The Wire Series 5

Series 5 draws more on David Simon’s experience as a journalist working on The Baltimore Sun newspaper and weaves in many storylines and characters from the previous four series.

Following Tommy Carcetti’s election as Mayor, public funds have fallen through the floor. The city is broke. There is no money to pay the police, teachers and other city workers and especially no funds to invest in the city infrastructure. Any spare money is being invested in the schools. Moral is at its lowest and even the city newspaper, The Baltimore Sun, has to consider redundancies.

Police overtime is not being paid despite Mayor Carcetti’s promises. McNulty, Bunk, Freamon and rest of the team are far from happy and they soon find out that the Marlo investigation is being shut down.

Greggs and McNulty are returned to Homicide to work with Landsman (better than Harbour duty for McNulty … but only just).

Marlo Stanfield’s empire has grown despite being under constant surveillance from Major Crime Unit and he has joined the New Day Co-Op alongside Prop Joe , Slim Charles, Calvin “Cheese” Wagstaff, Hungry Man and Fatface Rick. Marlo, Chris and Snoop meet to discuss the lack of police surveillance – no tails, helicopters or cameras … ironically whilst being watched from a distance by Lester Freamon, who had been patiently waiting for this moment to happen.

Marlo wants to bypass Prop Joe’s Co-Op and buy his product direct from Vondas but first has to set up a meet.

Arriving at Jessup Correctional Institution intending to meet with Vondas’ enforcer Sergei, instead he meets Avon who wants a $100k fee for putting Marlo and Vondas together.

Awash with cash, Marlo asks Prop Joe how to “clean his money” and learns how The Pastor and he clean Prop Joe’s money with good works projects – financing hospitals and schoolhouses on the Islands that never actually get built.

While travelling to a crime scene … by bus, the city has no money to service the squad cars … McNulty plans how to get more resources for his department to catch Marlo. Later at a homicide of a homeless man, McNulty, still drunk from the night before, fakes a murder scene and tells his partner, “There’s a serial killer in Baltimore, Bunk. He preys on the weakest among us. He needs to be caught.”

McNulty reads through police reports of previous unsolved murders and spots a victim with a red ribbon tied around his wrist. His plan comes to life and he sets about creating evidence that a serial killer is attacking the homeless, going to the morgue to add a red ribbon on his homicide’s wrist.
McNulty explains his plan to Lester Fraemon who agrees to help him, much to Bunk’s disbelief.

Meanwhile at the Baltimore Sun offices, Scott Templeton files a story and when Gus Haynes asks for more proof and background, Templeton gets defensive and Gus starts to get suspicious.

Marlo is still hunting Omar, ordering Chris and Snoop to kill his close friend, hoping to enrage Omar into coming after him. Word gets to Omar, who is out of the country, and he comes back vowing revenge against Marlo and those who gave his friend up.

After another homeless “murder”, Templeton meets McNulty at a bar who feeds him some inside information and Templeton rushes off to make the second-edition deadline.

Templeton makes the case his top priority and scours the city for homeless people to interview, but comes up with nothing.

However, this doesn’t stop Templeton who thinks the case will be his way out of Baltimore and onto a more prestigious paper. Instead, he fakes a conversation with the “killer” which makes the Sun’s front page. As soon as he finds out, McNulty meets with the editorial team, sensing that Templeton could be played and that a front page serial killer could bring City Hall funds he could divert to bringing a case against Marlo.

At Mayor Carcetti’s press conference he promises that the killer will be stopped and Daniels, now
Deputy Commissioner of Operations, explains how the police department will catch him. As expected, City Hall uses the case as a political diversion from the city’s other problems. The investigation into the fictitious killer takes much needed funds from the education and social services budgets.

McNulty is put in charge of the investigation and he arranges for Lester to get equipment to continue the Marlo wiretap, also using the equipment to further draw Templeton into his net, feeding him more lies to publish in the Sun. The serial killer case spirals out of control, even the FBI become involved. McNulty begs Lester to finish off Marlo … and quickly, not easy as Marlo is using a new and seemingly complex code to arrange meets with his crew and other dealers.

