(2008; 10 episodes from the 5th and final season of the HBO-TV series) "Woe to them that call evil good and good evil," Joseph "Proposition Joe" Stewart (Robert F. Chew) quotes Isaiah 5:20 at Butchie's funeral.

Having turned down an offer (with political strings) from the state government in Annapolis to cover the shortfall in Baltimore's school budget, Thomas Carcetti ("Just a weak-assed mayor of a broken-assed city," quips his chief aide Norman Wilson), who has designs on the governorship (requiring that he get his name on a building, reduce crime, stay away from school issues, and keep boyish good looks), is forced by fiscal constraints to postpone promises of pay raises to the police department.

Having forgone overtime and court pay, new equipment, maintenance in the motorpool - money diverted to the schools - cops are suffering low morale. After being back on the major-crimes unit, Jimmy McNulty has resumed his booze swilling and whoring, but the tight budget forces disbandment of the detail, except for detectives Lester Freamon (looking for "who gets paid behind the tragedy and fraud") and Leander Sydnor, whom CID commander Cedric Daniels manages to salvage, to pursue "corrupt extortion artist" State Senator Clay Davis ("One thieving politician trumps 22 dead bodies").

Freamon gets a "head shot" (federal charge) on Davis, but Rhonda Pearlman goes to the city grand jury with local charges of financial irregularities (theft and fraud), forcing the senator into taking the Fifth. Following an indictment, the case gives prominence to Rhonda's boss, Rupert Bond.

Aware of being under constant surveillance, Marlo Stanfield (Jamie Hector), who "doesn't slip," and his pair of ruthless enforcers, Chris Partlow and Snoop Pearson, kept a low profile - no arrests a year after corpses ("misdemeanor homicides") had been pulled from vacant buildings - begin to make their move to expand territory and authority when the police investigation gets suspended. When McNulty and Freamon attempt to get the FBI involved in the case, Fitzhugh tells them that the US attorney (a Republican whom State's Attorney Bond had denied a deal to provide a dozen agents in exchange for Clay Davis) has shut out any cooperation.

McNulty (having to respond to a call by city bus because no operational vehicles are available in the motorpool) then tries to create a serial killer of vagrants to attract attention; William "Bunk" Moreland finds the ruse shameful, but Freamon ("who cares if we fake a couple of murders?") approvingly says it needs a kinkier angle.

In a hilarious interlude, homicide cops pretend that a copy machine is a polygraph (Bunk says: "machine never lies"), duping a mope into making a confession, after which one officer says: "Americans are stupid people by and large."

At The Baltimore Sun the news hole is shrinking, advertising and circulation are down, while the Internet is stealing eyes and dollars, executive editor James C. Whiting III informs his newspaper staff, meaning there will be buyouts and "doing more with less." In an article on the front page below the fold, reporters Alma Gutierrez (Michelle Paress) and Jeff Price implicate city-council president Nerese Campbell in a real-estate flip that put a million-dollar profit into a drug dealer's pocket, who made a $60,000 campaign contribution.

Former journalist Norman Wilson feeds city editor Augustus "Gus" Haynes (Clark Johnson, who also directed four episodes, including the finale) a tip on who's likely to become the next police commissioner; Ervin Burrell is eased out into a cushy, six-figure job in Washington, DC. Meanwhile, Scott Templeton (Thomas McCarthy), disgruntled at not getting better assignments and angling for a job with The Washington Post (but needing "a few more clips, a little more seasoning"), invents sensational stories and clever react quotes to make an impression on Whiting (looking for a Dickensian aspect toward a Pulitzer Prize).

Clean of drugs for 15 months, Reginald "Bubbles" Cousins resides in his sister's basement, sells newspapers, and attends Narcotics Anonymous meetings.

As a reward for being a good soldier, Marlo has given Michael Lee (Tristan Wilds) Bodie's corner; Duquan "Duke" Weems, who resides with Michael and his kid brother Bug, goes to Dennis Wise's gym for self-defense skills, but receiving advice instead to get away from the city, asks: "How do you get from here to the rest of the world?"

In an attempt to get around Proposition Joe ("Ain't easy civilizing this motherfucker") and his co-op, Marlo tries to make a connection with Vondas and the Greeks for his heroin trafficking; he also sends Chris and Snoop on an assignment that he expects will draw Omar back to B'more, since he wants retribution after Omar's putting his hand in the wrong pocket. Having great respect for Omar's skill set and worried that Omar might mistake him for Marlo's nasty business, Prop Joe prepares to take a vacation; but Marlo has other plans for Joe.

Fired from the police force, Thomas "Herc" Hauk goes to work for attorney Maurice "Maury" Levy as a defense investigator. He presents a gift ("Don't ask, don't tell") to his former partner Sgt Ellis Carver, who passes it along to Freamon who shares it with McNulty who figures out a way to "squeeze a wiretap out of a serial killer." But Herc also provides Levy with critical intelligence.

