The fifth and final season of the television series The Wire commenced airing in the United States on January 6, 2008, and concluded on March 9, 2008; it was the show's shortest season with 10 episodes. The series introduced a fictionalized version of the Baltimore Sun newsroom, while continuing to follow the Baltimore police department and city hall, and the Stanfield crime syndicate.
The fifth season aired on Sundays at 9:00 pm ET in the United States. The season was released on DVD as a four-disc boxed set under the title of The Wire: The Complete Fifth Season on August 12, 2008 by HBO Video.[1]
Production
HBO announced on September 12, 2006, that a fifth and final season consisting of 13 episodes—but later reduced to ten—had been commissioned.[2][3][4] Production for Season 5 officially began on April 30, 2007. Filming wrapped early in the morning of September 1, 2007 and the first episode aired on January 6, 2008.[5]
In an interview with Slate on December 1, 2006, David Simon said that Season 5 would be about the media and media consumption.[3] A major focus would be journalism, which would be dramatized through a newspaper modeled after The Baltimore Sun.[6] The theme, according to Simon, would deal with "what stories get told and what don't and why it is that things stay the same."[3]
Issues such as the quest for profit, the decrease in the number of reporters, and the end of aspiration for news quality would all be addressed, alongside the theme of homelessness. In the same interview, Simon indicated that no other theme seemed substantial enough to warrant a sixth season, except possibly the large influx of Latinos into Baltimore. He noted, however, that since no writer on the show spoke Spanish or had any intimate knowledge of the city's Latino population, the field work would be too cumbersome.[3]
At the Night at the Wire event on June 9, 2007, Simon stated that Detective Sydnor is the only character who remains morally clean by the end of the show, but not perfectly since "after all, this is The Wire." He also hinted that Mayor Carcetti might make a run for governor.
The series continued the show's examination of the devaluing of human life and institutional dysfunction.[7] The increased scope of the season to include the media allowed this theme to be explored through an examination of "the people who are supposed to be monitoring all this and sounding the alarm — the journalists."[7] In particular Simon has spoken about the devaluing of the reporter in terms of downsizing a newspaper staff and the management expecting to do "more with less" when he asserts that in reality, you can only do "less with less."[7]
The series realism has been reported as being maintained particularly through the accurate dialogue and use of contemporary slang.[7] Series creator David Simon further expanded on the thematic content of season five in an interview with Fancast/Inside TV.[8] Critic David Zurawik saw the unifying theme of the season as "public and private lies," particularly those perpetuated by the media and told by Jimmy McNulty in protest against cutbacks in the police department.[9] TV Guide writer Matt Roush also saw the central theme as lies and characterized it as "deeply and darkly ironic."[10]
Promotion
A preview for Season 5 of The Wire aired on HBO on October 28, 2007 and was later made available on YouTube.[11] HBO sent critics the first seven episodes on DVD in December 2007.[9][12][13]
HBO's On Demand and multiplatform marketing division approached creator David Simon about producing exclusive on-demand content and three short prequel clips were produced that take place prior to the linear storyline of the show.[14][15] The clips were made available via Amazon.com from December 5 and through HBO's on-demand service from December 15.[14][15]
The first video takes place in 1962 and focuses on the school days of drug kingpin Proposition Joe; the second is set in 1985 and focuses on Omar Little making an early robbery; the third video is set in 2000 and shows the first meeting of Jimmy McNulty (played by Dominic West) and Bunk Moreland (Wendell Pierce).[16] The clips aired after Season 5 episodes as they premiered starting January 6, 2008.[17]
Locations
At that Night at the Wire event, fans were allowed to tour the Baltimore Sun newsroom constructed for the show. The real newspaper allowed the show to use their name but stipulated that no current employees could appear in the series.[7] The newsroom was an entirely built set constructed at the show's out-of-town soundstage.[7]
The actual Washington Post newsroom was also featured, as one reporter visits for an interview.[18]The Wire is the first production to be allowed to film at the location; even the film All the President's Men about the paper's role in breaking the Watergate scandal had to build a set to represent the paper.[18]
Cast
New starring cast member Clark Johnson as editor Augustus "Gus" Haynes.
It was rumored in August 2007 that Homicide: Life on the Street stars Richard Belzer[19] and Clark Johnson[20] would guest star in the fifth season. Johnson was later confirmed as joining the starring cast to play Gus Haynes,[21] "a city editor who tries to hold the line against dwindling coverage, buyouts, and pseudo-news."[7]The New Yorker described an early scene from the season where Haynes rants about a reporter inserting a charred doll into scenes of fires to eke more sympathy from his readers.[7] Johnson also directed the final episode of the show.[5] In the episode "Took," Belzer made a cameo appearance as John Munch, the police detective he has portrayed since 1993 on Homicide (1993–1999) and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999–2013).
