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Episode Recap: "Transitions"
You can feel the series winding up toward some serious payoff, with this episode if not before...there are only six episodes left, after all. And Prop Joe will not be returning. Nor, presumably, will be several key veterans at the Baltimore Sun...but their exits were less final.
McNulty and Freamon, in their efforts to fake up a single serial killer focused on homeless men, enlist the aid of Freamon's old partner, an ex-homicide detective busted down to uniform duty, and spending most of night shifts sleeping so as to be ready for his daytime job as a realtor...he finds them one body to begin with, but it proves too far gone to make look like a homicide. Meanwhile, McNulty's research with the morgue opens his eyes to the extent of deaths among the homeless, particularly from narcotics overdoses; Freamon suggests a means of spicing up the serial killings with a set of false teeth, so that the "murderer" will be seen to have bitten "his" victims...McNulty has the thankless task of faking the bites, with the demand that Freamon never tell McNulty's mother nor his priest about what he's about to do, to which Freamon agrees. Also in the course of the pseudo-investigation of the "serial killings," McNulty ventures out among a homeless encampment, and is depressed by what he sees among the people, working and unemployed, sane and disturbed, that he meets. Deciding he needs a drink, he manages to get home, late as usual, to a very frustrated Beadie, who's getting ready to put him out.
Prop Joe takes Marlo under his wing, apparently with the notion of keeping your enemies closer, while suspecting his upstart nephew "Cheese" for being the informant to Marlo and his crew as to the whereabouts of Omar's friend Butchie. We first see Prop Joe in the episode picking out a funeral bouquet for Butchie's service, and his conversation with his most trusted lieutenant continues with Prop Joe's suggestion that since Omar might well be gunning for Joe first and foremost, PJ intends to make himself scarce for a while, and to leave his operation in the hands of his two lieutenants, after the next day's drug lords' association meeting. At the meeting, one of the elders takes issue with Cheese impinging on his territory; Marlo takes note of this, and of the nephew's resentment of Joe's gentle but firm slapping down of the upstart. After the meeting, Joe introduces Marlo to Levy, the favored lawyer and investment counselor of the druglords; Herc, working as an investigator for Levy after being fired from the police department, and Joe discuss the fate of Police Commissioner Burrell, whose resignation is all over the news (Burrell and Joe had attended the same high school, a grade apart...Joe had never been impressed). Later, Marlo has his lieutentants turn over the elder, Hungry Man, to Cheese for execution, with the notion of one hand washing the other...and later that day, the nephew betrays Prop Joe to Marlo and Chris.
Marlo had already made successful overtures to the Greeks, convincing them that they should consider doing business with him...as insurance, just in case anything should happen to Prop Joe. The Greeks remain wary, however, of how stable a partner Marlo is likely to be.
The investigation of State Sen. Clay Davis finds a major violation in some of his fast and loose transfers of funds, including taking loans from relatives, which emboldens the State's Attorney to subpoena him before the grand jury. He storms out, and does his best to finesse the questions put to him by the tv news crews awaiting him outside the courthouse.
Meanwhile, the mayor and his staff are dancing as fast as they can in their attempts to dump Commissioner Burrell, temporarily in favor of Deputy Comm. Rawls, and then shortly thereafter the new Deputy Comm. Daniels...but the same political machine that includes Clay Davis, while willing to deal away Davis on the one hand and Burrell on the other, still wants to be greased sufficiently to allow all this to happen.
Television coverage leaves Gus and the other old hands at the Sun wondering why no one called them about the Clay Davis "perp walk"...while scrambling to catch up, Templeton's absence is noted. He's interviewing at The Washington Post, which turns out to have a busier and more prosperous but still very similar newsroom to that of the Sun...a bit more pompous, as well, as Templeton discovers, as he's patted on the head and told to try again later.
And Kima, still working the case of the home invasion, sees that the only surviving innocent witness, orphaned and in shock, is still too withdrawn to deal with any sort of questioning; it reminds her of how little she's seen her son, in the custody of her ex, and so Kima calls up and volunteers to spend some time with the boy while his other mother attends to some urgent business.
A typically packed episode, with its effortless transistions from storyline to storyline still a joy to behold, and the death of Prop Joe, and Omar and associates being convinced of Marlo's primary responsibility for Butchie's death, being perhaps only the most dramatic developments among many.
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Jan 28, 2008 2:30 AM
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The greeks know they can play Marlo. Remember when he brings the money and Vondas keeps telling him it isn't necerssary, they only deal with Joe. The older greek then says, take it and emphasizes - He's not Joe. They realize things they could never pull on Joe, they might pull on Marlo. He's inexperienced. Something Joe basically said when teaching Marlo how to launder money.
