S1:The Wire S01E01 - S01E02

godtabh

- WARNING: THIS THREAD WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT YET SEEN Season 1 -

Episode Title: S01E01 "The Target"

Episode Title: S01E01 "The Detail"

SPOILER WARNING:

From now on, this thread shall reveal details of the episode mentioned above. If you have not yet seen this episode, please do not move any further down the thread.

If you are sure you have seen the episode as mentioned above, you can move down further in order to discuss the episode.

Otherwise, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED - there shall be major plot details of the episode revealed and discussed below with no spoiler tags used!

Season 1 Recap

godtabh

S01E01

HBO wrote:

"When it's not your turn." - McNulty

Summary

Directed by: Clark Johnson
Story by: David Simon & Ed Burns
Teleplay by: David Simon

Baltimore Homicide Detective Jimmy McNulty drops in on the murder trial of a young drug dealer named D'Angelo Barksdale. From his vantage point in the back of the courtroom, McNulty observes who is there and is himself observed, by associates of Barksdale and by the presiding Judge Phelan.

A witness to the murder, William Gant, is called to testify and positively identifies Barksdale as the shooter at the crime scene. Next on the stand: a security guard who witnessed the killing and who, despite having previously identified the killer, is suddenly unable — or unwilling — to finger Barksdale. In short order, D'Angelo is acquitted of the murder.

Across town, Narcotics Detective Shakima "Kima" Greggs waits patiently in an unmarked car on a drug stakeout, accompanied by a woman who has set up her drug-dealing ex-boyfriend for a bust. After the deal goes down, Narcotics Detectives Thomas "Herc" Hauk and Ellis Carver order the driver of the car and his female passenger to lie on the pavement. When Greggs arrives on the scene, she shows her senior colleagues who is the smarter cop when she searches the car more thoroughly than Herc or Carver and finds two additional guns hidden in the back seat.

Back at the courthouse, McNulty is called into Judge Phelan's office, curious to know why he's attending a trial that does not involve him. McNulty explains that D'Angelo's uncle Avon Barksdale and his partner Stringer Bell, are reigning terror in the high-rises and are apparently behind as many as a dozen murders a year, raps they always manage to beat. "Who's working them?" Judge Phelan wants to know. "Nobody," McNulty answers. The reason, he explains: the force is too busy doing community policing.

When McNulty returns to his office, Sergeant Jay Landsman tells him that his boss, Major William Rawls, wants to speak with him immediately. The Major is furious that McNulty spoke with the Judge. He is also furious because he's been called on the carpet by the Deputy Commissioner about Avon Barksdale, a man Rawls knows nothing about. McNulty is ordered to have a full report on Barksdale by eight the next morning.

D'Angelo Barksdale, now off the hook, is driven back to Orlando's Gentlemen's Club by his uncle's business partner Stringer Bell. When D'Angelo expresses relief at the verdict and amazement over the way the security guard suddenly went dumb, Bell pulls the car over and reminds D'Angelo of the rule. "Don't talk in the car or on the phone or anyplace that ain't ours." When they arrive at the club, D'Angelo is greeted by his uncle Avon, who is unhappy over the murder D'Angelo committed and reminds him that turning the security guard required time and money. Chastened, D'Angelo prepares to leave when Avon hugs him and kisses his head. "You family," he says.

Nevertheless, when D'Angelo shows up to oversee the drug trade at the Towers the next morning, Stringer is there to tell D'Angelo he's being reassigned to the less prestigious low-rise projects. At the low rise, affectionately called the Pit, the junkie Bubbles and his friend Johnny buy heroin with crudely made counterfeit money. When they try the same trick the next day, Johnny is caught and beaten severely.

After McNulty files his report, he is warned by Sgt. Jay Landsman that another such stunt will likely leave him walking a beat in the Western District. When McNulty seems unconcerned, Landsman asks about his worst-case scenario. "The boat," McNulty says, laughing. The marine unit.

Narcotics Lieutenant Cedric Daniels is ordered to organize a detail to pursue Barksdale, but in a half-hearted manner. Daniels brings in the narcotics detectives under him, with McNulty sent by Rawls from homicide. When McNulty arrives at the detail, late, his new colleagues are already pissed-off at him for starting all this trouble.

When Daniels tells McNulty of the buy-and-bust scheme, McNulty rebels, saying the way to catch Barksdale is with surveillance and wiretaps. "He's been running the Towers for years and we don't even have a picture of him," McNulty says. Lt. Daniels disagrees: "No mikes. No wires. We do this fast and simple." In the meantime, Daniels says, we're going to go back through unsolved murders to see if we can't find one to hang on Barksdale.

McNulty visits his old pal FBI Special Agent Fitzhugh, who expresses gratitude to McNulty for the C.I. (confidential informant) he sent to the FBI. He astounds McNulty when he shows him a TV screen with a live shot of a major drug operation at work across town, the technology far superior to what the city detectives are given. When he tells McNulty that this is the last drug case the FBI has pending in Baltimore, since most agents have been reassigned to the war on terror, McNulty responds: "What? We don't have enough love in our hearts for two wars?"

