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The Wire Season 5 Episode 4

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9.5

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Episode Summary

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AIRED: 1/27/08

"Buyer's market out there." - Templeton

Campbell tries to smooth out the transitions in the police department; The Baltimore Sun scrambles to confirm surprising news from City Hall, but lose out to the TV media in scooping a high-profile grand jury appearance; Marlo tries to win favor with the Greeks, whilst Proposition Joe pays his last respects to a fallen colleague and prepares to make himself scarce in anticipation of a showdown; Freamon enlists the help of a past partner to help with the investigation.

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FAN RECAP

Fan Episode Reviews (3)

Everyone is put out to pasture.

10

By lawgotham, Jun 27, 2010

This is such a well written show. This was one of the finest written episodes. The parallels are perfect.

The Comissioner is put out to pasture. Carcetti has decided it's time for a change and the council has gone along with him. At the Baltimore Sun, Twigg the City Editor is put out to pasture, budget cuts. Clay Davis faces the Grand Jury and he knows he's done. And in the crime side of things, Marlo unilaterlly puts Prop Joe out to pasture. Thankfully Omar is back and I hope against hope that he gets Marlo. He never kills just for the killing as evidenced in this episode. He sees no need to kill Marlos henchman...and doesn't. Marlo does have some ethical standards.

Of course Lester and McNulty continue to turn ethics on it's head as they try to conjur up dead men as serial killings.

It's going to be so sad when this show goes off. It will be one of the few to go out at the top of it's game.moreless
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The Wire is the best show on television. It is filled with great plots, charaters you love and hate, and using the actual city of Baltimore as its setting is brilliant. People need to begin watching it.moreless

10

By bigas68, Jun 27, 2010

In my opinion, The Wire is the best on television. The acting is superb and the story line is extremely realistic and a serious portrayal of what is happening in many urban neighborhoods today. I have officially watched this show for three years while my husband has watched every season. It is terribly unfair, however, that HBO advertises if people want to watch it before its Sunday airing they can check it out on On Demand. The Sunday viewing is how this show gets its ratings. Most people, once they have watched it will not want to see it more than twice. I hope people will begin to watch a show that keeps me on the edge of my seat, wrinches tears from deep within me, and makes me look forward to the next episode. Clearly, The Wire is one of the best shows not only on HBO but on television, hands down. It is worthy of a rating of a 10.moreless
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How in the hell The Wire manages to pack so much into an hour each and every week is a never-ending source of amazement to me. And, as another reviewer so aptly noted, its sense of story flow and use of parallels is absolutely flawless. Another classic!moreless

9.9

By rockin01, Jan 29, 2008

In this appropriately titled episode, transitions aplenty are happening- and as we all know, transitions can be bumpy affairs...

Burrell is cermoniously ousted as Commissioner, only promising to go quietly after eliciting the promise of a golden parachute from Narese in exchange for his silence about Daniels' shady past. Rawls advances to the seat, although all concerned know that this is only temporary. McNulty and Freamon, still frustrated about the lack of police and media interest in their "serial Killer", decide to up the ante on their doctored "crime scenes", enlisting the help of one of Lester's old friends and giving the "killer" a shocking new quirk. And McNulty's extracurricular activities lead to a confrontation with the frustrated Beadie, who is ready to kick him out.

Freamon and Pearlman find enough evidence of Clay Davis' shady dealings to pull him before a grand jury. Davis walks out in a huff, smack into the middle of a media swarm organized by Attorney General Bond to up his own profile. Marlo continues to cause disruptions and foment dissension during the co-op meetings, but is unchecked by Proposition Joe,or anyone else. His continued overtures to the Greeks finally appear to bear fruit, as the old Greek agrees to deal with him as an "insurance policy" should anything happen to Prop Joe. Joe, meanwhile, cluelessly continues to mentor Marlo in the ways of money laundering...and remains loyal to his nephew Cheese, even in the face of growing suspicions that Cheese is the one who fingered Butchie for execution by Marlo's minions. Omar shows up, ambushing Slim Charles, who convinces him that Prop Joe had nothing to do with Butchie's demise. Omar spares Slim, and seems to reconsider his vendetta against Joe also. Omar decides to go after Marlo's troops, starting with Monk.

