The Wire (The Wire episode)
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| The Wire episode | |
|---|---|
| “The Wire” | |
 |
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| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 6 |
| Guest star(s) | see below |
| Writer(s) | David Simon |
| Director | Ed Bianchi |
| Production no. | 106 |
| Original airdate | July 7, 2002 (HBO) |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| "The Pager" | "One Arrest" |
"The Wire" is the sixth episode of the first season of the HBO original series, The Wire. The episode was written by David Simon from a story by David Simon & Ed Burns and was directed by Ed Bianchi. It originally aired on July 7, 2002.
Contents |
[edit] Guest Starring roles
- Seth Gilliam as Detective Ellis Carver
- Domenick Lombardozzi as Detective Thomas "Herc" Hauk
- Clarke Peters as Detective Lester Freamon
- Jim True-Frost as Detective Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski
- Leo Fitzpatrick as Johnny
- J.D. Williams as Bodie
- Michael B. Jordan as Wallace
- Corey Parker-Robinson as Detective Leander Sydnor
- Michael K. Williams as Omar
- Nat Benchley as Detective Patrick Mahone
- Richard DeAngelis as Major Raymond Foerster
- Michael Salconi as Detective Michael Santangelo
- Delaney Williams as Sergeant Jay Landsman
- Michael Kevin Darnall as Brandon
- Wendy Grantham as Shardene Innes
- Michael Kostroff as Maurice Levy
- Caroline G Pleasant as Unknown
- Antonio Cordova as Michael McNulty
- Ed Norris as Detective Ed Norris
- Eric G. Ryan as Sean McNulty
- Brian Anthony Wilson as Detective Vernon Holley
- Tracy Chaney as Malik "Poot" Carr
- Erik Todd Dellums as Dr. Randall Frazier
- Brandon Price as Anton "Stinkum" Artis
- Robert F. Colesberry as Detective Ray Cole
- Sheena Barksdale as Cass (uncredited)
[edit] Episode recap
The episode opens on the bloody corpse of Brandon (Omar's partner) atop a car. Wallace wakes up nearby and goes through his routine of readying his siblings for school. The police arrive in the neighborhood and as Poot and Wallace leave the house they recognize Brandon's body.
Detective Jimmy McNulty meets with Major Rawls and Sergeant Landsman. Landsman is sycophantic while Rawls explains the rotation system to McNulty and explains that his reassignment to the Barksdale detail is interfering with the system. Rawls tells McNulty he expects him to be back in the homicide division in a week's time. Back at the detail, Lester Freamon notes the high level of pager activity the previous night.
D'Angelo Barksdale dresses at home while Shardene Innes makes him breakfast. They discuss their relationship and D'Angelo reveals that he believes that all women come with a cost, particularly his other girl Donette.
Back at the detail, the detectives discuss how to operate the wire taps and Thomas "Herc" Hauk is dismayed that they will mean more surveillance work. Freamon is angry at his co-workers laziness and asks what they expected when they joined the detail. Meanwhile McNulty discusses Rawls's ultimatum with his partner Bunk Moreland. He has no intention of finishing his work on the Barksdale investigation in a week. Detective Holley is working the Brandon murder - McNulty discusses the potential link to the Barksdale organization as Omar's crew recently stole their stash. The detectives complain about waiting for the crime lab because all the available units are working the scene of a patio furniture theft from the home of a city council president. Later, McNulty contacts Kima Greggs and they agree they need to reach Omar, as the murder is likely to endear him to their investigation.
Wallace expresses his anguish at seeing Brandon's corpse to D'Angelo, who encourages him to put it behind him. D'Angelo unsympathetically reminds Wallace that he knew what would happen to Brandon after pointing him out the previous night. He also says tells him that killing is part of "the game" of drug dealing in Baltimore. D'Angelo uses the newly wiretapped payphone to send a page. Detective Carver is on surveillance duty and Freamon and Prez record the subsequent call at the detail. Stringer Bell asks about Bodie and D'Angelo is noncomittal about his potential. Stringer tells D'Angelo they are bringing Bodie home. At a court hearing, Maurice Levy defends Bodie's actions and falsely characterises his assault on a police officer as self-defence. The judge allows Bodie to go free with the condition of twice-weekly phone calls to a parole officer. His return to the pit is noted by Herc (now on surveillance) who relays his sighting to Carver. The two now have a vendetta against Bodie. Bodie calls "Stink" and asks where the pit crew is. Stink chastises Bodie for using his name on the phone. Prez marks the call non-pertinent, but Freamon reminds him that they are building a case from scratch and that "all the pieces matter." The call is evidence of conspiracy because it shows that the Barksdale organization avoids using names over the telephone. Herc and Carver later pick up Bodie, believing him to have absconded from custody a second time and are surprised that he managed to get released with a home supervision order.