McNulty goes drinking with his partner William "Bunk" Moreland and complains about his ex-wife, who prevents him from seeing his two kids enough. D'Angelo goes to Orlando's for a drink and passes on a pretty stripper who approaches him. And Greggs arrives home, where she is kissed by her girlfriend.

The next day, Greggs, at a hospital, runs into Bubbles, her sometimes informant, who is distraught over the badly injured Johnny. Bubbles asks if Greggs is still working drugs and tells her he has something for her. Greggs realizes that Bubbles information is tied to Barksdale, the target of her new detail.

In the projects meanwhile, another dead body turns up in the middle of the street with two gunshots in the head. The victim: William Gant, the man who identified D'Angelo Barksdale as the shooter in his murder trial. Passing by, D'Angelo sees the body, recognizes who it is. The younger Barksdale, realizing that Gant has paid with his life for having testified, wanders off into the streets with his conscience tearing at him.

godtabh

S01E02

HBO wrote:

"You cannot lose if you do not play." - Marla Daniels

Summary

Directed by: Clark Johnson
Story by: David Simon & Ed Burns
Teleplay by: David Simon

Detectives McNulty and Bunk visit the city morgue to view the body of William Gant, the state's witness in D'Angelo Barksdale's ill-fated murder trial. McNulty is convinced that Gant was murdered by the Barksdale organization, to send a message.

Lieutenant Daniels, who's been given a mixed bag of cops to create a case against Avon Barksdale, leads several members of his team to their new "office," a dungeon-like space in the basement of Mitchell Courthouse.

McNulty risks another visit to Judge Phelan to inform him that Gant — a witness in his courtroom — has been murdered. McNulty asks Phelan to pressure the police department's Deputy of Operations to open an investigation, but Phelan refuses, telling McNulty to go the press. McNulty says that will compromise the investigation, and asks Phelan this time to please keep his name out of any information he passes on.

Lt. Daniels tells Assistant State's Attorney Rhonda Pearlman that the powers-that-be are sending him a message by the police they chose for his detail. "I can't build anything with the garbage they sent me," Daniels says. "If they gave me good policemen, I might do good police work." Daniels conclusion: He's being told not to dig deep into this case; just slap an indictment on Barksdale and get out.

Greggs, Herc and Carver do surveillance from the Towers' roof with the help of Bubbles, the scruffy, heroin-addicted C.I. He has volunteered to inform on the Towers drug dealers to even the score after they beat up his friend Johnny. Bubbles shows up with a bag of hats to sell to the Towers drug dealers, and each time he puts a red hat on a man, Greggs shoots pictures from the roof. The red hat identifies the dealers in photos.

Meanwhile, McNulty and Bunk show up at the low rise projects to intimidate D'Angelo. They take him downtown to interview him but first Daniels insists that Greggs participate. McNulty resists, but slowly realizes she is a smart cop. They play to D'Angelo's vulnerabilities, convincing him that the dead witness Gant was a church-going family man whose wife is dead and whose three children — showings him a picture of Bunk's three kids to corroborate this — now have no parents. D'Angelo is clearly moved, and agrees to write a letter to the three kids, telling them he is sorry their father was murdered. As he finishes the letter, his uncle's attorney Maurice Levy shows up and berates him for writing or saying anything at all.

After Judge Phelan calls Deputy Commissioner Burrell's office about the murder of the witness, McNulty's boss, Major Rawls, is even more furious, and threatens to pull McNulty off the case. Burrell points out if they do that, the Judge will go make a stink in the press and the city will be up in arms. So, says Burrell, "We're going to sit tight and hope that McNulty comes up short."

His crew complete, Daniels calls them all together in the task force's basement Detail Room to make introductions and announce partners. Detectives Greggs and Sydnor, Herc and Carver, Mahon and Polk (two drunks waiting on retirement), McNulty and Santangelo, and the screw up Roland "Prez" Pryzbylweski (Prez is the son-in-law of Major Valchek, commanding officer of the Southeastern District with an ear in the Mayor's office) with Detective Lester Freamon (a quiet cop who spends his day building dollhouse furniture).

Later, McNulty and Greggs try to convince Daniels that the apology letter D'Angelo has written is a valuable document. "Why apologize if you have nothing to apologize for?" Greggs asks. But Daniels doesn't buy it. Meanwhile, at a church gathering, where Avon and Stringer Bell are helping serve food, D'Angelo arrives with his eleven month old son and the boy's mother, Donette. Stringer admires Donette while uncle and nephew talk. D'Angelo tells Avon what happened when he was taken downtown, and is chided when he reveals he wrote a letter to Gant's children. D'Angelo is clearly fearful of being chastised by Avon.

Greggs and Bubbles scrutinize the surveillance photos, putting names to each member of the Towers' drug team. Meanwhile, Herc, Carver and Prez, stoked on beer, put in a 2 a.m. appearance at the Towers and bust heads. Things go terribly wrong when Prez punches one of the kids in the eye, and as the situation escalates, bottles, air conditioners and other debris reign down on the trio. They claim the kids in the project jumped them. Daniels is angry, but protects his officers anyway.

