There are lots of blog discussions about the final scene in HBO's The Wire season 5, episode 7 ("Took"), especially on the HBO message board for the series. Screenwriter Richard Price apparently lifted the passage from his novel Clockers at the request of producer David Simon. If you remember Goodnight Moon from your childhood or, more likely (and like me), you've read it to your own children, it is a beautiful intersection of your own life and the gritty realism of this great television show.
Detective Kima Greggs to her weekends-only adopted son Elijah, sitting at window past bedtime, looking out upon a restive, active Baltimore street:
Kima: Let's say goodnight to everybody. Goodnight moon...
Elijah: Goodnight moon...
Kima: Goodnight stars...
Elijah: Goodnight stars...
Kima: Goodnight po-pos...
Elijah: Goodnight po-pos...
Kima: Goodnight fiends...
Elijah: Goodnight fiends...
Kima:Goodnight hoppers...
Elijah: Goodnight hoppers...
Kima: Goodnight hustlers...
Elijah: Goodnight hustlers...
Kima: Goodnight scammers...
Elijah: Goodnight scammers...
Kima: Goodnight to everybody...
Elijah: Goodnight to everybody...
Kima: Goodnight to one and all...
Elijah: Goodnight to one and all.
Writes Alan Sepinwall (if you know the characters of the show):
"[I]t fits perfectly into this episode, as the show throws its support behind Gus' "This ain't Beirut" argument with Klebanow and Whiting. A carpet-bagging, myopic writer like Templeton looks at Baltimore as a blighted, war-torn city that's beyond salvation, where a Baltimore native like Gus or Kima looks on it as a messed-up place that's still, as Gus says, "Our f--kin' city."
If Templeton had a kid and tried to do "Goodnight Moon" for him in the middle of the night and then heard street activity outside his window, he'd likely slam the window shut and try to distract the kid from all that scary noise. What Kima does -- what "The Wire" consistently and brilliantly does -- is to incorporate the unfortunate sights and sounds outside the window into a larger view of the world, which is the world Elijah will grow up in. Yes, the drug culture is tragic and a blight on society, but it exists, and it affects Kima and will affect Elijah one day -- and, frankly, Kima has affection for certain elements of it. (Bubbles, for one.) You can be afraid of the world outside your window, you can demonize it and mythologize it and try to win awards from it, or you can confront it head on and maybe even find a way to make it seem less scary for the little boy in your arms."
I miss the show already.
UPDATE 2010
Finally found a low quality clip; let's see how long this stays up (fair use for purposes of criticism and evaluation):
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