CALLTIME: I have seen in my day candidates who were not crazy about dialing for dollars, with clipboards full of donor data instructing them on the asks, but never one who was as self-destructively dismissive of his need to do so as Tommy Carcetti. (Verisimilitude note: and that's why there's always a Finance staffer in the room with the candidate to keep him disciplined.)
But Candidate Littlefinger is, of course, not where most of our attention goes in the Season 4 opener of The Wire, "The Boys of Summer," and for once I'm not sure if you actually want to click on that Sepinwall link insofar as his having seen the full season encouraged him to provide more background information on the four new protagonists -- Namond, Randy, Michael, and Dookie -- than what David Simon provides through this first episode. (Other recaps: AVClub, Guardian.) What we know is that they are already surrounded by a world of drugs and violence, one in which the consequences thus far have been bruises rather than body bags, but given Randy's involvement in Lex's murder (and the fact that this is The Wire), things are about to get worse, and Dookie's knowledge about homing pigeons may not be of much currency for long.
[In other news, I'm not sure what I appreciate more: assistant principal Marcia Donnelly's pure Bal'mer accent, or Snoop's ... whatever you call it, that nail gun scene is what closed-captioning was made for.]
Haven't said much about the police, and I'm not sure what to say. McNulty's living a family life, and Cool Lester Smooth is still awesome. Herc's wearing a suit and Prez is about to enter a whole new world of confusion. Just remember: I Am Lovable And Capable.
