YOU LOOK LIKE YOU COULD USE A GOOD CUP OF COFFEE: As Tara Ariano points out in her recap of this week's episode of The Wire, "Collateral Damage," (and here's Sepinwall), much of what's going on, police-wise, is a giant game of Not It! when it comes to jurisdiction over the thirteen Jane Does found dead in the cargo container, plus McNulty's discovery in the water.
On the other hand, you've got two people who can be described "not the run-of-the-mill kind of asshole," but "the special kind of asshole" -- McNulty ("the most swollen asshole in American law enforcement") and Valchek, both who whom are eager to pursue their personal vendettas through their official positions. Actually, three (perhaps) - corrections officer Tilghman, who has a thing about the Barksdale Organization.
And then there's The Greek, who is as close to Keyzer Soze as we've seen in a villain in quite some time. Lurking in plain sight in the diner, then utterly ruthless when he chooses to be. And unlike the Barksdales, we don't (yet) get any sense of a home life, friendships, a love of parley, or anything to humanize him as one part of The Game. I don't think we've seen anyone as one-dimensional as him before.
In the meantime, think about what we do get to see, that another crime drama might not show us for quite some time: we know who The Greek is. We know exactly what happened to the women on the boat. We know that the investigation into their murders will likely lead to a dead end. And yet the investigation is just getting started.
Returning this week: Wee-Bey's love of fish. Lester Freamon. Carver, Traffic Cop. And on your food & beverage tab? Beer with raw eggs, hardshell crabs, in-prison KFC, whatever Daniels didn't eat at dinner, and fourteen shots of Jameson, about five more than McNulty could handle. At least his clothes remained intact.
