Really? I kind of loved it. Especially the cameos by the Laura Lippman characters!!! (the detectives from the County)

I haven't read her books, but there was a lot about this episode that seemed uncharacteristically heavy-handed and flat.

Such as:

1. McNulty tampering with evidence happened awfully fast. Sure, he's on a big decline and all, but being a good police has always been the one thing he held sacred.

2. Evil Editor Man really sucks as a character. The critics are right that he's easily the flattest character the Wire has produced, more of a moustache-twirler than Marimow (and I realize that he's based on the real Marimow). When he overruns Gus on the Orioles story, he might as well have stopped to cackle. I mean, seriously, consider the differences between him and Burrell. Burrell's self-serving assholish behavior is all about his ambition, right?

3. I realize they're trying to show the growing reckless disregard of Chris & Snoop, but seriously? A hit on a guy turns into a massacre of everyone around the guy in broad daylight? What happened to the ruthlessly efficient Chris & Snoop who dropped guys almost surgically in the dark of night?

4. Evil Editor going meta: "I don't want some amorphous series detailing society's ills. If you leave everything in, soon you have nothing." DON'T WINK AT ME, DAVID SIMON. AS AWESOME AS YOU ARE, IT'S NOT AWESOME WHEN YOU FLATTER YOURSELF.

I should say that I really loved Avon meeting with Marlo, because all the Westside stuff that means so much to Avon is clearly as foreign to Marlo as a discussion on the details of phlogistan theory. But Marlo's willing to play along. I also loved the woman's story at the NA meeting (but enough with Walon already! He's best in very small doses), and the little eye-exchange between Michael and Partlow right before the massacre.

crap, dude, I bet it's snowing in LA again.

If I was going to put meta in The Wire, it'd be something like "Look at this! You go on for pages and pages and nothing's happened yet!" Because some people I've introduced the Wire to find it like watching paint dry, like, a lot of the time.

Here's an article on the reporter Simon thinks is a fraud: [link]

Another one, same paper, same time-frame: [link]

I totally bought McNulty's making-a-murder. He's not fucking up an investigation that'll let a guilty party go free, he's creating a job for himself that he can control and maybe get some publicity that the real cases haven't gotten. It's a new facet of the character, but not an unbelievable one.

Avon seems like he's laying on the Westside loyalty business thick so he can play Marlo in some way that I haven't figured out.

Bubbles is just killing me. Listen to your sponsor, man.

Another one, same paper, same time-frame:

I don't remember this at all. funny. CP is notoriously cranky. I wonder how everything played out in the end.

Am so sad I won't see that, for like, a year. And I promise I won't post that EVERY Time. ANYWAY- Fact one:My fake husband has an ego bigger than Hampden.

Fact1a: If he didn't know his shit, this would be even more of a liability than it already is, "giving a fuck when it isn't his turn" and whatnot.

Comment: Zombieland?! What the fuck kind of James Frey-wannabe crap is that?(Crime-writing seems to lead some people to the sublety of blowtorches. However, having a style like James Frey doesn't make you a fake like him, right? I should know. I've been trying to establish myself as Southwest Pelecanos with tits for years, and my music collection is still inadequate.)

OTOH, it doesn't mean he's not. And maybe DS has the luxury of talking about it cause he made the break into Making Shit Up on purpose. With markets getting all consolidate-y(or Murdoched--ptui) a reporter who complains may feel that she may have few places to go, if we accept our man's contention that Institutions Are Made of Fail.

On the third hand, as somebody once said about another fake boyfriend at ESPN(What does this say about me--this continuing lust for ego monsters with baseball tickets and well-thumbed thesauri?)

"He didn't just burn bridges--he napalmed them."

But, as any crime-show fan knows, even assholes see things sometimes. And I know I haven't seen the specific instance, but the ritual of being po-lice is one of the few things Jimmy McNulty truly respects on this planet. For a long time, it was his total reason for living. Can't imagine he'd desecrate that. But hopefully, it'll be like "Xander lied," and y'all will want to discuss it again.And again. And blow up its corpse as a warning to others.

Journalism degree: $35,000

Using it to talk about The Best Television Show Ever:
Priceless.

Am so sad I won't see that, for like, a year.

Does your VCR work? 'Cuz I could hook a sister up.