Baltmanimore, MD

The Wire: Not 4 Attribution
Season 5, Episode 3
Directed by: Joy and Scott Kecken
Written by: Chris Collins

The latest episode of The Wire took us one step closer to the series finale where, presumably, all loose ends will tie themselves and the show's creators will leave us with a sublime ending that crushes our souls with its fatalistic view of mankind's inevitable fall while making us smile at the resilience of our ineptitude. Its title refers to the principle in journalism ethics that requires only a general source for a specific quotation. In this example, Scott, the entitled Sun reporter, fabricates a quote that he falsely attributes to Nareese in order to demonstrate his chops as a reporter to the paper's city editor. The situation nicely parallels McNulty's own equivocations in Homicide where he doctor's reports and crime scenes to create the impression of a serial killer stalking the city's vagrants. Ironically, McNulty must conjure a serial killer to capture the attention of his superiors and spur more funding to the department because a real serial killer, responsible for more than 20 bodies found in city housing, doesn't rank as a primary concern for the department's limited budget.

The convoluted story line of McNulty faking murders, strangling dead bodies, planting clues to establish pathological patterns and enlisting the help of Lester to make things MORE sensational took on a tone of the absurd. If Season 4 of The Wire was a Dickensian tale of lost souls in a heartless city ruled by corruption, then Season 5 is turning out to become a wry, Eastern European story in the vein of Milan Kundera where the only way to bear the vacuous emptiness of state-sponsored bureaucracy is to laugh at its total ineffectualness.

You can't really argue that Simon and co. aren't shooting for the absurd in Season 5. In the 4 seasons of The Wire have you seen anything more ridiculous than Marlo walking through the Caribbean Antilles asking to see his money? Or Corner Boys at Six Flags? Or Omar in a pair of shorts? Or Duq gaming on a white girl? Come on.

The direction of Joy and Scott Kecken seems like a step in a new direction for the series as well. The show has always been well-helmed and very detail oriented with attention to story paramount in the execution, but "Not For Attribution" took on an Altman quality that literally marks a new direction for the series. For example, when Alma walks into the grocery store to buy the early edition of The Sun McNulty is also there purchasing red ribbon for his pet project, in which Alma will later play a part. This cinematic technique has most recently been adopted by Stephen Soderbergh in Traffic and Paul Thomas Anderson in Boogie Nights and Magnolia. This could be a developing season 5 characteristic since we also saw it in episode 1 when Chris approaches Cedric and Ronnie in City Hall and asks directions while they are discussing Marlo Stanfield, for whom he is a henchman. Clearly this is David Simon telling us visually that everything is connected and will be made obvious in season 5.

It seems the meta nature of this season is scheduled to continue through the finale. Remember the scene in episode 2 this year where The Sun editors are discussing how best to frame a story about Baltimore's public schools? The editor-in-chief's line that he didn't want a "sprawling, amorphous depiction of a social ill" was surely a direct quote from the Season 4 brainstorming sessions the writers of the show themselves endured. According to IMDB, Chris Collins, the writer of "Not For Attribution," also penned the episode to air February 10th (episode 6) entitled, appropriately, "The Dickensian Aspect." I think it's fair to say The Wire is only going to get more self-referential this season as story lines reemerge from the past (Nick Sabotka slated to appear in episode 6!) and the show becomes a commentary on itself. That is until the finale where hope will most likely die painfully beneath the heel of city politics and a new breed of dealers, politicians, cops and killers ignorant of the errors of the past continue to perpetuate the ethos of Bodymore, Murderland.