Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuckity fuck. The fuck? Fuck!
That one basically sums up my thoughts on OLD CASES. The major scene from season 1, episode 4 is really a cursing masterpiece. While watching it I was not only cracking up at simply the absurd amount of times McNulty and Bunk use the word (AND ONLY THAT WORD) to communicate with one another. But as the scene progressed, I realized that it was not only hilarious, but brilliant as well. The fact is, through all the swearing (I love the idea of this being a play on what you'd expect when you hear HBO cop drama) these two fuckers are actually figuring out this case, and quickly to boot.
I thought the way it was able to show just how smart the pair really are (I had an idea at this point, but we've not really been given a true glimpse into their detective abilities up to this point) and just how well they work together. The fact that they can figure out so much about Deidre Kresson's murder and communicate it with one another is absolutely amazing.
Of course, this scene was set up brilliantly earlier on in the episode, when D'Angelo explains that he was in fact the "D" that Deidre was reported to have spoken to/been seen with prior to her murder (a scene which continues to further the tension between the varying points of view of D'Angelo and Bodie). Not only did this prior scene supply us with a very visual (I'm thinking the VERTIGO shot) and intense stand alone scene, it also provided us with all the information we needed to stay right along with McNulty and Bunk's investigation without needing any verbal explanation, other than the cavalcade of fuck variations that was unleashed. It was a truly magnificent thing to behold and really had be encapsulated the whole time. Not only had I never seen an investigation play out that fully in a cop drama, before. I had never seen it done with such style, precision, wit and hilarity. But what I think the main point is, as I mentioned, is to show just how good of a cop McNulty really is.
This becomes important because throughout the rest of the episode, we are shown how even though McNulty is this very intelligent police officer, he is constantly letting his addictions, both to himself (as Sgt. Landsman puts it) and the drink, completely get in the way of people noticing just how remarkable he is at his job. He can spout off the address of No-Heart Anthony with no prior notice and he and Bunk have some magical detective powers when they work together, but his affair with Rhonda Pearlman has ended his marriage and prevented him from seeing his kids as much as he wants (smooth ass lie on his part about the beds and pillows and even smoother move on her part to ask what color to call out his lie). He has a constant desire to be the smartest man in the room, and although he isn't always, he is self-aware enough to notice it. it seems like he's really regretting his close ties to Judge Phelan as the good Judge continues to dig McNulty into a whole with Burrell and the whole Barksdale detail. Not only that, but he is also shown up in the detail itself by Lester Freamon.
I personally loved the whole story about how Lester ended up on the Pawn Unit (for 13 years AND four months) and it's really nice portrayal of Freamon as an older, maybe smarter McNulty and the former's warning to the latter about not letting the higher ups privy to where you don't want to be assigned is a fantastic call back to McNulty saying he'd never want to ride a boat in the Marine Unit in THE TARGET (something I almost completely forgot about).
On the subject of characters who continue to surprise, we again get maybe the most interesting quote (and the opening one, something I am beginning to really like a lot) from Bubbles who says to McNulty after being dropped back off at the projects after witnessing the clean, LEAVE IT TO BEAVER neighbor of Elena, "Fine line 'tween Heave and Here. I'm not exactly sure how to process this information yet. But from what I've seen so far, it seems like there are multiple levels on how it works.
The main way seems to be that Heaven refers to people and places that are outside of the central world of the cops and dealers. This is the clean and pristine world of Elena and even the world of Deidre Kresson (until her untimely capping). On top of this is the added layer of Heaven and Here in the police force and drug crew. With the police, the Heaven is the higher up units like Homicide while Here refers to places like the Pawn Unit. On this note, Lester shows just how hard it is to get to Heave once you end up in Here. It took Lester 13 years (AND four months) to get to a Heaven (in his eyes) of the detail and the only way he got there was to do his job and keep quiet until everyone forgot why he was moved to Here in the first place.
This brings up an interesting idea of a further Here vs. Heaven layer that occurs for each individual character. one particular instance happens with Bodie in this episode. We learn from his grandmother about just how hard a life he has had, being dragged around the projects by his mother for her fixes until her death when he was only four years old. It's an interesting scene and the parallel between the story and the baby that Omar plays with briefly before hooking it's mother up with (free) dope that stole from D'Angelo's crew and it leads me to believe just how little Carver and Herc really know about Avon's crew (Bodie in particular). Even if Bodie hadn't escaped for the boy's center (in a very convenient yet clever way), his own personal Here, he would have either remained completely silent or laughed in their faces until he made his way back to his own personal Heaven in the Pit.
This idea is also really just another example of how much the 5-0 are underestimating Avon's crew. Not only do they use pagers (complete with very intelligent and believable explanation as to why, answering any questions I and the cops had about their seeming obsolescence) with coded numbers, they have members that are willing to take the mandatory five years for fear of Avon's wrath. No one seems to know how to get to Avon or even how to make a real dent. Which leaves me wondering: If Rawls only gave McNulty two weeks to close the case, and it's going to take an act of God to even make headway... Where does that leave McNulty?
To quote Bunk, "Fuck me."
On a final note, I think the treatment of the two major gay characters in this episode is very interesting. Firstly, in the episode where it is revealed that Omar is an open and really defiantly gay man, we also see the first real major development in Kima's relationship. The contrast on how this is handled is what I find most intriguing. While most of the cops that work with Kima seem perfectly fine with her sexuality (opposed to the occasional joke), when Avon hears of Omar's homosexuality he is appalled, immediately offering double the bounty on Omar's head. Even Omar's own man makes an excuse to quickly get away when Omar and his young lover Brandon begin to get affectionate. The show's portrayal of these two multifaceted characters who are not defined by their sexuality is just another reason I really enjoy it and what sets it apart from countless other shows I've seen in the past.
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