TVSquad

(S04E11) "You play in dirt, you get dirty." -- McNulty

Herc's neglect of Bubbles caused Bubbles to take revenge last week. He called in a phony drug tip against a reverend. Now that back-flushes all the way up to the mayor. Carcetti has to eat his first "bowl of shit." It's all connected indeed.

Herc's been off his leash so long this season, it's a relief to finally see some of the information he has been holding finally makes it into the hands of someone with the analytical skills to use it. Freamon might be able to turn the investigative mess around, though it may be too late to help Randy.

It took most of the season, but the Major Crimes Unit is back up and running, for the moment anyhow. Rawls might still decide to do some damage now the he's finally realized he has no chance of becoming commissioner.

Omar's still tracking Marlo's operation. Even though he observes "the more we learn the less we know," he's making much more progress than any police yet have. The taxicab that he's using as his base, though, seems really out of place. How often do you see a taxi, with one person in the front and one in the back, just parked at a corner for hours at a time?

Daniels speech as newly-appointed commander to homicide goes over well. Kima says that, with the new administration it looks like the "new day" of the episode title is dawning, but from Sergeant Landsman's wan smile, I think he's seen a lot of administrations come and go without anything changing.

McNulty's thinking the same thing when he calls the mayor out on his promise of doing away with the numbers game of racking up meaningless stats. McNulty may have cleaned up his personal life, but fortunately he's still the same contrarian guy, unconcerned about politics or making nice to the bosses.

So many things have the potential to be changed for the better in the Baltimore of the show, but will they be? Are we and the characters allowing our hopes to build up too high, not anticipating an inevitable fall?

I also enjoyed Carcetti's version of a rip and run, charging from city agency to agency lighting fires under everyone's ass.

The boys give some payback to Officer Walker, and the ring that started on Old Face Andre's finger, and then went to Marlo, and then Omar, now passes to Michael. Even more satisfying than Walker's humiliation with the yellow paint, is the way McNulty calls him on his claim that the paint is "a declaration of war."

The words getting around, as Marlo decreed, that Randy gave information to the police, but fortunately last week's previews were deceptive and Michael does not turn on Randy. However, this fight, as well as the scene where Michael takes the ring off Walker at gunpoint, show that Michael is growing even more fearless, and is actually embracing it. Certainly not a good sign for him, though we've yet to see what Marlo and Chris will want of him.

Prez, for his part, now feels guilty that he didn't do enough to protect Randy, though he attempted to when he went to Daniels originally. Now even this former cop has to tell Randy not to say anything more to the police, even though it is probably too late.

Turns for the good, don't always stay good for long. Dukie has really thived under Prez's attention, but now is promoted to high school, and away from that sphere of protection. And just when Carcetti's riding his highest on getting his policing or other public services initiatives going he gets hit in his blind spot. He was advised during the campaign to stay away from anything involving the school system, and now finds out just how bad off it is: $54 million in debt.

It was really a pleasure to see Freamon at work again. He strikes the right tone with Herc, and later with a rightfully embittered Prezbo to piece together the puzzle. When Freamon puts his fingers on the nail-gun studs on the boarded-up row house, that just about as good as it gets.