Det. Leander Sydnor, who had replaced Prez as Lester Freamon’s protegy, has a moment of inspiration whilst trying to track Marlo across town and cracks his code.

Suddenly it all comes together after years of police work and the day of reckoning for Marlo and his gang is almost here.

Time is also up on the fake case, and McNulty is forced to admit his involvement to Rawls and Daniels. However, even after nearly 60 hours of superb TV, there is a final twist …

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The Wire Series 4

The Wire’s no-nonsense focus on city life in North America continues in Series 4. The gritty storyline weaves together the inner city realities of under-funded education, the street corner gangs attracting young kids into their fold with easy money, and “white-collar” manipulation and corruption at the highest level of the city’s “ruling class”.

McNulty is back on the street and the Crime Unit, without Daniels, is targetting Marlo Stanfield and his growing organisation of dealers.
Something is just not adding up … how can Marlo’s kingdom grow with no dead bodies?
Marlo’s enforcer Chris and his partner Snoop have found a way of hiding the evidence in the many vacant lots in the city.

Brodie, formerly one of Barksdale’s crew, resents having to work for the new boss, Marlo and fights for his corner.

Daniels, is now a Major in charge of Western District, and romantically involved with Assistant State’s Attorney Rhonda Pearlman. Rhonda is processing Money Laundering subpoenas issued by Daniels’ former unit against many city politicians, in particular State Senator Clay Davis, whose driver had been caught earlier with cash in a bin liner. Clay Davis warns Mayor Royce that he had better tell the police to back off … or else.

Former member of the Crime Unit, Roland “Prez” Pryzbylewski, is now a trainee Maths teacher at Tilghman, the local Middle School. His first day doesn’t go well, his lack of experience is obvious to the kids and they interrupt and destroy his lesson. Randy Wagstaffe, one of his class, sneaks out during the confusion and goes to the school cafeteria to sell his product … a backpack full of candy.

Prez would later help his class to learn Maths (and make money on the street) by giving them tips on how to work out the odds on their card and dice games.

Bunny Colvin, former Western District Police Major, joins a behavioural study by the University of Maryland of 10 students at Prez’s school, three of which, including Namond Brice (son of Barksdale crew member Wee-Bey), were taken from Prez’s class. Despite his initial bravado, Namond gradually learns to trust Bunny, breaking away from the street corner culture and also, eventually … his family.

Proposition Joe approaches Marlo once again to join the drug consortium set up by him and Stringer Bell, The New Day Co-op. Marlo declines the offer … planning to take over from Proposition Joe and his cartel of drug dealers to become King of Baltimore’s corners.

Omar, having finished his feud with Stringer Bell, meets up with Proposition Joe who offers him a cut of a high-stakes card game. Suspecting that Joe intends to set him up, Omar stakes the game out. Not recognising Marlo, Omar sticks the game up and tells him “Money ain’t got no owners, only spenders.” The Marlo-Omar war is on, with Marlo setting up Omar at every opportunity and Proposition Joe and the New Day Co-Op caught in the middle.

The Mayoral election reaches its climax. Tommy Carcetti works hard to increase his share of the black vote, despite last-minute smear campaigns from the Royce camp.
Mayor-Elect Carcetti, wanting to appoint a new police commissioner is faced with a revolt from leading city officials, and relies upon Clay Davies to call in some favours.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t get any better for Mayor Carcetti or the city as you will find out in Series 5.

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The Wire Series 3

Series 3 returns to the street corners of Baltimore and Lt. Daniels’ team is still chasing the city’s drug dealers.  With Avon close to release from jail and the Barksdale gang’s former territory, the Towers, raised to the ground, Stringer Bell decides to become the city’s top drug wholesaler.

Meanwhile pressure mounts at City Hall and the Police Department as the city’s crime rate continues to grow. At Comstat, Rawls tells his commanders. “If Baltimore had New York’s population, we’d be clocking four thousand murders a year at this rate”. Police Major Colvin, close to retirement, has an idea to bring the crime rate down … legalise drugs, at least in his district.

