“This ain’t Aruba, bitch.” – Bunk
So if you haven’t already heard, HBO OnDemand subscribers don’t have to wait til Sundays to catch the newest episode of “The Wire.” Each episode of Season Five will be OnDemand a week early which rules (so basically they air early each Monday after the normal Sunday airing of the previous ep).
Last night we watched Episode 52, “Unconfirmed Reports,” and man that shit was amazing. Without spoiling too much, the stage has been set for the Omar/Marlo showdown, McNulty crosses a line he may never recover from and one of the shows all-time favorite characters returns briefly.
Then there’s that deleted scene that was never shot and turned out to be a sly, thank you note from series creator David Simon to the cast and crew. It was a last-minute 4-page insert scene that apparently pissed off the crew when they heard they’d have to tack it on to a very long day. “According to Simon, rumors of the additional pages started seeping from the production office to the set, instigating some minor grumbling about cramming yet more scenes into a final episode that Simon suggests is already about 50 percent longer than ordinary.”
That is, until they read it, laughed and got its meta-appreciation.
The Music on “The Wire,” isn’t the easiest thing to hear usually, but Episode 51 featured songs by Eric B & Rakim, Chammillionaire, Blondie and Ne-Yo among others. There’s a reason why it’s not easy to make out the music: One rule is strictly observed: All of the music has to be ambient, meaning it has to be justified by a source within the scene, either a boom box or a stereo or a car radio or a band belting it out in a bar that doesn’t even have a stage…
“If the lyrics are dead-on with what [the story] is trying to say, it’s redundant,” said Simon. “Instead, we try to speak to mood and tonality, but obliquely, particularly in regard to lyrics.”
