Season One, Episode
Eight
Directed By:
Gloria Muzio
Written By: David
Simon, from a story by Simon and Ed Burns
Read
out “The Wire” Project here. Read about the previous episode here, or click here
to see the total coverage. Assume spoilers for the episode.
As the title suggests, many people
are learning lessons or giving lessons in this eight episode of the first
season of The Wire. But why those
lessons can be given or taken is often more interesting, and the real heart of
this episode is about bonds, both familial and fraternal, and how those shape
our ideas of the world. The opening functions as both a comic piece and a
frightening warning for McNulty. While at a market wit his kids, he sees
Stringer Bell, and has his kids follow him. The boys are masterwork detectives
already, getting the license plate number of Bell’s car. But McNulty loses his
boys in the process, and I’m sure this is not the last time he will realize he
has put his children in danger.
But family can also be metaphorical.
Despite the setback on the phones, the crew is able to pick up the trail and
arrest a driver coming out of the towers with $20,000 in drug money. Excited
about their arrest, Greggs and McNulty celebrate, until Daniels realizes the
driver also works for an influential state senator. The upper echelons tell
Daniels they are finished, but then Judge Phalen, citing his superiority as a
judge, keeps it going. He mockingly tells McNulty, “Who’s your daddy now?”
