Test run Wire 7

Keeping up with (On) Demand, we wanted to give “The Wire” addicts the early re-up. But we wouldn’t want to spoil anything for the traditionalist Sunday viewers, so we’re writing this one in invisible ink. To read on, use your mouse to highlight the text in between the arrows.  “Everybody gets took every once in a while,” observes Gus, the unerring editor, in the episode entitled, “Took,” in which everybody gets took indeed—save only a few of the takers.
McNulty hoodwinks the judge, Clay Davis swindles the jury.
Omar’s flushing the stash and burning the cash.
And the conspirators in the bogus serial killings scheme are getting everything they want, even wishing that their red ball weren’t so red.
The Wire’s fifth season peaked last night, with parallel story lines that showed the cops, the politicos and the fourth estate each deploying for a full-on tilt at McNulty’s windmill.
“Let me be unequivocal,” comes the voice from the mayor, “this man will be brought to justice.”
This is short-term political gold, but not a good bet, I’d suspect, for the gubernatorial race.
Turning on the tap for the cops means education cutbacks down the road— so either way, Carcetti’s forced to choose between prevention and treatment for the wounds of a city that needs both.
McNulty’s got to be feeling guilty, but he’s not feeling as guilty as we’d want him to be.
He and Omar both seem to have lost their moral compasses—they’re both pursuing justice, in a sense, but they’re acting like the ends justify the means; they don’t.
And finally, Scott Templeton’s poop is finally starting to stink.
What will everybody do when they realize they’ve been taken?
I can’t wait to see how the last three episodes play out—but I’ll make a few guesses, even though you might laugh at me later for being wrong.
1. Mike Lee, that cutie played by Staten Island’s own Tristan Wilds, has played a subtle role over the past few episodes, but I think there’s a tempest brewing there. He’s playing a Hamlet-ish role this season. Bear with me on this—it’s not only because the villain in his life was his second-father figure, but he’s also been plagued by his inability to pull the trigger on the triple homicide. Now Bunk is saying he lacks physicality and Omar is calling him sweet pea. This little man has something to prove. To be or not to be, you know what I’m sayin’? I think he’s going to go after Omar.
2. Omar, my favorite character of all time, will die.
3. Scott Templeton will win some awards before the truth comes out. Then he’ll get fired, but he’ll write a book about the ordeal. Gus will get fired too, unfairly. Gus will go to work for television.
4. Dookie will not find his way to the real world.
5. McNulty and Freamon go to jail and Marlo will go free. The irony.
HOW DO YOU THINK THE LAST CARDS WILL FALL? Send us your comments.
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