Marlo is out of his element now. He's also taking too many chances. Bringing Omar back was just plain stupid. Now killing Joe was also stupid. He hasn't learned enough yet and it's gonna cost him in the end.
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Jan 28, 2008 6:44 AM
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This was a very good episode. Im going to miss Prop Joe. This might sound stupid.... I never knew that Cheese was Prop Joe's nephew. For the longest I have been trying to figure who he was. He kept saying his sister's boy this, his nephew this, his nephew that, Im glad I finally figured out who he was at the end.
I have a feeling that this is going to be the end of Omar. But I could be wrong.
I wish they tell us what happened to Randy. At the end of the last season's finale Randy was in a group home and he was getting beat up cause he was a snitch. I hope he is ok, back with his foster mom. And the samme goes for Namond. By the way that one cop Tony is an idiot. He even looks like an idiot with that weird looking hair cut that he has. Who told him that looked good?
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Jan 28, 2008 6:46 AM
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lizzybelle, I think Randy's foster mom died when they firebombed his house. That's why he's in a group home now.
I'm loving every episode of this final season. Marlo is making some major moves, and he's going to need his crew intact. But he brought Omar back to town, and Omar is going to start taking his crew out one by one. I can't wait to see a showdown between those two.
Now that Prop Joe is dead, I wonder what is going to happen to Slim Charles. Is Cheese going to take over Joe's operation? Or is Marlo going to take over and take Cheese out now? It's all getting interesting.
What made McNulty go back to drinking and carousing. He and Beadie had a good thing last season. He was acting like a mature adult for once in his life. Now he's back to being "McNutty".
I love seeing Clay Davis squirming. He was always so confident. I haven't heard him say his famous "sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeit" line so far this season, LOL.
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Jan 28, 2008 10:15 AM
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No twblues I remember she was in critical care after the firebombed, but they never really told us what happened to her.
And I loved it when Clay Davis said "sheeeeeeeeeeeeit". I bet he will say a shorter version of it when he is found guilty.
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Jan 28, 2008 12:58 PM
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I almost cried when Prop Joe was killed. I know he was a drug dealer and was responsible for destroying so many lives (as a result of the drug trade) but it felt like a concrete reminder that there are only a few more episodes left. I didn't feel this sad about the sopranos or sex and the city....don't know what I'll do once the wire goes off. Great episode. I also hope McNulty will wake up and smell the coffee before he ends up alone....also hope the he and freamon don't get caught. Love this show.
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Jan 28, 2008 2:59 PM
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Clay Davis fans, I think I can mention without spoiling too much, will not be disappointed in his pronouncement (and pronunciation) of a certain epithet in the next episode, which became available at midnight this morning.
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Jan 28, 2008 3:25 PM
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Thanks Todd I am definitely going to watch that during State of the Union address.
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Jan 28, 2008 4:43 PM
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This is a very good episode. I'll miss Prop Joe also.
FYI. That boy that Kima went to visit, in season 1-3, Kima was dating the mom and her/Kima was suppose to parent the boy together. But Kima backed out, and in season four, she sends money to help support him.
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Jan 29, 2008 11:27 AM
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Interesting & enjoyable episode. Elimation of old school PJ & elder, sends a clear message to all that Marlo is as vicious and unpredictable as ever. That's what I thought the Greeks meant by, he's no Joe.
Marlo is alive and well, for now. However, somebody will deal w/him eventually, too. That's part of the game. Omar will predictably, retaliate, also. Hopefully, for his sake, Omar and his people can surprise and subdue, if not eliminate, the wickedly evil Marlo.
The Greeks know that Marlo's strategy/imagination & overconfidence are his strengths, as well as his weaknesses. And the Greeks have been in the game much longer than the current crops of drug thugs have existed. The Greeks longevity comes from their abilities to wait, strategize, and act without conscience. Watch for it.
I suppose I missed an episode somewhere this season. I can see McNulty doing the serial killer routine, but how did Freamon willingly get himself involved in McNulty's madness?
And the newspaper in the series is just an example of the current market trends in most US newspapers; loss of their presence and power in the communities they serve and report on. Love this show!
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Jan 31, 2008 2:38 PM
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The Greeks aren't playing Marlo. They're businessmen. WHy tick off a ruthless gangster like Marlo when there is money to be made?
He's just not like Prop Joe because Joe was in it to make money. Not drop bodies. He kept things quiet. Was dependable. A new man could be problems especially for people like the Greeks who live in the shadows.
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Feb 4, 2008 9:47 AM
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