Predictions for Season 5

January 6, 2008 is slowly coming upon us and if you are like me the date is etched in your mind and you are eagerly anticipating the final 10 episodes of the greatest television show in the mediums history. Yes my fellow hoppers, it's going to end and a void will be created unlike any other in your life.

By this point my hope is that if you are reading this you have already viewed Season 4 in it's entirety (I did so this past weekend). Therefore, I am going to go ahead and make some early predictions on how I think Season 5 and ultimately the end of the show, will play out. I am basing my opinions on Season 4, what I have read thus far about Season 5, and my general conversations with numerous The Wire fans.

Prediction #1: Snoop and Chris are Going Down!
When we left Season 4, Lestor Freamon had finally discovered the bodies in the vacants and got hair and blood samples from Snoop and Chris. He is on to them and if there is one thing we have learned about Smooth Lestor it's that he does not leave any business unfinished. There are too many things that could have gone wrong with the way Chris and Snoop disposed of the bodies. Mainly, I find it hard to believe there is not at least one hair or bit of DNA in any of those vacants that might point to them. Second, Lestor is simply too thorough of an investigator to not leave all stones turned. Unfortunately, I don't think either ends up dead, but both will end up in jail. If there are two characters on this show that deserve to get got, its Chris and Snoop. Though I will miss the humor that Snoop supplies to the show.

Prediction #2: Marlo Goes Down...At the Hands of Herc!
Yep. You heard it right. Herc is going to be the one who finally gets to Marlo. Why? "Why ain't in your repertoire no more." No, seriously. I look back on Seasons 3 and 4 and the writers have made a point to show more than one confrontation between Herc and Marlo. The stare down in the lot during Season 3; Marlo snatching Herc's camera and sub sequentially getting pulled over and handed Herc card (which leads to that absolutely hilarious phone call Prop Joe makes to track Herc down); and finally, in a show that is about as unpredictable as it gets, wouldn't it just make sense to have the biggest fuck up cop of all be the one to take down the kingpin? Something just tells me that Herc is "accidentally" going to be the one that finally gets to Marlo. He holds a personal grudge against him and for Herc it ain't about the police work, it's about that grudge.

Prediction #3: Michael Lee & Dukie Are the New Avon & Stringer
It is set up perfectly. At the end of Season 4 Marlo hands Michael Lee his own corner to run and crew to create. We see Prezbo watching Dukie take the money on the corner and realize there is no escape from the easy money. Michael Lee always acted as Dukies protector and now has him running in the game right along with him. They live together, work together, and now will rule together. Michael Lee being the ruthless corner boy that Avon was, with a heart of steel and a coldness unlike any other and Dukie with the smarts and business sense of Stringer Bell. Together they will be standing tall at the end while Marlo and his crew fall. Nothing lasts forever except the game itself and Michael Lee and Dukie are perfectly set up to take it all over.

Prediction #4: We're Going To See How Fucked Up the Press Really Is
This one isn't too much of a stretch considering we know the press is going to be a major theme this season. But I feel that viewers are going to be exposed to sites and sounds and words they have never been before. Just like politicians, the press plays upon the publics' perceptions. We know David Simon was a writer for The Sun so we know we are going to get that unique and genuine insight that we otherwise wouldn't get. What gets reported, why it gets reported, how it gets reported is really going to open some eyes into how we read newspaper articles. My ultimate prediction in how this will play out within the plot line is that there is going to be some reporter that gets wind of the bodies, finds out too much, threatens to go public, and is forced to hold back information by the police department and/or their reporting will give wind to Marlo that they are on to him and help Marlo avoid prosecution.

Prediction #5: Daniels Becomes Police Chief and Carcetti Becomes Governor
Again, neither is really going out on a limb here but we know that the storyline of Carcetti mimics that of O'Malley (current Gov. of Murdaland) and that Daniels was being groomed for Chief. The only thing I think might hold Daniels back is Burrell having some "dirt" on him. But I think Daniels will be untouchable at this point and with Carcetti in his corner he is heading to the top. Will this change a thing? Who knows. I am sure it won't. But it seems like Daniels will be all up in the new investigation into the vacant bodies and it's going to be a major news story and theme within the Governors race that Carcetti will be running. All the pieces matter.

I am sure there are quite a few more predictions to be made: Namond back in the game? Randy alive and well? Will Omar really disappear? (no way he does) Is Marlo going to make a run at Prop Joe to get the direct connect from the Greeks? Does Bubbles finally get clean? Does McNulty finally get dirty? Will Cutty be around? Colvin? Bunk? Does Kima give in to domesticity? All I know is this: Season 5 is going to be awesome because we have no reason to think otherwise. Sure, it's only going to be 10 episodes but I have the utmost faith that those 10 eps will contain a life time of story lines.