Continuing the show's trend of using non-professional actors and real-life Baltimore figures,[9] several ex-Baltimore Sun reporters appeared in recurring roles.[7] The editor character Rebecca Corbett, played by actress Kara Quick, was named after and based on Simon's former editor at the Baltimore Sun who now works at The New York Times; the real Rebecca Corbett has a cameo near the end of the series.[7] Writer and former political reporter William F. Zorzi gained further screen time after his season 1 cameo.[7]
Steve Luxenberg, the editor responsible for hiring Simon at The Sun, also had a role.[7] Simon's wife Laura Lippman also appeared[7] as a reporter in an early scene alongside Michael Olesker, another former Sun reporter.[9] Baltimore attorney Billy Murphy appeared as a lawyer for corrupt Senator Clay Davis, and former senator and current radio host Larry Young conducted a fictional interview with the character.[9] Former police commissioner Ed Norris returned in his recurring role as a homicide detective with the same name.[9]
Main cast
Dominic West as Jimmy McNulty (10 episodes), an intelligent but egotistical BPD homicide detective who comes up with an outlandish plan to secure department funding.
Aidan Gillen as Thomas "Tommy" Carcetti (10 episodes), Baltimore's mayor who is forced to choose between furthering his political ambitions or helping the city.
Corey Parker Robinson as Leander Sydnor (9 episodes), an ambitious BPD major crimes detective who works to crack the code Marlo communicates to his dealers with.
Tristan Wilds as Michael Lee (9 episodes), a young Stanfield Organization soldier who begins to doubt Marlo's leadership.
Michael Kostroff as Maurice Levy (5 episodes), Marlo's defense attorney who has an illegal way to help his clients avoid prosecution.
Michelle Paress as Alma Gutierrez (10 episodes), an ambitious Baltimore Sun reporter who catches Haynes's attention with her skills.
Creator David Simon continued to act as the show's executive producer and show runner.[7][23]Nina Kostroff Noble once again served as the show's other executive producer.[23]Joe Chappelle reprised his co-executive producer role and continued to direct episodes.[23]Ed Burns once again served as a writer and joined Chappelle as a co-executive producer.[24]Karen L. Thorson returned as a producer.[23]George Pelecanos produced the sixth episode of the series only - his first production work since the third season.[21][24][25]
Political journalist William F. Zorzi continued to write for the show and guide the political storylines.[7] Acclaimed crime fiction novelist Pelecanos returned as a writer and contributed his seventh episode to the series.[7] Pelecanos's fellow crime novelists Richard Price and Dennis Lehane also returned as writers. Chris Collins returned as a staff writer[7] and contributed his first script.[24]David Mills contributed an episode, completing the writing team.[21]
The fifth season received widespread acclaim from critics, scoring 89 out of 100 based on 24 reviews on Metacritic.[26] On Rotten Tomatoes, the season has an approval rating of 93% with an average score of 9.8/10 based on 44 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "The Wire goes out with a suitably resonant bang in its final season, craftily maneuvering venturesome motifs and a colorful cast of characters to skillfully understated conclusion."[27]
Matt Roush of TV Guide favorably reviewed the series calling it "brilliantly bleak" and a "landmark series."[10] Brian Lowry of Variety characterized the series' look at the media as the most realistic portrayal of a newsroom in film and television history.[28]
However, Leigh Claire La Berge found that "in the popular press [...] the level of critical anticipation that greeted that season was matched only by the immediate disappointment that followed it", noting that the season is The Wire's most explicitly didactic, the one that most obviously comments on the series's own fictionality, and the one with the least realistic plot.[29] Thus in reviewing the first seven episodes of the fifth season David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun said that while "there is greatness in the seven episodes," the major newspaper storyline "contain[s] nothing that matches the emotional power and sociological insight of the show at its best."[30] La Berge argued that it is precisely the fifth season's capacity to explore the social construction of realism itself that is the season's most important characteristic.
Epigraph: "The bigger the lie, the more they believe." -Bunk
Chris gets Serge Malatov's picture from courthouse files. Dukie fails to get respect from a crew Michael gives him, who asks him to focus on watching Bug Manigault. As the Baltimore Sun faces budget cuts, Bubbles, sober and living in Rae's basement again, works as a distributor for it. Carcetti refuses the RepublicanU.S. attorney's offer to assist with an investigation into Davis. His attempts to fund the school system causes budget issues in the BPD, shutting down the major crimes unit and the investigation of the vacant murders. Freamon and Sydnor are given the Davis detail, while McNulty falls back into infidelity and alcoholism.
