"The Wire": Episode 7, "Took"

Overall, this episode has some serious tension because we can feel that the net is about to come down on our heroes and anti-heroes.

Templeton gets a taste of his own medicine with Dominic West's Det. McNulty decides to have his serial killer call the crafty reporter (just noticed that the rat in E.B. White's "Charlotte's Web" is also named Templeton, though of course he turns out to be a decent sort, and that ain't happening with this Templeton) and even email him a photograph to help the spigots of funding for the homeless serial killer investigation open wide.

McNulty's nefarious plot is working perfectly, except that's the problem. Who knows better than a bunch of homicide detectives that there is no perfect crime. McNulty is caught between loving his new god-like powers to bestow resources and favors on his colleagues (at one point he even crosses himself and tells another cop to "go with God" with his offer of help for surveillance) and knowing that the word of his largess has spread too far and wide. His bosses aren't stupid. They're gonna figure it out one of these days and he's hip-deep in falsified records, reports, wiretaps, etc.

At the same time, Det. Lester Freamon (Clarke Peters) is making just enough progress, once he has the tools to intercept the cellphone photos dope kingpin Marlo Stanfield's men have been sending around, that McNulty can justify his actions in the name of doing justice on real cases.

Best McNulty line of the seg is when he's interrogating Templeton about the call and the photo in the Sun newsroom. The insufferable Templeton tries to convince his bosses that he "resents" being used by the killer for publicity.

"I don't know, it's kind of working out well for both of you, isn't it?" McNulty fires back.

Haynes is also important to watch in that scene. He doesn't say anything but you can read the doubts growing in his mind as he listens to Templeton answer McNulty's questions. Templeton, in a fab and understated perf from Tom McCarthy, is genuinely freaked out and as such, lets his guard down. And McNulty's total absence of anything like compassion for Templeton's situation seems to register with Haynes.

This seg also features a splash of "Perry Mason" in the courtroom scenes with the light-fingered, amateur money-launderer state Sen. Clay Davis. What should be a cakewalk for the prosecutors turns into a sad commentary on racial politics, or as Haynes calls it after reading the paper's story on Davis' acquittal: "playing not just the race card but the whole deck." Yep, all of those $11,000 checks deposited to Davis' non-profit orgs and then withdrawn the next day, or funneled through his former driver, went to pay the electric bills and bail tickets of constituents, and for warm coats for needy kids, etc., etc., cue the blues harp. The jury buys it, especially after Davis throws in a reference to life in his end of Baltimore being a ripe breeding ground for contestants on CBS' "Survivor."

Another highlight of this seg is the appearance of Bill Murphy as Davis' savvy defense attorney. He's a natural in front of the camera, probably because Bill Murphy is actually a Baltimore defense attorney, with one of his claims to fame being a successful defense of Don King in 1998, according to this post from a blog covering Maryland's legal scene.

"Why don't you save that silver-tongued bullshit for the jury," Murphy tells Davis when the latter has the gall to try to convince Murphy that he should make a donation to his campaign fund for the privilege of representing him.

There's much more that goes on in the seg with Det. Bunk Moreland, Bubbles, Michael and Omar still running riot in the streets in his effort to bait Stanfield into a confrontation (How does he manage to outfox all those younger guys, even with a gimpy leg and his makeshift crutch?!).

Suffice it to say, we know things are heating up, with three segs to go in this incredible tableau of characters and stories, drama and deviant behavior. As usual, Bunk has a way of summing things up:

"I don't believe in much of anything at this point," he sez as the faux homeless serial killer investigation is kicked into overdrive. Bunk's dejection/repulsion regarding McNulty's big case is going to be one of those tell-tale signs that the Baltimore P.D. brass finally realize is a huge red flag waving in their face. And Greggs is no fool, she's going to realize that something weird is up. I'm sure of it.