Season 5 Episode 58: Clarifications

"F%&K!"

"That little bitch. I hate him."

Just a sample of some text messages I received last night around 9:22 pm est. Yes fellow hoppers, the biggest murder since Stringer Bell has happened and we are all still in shock--but not surprised. Perhaps some of you are upset it was Kendard---and not, say, Michael Lee or Chris or Snoop--that took out the street legend Omar Little. Perhaps some of you are upset that Omar was got at all (you only have two more episodes to really miss him). Perhaps you are upset because you foolishly thought a player like Omar lives forever in the streets. The brilliance of this murder was that it wasn't some big time shoot out or set up. It was quick, clean, and uneventful. Fuckin Kendard. The cat-torturing, foul mouthed little fucker that we already hated--and now will hate even more. He killed our beloved savior, our moral center of the game, our super hero, robin hood Omar. But you sorta felt it coming didn't you? Omar's depsperation looking for Marlo. Running the streets alone, gimpy, in broad daylight, with a worrisome look on his face. Omar orders some cigarettes, we hear the door open, he stares down who we now know was Kendard, looks away because he certainly sees no danger in a 10 year old hopper. Shot dead and robbed for souvenirs. Kenard looked every moment his age after that gun went off. His rep is secure for a long time.

Omar's death is not the first time a character we love has fallen. We have Wallace, Sabotka, D'angelo, Stringer, Bodie, and now Omar. All players with their own version of the game and each went down for it. In the streets your shelf life is shorter than that of an NFL running back. And you matter even less outside the streets. We see Gus a few scenes later dropping the mention of Omar's murder from the papers in favor of a fire story. At the end of the episode the coroners office mixes up his tags with a random white guy that the doc knew was not named Omar Little. Omar does not matter. That is what they are showing you. A legend of the streets is a John Doe to the common man.

One last thought on Omar: does Rinaldo come back for vengeance in the final episode?

Let me give all due praise to one of the most unheralded characters on the show: Sydnor. Does anyone else recall it was Sydnor is season one that was able to figure out who Avon Barksdale was in the East vs. West Side pick up game? Or the undercover work he did with Bubbles? He is "good police" and this episode was a shot out to good police work. From The Bunk legitimately getting a murder warrant on Chris (and what I think will eventually lead to The Bunk taking down that bastard) to Sydnor and Smooth Lestor finally figuring out the clock code on the phones, this episode showed the viewer what good police do with good police work. I think the case is very close and it's now a race to see who gets to Marlo first. But something tells me we might have another taste of what happened in season three with McNutty and Stringer. Just when McNutty had him, Stringer gets killed. McNutty was more depressed about that than anything: he had him, but didn't get to him in time. Will this also happen to The Bunk with Chris? I hope not because The Bunk deserves to get his man. Even though he did finally "taste" some of McNutty's money by getting him to expedite his lab work. Hey, at least it was for a legitimate warrant and not some stupid serial killer bullshit.

Speaking of that, now both Kima and Carver are in on McNutty and Lestor's BS. Will this backfire? Because Kima is NOT happy about it at all and the foursome is usually McNutty-Bunk-Lestor-Kima. And right now, two of those four are not down with what is going on. Lestor does make a mention of "someone else on this network we don't have yet" when he figures out some of the call patterns. Is that Vondas and The Greeks? Has to be. But I fear, once again, that there is absolutely no way The Greeks go down. That are far too insulated from the streets and have obvious federal protection. Like Furious says in Boyz in da Hood, "you think it's the black man bringing the drugs into L.A? We don't own no cars, no boats, no planes." There would be no Avons, no Prop Joes, no Marlos or Chris' or even Omars if there wasn't The Greeks. Think about that. Think about what falls under the umbrella of crime that they create in the city. From Carcetti to Bubbles (Reginald Cousins is his name now huh?) all the pieces matter.

Speaking of the Bubbles storyline, I think Fletcher is based upon David Simon himself. I remember reading that Bubbles was based off a C.I. that Simon was friendly with during his time at The Sun. Fletcher seems to be developing an affinity for Reginald and perhaps we see a front page feature on Bubs in the paper!

No Shows: Cutty, Prezbo, Namond.

Predictions: based off the previews for next week most of you seem to think that Michael Lee is taking out Snoop while Chris and Marlo get busted. Michael Lee is taking out someone, and since he says, "y'all taught me to get there early" and then BANG!, one would assume it's either Chris or Snoop. But something tells me that preview clip is purposefully misleading. I don't really know. We also see Marlo screaming out about "my name is my name on the streets" or whatever bullshit macho shit he thinks he is spewing. I fear Marlo is going to live and Chris is going to get busted by The Bunk and Snoop is going to get got by Michael Lee. Leaving Michael Lee and...KENARD atop the game.