The End
No, not of the blog. In just 5 hours, after 2 weeks of impatiently waiting, I’ll be watching the final episode of television’s greatest series, The Wire. If you haven’t been watching, and apparently that is a lot of you, well – you just don’t know. The best writing, the best acting, the best conception – it’s perfect. Perfect except it will soon be gone.
BEWARE – POTENTIAL SPOILER COMING
If somehow you are reading this on Sunday afternoon, before The Wire airs, you might not want to read the rest of this at this time.
When the season started in January, there were many articles in the media (the show, if nothing else, is a media darling) about The Wire and the then upcoming fifth and final season. In one of those articles (I’m guessing The New Yorker, but there were many), I saw a clue about something I anticipate we will see tonight. If you don’t want to see this, stop reading, you idiot, and come back tomorrow. You can see then if I’m right.
There was talk about a cast party after filming the last scene. I don’t know if it’s the last scene we will see, or if it’s the last scene they filmed (well, I know it is at least the latter). The article referred to a scene in a cop bar where a wake was being filmed. We saw one of those two or three seasons ago for a real cop who died who had a small part in the show and who must have been close to the creators. Anyway, what that meant was that somebody on the police force is going to die in tonight’s episode. My guess is McNulty. The way this show is, it really could be anyone, because we have become attached to so many characters. But the way things are reeling out of control for Jimmy McNulty, the main character (to the extent there is a main character – at least his name comes first in the credits), it seems obvious now, and it seemed obvious when I read that in January. Nothing has happened to change my mind.
Has any show ever killed off the main character? Of course, MASH killed off McLean Stevenson, but he was really #3, and he was leaving the show. I guess McNulty is leaving the show, or the show is leaving him, and so it is an easier idea to off him. But throughout the series history, and particularly this season, we have seen so many characters we’ve come to appreciate killed off: DeAngelo Barksdale, Frank Sobotka, Stringer Bell, Bodie, and in just the past few weeks Prop Joe, Omar and Snoop. Brilliantly drawn, brilliantly acted, each one so special, each killing powerful. But they were all from the bad guys side (actually it was never clear to me if Frank Sobotka was a bad guy). Tonight it’s gonna be one of the good guys (I think) and who knows, maybe lots of bad guys.
What I know is it’s going to be great, 93 minutes of great. I can’t wait. For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, order up season 1 on Netflix. I own the first 4 seasons, and starting next week the boss and Max and I will start watching one more time from the beginning. But first, before we start at the beginning, we need to see the end. Thanks forever to David Simon and Ed Burns, the creators, and to the biggest, blackest, baddest cast ever assembled. BRILLIANT!
BEWARE – POTENTIAL SPOILER COMING
If somehow you are reading this on Sunday afternoon, before The Wire airs, you might not want to read the rest of this at this time.
When the season started in January, there were many articles in the media (the show, if nothing else, is a media darling) about The Wire and the then upcoming fifth and final season. In one of those articles (I’m guessing The New Yorker, but there were many), I saw a clue about something I anticipate we will see tonight. If you don’t want to see this, stop reading, you idiot, and come back tomorrow. You can see then if I’m right.
There was talk about a cast party after filming the last scene. I don’t know if it’s the last scene we will see, or if it’s the last scene they filmed (well, I know it is at least the latter). The article referred to a scene in a cop bar where a wake was being filmed. We saw one of those two or three seasons ago for a real cop who died who had a small part in the show and who must have been close to the creators. Anyway, what that meant was that somebody on the police force is going to die in tonight’s episode. My guess is McNulty. The way this show is, it really could be anyone, because we have become attached to so many characters. But the way things are reeling out of control for Jimmy McNulty, the main character (to the extent there is a main character – at least his name comes first in the credits), it seems obvious now, and it seemed obvious when I read that in January. Nothing has happened to change my mind.
Has any show ever killed off the main character? Of course, MASH killed off McLean Stevenson, but he was really #3, and he was leaving the show. I guess McNulty is leaving the show, or the show is leaving him, and so it is an easier idea to off him. But throughout the series history, and particularly this season, we have seen so many characters we’ve come to appreciate killed off: DeAngelo Barksdale, Frank Sobotka, Stringer Bell, Bodie, and in just the past few weeks Prop Joe, Omar and Snoop. Brilliantly drawn, brilliantly acted, each one so special, each killing powerful. But they were all from the bad guys side (actually it was never clear to me if Frank Sobotka was a bad guy). Tonight it’s gonna be one of the good guys (I think) and who knows, maybe lots of bad guys.
What I know is it’s going to be great, 93 minutes of great. I can’t wait. For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, order up season 1 on Netflix. I own the first 4 seasons, and starting next week the boss and Max and I will start watching one more time from the beginning. But first, before we start at the beginning, we need to see the end. Thanks forever to David Simon and Ed Burns, the creators, and to the biggest, blackest, baddest cast ever assembled. BRILLIANT!
-30-
posted by PEFACommish at 1:25 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home