"You should have hung them," Daniels' wife Marla says of Prez, Carver and Herc, whose victim has lost an eye. "The department put you on a case it doesn't want," she says. "If you push too hard and any **** hits the fan, you'll be blamed for it. If you don't push hard enough, and there are no arrests, you'll be paying for that, too. The game is rigged, but you cannot lose if you do not play," she tells him.

jayteecork

Don't mean to be rude, but I don't get this.
If you haven't seen those episodes, then of course you should watch them, if you have seen the episodes, watch them again!

Don't see the point of these recaps.

Jay Ru

I think this is a good idea, help to refresh ur brain workout going back to watch the episode. Dont get me wrong there's nothing better than watch the DVDs of the series but its also good to have this here as well. The show is going into its final series so there's a lot to discuss and here's a great place for it.

Now to kick off the discussion I thought it was well cool how bubbles Id'd the real players by placing the red hat on there head for Gregs on co. The 2 older cops Poke & Mahone are hilarious. Its scary to think that there could actually be cops like that protecting and serving somewhere in the states. I have to say not since the Sapronos was I so drawn to a major character as I was to McNulty, the guy was a such a mess but no matter what as we learn he was always "good police". The Bunk was another character I was instantly drawn to, a smooth, well dressed slightly over weight "murder police" with some of the shows funniest lines. The two of them in a scene together normally leads to something memorable. The episode toward the end of series which has that incredible scene of the replaying a murder should be renamed "****"

godtabh

jayteecork wrote: »

Don't mean to be rude, but I don't get this.
If you haven't seen those episodes, then of course you should watch them, if you have seen the episodes, watch them again!

Don't see the point of these recaps.

Read the thread "General Discussion"

GhostInTheRuins

I love the scene where McNulty and Bunk trick D into writing the letter to who he thinks is Gant's kids, but are actually Bunk's kids

tvnutz

Let a mate borrow my season 1 so I can't rewatch these episodes as I would like.

I do remember the first time it was hard to get into as there are just so many characters within the first episode alone and it was hard to tell who was who and what roles they played. But once you watch a few episodes and then go back and rewatch the season,it is just amazing tv. Like how McNulty's comment about hating harbour patrol to Landsman comes into play at the end of the season

godtabh

I think I was the same. A friend of mine lent me his set when I first start watching. He said regardless of what I think keep going to the end and it would be worth it.

S01E01 didnt do it for me at all. DOnt know why. But then it started to get better

standbyme

Is it being shown somewhere or is this just a recap?

BTW: Is this forum new, cant remember seein it.

Thanks.

godtabh

standbyme wrote: »

Is it being shown somewhere or is this just a recap?

BTW: Is this forum new, cant remember seein it.

Thanks.

Its a new forum and these threads are just recaps

standbyme

Cheers

Jip

standbyme wrote: »

Is it being shown somewhere or is this just a recap?

And FX over here finished season 1 a month or so ago and went straight into season 2. AFAIK they're going to go through every season up until the current one.

standbyme

Jip wrote: »

And FX over here finished season 1 a month or so ago and went straight into season 2. AFAIK they're going to go through every season up until the current one.

Yeah i was lookin at digiguide, its halfway thru season 2 with 2eps a week.

Jip

It's actually only 1 episode with the second being a repeat. Almost got caught out myself as I Sky+ it and noticed on night during the week it was on and almost had heart failure but it's just the repeat. They're doing the same with Brotherhood.

Rollo Tamasi

tvnutz wrote: »

I do remember the first time it was hard to get into as there are just so many characters within the first episode alone and it was hard to tell who was who and what roles they played. But once you watch a few episodes and then go back and rewatch the season,it is just amazing tv. Like how McNulty's comment about hating harbour patrol to Landsman comes into play at the end of the season

I was the same way up to about the 4th or 5th episode. I kept getting confused as to which one was Avon and who was Stringer Bell. I always get Hurc and Carver mixed up as well..

I picked up season 1 in HMV a few days ago for 25 quid. Bargin!

tvnutz

Rollo Tamasi wrote: »

I was the same way up to about the 4th or 5th episode. I kept getting confused as to which one was Avon and who was Stringer Bell. I always get Hurc and Carver mixed up as well..

I picked up season 1 in HMV a few days ago for 25 quid. Bargin!

Tut tut,sayin all black people look the same. racist!!!

Ah no,lol,I know what you mean. No other show has this many characters who all play such a big role.There are more than 15 "main" characters and then about twice that amount of "background" characters who still have immense depth. What a show!

Jip

Rollo Tamasi wrote: »

I was the same way up to about the 4th or 5th episode. I kept getting confused as to which one was Avon and who was Stringer Bell.

Same here, I always thought it was vice versa. Even right up to the street basketball game where they pointed out Avon I thought they were getting it wrong in the investigation until later that episode