WIRE, THE: THE COST (TV)
Summary
One in this dramatic series about both sides of the Baltimore drug scene: the dealers and the law enforcement officers that go after them. This is the tenth episode in the series' first season, which focuses on the drug-running business operating out of the low-income tenements.
Avon, Bell, and Brice discuss what to do about Little. Bell is concerned that the police are getting close and advocates steps to minimize Avon’s exposure to them. Phelan grows increasingly irritable with McNulty and Pearlman; she believes that it has to do with the fact that he is not automatically up for re-election on the mayor's ticket, possibly because of his connection to the case. McNulty, Freamon, and Carver monitor communications among the Barksdales to figure out the location of their stash. They track the members' pagers and calls placed to payphones. Bubbles sinks into a malaise, sitting on a park bench and staring into space. He reconnects with Walon, his friend from the narcotics anonymous meeting, who tells him that he has HIV and advises him to seek forgiveness from within. Donette nags D’Angelo about getting a bigger place for them, but he leaves their apartment. He tries to meet with Innes, but she refuses to speak to him. McNulty and Greggs talk with Little, who informs them that Avon’s associates have contacted him to form a truce. He shows them his gunshot wound and asks for medical attention. Carver and Freamon monitor a payphone in Pimlico and manage to get a lead on the Barksdales.
McNulty and the unit bring in Wallace and contemplate what to do with him. Using the wire on the payphone, Sydnor is able to track down the other end of the line to a house in a suburban area with extensive electronic security. McNulty and Daniels interrogate Wallace and ask him about his involvement with the Barksdales. He claims not to know anything about the murders D’Angelo was involved in. Sydnor returns with photos of the house he found. He believes there is enough to get a search warrant for the place, and Freamon gets Prez to do street work on it, impressed by his research. McNulty is suddenly called in by his ex-wife for a custody hearing about his children, and in desperation, asks Ronnie to represent him. This does not go well, as Ronnie is out of her element with the domestic aspects of the hearing and says that she “should not be here.” The judge quickly becomes frustrated with everyone's behavior and essentially orders McNulty and Elena to work out their own problems.
Orlando is arrested and sent to Eager Street, and finds that his bail will not be paid. During the judge's lunch recess, McNulty argues with Elena, who is upset that he brought Ronnie to court with him. They argue about her assertion that McNulty is irresponsible with their children and is exposing them to criminals, but McNulty counters that he would never endanger his sons. He says that he still loves her, but he admits that he is occasionally seeing Ronnie. Daniels drives Wallace to the boy's grandmother's suburban home, noticing that he is in withdrawal. Stringer meets with Omar for a truce discussion, mediated by Proposition Joe. They negotiate, but unbeknownst to Stringer Omar is wearing a listening device monitored by McNulty and Kima. They note that he has given them little in the way of information, but there might be a few things they can use. Shardene eavesdrops on Stringer and Avon as they discuss the Omar situation. Kima goes out drinking with her friends, and when asked, recalls an incident from her training days. Cheryl appreciates this, despite her distaste for Kima’s line of work.
Sydnor and Prezbylewswki go undercover as garbage collectors and obtain trash bags from the stash house they are investigating. Troy Wiggins, the cop who arrested Blocker, reports that Blocker has ratted out Avon, piquing McNulty’s interest and providing an easy link to the strip club. Freamon gets in touch with Innes to see what she knows. Bubbles calls Greggs and says he wants a place of his own, along with new clothes. He says that he has been off heroin for three days, and she agrees to help him. Daniels insists to Burrell that the wire will be the key in securing the Barksdale case, but Burrell rejects this idea and again advocates a buy bust. Little knows that Avon won't keep his word about their truce and moves to New York to start over.
Daniels organizes the bust demanded by Burrell, with Greggs conducting the face-to-face negotiations and Blcoker cooperating to secure a plea deal. The deal begins in Blocker’s car, and the dealer turns up the music on the car radio, drowning out the listening device carried by Greggs. The drive ends in a deserted alley as McNulty, Carver, and the rest of the unit slowly converge on them. It turns out to be an ambush and Blocker and Greggs are fired upon. The unit members scramble to find them and call in a helicopter to join the search. They find Blocker dead and Greggs severely wounded.
This selection from the Alan Gerry Cable Collection has been made available by the Gerry Foundation, Inc.
Details
- NETWORK: HBO
- DATE: August 11, 2002 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:55:29
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:72466
- GENRE: Drama, police/private detective
- SUBJECT HEADING: African-American Collection - Drama; TV - Drama, police/private detective; LGBT Collection - Drama
- SERIES RUN: HBO - TV series, 2002-2008
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- David Simon … Executive Producer, Created by, Writer
- Robert F. Colesberry … Executive Producer
- Nina Kostroff Noble … Producer
- Karen L. Thorson … Co-Producer
- Brad Anderson … Director
- Edward Burns … Writer
- Dominic West … Cast, Jimmy McNulty
- John Doman … Cast, William Rawls
- Idris Elba … Cast, Russell "Stringer" Bell
- Frankie R. Faison … Cast, Ervin Burrell
- Larry Gilliard Jr. … Cast, D'Angelo Barksdale
- Wood Harris … Cast, Avon Barksdale
- Deirdre Lovejoy … Cast, Rhonda "Ronnie" Pearlman
- Wendell Pierce … Cast, William "Bunk" Moreland
- Lance Reddick … Cast, Cedric Daniels
- Andre Royo … Cast, Reginald "Bubbles" Cousins
- Sonja Sohn … Cast, Shakima Greggs
- Peter Gerety … Cast, Daniel Phelan
- Callie Thorne … Cast, Elena McNulty
- Seth Gilliam … Cast, Ellis Carver
- Domenick Lombardozzi … Cast, Thomas "Herc" Hauk
- Clarke Peters … Cast, Lester Freamon
- Jim True-Frost … Cast, Roland “Prez” Pryzbylewski
- Hassan Johnson … Cast, Roland "Wee-Bey" Brice
- Corey Parker Robinson … Cast, Leander Sydnor
- Michael B. Jordan … Cast, Wallace
- Michael K. Williams … Cast, Omar Little
- Wendy Grantham … Cast, Shardene Innes
- Clayton LeBouf … Cast, Wendell "Orlando" Blocker
- Melanie Nicholls-King … Cast, Cheryl
- Steve Earle … Cast, Walon
- Michael Salconi … Cast, Michael Santangelo
- Neko Parham … Cast, Troy Wiggins
- Chris Clanton … Cast, Savino Bratton
- Richard De Angelis … Cast, Raymond Foerster
- Michael Kostroff … Cast, Maurice Levy
- Delaney Williams … Cast, Jay Landsman
- Shamyl Brown … Cast, Donette
- Robert F. Chew … Cast, Joseph "Proposition Joe" Stewart
- Isaiah Whitlock Jr. … Cast, Clay Davis
- Edward Norris … Cast, Edward Norris
- Jeorge Watson … Cast, Marvin Browning
- Micaiah Jones … Cast, Wintell "Little Man" Royce
- Barry Bradford … Cast, Barksdale Stash House Man
- Christopher Glenn Wilson … Cast, DEA Agent