The original post: /r/television by /u/Eli_Freeman_Author on 2025-12-10 14:15:43+00:00.
Season 5 of The Wire was better for me on rewatch. I admit, in the first watchthrough I was a bit put off by it, though after watching the first four seasons of David Simon’s masterpiece I was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt, and was not disappointed.
But the first time that I saw the Ribbons Plot introduced I was thrown off by the twist, and I did think that the side plot with the reporters was a bit boring in places, though I could see how it fit into the overall narrative and it did make sense as far as how it unfolded.
But I gained a new appreciation for it on rewatch, which I understand is fairly typical, or at least I hope it is. Seeing it again and seeing how all the details connect, as well as getting a better grasp of the overall message made me not only appreciate but also enjoy Season 5 that much more, and I hope to pass some of this onto other fans. The following therefore is an attempt at this endeavor, with this part focusing on the Ribbons Plot and Part II, focusing on Gus and the reporters’ plot to be uploaded next week. I hope to find some success with it.
The Ribbons Plot I believe is the easier part to explain. If you don’t notice the build up to it it can throw you off, like I said, and some might believe it to be “unrealistic”. But there was a build up if you pay attention, it didn’t just come up out of the blue. The motivation for it is the easiest part to spot, as we can clearly see how frustrated McNulty is with BPD’s inaction in going after Marlo, and he’s blatantly violated all kinds of rules from the very beginning.
How the idea actually came to McNulty is a bit harder to discern, and in my case I only noticed it on rewatch (and after seeing it discussed on r/TheWire). The episode unfolds a bit like an episode of the Simpsons, which might make it sound unrealistic but hear me out. Partly what made the Simpsons so relatable to so many people was that the story would often come together from seemingly unrelated plot threads, just as our lives often come together from what may appear to be coincidences, but for many of us might be obvious in hindsight. In other words, we might have a plan of how we want to do things on a given day, or even with our life overall, but things may unfold completely differently, and yet might still make more sense than the plans we had in mind. Often times we’re left wondering how we got to where we are, and only by carefully looking back we might realize the series of decisions that were made by us or for us that got us into our current situation. For this reason, the appearance of the Ribbons Plot coming up randomly actually contributes to its realism, even though it didn’t come up randomly.
Essentially what happened is that McNulty went out on a pretty routine case wherein an elderly lady died of natural causes. Taking the body to the morgue, he ran into an old friend and witnessed a situation wherein the coroner was arguing with the police about whether someone else had died of an overdose or whether there was foul play because there was a good deal of bruising on the victim, especially around the neck. The police and EMT’s tried to explain that the bruising occurred after the victim had died because he had to be extracted from an awkward position, and thus handled in an awkward manner, but the coroner was not easily convinced.
It was here likely that the idea of faking a murder first appeared in McNulty’s mind, and when you realize that you realize that the buildup was quite extensive and well laid out, so I believe that answers that charge.
The other complaint I’ve seen is that even if it wasn’t unrealistic it changed the tone of the show. One commenter lamented that the show went from being a serious drama to a “dark comedy”, but even this I believe makes sense. Consider just how often we have weird and bizarre things take place in our society that we have no idea how to respond to, other than with a kind of awkward, and uncomfortable, mirth.
The best example of this that I can think of is the Lewinsky Scandal of the 1990’s. Even though there were all kinds of other serious, many would say much more serious, issues taking place, this one story dominated the headlines for years after it broke out. Many would argue that it defined a presidency, as to this day it is perhaps the thing that Bill Clinton is best remembered for, though his previous indiscretions were fairly well known. The worst part of it wasn’t that the President had an affair but all the lurid details that the public was subjected to, and in a sense, at least for a time, it defined our nation. Some would argue it defines our nation to this day, we just don’t notice it because we’ve become more comfortable with such things.
Essentially the human experience can be uplifting, tragic, and all sorts of things in between, but at times it can defy explanation, and can only be simply described with one word: absurd. This happens constantly in our daily lives, and while we might expect a certain level of professionalism, even decorum, in the halls of power and from our civil servants, especially police, whose task it is to protect our lives, in many cases they are no better than we are, and in some cases they may be even worse. I believe that the Lewinsky Scandal wasn’t actually unique as far as what happened, what made it unique was that the details actually came out to the public. The kinds of things that are never revealed might well be even wilder than anything Bill Clinton could dream up with his lover(s). (Keep in mind that the Ribbons Plot was never actually revealed to the public within The Wire.)
Therefore, as much as we might want things to make sense, at times life itself can turn into a kind of “dark comedy”, and we can respond either by laughing, rolling our eyes, or going through all the stages of anger, denial, and gradually acceptance. The show I believe demonstrated this fairly well and while Season 5 isn’t my favorite season (that honor would belong to Season 2, with Season 4 being a very close second), aside from wrapping up the show quite well I believe that that most controversial part of it does have a decent explanation, and I hope that I was able to provide it.
If you liked this I hope to see you for Part II, until next time.