Here it is, your inside line on the Andre Awards...
Biggest Asshole: The Sun plot has furnished us with no shortage of possibilities. Whiting, Klebanow, and Templeton are all symptomatic of what's killing newspaper journalism, and their air of entitlement (patrician in Whiting, childlike in Templeton) gives them an added edge in this category. But while the problems they symptomize have dire consequences nationally and globally, these characters just aren't as destructive on the human, interpersonal level of the show's dramatic action. The show rightly castigates the media for promoting the fabricated cause for war in Iraq, but it does so mostly through analogy and metaphor; Whiting, Klebanow, and Templeton don't have anything to do with that on-screen. Their chances also suffer from a weakness that, as you'll see, plagues all the Sun nominees: their plot is too isolated from the main action of the series.
Marlo has shown himself to be a sociopath with absolutely no honor or loyalty, but we knew that already. Still, even by the standards of the drug trade, he's poisonous. Even if you chalk up the attempted hit on Michael as part of his survival strategy, killing Butchie, Joe, Junebug, and Junebug's family places him high in the running. The fact that he never dirties his own hands makes him all the more contemptible, for some reason.
Reader Daniel made a pretty good case in the early comment threads for Michael Steintorf, the Chief of Staff who pushes Carcetti to gut the police department and turn down federal help for political advantage. The "Be creative" line certainly helps his chances. Carcetti's been no prize this season either, but Steintorf's whispering in his ear has pushed him the wrong way every time. (As an aside, I wish we'd seen more of Norman whispering in the other ear. How does he feel about Carcetti's decisions?)
Is that everybody? I could have sworn there was somebody else...
Oh, yes. A former police popping up in a couple of episodes working for a criminal lawyer may seem like a little enough transgression. But if the lawyer works for the same drug organizations you spent four seasons trying to bust--and he defended the soldiers who shot your mentor, getting one of them off with baking soda--and you are now spying on your best friend, funneling information from him right back to the lawyer so he can defend the sociopath who cost you your last job--then you, my friend, have just negotiated the leap from Dumbest to Biggest Asshole.
Unless the final episode has Marlo ordering Kenard to strangle Kima's kid, this one's a lock.
Dumbest Asshole: This is all but guaranteed to be one of our serial killer fabulists. McNulty starts the ball rolling and Freamon escalates it when he really should have known better. (That said, I find their decisions, appalling and unrealistic as they are, to be perfectly in character for both of them--the writers have done a great job resting this absurd storyline on well-established traits like McNulty's self-destructiveness and their shared intellectual vanity.) They could easily destroy the MCU over this, maybe even the careers of Sydnor, Carver, Carver's people, Landsman, and Daniels.
Other nominees would have to include Joe Stewart for getting caught in a trap he really should have seen coming, considering he helped set it, and Rupert Bond for letting Clay Davis control his trial (with a little help from the writers). But neither of them have jeopardized as much hard work or derailed the city as much as Freamon and McNulty.
Craftiest Bastard: Stan Valchek commits a beautiful and masterfully-executed act of bastardy when he sinks Burrell (still, to this point, my favorite scene of the season) and true to form, the consequences are good for the city even if his goals are thoroughly venal. But it's hard to see him taking the prize on a single appearance. Will somebody else beat the master at his game?
Marlo's been pretty slick in setting himself up as the kingpin of the city. On the other hand, his takeover was built largely on writer fiat (Joe's idiocy), his authority was seriously destabilized by a one-legged stick-up artist (who he himself brought back into the game), and you can't say that Lester Freamon didn't outwit him. Lester's been pretty damned crafty this season but, like Joe Stewart, he might have dug his own grave with the fake serial killer. Many of the show's craftiest bastards have been too crafty for their own good this season, taking themselves out of contention.
Right now, I have to like Nerese Campbell for this one. She convinced Burrell and Davis to go quietly, she got Carcetti to give away the farm in exchange for the firing, she's dealt herself into a prime position to become the next mayor, and she still has that file on Daniels. For a woman who was dealt a huge blow in the first episode, she's come out looking pretty good.
Heart of Gold: This one seems like it should be a Daniel Day-Lewis/Javier Bardem-style lock--Gus Haynes is all too clearly cut from the Bunny Colvin cloth. But while he's the moral and professional center of the newspaper, he's stayed too isolated there. Can he be the conscience of the season when he almost never leaves the newsroom and has no idea what's really happening in the main storylines?
