Old Cases
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| “Old Cases” | |
|---|---|
| The Wire episode | |
 |
|
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 4 |
| Guest stars | see below |
| Written by | David Simon |
| Directed by | Clement Virgo |
| Production no. | 104 |
| Original airdate | June 23, 2002 (HBO) |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| "The Buys" | "The Pager" |
| Episode chronology | |
"Old Cases" is the fourth 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 Clement Virgo. It originally aired on June 23, 2002.
Contents |
[edit] Guest Starring roles
- Peter Gerety as Judge Daniel Phelan
- Callie Thorne as Elena McNulty
- Michael K. Williams as Omar
- J. D. Williams as Bodie
- 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
- Hassan Johnson as Wee-Bey
- Michael B. Jordan as Wallace
- Corey Parker-Robinson as Detective Leander Sydnor
- Delaney Williams as Sergeant Jay Landsman
- Melanie Nicholls-King as Cheryl
- Michael Salconi as Detective Michael Santangelo
- Tracy Chaney as Poot Carr
- Brandon Price as Anton "Stinkum" Artis
- Nat Benchley as Detective Patrick Mahone
- Tom Quinn as Detective Augustus Polk
- Michael Kevin Darnall as Brandon
- Caroline G. Pleasant as Unknown
- Antonio Cordova as Michael McNulty
- Lance Williams as Bailey
- Unknown as Marvin Browning (uncredited)
- Unknown as ASA Dawkins (uncredited)
[edit] Episode recap
Lester Freamon looks on as Thomas "Herc" Hauk tries to move a desk into Lieutenant Cedric Daniels's office. Ellis Carver arrives and moves onto the other side to help. Slowly Leander Sydnor, Jimmy McNulty, and even Daniels join in, but only Herc is trying to move the desk in; everyone else is pushing in the opposite direction.
Kima Greggs and McNulty attend a court hearing for Marvin Browning – a Barksdale dealer they pulled in on a hand to hand. Greggs discusses the case with ASA Dawkins. Browning faces a five year sentence because of his priors. McNulty discusses their lack of success with the younger dealers in juvenile court. Greggs tells him there is nothing like being sworn at by a 14-year-old. Browning questions why they are seeking the maximum for such a minor offense. They claim it's his turn and can be avoided only through cooperation. He then refuses their offer of a deal to hand them someone higher up from the Barksdale Organization claiming he'll do the years before being labeled a snitch.
Augustus Polk visits Patrick Mahone in the hospital. Mahone is headed for early retirement because of his previous injury. Daniels drops in and urges Mahone to reconsider. Mahone refuses to though as he wants to be out of the department helping his brother at a video store where he can make a fair profit on top of his pension. When Daniels leaves, Mahone tells Polk that he could follow him by deliberately injuring himself, reasoning that they both deserve it and are not doing anything in the department.
Bodie Broadus wakes up in a juvenile detention centre. He learns that the facility is largely full of juveniles from Washington DC. Looking around and seeing no familiar faces, he grabs a mop and bucket and easily absconds from the low-security facility. As Bodie is leaving, Herc and Carver drive out to the facility, which is in Prince George's County, Maryland. Herc bemoans the assignment of interrogating Bodie. Carver is more positive, spinning a fantasy of breaking Bodie and getting information on all of his superiors.
Bunk Moreland and McNulty review old homicide cases and try to match them to the Barksdale organization. Their sergeant, Jay Landsman, insists they review the case of Deirdre Kresson, a college girl murdered far from the west side, with a "D" listed as a possible suspect. The original investigator was a Detective Keely and the case file is almost completely devoid of useful information. Landsman insists McNulty take the case to make up for the casework McNulty has dumped on his squad by being detailed away. Bunk suggests they dump the case on Santangelo but McNulty says he has not seen him.
Greggs drives her confidential informant Bubbles and they discuss the recent hit on the Barksdale stash. Bubbles tells her it was Omar Little, but she does not know the name. Bubbles quizzes her on other Baltimore legends and is disappointed in her when she does not know any of them either. She realises she is late for a class and calls in for a replacement. McNulty takes over and Kima quizzes him on the name "Anthony Little". He reels Little's address and rap sheet from memory. Bubbles is impressed with McNulty's street smarts. McNulty realizes he is late for his sons' soccer game and takes Bubbles with him. McNulty discusses sharing custody of his sons with his estranged wife Elena, but the conversation devolves into profanity.
Omar, Brandon, and Bailey enjoy the proceeds from the Barksdale stash rip. Bailey apologises for using Omar's name and Omar reassures Bailey that he is more worried that Brandon will face repercussions, as Omar is well known in Baltimore anyway. An addict approaches Omar with her son and respectfully asks for a free fix, which he grants.
Avon Barksdale discuss the loss of the stash with his enforcers Anton "Stinkum" Artis and Wee-Bey Brice and he puts a contract out on Omar's crew. Stinkum tells Avon that Omar did time with another enforcer named Bird who saw that Omar is homosexual. Stringer Bell tells Avon he is worried about the pit operation with the stash rip coinciding with the police raid. He reassures Avon that his nephew D'Angelo is doing well, but he is worried there may be a leak from someone else in D'Angelo's crew.