A parallel universe of make-believe ("Trapped in the same lie") comes into existence when Templeton ("not exactly Bob Woodward") claims to have received a phone contact from McNulty's serial killer; Scott and newly appointed senior cop reporter Alma meet with McNulty for "juice" on the homeless murders. When the newspaper generates public interest in the killings ("If it bleeds, it leads," says Gus), following Scott's receipt of a cell-phone call from the serial killer along with a digital image of the next intended victim, the crimes become a redball for McNulty with unlimited overtime (with which he doles out favors to other officers, not unlike Clay Davis's defense during his grand-jury testimony), DOAs suddenly have the appeal of donuts to other cops, and the mayor discovers political punch in homelessness to throw at the governor.

Believing that sometimes you have to do wrong to do right, Lester warns Leander that he's operating "without regard to the usual rules" with an illegal wiretap; Rhonda presents evidence to Bond that there's a serious leak in the state's attorney's office.

Meanwhile, returning from his retirement, Omar (a "patient man") on the hunt carefully watches and waits for an optimum opportunity to strike Marlo - dropping the drug dealer's muscle while leaving messages that Marlo's "not a man for this town" - at which time he executes an incredible ("some Spiderman") escape, though in the end he's not Houdini.

In a serendipitous moment, Sydnor connects clocks with maps. What happens with Senator Davis "they don't teach in law school," Pearlman incredulously admits to Bond. "A lie ain't a side of a story," a homeless vet of the Iraq war complains to Editor Haynes: "It's just a lie."

It's all rigged. Freamon tricks Clay Davis into revealing dirt on lawyers, which leads to the identity of the mole in the court house, which gives Pearlman leverage over Levy when she needs it most. Everyone (with the exception of Kima Greggs) and much of the evidence are tainted. Caught "coloring outside the lines," Freamon says to McNulty: "we've got almost as much on them as they've got on us."

Everyone's pretending with exposure all the way up the chain of command to the mayor. "It does have a certain charm to it," admits Norman to Carcetti: "They manufactured an issue to get paid; we manufactured an issue to get you elected governor. Everybody's getting what they need behind some make-believe."

Rhonda pleads with Cedric not to clean house since both their careers are on the line. The powerful put out the spin, leaving others to slowly twist in the wind. "It's a sad business," Lester says to Rhonda, "but at least we know the truth now."

And so ends the funniest but most shocking season of the finest TV series I've ever seen. This remarkable, compelling, critically acclaimed series took hold of my fascination and never let go. More than just a portrait of a corrupt, decaying major-league city, this program depicts what the American idea has become in the flesh.

With the start of a new season, lead characters shifted around, some moving from front to middle or back, while others stepped forward. For example, Jimmy McNulty took a backseat in season 4 while Howard "Bunny" Colvin came to the fore. Occasionally they went out the exits, as happened to Russell "Stringer" Bell and D'Angelo Barksdale. Briefly Richard Belzer (John Munch in Homicide: Life on the Street, set in Baltimore, and Law and Order: Special Victims Unit TV series) appears in the background at a bar during the 5th season.

For a theme song, each season employs a different version of Tom Waits's "Way Down in the Hole." In the first season the Blind Boys of Alabama do a bluesy interpretation (my favorite of the five renditions), which gets reprised at the end of the final episode; in the second Waits growls out the tune; in the third the Neville Brothers perform the number; in the fourth DoMaJe (five Baltimore teenagers) gives it an impressive R&B treatment; and finally Steve Earle - the singer/song writer, himself a recovering drug addict, who appears in eight episodes as Walon, a recovering drug addict who offers advice to Bubbles - provides the finish.

Perhaps as an inside joke, names of actors are given to characters (e.g., Jay Landsman) or characters keep the actor's actual name (e.g., William Zorzi, who wrote two episodes, plays Bill Zorzi, veteran reporter for The Baltimore Sun, in nine episodes; detective Edward Norris is played by Edward T. Norris; Bill Murphy as top-drawer defense lawyer Bill Murphy who defends Clay Davis).

While foul language comes out of nearly everyone's mouth, including children's, I noticed one propriety in the parlance of the white characters in that they never say "nigger," as do the African Americans without impunity.

As I was watching the final episodes, deep cuts took place in the actual Baltimore Sun. A total of 61 of the 205 newsroom staffers were cut recently, according to a recent Sun story. Since 1999, 60 percent of the newsroom staff has been cut, according to a Newspaper Guild spokseman. The Tribune Company, which owns the Sun, along with the L.A. Times, Chicago Tribune and other newspapers, the nation's third largest chain, declared bankruptcy last December.

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Copyright © 2009 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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