Notes From All Over

I. Greil Marcus returns Real Life Top Ten to The Believer, where it originated in its imaginary early issues. (Trail of broken dreams: Village Voice, artforum, Salon, City Pages.) Snake in the grass.
B. notes on The Shield finale: Chiklis as skilled actor who takes on a magnificent character and doesn’t let Vic dwarf him, while dwarfing everybody else on screen. That bullet baldie look is so symbolic you forget about it while constantly questioning you own sympathies for this monster. (Two autistic kids, that’s as rich as one of Woody Allen’s blind priests.) But even beyond Mackey, Whitey Bulger with a badge, comes the plot, a mass of blind alleys and twisted allegiances where few respect the law less than the cops, thugs, politicians and ordinary civvies. You wanted more of Dutch’s serial killer fleshed out, at least a BODY for chrissakes, but that transaction with Steve’s lawyer made for heady contrast to his makeout session with Danni last season. CCH Pounder is the new Yaphet Kotto, somebody put her on the big screen next to Helen Mirren. And when Mackey reaches for his gun in the final sequence, you realize what he does: that he can simply go on as before, one deal gone south is nothing to his experience and appetite for narcissistic self-destruction. Where is the major essay on this material?