Music on The Wire: Waiting for Zeus' Thunderbolt

Like Lucy with that damn football, The Wire has consistently allowed its audience moments to run with the momentary belief that things are going to turn out good. But even Charlie Brown knows by now that this isn't Hollywood. As David Simon has pointed out, this is more like a Greek tragedy, and it may as well be Aeschylus (or A-see-lee-us as Senator Davis calls him) holding the football. The Gods -- in this case, the institutions -- send their thunderbolts upon the righteous and the wicked alike, without giving thought to what's just.

I find it interesting that the two characters with cartoon names, Snoop and Bunny, deliver the lines that best describe how the series, and our decaying cities, fall into this mold of Greek tragedy:

Deserve got nuthin to do with it -- Snoop
I guess there's nothing to be done -- Bunny

Snoop's line is pulled from that great modern western The Unforgiven. It's a line that Clint Eastwood's Will Munny character delivers to a groveling Little Bill (Gene Hackman). Crime novelist George Pelecanos, who's been brought in every season to write the crucial penultimate episode, is fond of Westerns, with their twists on the theme of good versus evil (see Season 3's great Brother Mouzone high noon showdown versus Omar). When I saw that The Unforgiven line was the episode's epitaph, I had the unpleasant vision of Snoop as Munny and Michael as Little Bill. The fact that the roles were reversed was a nice touch, turning my expectation on its ear. After the unceremonious drop of Omar last week, it was somehow comforting to see Snoop taken down gently by Michael, with her taking refuge for the first time in her femininity, asking "how do my hair look?" Backed by T-Pain's (nearly) romantic "Bartender," it was a touching scene that was reminiscent of the almost touching moment when Marlo took out Prop Joe. "You look good, girl." Pop. Whoops, now you don't. (Read this morning's TV Guide's interview with actor Tristan Wilds, who plays Michael)

Of course, in order to set up the tragedies, there has to be some elation, and the unraveling of Marlo's enterprise (and even the "dope on the table" moment) does just the trick. Lester's on cloud nine, showing Marlo what he knows by taking his phone and the clock with a knowing look. Musically, it's worth pointing out that Wu-Tang alumn Ghostface Killah has his song "Be Easy" blasting from the car that Cheese and Monk drive in on, a subtle acknowledgment of fellow Wu-Tang-er Method Man's role as Cheese. Apparently music supervisor Blake Leyh wanted to use Wu-Tang Clan's "Take it Back" but ran into licensing issues, and at the 11th hour chose this route to say the same thing.

This of course leads to actor Jamie Hector's finest moment in the series, taking the cold and emotionless Marlo up several notches of rage as he discovers that Omar's been calling him out. His rage shows us that Omar's desperate call out to Marlo would've worked, if not for the wise restraint of Chris and Snoop. Marlo's vanity overflows, yelling "my name is my name," reminding us of a line from his supplier, Vondas, from the second season: "My name is not my name." It illustrates a key difference between the two camps -- one that ultimately keeps the Greek(s) out of trouble. I think there's something here that metaphorically speaks to the importance of brand name to retail, but that's a tangent I can ill afford to follow.

Speaking of names, Bubbles finally lets his "Reginald" out and it serves as a new beginning for our favorite junkie informant. "Ain't no shame in holding onto grief, as long as you make room for other things, too" -- his statement says a lot about the series as well. In the midst of all this heavy drama, moments like this, when Bubbles comes to terms with his own grief, are like daisies growing through cracks in the pavement. Bubbles Reginald gets to this moment by remembering an innocent summer day as a young man when he could watch girls and smoke some herb without a care. Similarly, Dukie remembers a summer past, a scene where the boys of Season 4 were introduced, bonding together, throwing piss balloons and eating ice cream off the truck. For me, the most tragic thing in the series is that Michael can't (or won't) remember it. Not even memories of his youth remain -- only the cold dark reality of his current, frightening setting.

So much happened in this episode, and, while a lot of it was setting up the finale, it also introduced a theme of betrayal -- and perceived betrayal. Marlo, after conferring with Chris and Levy, reluctantly believes Michael snitched; Michael then has to betray his mentor Snoop to stay alive, which in turn leads him to betray his family, Bug and Dukie. Marlo also feels betrayed by Chris and Snoop for not telling him about being called out. Meanwhile, Kima, in the biggest betrayal, rats out McNulty to Daniels and Pearlman. There's a lot of "how could Kima do that" out there, but it fits a character who plays by the rules, even saying of the hunt for the person who shot her, "sometimes things just got to play hard." Herc's betrayal of his old cop buddies is in the same vein -- giving Levy just enough legal wiggle room to get Marlo off the hook. Fittingly, when Herc tries to get Carver to talk, Tom Petty's "Refugee" plays in the background, speaking to Herc's cop status.

So how's it all going to end? Knowing that it's a Greek tragedy, it's easy to assume that Marlo gets off and McNulty gets blamed, but then Templeton would have to go down too, right? I've gotten the feeling all season that Simon's going to have Templeton survive and end up as a Pulitzer nominee, with Gus getting Zeus's lightening bolt. Well, we know one thing, as Journey sang in The Sopranos' infamous ending, "some will win, some will lose ... some were born to sing the blues." But we won't be cutting to black.

Playlist: The Wire - Episode 5.09
1. "Idris Song" - Donald Harrison - Haynes & Ruby talk in coffee shop
2. "Be Easy" - Ghostface Killah - Detectives watch Monk & Cheese
3. "Refugee" - Tom Petty - Herc drinks with Carver
4. "The 'In' Crowd" - Ramsey Lewis - Freamon & Clay Davis talk in club
5. "Jailbreak" - Thin Lizzy - Haynes meets Wiley at veterans hospital
6. "So Fresh" - Bossman - Michael stakes out Snoop
7. "Bartender" featuring Akon - T-Pain - Michael & Snoop in SUV
HBO track and scene info

More: Are you enjoying the continuing parade of ghosts from Wire seasons past as much as I am? Even if it's sometimes distracting, I'm all for it, and the only ones that I see missing from this season so far are appearances from Brother Mouzone, Wee-Bay and Prez -- who, if you saw the previews for next week, is name we'll be able to cross off.

Previously: Eulogizing Omar (Episode 5.08)

drake lelane
all in the game at the music/soundtrack blog thus spake drake

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