The Wire “Final Grade”

You know, this may be the most depressing ending of a season of The Wire yet.  In many ways, it isn’t that different from past seasons as it shows nothing changes.

What makes it worse is it shows how the drug trade brings down the next generation and there isn’t anything anyone can seriously do to stop it for the most part.

There’s a lot of down stuff going on here.  Bubbles, wracked with guilt over his young friend’s accidental death, turns himself in.  While Homicide ultimately opts to cut him loose, they only do so after he attempts suicide.  They send him to a hospital, where his longtime contact Kima can’t bring herself to talk to him.

The guy tormenting Bubbles all season?  He dies at the hands of Michael, who’s gone completely over to Marlo’s organization.

Bodie dies when Marlo’s people see him talking to McNulty.  McNulty was looking to get an informant for the Major Crimes Unit, and Bodie hadn’t done anything more than talk to him.  That action actually drives McNulty back to Major Crimes and Daniels.  Can he do it like he says without resorting to his bad habits?  Personally, I doubt it.

Lester’s investigation pulls over 20 bodies from the abandoned tenements.  Bunk had money in the pool down on 23 bodies.  Sure, they pretty much know Chris and Snoop did it, but there’s no evidence and not much in the way of witnesses.  Nothing sticks, at least so far.

Prez is still learning the ropes at the school, and though the test scores are deceiving, he’s getting somewhere with his students.  That means something.

Carver fights like hell to keep Randy out of a group home.  He fails.

Carcetti turns down the state money as it would have been too humiliating politically, which it turns out was the only reason the governor was offering him anything anyway.

But the bright points?  Well, Colvin actually has a chat with Wee Bey and gets the man to agree to let Namond move in with the Colvins.  Namond has a possible future, even if its not with his parents.  Then again, getting away from his parents is probably the best thing he could have done.

And Omar?  He sold Proposition Joe his own drugs back at a rate of twenty cents on the dollar.  It looks like Joe then charged the Co-op forty cents on the dollar.  Marlo’s suspicious and wants to meet Joe’s dealer.  It turns out to be the Greek’s people.  Marlo has plans since they won’t deal with him directly.

And that’s where the season ends.  Four boys started it, and only one of them ended well.  What does the season closing montage tell us?

• Carcetti’s budget meetings are not going well.
• McNulty seems happy to be back at Major Crimes.  Michael’s face is already on the board.
• Carver is becoming a better cop.
• Colvin’s special class is canceled.  The academic findings don’t impress him much since it’s all theoretical and not actual results.
• Randy is in a group home, where he’s beaten up by larger boys.
• Dukie is selling drugs for Michael, to Prez’s disappointment.
• Herc is being disciplined.
• Drugs are still being sold.  Michael seems to be on the same death squad as Chris and Snoop.

And the cycle will keep going.  If it gets better for anyone, it’s very few people.  Cutty, for example, goes back to his gym.  A nurse at the hospital that he was recuperating in was initially dismissive of him as a gangbanger until Colvin told her what Cutty really did, so she seems to like him better now.  Namond is in a better place.  But for the most part, as Carver sees a new group of kids replacing the ones that appeared in the season opener, the message is clear:  there isn’t really any help for this neighborhood as things stand now.