The Wire & Social Problems Part III

Greggs and McNulty try to get a member of Barksdale’s crew (Marvin) to turn by offering him a deal for less time.

Bodie escapes from juvi Omar distributes his stolen loot to members of his community Bubbles visits “Leave It to Beaver Land” aka McNulty’s sons’

soccer match In the pit, D tells a story about being at the scene of the murder

of Dierdre, one that that Bunk and McNulty later (re)investigate Judge holds Burell hostage, making him pursue the case further Lester Freemon is out on the streets matching pagers to pay

phones, and confirms D’s pager number Lester comes up with the “cloned pager” idea Lester’s story and characterization (he chases the corruption so

far it gets him in trouble)

Opens with Avon being paranoid about his phones Stringer tells D to set his crew straight and find the person stealing and the

person ratting them out to the cops. Carver and Herc enter Bodie’s relative’s house to arrest him for escaping

juvi More D characterization, at the restaurant with his girlfriend Bunk and McNulty connect Deirdre's murder to other drug-related murders Bubbles visits Johnny in detox Both Avon and the cops are chasing Omar, but for very different reasons Prez cracks the pager code Avon visits his brain injured brother in the hospital Omar informs McNulty that it was Bird (one of Avon’s muscle men) who

shot the witness William Gant Lester Freemon confronts Daniels about the need for wiretaps on pay

phones Poot and Wallace ID Omar’s boyfriend, and notify D, who notifies Stringer

Bell. The wiretap catches this transaction. Stringer: “It’s Done” – Omar’s boyfriend, Brandon, is dead.

Crucial episode of the season! Wallace’s “home” life introduced Brandon, Omar’s boy, is “displayed” Wallace and D both question how the Game is played. “Preston” Bodie’s bail trial and 2nd escape from juvi

with help from the Barksdale lawyer Bubbles runs a scam with Johnny, stealing copper pipes

to sell for drug $ Lester Freemon trains Prez on how to “think

differently” in a wiretap case D’Angelo tries to find the snitch and the thief,

succeeding thus far in only the latter Major Rawls wants to end the case (because all he sees

is a clearance rate). He wants to pretend D’Angelo is just as good as Avon …

…cont Big meeting between McNulty, Kima, Freemon, Bunk, who are furious that

Rawls wants to pull the strings too soon. Test of Daniels’ loyalty, the Case vs. Rawls – will he play the Game or not? Avon walks through his territory and gives D and Wallace a bonus for their

hard work (making sure the Game runs smoothly) Omar picked up by McNulty & Kima; is shown Brandon’s mutilated corpse D reveals that he’s not telling Avon the entire truth, and undercuts his

uncle’s authority (for perhaps the first time) by covering for his people. Omar rips the case wide open by revealing the murder of Deirdre (it was

Bird) and inadvertently Brandon (it was Wee-Bey/Stringer). Omar is willing to “lie” in court and say he was a witness to the former.

Freemon notices that they tapped the call to kill Brandon, and now evidence of a conspiracy is piling higher.

Unlike everyone else (Marvin), Omar is not afraid to testify against Avon when he goes to trial

Daniel’s lets it rip to Rawls that “This is Bullshit!!” and the case gets a one-month extension

In Episode 6, McNulty screams: “In this case, we’re never where we need to be!”

The frustration that McNulty and the rest feel at this point is the “push-back” from an institution that eradicates people who think outside of the box.

This is Simon’s attack on the justice system, and how it sets up roadblocks for solving substantial problems (conspiracy, racketeering, white collar crime, corruption, money laundering, grand larceny, ect) while making it very easy to prosecute people for minor drug offenses or for “assaulting an officer”

At this point in the show, you should be able to understand 3 things:

1.The Game, and how it is NOT played.2.How the Game prevents social

problems from being lessened substantially; how not playing the Game creates a climate for solutions.

3.How 2 or more social problems are connected to each other and why.