D'Angelo has finally identified a leak amongst his pit hoppers: a young girl named Cass, who buys groceries long after he withheld pay from all of them, showing that she has an alternative source of income. He later tells Poot, Wallace, and Bodie that he is reorganizing, but refuses to tell them why.
Rawls goes through the ballistics link to the old cases McNulty and Bunk had been investigating. Landsman later orders Bunk to charge the cases. Bunk argues that they are weak for prosecution and need further development, but Landsman insists that he go ahead. At the detail, McNulty returns a page from Bunk while Daniels berates Detective Polk for his poor performance and orders him to either get to work or check into medical for alcohol abuse. Daniels is pleased to note that Prez has engaged with the wiretap work, but is disappointed when Polk decides to go to medical. McNulty, Greggs and Freamon meet with Bunk to discuss the impact that Rawls's charging their murder cases will have on the Barksdale investigation. They expect it will prompt Avon Barksdale to change his operations structure and negate all their work. Greggs insists they should go to Daniels, but McNulty is skeptical about his motivation to fight for the case. When they meet with Daniels, he tells them it will be hard for him to argue with Rawls because Rawls outranks him. His prediction proves correct; Rawls refuses to shift his position even when Daniels asks him to do it as a favour.
Avon, Stringer, and Stinkum visit the low rises and deliver reward money to D'Angelo and Wallace for their part in finding Brandon. Stringer checks up on D'Angelo's task of identifying the leak, but D'Angelo again avoids revealing Cass and assures him that there are no leaks in his crew. Avon tells him that if he keeps working well he will receive "points on the package" soon. Later, D'Angelo reveals to Wallace that Cass was demoted because she was stealing along with another hopper named Sterling.
With Johnny released from medical care, Bubbles returns to the streets. The pair runs a short con to steal copper piping, which they sell to make their next drug purchase. When Johnny goes out to buy more, he is arrested and Bubbles marvels at his bad luck.
McNulty gets a call from Omar and brings his sons to the police station. Omar identifies Brandon's body. He later relays his last contact with Brandon and the word on the street about his death to Greggs and McNulty at the detail. Freamon fits the pattern of pager activity to Omar's description of Brandons movements. McNulty is angry that they are a step behind. Freamon and McNulty interview the arcade owner and Freamon matches the nearby pay phone to the one used the night before. Daniels takes his problem with Rawls to his superior officer, Major Foerster, who also refuses to help. Daniels puts his case in front of Deputy Ops Burrell and makes a strong argment against Rawls prosecuting now. Rawls responds by asking Detective Santangelo to keep him informed of any misdeeds amongst Daniels's detail, particularly from McNulty. Greggs continues to interview Omar and he offers to act as a witness in the Gant murder case. Daniels relays both these pieces of good news to McNulty, who finally thanks him for his efforts. The episode ends with the police photographs of Brandon's mutilated corpse - the same image that it opened with.[1][2][3]
[edit] Deceased
[edit] First appearances
- Detectives Ed Norris and Vernon Holley: Homicide detectives who are sometimes partnered, seen investigating the death of Brandon.
- Sean McNulty: Oldest son of Jimmy and Elena McNulty.
[edit] Title reference
The title repeats the shows own title and refers to the wiretap devices used to monitor phone calls made by the Barksdale organization.
[edit] Epigraph
| ...and all the pieces matter. - Freamon |
Freamon uses this phrase to describe the importance of the individual calls recorded by their wiretap device to Prez. Simon has also described it as referring to the need for the viewer to concentrate on all aspects of the show to follow the plot.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ Episode guide - episode 06 The Wire. HBO (2004). Retrieved on 2006-07-26.
- ^ "The Wire." David Simon, Ed Burns. The Wire. HBO. 2002-07-07. No. 6, season 1.
- ^ Alvarez, Rafael (2004). The Wire: Truth Be Told. New York: Pocket Books.
- ^ David Simon. (2005). 'The Wire "The Target" commentary track [DVD]. HBO.