And in a final scene that was strangely touching, Prop Joe prepares to flee Omar's wrath only to find himself betrayed by Cheese, who has fully given his allegiance to Marlo in exchange for moving up in the business. As Marlo gives Chris the order to execute Joe, he soothes him almost tenderly, telling him to "breathe easy, it won't hurt none". An incredible, indelible scene in an amazing episode of an unparalleled series.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Seth Gilliam	Sgt. Ellis Carver
Dominic West	Det. James "Jimmy" McNulty
Clark Johnson	City Editor Augustus "Gus" Haynes
Aidan Gillen	Mayor Thomas "Tommy" Carcetti
Deirdre Lovejoy	Chief State's Attorney of Violent Crimes Rhonda Pearlman
Michael Kenneth Williams	Omar Little

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Duane Chandler Rawlings	Hungry Man	Guest Star
Bobby Brown (II)	Off. Bobby Brown	Guest Star
Roscoe Orman	Off. Oscar Requer	Guest Star
Frankie Faison	Police Comm. Ervin H. Burrell	Recurring Role
Paul Ben-Victor	Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos	Recurring Role
Robert F. Chew	Joseph "Proposition Joe" Stewart	Recurring Role

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (1)
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- Marlo can be seen wearing a Royal Addiction T-shirt during the episode. Jamie Hector, the actor who plays Marlo, owns the Royal Addiction clothing line company.
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QUOTES (7)
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- (to Marlo)
  Prop Joe: Proposition then, I just step out the way. You never hear from me again, I just disappear.
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- Jay Spry: (reviewing the draft of an article) Huh. "Incensed" means to inflame with wrath. It speaks to obsession. Is this the mayor's state of mind? Something more nuanced, perhaps galled, vexed, annoyed? Safer still- displeased.
  Gus: You'd take the crab out of crab soup.
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- Burrell: (to Rawls) To Carcetti, I'm a hack. Royce was no different. Maybe I am, but every day they send over a new priority. "Go after the bad guys. No, change that, make quality of life cases. Get on top of the murders. On second thought, run the whores out of Patterson Park." You think the Mayor tells the schools how to teach kids? Or the Health Department how to do it's job? Or sanitation how to pick up trash? But, get elected, and suddenly, they know police work. You might think you'll be different, when you sit here. But it won't. You will eat their shit.
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- Snoop: (about Hungry Man) Man already shit he'self, and we ain't even get started yet. He's funky yo'.
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- Herc: Carcetti finally dumps Burrell.
  Prop Joe: Ervin was a year before me at Dunbar.
  Herc: No shit?
  Prop Joe: He was in the Glee club.
  Herc: You're killin' me, I gotta ask.
  Prop Joe: Stone stupid.
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- Carver: When I gave you that kid to debrief last year, what's-his-face, you were supposed to get him to Bunk Moreland, you remember that?
  Herc: Yeah, I fucked up. So what?
  Carver: So, it mattered.
  Herc: So what the fuck does this have to do with Colicchio?
  Carver: It all matters.
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- Prop Joe: But I treated you like a son.
  Marlo: I wasn't meant to play the son.
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NOTES (2)
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- Music: "What You Know About Baltimore" by Ogun ft. Phathead; "Baby I'm Yours" by Barbara Lewis; "Drop The Bomb" by Trouble Funk; "Train In Vain" by The Clash; "Street Legendz" by Shortie
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- Although credited, Andre Royo and Jermaine Crawford do not appear in this episode.
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ALLUSIONS (1)
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- During the last scene, Marlo tells Prop Joe to close his eyes and says "There, there now." This was a key phrase in the 1964 Hitchcock film Marnie, where a poor Baltimore neighborhood plays a pivotal location.
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