The Free Zone, nicknamed Hamsterdam is launched in an area full of abandoned buildings. Not surprisingly, the cops are outraged at Colvin’s idea and the drug dealers and users are amazed but soon get used to it and open trading starts with the cops looking on from the side.

Stringer Bell, with Proposition Joe on his side, calls a meeting of the city’s drug dealers and they agree to form a cartel so that they can negotiate better discounts from their New York supplier.

Unable to convince Marlo Stansfield to join the cartel, and against Stringer Bell’s advice, Avon decides to go to war with Marlo over the street corner territory. A bloody and violent battle commences between Marlo and Barksdale’s soldiers. Baltimore’s murder rate grows … and grows, increasing the pressure at City Hall and on the Mayor … just before the Mayoral elections.

Hamsterdam isn’t going as planned … a young black teenager turns up dead, so Colvin calls a group of dealers threatening that if the killer doesn’t turn himself in next day, Hamsterdam will be shut down. When Stringer Bells learns of Colvin’s edict, the killer is promptly persuaded to turn himself in. Worse still, a local reporter has found out about Hamsterdam but isn’t aware that Police Command doesn’t know about Colvin’s plan. Colvin lies to the reporter in an attempt to buy a week’s silence, telling him that the drug dealers are being lulled into a false sense of security and will all be arrested within the week. The reporter is promised an exclusive as his reward.

Already at war with Marlo, Avon puts a contract out on his old enemy Omar and traces Omar’s family in an effort to track him down. Two of his soldiers spot Omar taking his grandmother to Sunday church and open fire injuring his grandma. Omar is furious and tells his crew “Barksdale gotta be got.” Teaming up with Brother Mouzone, Omar seeks his revenge … with deadly consequences.

At the next Comstat meeting, Colvin finally tells his superiors about Hamsterdam and how it has reduced his district’s crime rate. Major Rawls is incredulous and so, when he is told, is the Mayor, although he is also intrigued by the drop in violent crime and considers whether he could spin it for his own political purposes.

Hamsterdam is eventually closed and the buildings bulldozed.  Councilman Tommy Carcetti learning from his recent experience and with a new, higher media profile, senses the opportunity to run for Mayor. Tommy promises to reduce the city’s crime rate and improve Baltimore’s quality of life.

Will he succeed? Find out in Series 5.

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The Wire Series 2

Series 2 moves the focus away from the lowrises onto Baltimore’s Seagirt Marine Terminal cargo docks where the unions are struggling to keep the docks open and their members in work. The Wire’s political landscape now involves the police department, the longshoremen union, the Catholic Church, a growing number of drug smugglers and dealers and people traffickers. An intriguing and addictive plot, light years away from the weekly packaged cop shows.

Frank Sobotka, secretary-treasurer of the union has a long running feud with fellow Pole, police Major Valchek.

The feud is renewed when Major Valchek notices a stained-glass window donated to St. Casimir’s Catholic Church by Sobotka’s union when he also delivers a new stained-glass window to the Church.

Major Valchek is determined to take revenge and targets Sabotka, his family and the union for “special treatment”.

Meanwhile, Frank’s son Ziggy and his cousin Nick go to meet “The Greek” who has a container arriving on a cargo ship in which he has contraband and needs help sliding it by the authorities.

Jimmy McNulty has been demoted and reassigned to the Baltimore Police Harbour unit as Colonel Rawls’ revenge.

Although the first excitement of the day is a yacht with a dead motor, the pace later picks up  when McNulty pulls the dead body of a pretty young girl from the harbour.

Later, at the dock, Marine Police Officer Beatrice “Beadie” Russell is making her rounds and notices a container with loose locks, opens it up and goes inside. Noticing a false rear wall in the back, she investigates further and finds inside a tiny compartment the bodies of 13 young women, apparently suffocated.

Nick Sabotka, who’s money problems get worse as the work at the docks dries up, becomes more and more involved with Vondas, The Greek’s right hand man and enforcer. Nick soon gets involved in the street corner drug scene and starts to make serious money for himself and Ziggy, even though Ziggy is becoming more and more upset as he is no longer the boss and the two close cousins fallout.