Bubbles regularly attends NA meetings but is unable to talk about Sherrod's death. Sun reporter Scott Templeton cuts corners on a piece, but the lead editor is impressed regardless and ignores city editorGus Haynes's concerns. Carcetti commits to running for governor, unable to fix Baltimore's problems without asking for help from the current one. Avon refuses to let Marlo see Serge until he gives money to Brianna Barksdale. After doing so, he convinces Serge to put him in contact with Vondas. He has a rumor-spreading dealer killed in his home by Chris and Snoop Pearson. Michael is disturbed and lets a child escape, while Greggs finds a second child, Devonne, hiding in a closet. Unable to get federal backing for the Stanfield investigation, McNulty manipulates the scene of an overdose, plotting to fabricate a serial killer that preys on the homeless to get funding sent to the BPD.
Epigraph: "They're dead where it doesn't count." -Fletcher
McNulty contacts Sun reporter Alma Gutierrez, but the story is only given a small piece. Bunk tries to get Freamon to talk sense into McNulty, but he instead agrees with the idea. He and Sydnor discover that Davis committed a federal crime by lying on a mortgage application. Burrell shows Carcetti crime stats that Stan Valchek reveals are doctored, giving Carcetti cause to fire him. He plans to replace him with Daniels, which a disillusioned Wilson leaks to his friend Haynes. Templeton spitefully publishes a quote that frames Daniels as betraying Burrell when another reporter is given the story. Damien Price testifies against Davis before a grand jury. Dukie persuades a depressed Michael to go to Six Flags America with him and Bug, but he is berated by Monk Metcalf for leaving when he returns. Vondas tells Marlo to clean his money if they do business, so Joe Stewart points him to the Antilles for laundering. Cheese Wagstaff gives up Butchie, who Chris tortures and kills to lure out Omar.
A BPD officer assaults a civilian after being humiliated by Kenard and Carver decides to charge him when he expresses no regret. The state's attorney decides to charge Davis locally. Burrell uses his knowledge on Daniels's FBI file to get a lucrative job, smugly revealing he had forgotten much of the contents as Rawls is temporarily promoted in his stead. McNulty and Russell fight, interrupted by Freamon's old partner calls him to report a dead homeless man, who he and Freamon bite with dentures to invent a sexual deviance angle. After watching an unsuccessful interview with a traumatized Devonne, Greggs spends time and eventually bonds with Elijah. Marlo gives Cheese his New Day Co-Op rival to kill. Joe tells Slim Charles that he suspects Cheese gave Butchie up. Vondas insists on primarily doing business with Joe, so Cheese gives him to Marlo and he is killed.
Epigraph: "Just cause they're in the street doesn't mean that they lack opinions." -Haynes
Vondas gives Marlo a phone as he takes over for Joe. He gives the number to his attorney Levy, and Herc, working as his investigator, jots it down. Omar breaks into Monk's apartment but is ambushed by Stanfield men, jumping from a balcony to escape. Bubbles is upset when he tests negative for HIV, feeling he deserves worse. Davis begins a campaign to frame his charges as racially motivated. McNulty tells Gutierrez about the bites and her story draws more attention to the case. He and Freamon fake a phone call from the killer, and the story makes the front page when Templeton fakes his own call. Carver receives Marlo's number and passes it to Freamon, who obtains a wiretap on the killer and uses it on Marlo instead when Daniels refuses to pursue him.
Epigraph: "If you have a problem with this, I understand completely." -Freamon
Omar sets his broken leg and burns one of Marlo's money stashes. Marlo disbands the Co-Op and gives Cheese his rival's territory. Trying to get Marlo on a murder, Bunk interviews Michael's mother, who tells him that Chris was involved in Devar Manigualt's death. Stolen indictments turn up in Joe's shop. Carcetti publicly pledges to help the homeless, which Wilson and Steintorf suggest he could run for governor on. Templeton's article is a national success, so he interviews homeless veteran Terry Hanning for a follow-up. Finding it difficult to stage bodies with increased police activity, McNulty accosts a homeless man named Larry Butler, photographs him, and plots a narrative where the killer sends photos of his victims to the press and hides the bodies. He sends Larry to a shelter in Richmond to fake his death.
