–30– (The Wire)
| "–30–" | |
|---|---|
| The Wire episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 5 Episode 10 |
| Directed by | Clark Johnson |
| Story by | David Simon Ed Burns |
| Teleplay by | David Simon |
| Featured music | "Way Down in the Hole" by The Blind Boys of Alabama |
| Original air date | March 9, 2008 |
| Running time | 93 minutes |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
"–30–" is the series finale of the HBO original series The Wire. It is the tenth and final episode of the fifth season. With a running time of 93 minutes, it is also the longest episode of the series. The episode was written by series creator/executive producer David Simon (teleplay/story) and co-executive producer Ed Burns (story). It was directed by Clark Johnson, who also directed the pilot episode and stars on the show. It aired on March 9, 2008. The episode's writers were nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series.
–30– is a journalistic term that has been used to signify the end of a story.
This is seen in the lobby of the Baltimore Sun, as an excerpt from a longer Mencken quote displayed on the wall when Alma talks with Gus after she has been demoted to the Carroll County bureau. The full quote reads "...as I look back over a misspent life, I find myself more and more convinced that I had more fun doing news reporting than in any other enterprise. It is really the life of kings."
Steintorf mentions "U.C.R.s" (Uniform Crime Reports) statistics to Daniels and Rawls when worrying about a 10% decline over the quarter.
A "one-party consent call" is a call where only one party gave agreement for recording (as opposed to two-party consent call). In Maryland, it is illegal to record such a call, and may explain why Pearlman could not better leverage her tape with Levy.
Joe Mitchell, to whose style Gus likens the piece written for Bubbles, was an American writer known for his portraits of outcasts.
Gus alludes somewhat sarcastically to Tom Wolfe, a writer who is associated with New Journalism, when copyediting a story. Gus has been seen throughout the series as a proponent of a "dry" form of journalism.
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