And ‘The Wire’ Questions & Forensic Examinations Continue

Vulture has really gone above and beyond with their ‘Wire’ coverage and our hat must come off to them.

They gave the finale a proper and thorough review, gave a talmudic-like shot-by-shot reading of the final montage sequence (which was soundtracked to the The Blind Boys of Alabama’s version of Tom Waits “Way Down In The Hole” version from Season one; our nitpick statement is we don’t know for sure whether Kenard is indeed arrested for Omar’s murder, but we can dream for that kind of retribution), one of the actors (the homeless “serial killer”) thoughts on shooting the finish, and our favorite, the 10 Questions Left Unanswered from the conclusion.

Here are our faves from their 10 and some of our own responses.

10. What, exactly, is in Cedric Daniels’ incriminating file?
The Playlist: This was eluded to in Season one, but we never did find out did we? Comments? This is eluding our memory, but as someone point’s out in their comments section (which sounds very right to us): “Back in his early days in the Eastern, he was skimming money (a la Herc & Carver, the mini-Daniels) from busts.” This definitely sounds right.
However, could it be bigger than that? David Simon reminds us that what they have on Daniels is a FBI file. That sounds bigger than simply ‘skimming money.’ “We knew that the FBI file that Burrell would not be put into play in season one would eventually be used to deny Daniels the prize,” he said.

9. It seems as though Sydnor didn’t lose his job as a result of the scandal the way McNulty and Freamon did. How did he end up unscathed?
Cause McNulty and Freamon didn’t back up on him. He was their pawn and they knew it. They left him out of it, but there should have been a brief scene where Sydnor gives up some relieved gratitude.

7. How is it that Nicky Sobotka is back in Baltimore and out of Witness Protection? Shouldn’t the Greeks be after him?
This is a good question and we have no answer for it. It honestly didn’t occur to us that he would be in Witness protection.

6. David Simon told an audience at USC a couple of days ago that Randy Wagstaff is actually Cheese Wagstaff’s son. Was that a dropped story line, and would Randy have been affected at all by Cheese’s death?
The Playlist: This was a dropped story line. Simon said so himself. Our thoughts is Randy probably had very little interaction with his father and his death might have come and gone in his life. If he had read about in a paper (if he even read the paper, if it even made the paper) would he even realize it was his father?
David Simon: “[The father/son revelation] is something that we were going reference in season five if we had had a little bit more room. But ultimately it would have been incremental; it would not have added to the overall theme or to either of those characterizations . It would have just been more story and more scenes. So at a certain point, on a practical basis, you have to ask what you’re accomplishing if you go further.”
Update: Oh and from the HBO website bio, we were right. Randy didn’t even know his father. “Having lost his mother to the streets at a young age and having never known his father…” It would have been interesting to see how they would have connected those dots considering Cheese probably wouldn’t have known Randy was his son either.

5. What would have happened to Rawls if he had been outed? Or was his sexuality always intended as simply a little piece of (out-of-nowhere) character flavor?
The Playlist: We’re glad Rawls wasn’t outed. It’s nice to see a character flavor that doesn’t have to blow up as some major plot point. Yeah, he was gay. So what?
David Simon’s thoughts: Are similar to ours. “We could have cannibalized Rawls’ moment in the gay bar and advanced that moment, but I’m not sure we would have created any more theme, and on some level it was very satisfying just to grant the notion of a closeted gay man’s sexuality a moment on screen and then move on.”

1. What could Jimmy McNulty possibly do besides be a cop?
Drink full-time? Become a good father to Beadie‘s kids? One can dream…
Simon thinks ambiguity rules and we couldn’t agree more. “[The open-ended conclusions] was two men [Marlo, McNulty] without their respective countries and tribes, and what do they do? Don’t you think that’s a good question to leave with viewers? I’m not sure I want that question answered definitively. I have my opinions, but you’ll never get them out of me. I think that’s a good argument to have if anyone feels like having it.”