Or, knowing the shifty writers, they may show them interacting in a more familial setting. After all, Valchek is his father-in-law. I can see Valchek trying to shove a turkey leg down Prez’s throat over Thanksgiving dinner.

Man, remember Daniels’ face when Prez slugged Valchek? Wow.

And, unfortunately, sometimes when I see Idris Elba, I get a flashback to his appearance as a male prostitute on AbFab. I picture him poking his tongue after thinking that the penis-numbing spray was breath spray.

Go figure, two of the guys with the best Bawlmer accents happen to be English: Elba and West. I remember in an interview Simon saying that none of the actors on Homicide tried to effect a Bawlmer accent since they were all from NYC.

In Valchek’s office, Daniels explains that the night before, Sobotka had agreed to spill the beans on the Greeks. “So he lays down with gangsters, gets up with his throat cut. I almost feel sorry for the sonofabitch,” Valchek says in a rare moment of sympthy. When the conversation turns to the contretemps with Prez, Valchek says he intends to bring charges against his son-in-law. Daniels, at his cunning best, explains all the witnesses to the incident � FBI agents and his own detail � wrote up reports on what they saw, and included the fact that Valchek incited Prez, a subordinate officer. Valchek backs down and demands a slap-on-the-wrist punishment for Prez. Daniels smiles secretly, having saved his man.

I think that wrapped up Prez vs. his father-in-law as best as it’s going to be.

That being said, it does bother me that a few strings are left totally untied. Whatever happened to Prez clocking Valchek, ferinstance.

Series 3 is tied to series 1, but it seems that series 2 is lost in the sauce. You’d think we’d see at least one white drug dealer from series 2 just for the sake of continuity. Or maybe the Greek showing up for a new connection?

Do you find yourself rooting for Omar? Does it make you feel bad about yourself?

Can you just wait until Avon gets released? What kind of wrath will come down on Stringer? Biblical proportions is my guess.

BTW, the test of any entertainment is how it plays with your emotions. Well, The Wire was the only show that has ever made me physically ill. When Wallace got capped, I had to run to the bathroom and puke. This shit is powerful, yo.

Best Tribute: Robert Colesberry is still listed as an Executive Producer.

Best inside joke: Jay Landsman, played by Delaney Williams. Dennis Mello, played by Jay Landsman.

Finally, a walk down nn.com memory lane

June 3, 2002. All over the place.

The diversity of NN.C’s fabulous readership is reflected in the day’s mail. From Ashley:

“The Wire” kicks ass. Imagine “Homicide”, but they don’t have censors. Hell, they even use some of the same passages direct from the original Homicide book by David Simon. Good stuff…real stuff. As opposed to “Six Feet Under,” which got so excruciating for me to watch that I quit. Basically, I hated all of the characters, and thought they all deserved whatever they got. No redeeming qualities whatsoever. Stalin had more redeeming qualities. No empathy, keep it. Ok, maybe for the Latino doing the makeup, but he’s a minor character, so who cares.

From Michael: I wanted to post a piece about the new HBO show (“The Wire”) last night which I thought sucked beyond belief. Piss-poor writing, amateurish and stereotyped blacks with great teeth (no gold)! What a contrast with the last episode of “Six Feet Under” which was incredibly well done.