With Omar breaking his code and Colvin relegated to a cameo, this category could be wide open for the first time in three seasons. Bunk Moreland and Kima Greggs have both acted on conscience when it's been hard to act on conscience; they don't just throw a fit, storm away, and let Klebanow overrule them. I have to like one of these two as the inside favorite, depending on what happens in the final episode. Assuming nothing else changes, give the edge to Kima for doing the truly hard thing and doing it the right way.
Most Improved: A hard category to handicap without knowing where everybody ends up. Michael Lee shows he hasn't completely lost his conscience, and his tactical savvy grows by leaps and bounds in the penultimate episode--but whether he ends up as the new Marlo or, I grudgingly concede, the new Omar, it's hard to call that an improvement either way. If through some miracle he finds a way off the corners he might be in the mix.
Mike Fletcher is developing into a good reporter, but the change is too minor and the consequences are too small. There's also something off-putting about a David Simon-written character earning David Simon's praise for developing into a reporter who works like David Simon--not that I don't expect Simon to promote his view of journalism, but this award shouldn't go to the teacher's pet.
Leander Sydnor has become that most exalted of figures on this show--the effective middle manager. (Compare to Bodie, Colvin, Haynes, or Daniels.) He can break codes like Prez, work a paper trail like Freamon, even coordinate a large team of officers like Daniels. If the MCU survives at all, he will be the only guy who can rebuild it. But he may be fatally compromised by his own complicity in the scam.
Bubbles has come far, hasn't he? The hardest work was done between seasons, but he's still come a long way this year--getting tested for HIV, volunteering in the soup kitchen, becoming Fletcher's guide, making his anniversary, and almost, almost unburdening himself about Sherrod. (Also, it would be nice if Andre Royo won an Andre.) If he can take this all the way I think he becomes Most Improved for the entire series, no question.
But this show feeds on false hope.
So what do you think? Did the academy overlook anybody? Who should win the first and final Andre Awards?
Biggest Asshole: Steinhorff or Herc. I'd add Chesse to the nominees the guy sold out his own uncle that he knew saved his life a year ago that should be worth of a nomination.
Dumbest Asshole: Lester with McNulty a close second. Lester only won it because he is supposed to be smarter. I'd add Scott here too, he is too dumb to qualify only in the biggest category. I'm not quite sure Joe should be here, in narrative terms he certainly look dumb, but I do think there's an argument that from his POV there were nothing dangerous about any of Marlo's moves outside of his attempts to undermine him in co-op meetings which Joe probably saw as Marlo being Marlo.
Carftiest Bastard: Now, it gets harder for me because I've seen the finale already. I might go with Valchek even with the no screen time, then the man owns this category every season. My other candidate is a non-nomine but it's a spoiler. [DELETED--ms].
Heart of Gold: My winner here is again a non nominee thanks to the finale. [DELETED--ms].
Most improved: [DELETED--ms]
Posted by: Filipe | March 07, 2008 at 12:22 AM
Filipe, I took a very free hand in deleting anything that looked like a spoiler in your comments, and I cut out some good material--but I have to insist that NOBODY POST ANY SPOILERS until after the finale has aired. I reserve the right to delete comments or, if need be, to ban comments entirely. I've asked you this once before and I won't do so again.
We're all very impressed that you've seen the finale. You can hold your thoughts on it until Monday.
Posted by: Marc | March 07, 2008 at 09:03 AM
Which isn't to say that I don't agree with you about Cheese and some of the things I had to cut--but please, hold back on anything that even hints of a spoiler.
Posted by: Marc | March 07, 2008 at 09:50 AM
This is all for this season, right? Cause a big part of me wants to give Carver some more props for developing into a real officer in the last two seasons, even as Herc's lazy and mercenary nature gets the best of him.
Biggest Asshole:
I think Marlo's a creature of his environment, just as Whiting is, and even Steintorf (whose name I never remember when watching, so I've actually called him Mr. Asshole when trying to come up with it) to some degree, not though that excuses them. Still, Templeton and Herc are worse, and Herc's the worst. He's seen the consequences first hand of what his actions can/will do, up to and including the fact that he puts his friends on the line this way. I also think there's a case for the federal prosecutor who decided to not prosecute Clay with the headshot. That said, I reserve this slot to whoever the courthouse leak is--I think Phelan, all that drinking must be a sign of something. Though Rhonda would cut much closer.
Dumbest Asshole:
I think you're being hard on Prop Joe and easy on Cheese. I think Cheese could be straight up Mr. Asshole nominee, if not for the fact that he's so dumb he doesn't realize that Prop Joe probably built him and saved him dozens of times. Bond should've known better--he might not have beaten Clay, but he should've seen it all coming, and so should've Freamon, but McNulty wins for me. Freamon is in because the serial killer case is a tool, but McNulty's the one with the original idea and the lack of follow-through, telling anyone who asks about it, being too free with resources. Dumb dumb dumb.
