...The original title of this episode, a quote from H. L. Mencken. It refers to the occupation of news reporting, Mencken found such a life rich with color and meaningful experiences. No doubt, over the course of 60+ hours David Simon a former reporter himself, took us on a colorful journey with tons of meaningful experiences.
Now that we've come full circle, we've seen a lot of characters do that too. Sydnor is the new McNulty whispering in Phelan's ear, Michael is the new Omar, Dukie is the new Bubbles, Fletcher is the new Haynes, Marlo is the new Stringer, Chris is the new Wee-Bey and Carcetti is the new Royce, having forgotten his original purpose and promises from when he was still on the public safety committee and running for mayor. McNulty? Well he put it perfectly in Mission Accomplished (2004), "The things that make me right for this job, maybe they're the same things that make me wrong for everything else."
Simon and his team wrote all these characters in this way to remind of us the show's central theme: we are bound to certain institutions and in order to break away, we'd need to walk away from everything we know. Take Cutty for example, he was one of the few characters on the show whose resolve changed but only because he walked away from everything he knew, same with Namond and now with Daniels.
However the majority of our beloved characters never break free from their institutions, and that is what I love most about the show.
Now that we've come full circle, we've seen a lot of characters do that too. Sydnor is the new McNulty whispering in Phelan's ear, Michael is the new Omar, Dukie is the new Bubbles, Fletcher is the new Haynes, Marlo is the new Stringer, Chris is the new Wee-Bey and Carcetti is the new Royce, having forgotten his original purpose and promises from when he was still on the public safety committee and running for mayor. McNulty? Well he put it perfectly in Mission Accomplished (2004), "The things that make me right for this job, maybe they're the same things that make me wrong for everything else."
Simon and his team wrote all these characters in this way to remind of us the show's central theme: we are bound to certain institutions and in order to break away, we'd need to walk away from everything we know. Take Cutty for example, he was one of the few characters on the show whose resolve changed but only because he walked away from everything he knew, same with Namond and now with Daniels.
However the majority of our beloved characters never break free from their institutions, and that is what I love most about the show.