Margin of Error

“It could be a great city again.” - Carcetti

In the opening scene of “Margin of Error” – which seems more like the beginning to a film than a television episode – we witness one of the only functioning and uncorrupt communities in Baltimore: the church. It’s so virtuous that all three mayoral candidates go there to wrap themselves in it. It's the last vestige of order from the old days, and it looks glorious and healthy as we see it here.... And then there’s Carcetti dancing and clapping, looking like a goof. But he looks just like Edwards, Kerry or Gore when they visited black churches on the campaign trail.

The first time I watched this episode I thought it was amazing. The second time, I thought it was just OK. Strange huh? There aren’t too many transcendent moments in “Margin of Error.” Not too many nuggets of great, ambiguous dialogue that have defined this show and made it what it is. Is this the first episode penned by Eric Overmeyer? I Googled him, the man’s a playwright, not a crime-oriented writer like the rest of “The Wire” writing staff.

My favorite moment was of Namond sitting there on his bed staring at the package he got from Bodie. He wears a burdened, horrified look on his face - the face of lost youth. With choices like the ones he has, it’s no wonder he likes video games so much. Video games are the comic books of our day – a primary vehicle of adolescent escapism. But he’s been living in hypocrisy for so long – dressing like a tough young dealer and enjoying the splendor of the drug trade while avoiding its brutal realties – that it’s hard to feel entirely sorry for him. He had to know at some point that this was going to happen. “I’m counting on you Nay,” his Mom says. Sure. To keep her supplied with Jack Daniels and fish food.

One of the pretexts of “The Wire” is who understands that the systems everyone operates in is a game and who doesn’t. You can’t just wear your intentions on your sleeve and get ahead. You’ve got to be wily and crafty and endlessly resourceful. “Better to be clever than to be good,” Bunk bemoans at one point.

The most successful players, Rawls, Marlo, Carcetti, Prez even, understand this. They make compromises with the system and make deals with unsavory players and elements in favor of the greater good. They're skeptical, they're not idealists but they know how to work it. They know how to hold their nose and act nice with people like Clay Davis and Burrell. And they not only survive, they get ahead and thrive. It’s not a purely Machiavellian world, but it’s close.

And then there are those who don’t get it. Cutty never understands why kids don’t show up to his gym or why people may resent him for his womanizing ways. Randy gets played by his friends. He lets his buddies get in on all the walkaround money and then has to do all the work. Is he clever enough to survive? I don’t like his chances in a Darwinian world like West Baltimore. But I like how he asked for Lake Trout when Dookie was buying for him. A good echo to Bunk and McNulty’s dialogue from a few episodes back. He is real. His foster Mom is a chip of the old block, very unlike any of the other characters so far.

I liked the last scene. You can see how Carcetti is waging an open war against his own lust. He likes the ladies, and now that he’ll soon be mayor, they’ll certainly like him and he’ll have to be even stronger. But it’s refreshing to see how his character has changed even over this season as he rejects his sexually insatiable campaign manager. Her last line, which closes the episode, was very on-point for her: "Just write me a check."

And it isn’t that much a surprise that Carcetti won. The actual mayor of Baltimore, Martin J. O’Malley, is white and originally from the Third District on the Northeastern side of the city.