Major Valchek, hearing that Frank Sobotka and the union have hired a lobbyist to spread cash to local politicians in an attempt to revitalise the docks, seizes the opportunity to start a police investigation into his longtime enemy Sabotka. Valchek convinces Burrell to relaunch Major Crime Unit. The old team is soon back in action but without McNulty, who is still on harbour patrol. Instead, Russell is drafted into the department.

The investigation eventually links the Sabotka family and The Greek’s top quality dope back to Proposition Joe.
Meanwhile, Avon Barksdale brings in muscle from New York to keep out rival dealers, a man named Brother Mouzone.

 

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The Wire Series 1

The first season of The Wire concentrates on the often-futile efforts of police to infiltrate a West Baltimore drug ring headed by Avon Barksdale and his lieutenant, Stringer Bell.

Unlike many “cop shows” that have a new story each episode, The Wire digs deep into the story, the characters and the politics of the police and the street.

The 13 episodes give the plot time to extend and the characters develop.

Book a day off, close the curtains, turn off the phone, grab some food and drink and sit back for 13 episodes of gritty, intense, inner city realism.

The Wire Series One

The story starts with Baltimore Homicide Detective Jimmy McNulty dropping in on the murder trial of a young drug dealer named D’Angelo Barksdale. Sitting at the back of the courtroom, McNulty observes who is there and is himself observed by associates of Barksdale and by the presiding Judge Phelan. The court case takes an unexpected twist and D’Angelo is acquitted of the murder.

After the trial, McNulty is called into see Judge Phelan who wants to know why he’s attending a trial that does not involve him. McNulty tells him that D’Angelo’s uncle Avon Barksdale and his partner Stringer Bell, are reigning terror in the high-rises and are thought to be behind as many as a dozen unsolved murders a year. Whilst McNulty is on his way back to his office, the Judge calls McNulty’s boss Major William Rawls who order McNulty to have a full report on Barksdale for him by eight the next morning.

Across town, when D’Angelo shows up to oversee the drug trade at the Towers the next morning he is told by Stringer he has been reassigned to one of the less prestigious low-rise projects, affectionately called The Pit.
Omar Little, a legendary shotgun-toting, stick-up artist steals Avon’s stash and one of D’Angelo’s boys is shot in the process.

Furious at being robbed, Avon and Stringer put a bounty on the heads of Omar and his gang.

After McNulty files his report, Lt. Daniels from Narcotics is called to head the new Major Crime Unit but apart from his own Narcotics team and McNulty he is given other department’s rejects.
McNulty is inspired at a meeting with FBI Special Agent Fitzhugh and has the idea that the Unit can mix old-fashioned police surveillance with new technology … The Wire (tap).

Knowing that solving the numerous murders thought to have been committed by Barksdale and his crew could be linked with drug assassinations, McNulty and his team re-work the cases. They get a break when they re-visit the file of Diedre Kresson, a former girlfriend of one of the Barksdale crew. The team get enough information to support a wire tap and start to build their case.

As the story develops, Lester Freamon, a thoughtful detective banished to the pawn office over a decade earlier; and Prez, a disastrous detective who is the son-in-law of a police Major, form a successful partnership.

Together they break the Barksdale crew’s code and translate the street slang.

After weeks of hard work, the Unit is now able to keep tracks on the gang.

Meanwhile, Omar and the Barksdale’s are at war and Omar steals from them at every opportunity.

After stealing one of Avon’s re-ups, Omar bargains with one of Avon’s drug rivals, Proposition Joe Stewart. He swaps the stash for Avon’s pager number and a code. Omar uses the pager and code to attack Avon and his bodyguard.

The cops continue to build a case against Avon, Stringer and their crew … but not as water-tight as they hoped.

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The Complete Wire DVD Collection

The Wire Complete Box Set comes packed with all 60 episodes in a 24 Disc Box Set. David Simon has created one of the most critically acclaimed series on television with an unflinching eye on the underbelly of Baltimore’s politics, police, drugs, law and media worlds.

If you are new to The Wire why not sign up for a free trial with Lovefilm and rent it … you’ll be hooked!