Craftiest Bastard:
Marlo's crafty, but Freamon and Chris Partlow got him, the latter by insulating him too much. Valchek's better than Rawls since he made a play for Commissioner knowing it'd only be for the pension bump, but Freamon and Neerese seem to have played their hands the best, and with nary a second thought. I'd need to see who falls after the finale to pick a winner, and then I think it might be Levy. When everyone else is down, you figure the lawyer's still going to be there.
Heart of Gold:
RIght on about the way Daniel feels, too much of the home team feel there. And I think Bunk should get more cred for guiding Beadie away from McNulty. But Kima's cleaning up her personal life and the force, and to borrow a phrase from a current leading presidential candidate that the show's writer's mispredicted would be a joke, Kima's shown good judgment from the outset.
Most Improved:
Fletch, not Alma? Same difference probably. I think Michael and Sydnor are growing into the potential they've had since being introduced, as opposed to improving themselves per se. I'm splitting hairs, I suppose, and it's the emotional call, but Bubbles is gonna make. I hope.
Posted by: hcduvall | March 07, 2008 at 01:23 PM
Marc, pretty okay. I tried very harder to avoid any spoiler, but I can see how my thoughts on the couple of characters that you cut might qualify, the irony is that I only wrote about them, because it's all stuff that I could have said without the finale, But I understand how one can read that and make some right guesses about those characters in the finale.
Posted by: Filipe | March 07, 2008 at 02:18 PM
Yeah, I hated to cut such good comments, but I wanted to play it safe. No hard feelings.
hcduvall--Carver would be a dark horse for Most Improved this season, since most of his growth happens between seasons. I think I'm going to have to hand out some lifetime achievement awards for all the Peter O'Tooles. I also expect to change some of the past awards based on the discussion here, so maybe Carver will get some love.
I think you're right about Marlo and Steintorf, but even if Whiting truly has no choice about the buyouts he's still been spiking stories about his friends, encouraging the kind of trivial sentimentalism that Templeton cranks out, generally creating an environment in which Templetons can flourish. He stays in the running.
I honestly never thought the leak would be a "name" character. Am I imagining things, or did we actually see this leak in action a couple of seasons ago--some secretary feeding information to the drug gangs? (No, I'm not thinking of Agent Koutris.)
Cheese definitely deserves one of the Asshole nominations. His general stupidity suggests Dumbest, but we'd have to see some blowback for his choices in the finale.
Good point on Michael and Sydnor. As for Alma--what happened to her? She just disappeared in the second half of the season when Templeton stole the serial killer story out from under her. I wish we'd seen a lot more of her, especially since she's implicated, however innocently (or naively?) in the propagation of the lie. But it's hard to play to that when she's been pushed offscreen.
I've gotta go with you on Bubs, for the same reasons. Fingers crossed.
Posted by: Marc | March 07, 2008 at 04:12 PM
Marc, you may be right about the leak not being a "name" character. I thought I was reaching a bit with Phelan, but think David Simon has pretty consistently populated the show with at least a glimpse of every player, though now that you've mentioned it, the Greek's connection wasn't seen for much. I suppose a cop could do it...
I like Klebanow more than Whiting then for bureaucratic asshole. Whiting's arrogant sense of self-worth may keep him there the way Templeton's does (Filipe is right, he's not exactly bright, but smarm does help you in this race)--I don't know, I figure Whiting has been insulated from everyday reporting for a while now, the way all higher ups tend to be, and middle managers just get to me.
Posted by: hcduvall | March 07, 2008 at 05:23 PM
What do you think about Carver for Heart of Gold this season? I think he's the one member of the unit that hasn't been morally compromised in any way, but he's still made the right choices with Colicchio.
Then again, maybe letting McNulty use his men the way he did was enough? I dunno. If not him, it's gotta be the Bunk.
Posted by: Sean Witzke | March 07, 2008 at 10:57 PM
Bunk stood by and let the whole thing start with that first dead homeless guy. He's conducted himself honorably since then, although his silence has abetted Jimmy and Lester's scam. And Carver not only gets in on the "fucked-up McNulty shit," he doesn't seem to have any clue he's put his people in danger until Kima straightens him out. She's the only one whose hands aren't dirty.
Posted by: Marc | March 08, 2008 at 09:33 AM