Cutty: He's A Man Now

We know from watching The Sopranos and various other organized crime stories that once you enter the life you can't just leave it. It is during Season 3 that we are introduced to Dennis "Cutty" Wise, a Barksdale solider getting ready to leave prison after an extended stint.

When we first meet Cutty in the prison courtyard he is one day away from going home. Weebay and Avon offer him up a phone number to call when he gets home to help him get back on his feet. Right away we can tell that Cutty is not a typical Barksdale solider. He has obviously done his stint with no complaints and gets great respect from Avon. A man of little words, we are not sure at first what to make of him: is he going to leave prison and return to The Game or will he attempt to go straight?

Reform is the main theme of Season 3 and there is no character that sums up that reform better than Cutty. Once out of prison he has some initial complications trying to get legit work that force him down the only path he has ever known: the streets. Cutty re-ups with Bodie and gets Marlo's boy Fruit to move the package for him. Once Fruit steals the stash we wonder what Cutty is going to do. He does nothing. We are left wondering if The Game has passed him by or he has simply grown out of it.

Once the war between Barksdale and Marlo starts Cutty is a main soldier on the Barksdale side. However, after a shoot out he realizes that this life is not for him anymore. In a great scene we see Cutty telling Avon that The Game "ain't in me no more. Whatever makes you flow the way you flow, it ain't in me." Amazingly, Avon allows Cutty to leave the life. Slim Charles mentions how Cutty was the man in his day, to which Avon responds, "he a man now."

After his "escape" from The Game Cutty moves towards opening a boxing gym for local troubled teens. We start to see that Cutty is truly trying to turn his life around while having difficulty adjusting to his new life on the outside. He is a man on a mission and dare I say his storyline actually gives you some hope that reform might work.

Cutty goes on to have some success with the gym and even finds himself a sudden attraction to all the kids single mothers. We root for Cutty because we see a genuine "good" guy in his nature and a man who lived a life of crime before but has matured in a man who would rather use his knowledge of the streets and boxing to help some of the young hoppers in his hood. During Season 4 he developes relationships with Michael Lee and Namond. Though very different relationships, both kids respect Cutty for what he is and what he is trying to do.

I have to admit that at first I was not a fan of the Cutty storyline at all. I found it tedious and without direction. But as his arc played out I realized that Cutty was an analogy for reform (and how it can work). The Wire goes out of its way to show you how often the system fails those it is trying to help. We see that during Season 4 with Dukie, Randy and the school systems and during Season 3 with Bunny Colvin's Hamsterdam. However, with Cutty we see a man that learned how to use the system to his advantage and we, dare I say, feel good about it. He is the one character that we can actually say has turned his life around for the better.

It makes you feel about as good as The Wire will ever allow you to.

Copper vs. Hopper

It occurred to me one night after watching an episode of The Wire that for the first time in my life I had actually thought about what it would be like to be a cop. Not just a street cop, but a detective. Murder Police. You see, there is a certain stigma attached to cops and many of the stereotypes associated with them are undoubtedly played out on the show. But what I thought was that for someone to spend their life chasing around a needle in a haystack in order to persecute them takes some serious dedication and a steel spirit.

It's really Bunk that does it for me. I dig Lestor Freamon too but it's Bunk that really makes me rethink my previous opinions on police. I just love his smoothness, street sense, and raw emotion towards what he does. He cares about the murdered and has a genuine desire to clean up the streets. His confrontation with Omar during Season 3 really sums up his character in many ways. His resentment towards Omar not because he murdered someone, but because children in the streets were portraying him by name. When he unleashes his wrath on Omar he tells him how back in the day the rough boys sent him home and back in the day people settled shit with their fists. "Ain't nobody that didn't matter."



But then I think, would playing The Game be a better choice? The obvious answer is no. Death or prison are the only outcomes right? But what about the smart players like Prop Joe or Stringer? They saw that the street game is what brought the police so why not try to legitimize the circuit with a co-op? Better product, more money, less bodies, no police. If that could have played out, how many hundreds of millions could they have made atop of what they already had?

Ah the life of a drug kingpin. Ladies, money, cars, respect, and non stop drama. But it's hard to pass that up isn't it? The quick way to get rich and respected. And who knows, if you played it right, just right, you might end up living through it and reaping the benefits. The Deacon, played by Melvin Williams, is who Avon Barksdale is based on. He seems to be doing just fine and living his life of wealth in the gated communities of Baltimore (and acting on the show). At least according to American Gangster on BET. What about Prop Joe kickin it on the East Side with Method Man working on fixing broken clocks? You know he's got some huge stash somewhere cause he is the direct link with The Greeks.

I decided that, thankfully, I will not be taking up the job of police or drug kingpin. I find it much easier to just sit back and watch them on The Wire and write about it here.