Epigraph: "They don't teach it in law school." -Pearlman
McNulty calls Templeton through the wire and sells the new narrative while posing as the killer. Freamon pulls messages from Marlo's phone and finds images of clock faces sent with a number. Davis charms the jury into an acquittal despite more damning testimony from Price. Haynes sends reporter Mike Fletcher to canvas the homeless, where he meets Bubbles. Omar robs a stash house and kills Savino Bratton, out of jail and working for Marlo. He approaches Marlo's younger dealers, amongst them Kenard, and warns them that he will keep killing Stanfields until Marlo meets him in person. Greggs, having taken Elijah for the night, tenderly reads to him when he cannot sleep.
Story by : David Simon & Dennis Lehane Teleplay by : Dennis Lehane
February 24, 2008 (2008-02-24)
N/A
Epigraph: "A lie ain't a side of a story. It's just a lie." -Terry Hanning
McNulty travels to Quantico for FBI assistance in the case and is unsettled by their profile of the killer mirroring him. He admits the truth to Greggs and Russell. Bunk runs the DNA on Devar's body and matches it to Chris. Sydnor realizes that the page numbers of a street atlas match the message numbers and the clock hands are Cartesian coordinates that mark a meeting's location. Carcetti gives half of Baltimore's federal funding to Prince George's County for support in the gubernatorial primary. Terry confronts Haynes and Templeton on inaccuracies in the latter's story. Haynes tries to cut the lead paragraph in Templeton's new story, but is stopped by the managing editor. He is impressed with Fletcher's report on Bubbles and tells him to talk to him again. Dukie looks for a job but can only find work helping a junk collector. Kenard notices Omar disrupting Marlo's corners and kills him when his back is turned.
Epigraph: "Deserve got nuthin' to do with it." -Snoop
The Stanfields are arrested after Monk is caught at a deal, while Chris is arrested for Devar's murder. Marlo suspects Michael's involvement due to his recent hesitance and orders him killed. Freamon blackmails Davis with the mortgage into giving up a courthouse worker that helps Levy sell leaks. Herc intuits while talking to Carver that Marlo was arrested using a wire, which he relays to Levy. Haynes grows suspicious when Daniels refuses to talk to Gutierrez due to Templeton's quoting. He visits WRAMC and confirms with Terry's friend that Templeton lied in his story. Fletcher accompanies Bubbles to NA for his anniversary of sobriety where he finally tells Sherrod's story, though he leaves out his culpability in his death. Greggs reports McNulty's scheme to Daniels after a homeless man turns up murdered. He visits the evidence room and finds the killer's phone is actually Marlo's. Snoop tries to lure Michael to his death, but he ambushes and kills her. He gives Bug money and sends him to his aunt, then drops Dukie off with the junk man for his safety. Dukie asks if he remembers their water balloon escapade, to which he responds "I don't" before leaving.
Another man is murdered and McNulty catches the perpetrator—another homeless man—who is framed as the killer. He and Freamon are fired, though the latter identifies the leak and points Pearlman to Levy. Levy gets Marlo freed because of the wire, but on the condition that the rest stay in jail and he stays out of the drug game. An enraged Sydnor breaks chain of command by going to Daniel Phelan. Marlo gets in a fight with dealers rather than let Levy introduce him to developers. Carcetti becomes governor and Rawls is promoted, leaving Daniels to become commissioner under new mayor Nerese Campbell. He refuses to doctor stats and is served his FBI file, so he resigns after promoting Carver to major crimes lieutenant and becomes an attorney while Pearlman becomes a judge. Valchek takes his place. Templeton fakes a story and wins a Pulitzer Prize, while Gutierrez is transferred. Haynes is demoted but is happy to see Fletcher in his place for his moving story on Bubbles, who is invited upstairs to eat with Rae. Dukie asks Prez for money to enroll in a GED program, who warns him their friendship is over if he is lying. He later sees Dukie giving it to the junk man, who he starts using heroin with. Michael robs Marlo's advisor and Kenard is arrested for Omar's murder. Charles kills Cheese for his role in Joe's murder and starts business with Vondas. Having healed his relationship with Russell, McNulty takes Larry back to Baltimore, stopping and contemplating the city as a montage reveals the characters' fates. After a moment, he tells Larry "let's go home" before driving off.
The episode is dedicated to Robert F. Colesberry, the show's co-creator and Ray Cole's actor, who died between the second and third season.
^ abcdefghijklmnopqMargaret Talbot (October 15, 2007). "Stealing Life". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on August 15, 2014. Retrieved October 14, 2007.
^Leigh Claire La Berge, 'Capitalist Realism and Serial Form: The Fifth Season of The Wire, Criticism, 52 (2010), 547--67 (at pp. 549--50); DOI: 10.1353/crt.2010.0046 [repr. in Reading Capitalist Realism, ed. by Alison Shonkwiler and Leigh Claire La Berge (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2014), pp. 115--39].
