I was surprised to hear David, or was it Jeff, heap praise on the courtroom scene. While Davis's soliloquy was a brilliant piece of acting and writing, it belonged in a Law and Order scene - not The Wire. Normally I would allow more artistic license, but The Wire is usually all about getting the details right; are we supposed to believe that the prosecutor would not have objected to Davis's rant? Come on. Remember the courtroom scene in the very first episode of the very first season, when the D.A. gets stuck with a witness recanting her testimony? That felt so much more real and more Wire-ish to me.

And for what it's worth, I agree that Omar's snap decision to kill Savino was out of character and made him less lovable, if that's possible.

I agree about the courtroom scene. You don't need to be an attorney to know that witnesses can't just rant from the stand at will. Clay's rant was on a grand scale - something that a real judge would have stopped sua sponte.

The most pernicious thing about the courtroom scene, however, is that it raises other authenticity questions. If Simon sacrifices reality for drama in the court, does he do it also at the station house, at the corners, in city hall? In the newsroom? I think I know what Plotz and Goldberg might say about that...

As for Savino, I agree with the above statement only to an extent. Omar's murder of Savino was a desperate act - the act of a man who realizes his impotence in the face of Marlo who, while more nuanced than some here believe him to be, is nevertheless a machine - an embodiment of an inescapable system.

Why is Omar's killing of Savino under such viewer scrutiny? Had he been successful in his attack on Monk, would people be grousing about him breaking his own code? I just don't see it.

Savino, like Monk, was a Stanfield underling. Omar's intentions are clear -- go after Stanfield through his subordinates until the big man himself shows his face. His run-in with Savino was possibly meant to be another of his little "word in your ear" encounters in an effort to get the word to Marlo to bait him out into the open but in the midst of it all, Omar's frustration became apparent and got the better of him.

Right before Omar shoots Savino, he stops his "speechifying" and gives us a quickly mumbled "y'know what", or something to that effect, as if he's tired of listening to his own voice and squeezes the trigger. Message sent.

Could have been Monk, could have been Snoop, could have been Michael. The code does not apply here.

I have been wondering about the brouhaha surrounding the killing of Savino as well. It seemed perfectly in character. Omar had already killed several of Marlo's guys by this point. Besides, once Marlo killed Butchie for the sole purpose of drawing Omar out of hiding he changed the rules. Omar's code didn't apply here.

Savino wasn't an innocent. He just wasn't directly involved in the murder of Butchie. But when Omar asks the question "What would you have done?" he gets his answer from Savino's silence.