)
One of Carcettis advisors, Odell Watkins (Frederick Strother), is confused about Carcettis ambitions.
Doesnt this seem a little thin to you?
Running for Governor two years into a four year term.
Carcettis chief of staff, Michael Steintorf (Neil Huff), has a savvy response ready.
Everythings thin, he explains.
The whole world shine s and calls it gold.
Steintorf probably wouldnt make anyones list of the top 25 (or even 50)Wirecharacters.
Many of the most colorful figures in the shows pantheon are sidelined in the fifth season.
Bunk (Wendell Pierce) spends a lot of the season frowning towards Jimmy.
Bubbles (Andre Royo) has a gradual arc that only really becomes clear in episode 10.
McNulty hates the Steintorfs of the world, but his brilliant and ruinous decision in season 5 is tobecomeone.
Requiring money for a big drug investigation, he conjures up a phony serial killer.
Hes not hurting anyone.
He jukes a couple corpses, makes the deaths look connected.
But its not enough, and thats when he brings in Lester Freamon (Clarke Peters).
Give the killer some fed up fantasy.
Something bad, real bad.
Its got to grip the hearts and minds, give the people what they want from a serial killer.
Give the people what they want from a serial killer.
This fake story gets big headlines.
Its off the cuff, almost improvised.
His passion is a big hit.
And suddenly, Homelessness is the kind of meme that even someone like Steintorf can notice.
InThe Wires vision, the people watching at home dont want a major societal problem fixed.
They just want a plot point resolved.
The bigger the lie, the more they believe.
Thats Bunk, in the opening scene of the fifth season.
Hes just pulled an old policemans conjuring trick.
But ten years later, newspapers have only declined further.
And the greater meaning of season 5 has never been more clear.
At a certain point,everyonebecomes Scott Templeton.
Everyones creating fake news, juking reality the way that law-enforcement managers would juke the stats in earlier seasons.
Who gives a damn if we fake a couple of murders that were never gonna solve, huh?
The dead men dont care.
Some aspect of the crusade for justice has gone meta.
Goodness itself now just a counter-spin on badness.
Were trapped in the same lie, he tells Templeton in the finale.
Only difference is, I know why I did it.
F if I can figure out what it gets you in the end.