Bodie arrives back in the low rises and Poot Carr and Wallace are astounded that Bodie got home so quickly after his actions. D'Angelo feels his alpha male status being usurped and responds by asking Bodie if he has ever seen a real prison. He tells them a story of murdering a girlfriend of Avon's whose jealous streak led her to threaten testifying against him. He describes tapping on the window of her apartment and shooting her once she approached. Later, the dealers destroy some new security cameras around the towers. Lester Freamon checks the pager number he got from the stash wall and links it to D'Angelo when he responds to the page.
Deputy Commissioner Ervin Burrell meets with Judge Phelan and moans about his departments funding problems. Phelan offers to help him seek funding from non-profit organizations. Phelan asks about their progress and Burrell shows him their arrests so far. Phelan is disappointed that they have nothing on the organizations leaders.
Herc and Carver burst into Bodie's home, but find only his grandmother. Embarrassed by his strongarm tactics, Herc speaks respectfully to Bodie's grandmother, who tells him that she has raised Bodie since the age of four, when his mother was killed in "the game". Herc says that he can help Bodie and leaves his card. Outside, Carver is quizzed about the debacle of the tower raid by a uniformed officer.
At the detail office, Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski does wordsearch puzzles and mans the phones. Phelan calls McNulty. McNulty insists on calling him back from an outside phone and Phelan tells McNulty of his meeting with Burrell.
Landsman visits Major William Rawls and makes a case for McNulty being forgiven for going to Judge Phelan with police business. He tells Rawls that McNulty is addicted to himself and his ego leads him to believe that he is the smartest person in the room. He describes McNulty’s early homicide career in Lemanski’s squad partnered with Tony Martino. He reminds Rawls of McNulty’s good clearance record. Rawls offers a deal: if McNulty wraps up the detail in two weeks, he can come back with a clean slate.
At home Kima studies and Cheryl chastises her for getting marker on the sofa. The two play around and Cheryl insists that Kima work at the table. Kima notices Cheryl's cell phone bill.
Daniels meets with Burrell and tells him that he can take the case wherever Burrell wants. Daniels suggests that he could be relieved if Burrell would prefer. Finally he raises the possibility of a wire to make the case, as suggested by McNulty.
McNulty and Kima discuss the direction of the case and McNulty raises the possibility of pager cloning. He has a title three affidavit from Rhonda Pearlman. Greggs remembers the cell phone bill and thinks it could be useful. She suggests Omar may know more about the Barksdales.
McNulty and Greggs raise the possibility in the detail meeting with Daniels. They discuss the requirements for their surveillance affidavit. The only remaining task to prove exhaustion is to follow someone to prove they cannot get inside the tower. Kima organizes Sydnor, Herc, and Carver for the tail. Herc complains about having to be on the roofs for surveillance and questions the need to perform the tail if they want to lose their target.
Surprised with Freamon for finding the pager number, McNulty asks Bunk about his history and learns that Freamon is ex-homicide and "natural police". McNulty and Bunk visit the Kresson crime scene. Communicating solely in variations of the word "fuck", they determine that Kresson was shot from outside and find the shell casings and bullet that previous detectives missed. Bunk also notices some white powder on the floor in the crime scene photos.
Back at the office, McNulty quizzes Freamon about his work in the pawn shop unit. He asks why Freamon was moved and Freamon tells him he was moved for "doing police work". McNulty offers to buy Freamon a drink. Freamon discusses a case with McNulty where there were two suspects. Mueller, the Deputy before Burrell, insisted that Freamon make his case without evidence that would draw in the son of a newspaper editor so he would be owed a favour by the newspaper. Freamon used the evidence anyway and was moved out of homicide. His major asked where he wanted to go and where he did not want to go and he told them he would be happy with a beat and did not want a desk job – hence they placed him in the pawn shop unit with nothing but paperwork.
Later, McNulty visists Kima's apartment drunk. He is shocked when Cheryl answers the door and has little to say once Kima comes to the door. He tells her he was there to thank her for her help with Daniels. Cheryl nags Kima about missing her class, as she promised she would work on finding a better job for their relationship.[1][2][3]
[edit] First appearances
- Elena McNulty: Jimmy's estranged wife and the mother of his two sons.
- Michael McNulty: Jimmy's soccer playing younger son.
[edit] Title Reference
The title refers to the old homicide cases being investigated by Bunk and McNulty.
[edit] Epigraph
| “ | It's a thin line 'tween heaven and here. - Bubbles | ” |
Spoken by Bubbles to McNulty after McNulty returns Bubbles to the ghetto low-rises of Baltimore after being with McNulty in Baltimore's suburbia which Bubbles refers to as "Leave It to Beaver land." Bubbles is describing the physical short distance between the slums and suburbia as well as the philosophical distance in that the two are still connected as parts of the same city and that it doesn't take much for an area of a city to degrade. Bubbles may also be describing how it is more dangerous in the slums and that death, and possibly heaven, could be just around the corner.
