Season 2, Episode 2
Collateral Damage
The saga of the 13 dead women in the container continues. The police from a few different jurisdictions try to write it off as an accident, but McNulty proves (and Frazier, the coroner, backs him up) they were murdered when someone intentionally crushed the pipe to cut off the air. Not only that, but when Rawls tries to dump the responsibility on Baltimore county, McNulty again proves the women were murdered within Baltimore limits, leaving Homicide in charge of the investigation. Bunk and Lester think this is funny, until they get assigned to the investigation. Meanwhile, Frank, of course, is furious Vondas was smuggling women in a container, and Vondas calms him down by saying, (a) he didn't want them killed either, and (b) Frank never wanted to know what he was smuggling before. Beadie gets the Coast Guard to hold the "Atlantic Light" in Philadelphia so she, Bunk and Lester can question the crew, but unknown to them, Sergei gets there first, finds a crew member fleeing the scene, and captures him. After Sergei tortures him, The Greek questions him; it turns out the men tried to pay the women to have sex, McNulty's Jane Doe resisted, so she was killed, and the others were killed so they would keep quiet about it. Vondas then cuts his throat.
Valchek's response to Frank beating him out for the church window is to have uniforms in his district, including Carver, harass the union members, from ticketing their cars to conducting "random" field sobriety checkpoints near the bar that the stevedores frequent. Frank, of course, refuses to let Valchek do the window because Valchek didn't ask nicely. In return, Frank has Horseface steal a police surveillance van. Valchek then asks Burrell for a detail - headed by Prez - to investigate Frank (in return, Valchek will support Burrell for police commissioner).
This episode contains examples of:
- Actually Pretty Funny: Frank's reaction when Carver tells him Valchek's the reason why his union's getting busted on penny-ante charges, since it's "chain-of-command."
- Also, Bunk and Lester think it's hysterical that McNulty stuck the Homicide unit with 13 more homicides; at least until they get stuck with them themselves.Beadie: You must know Jimmy McNulty?
Bunk: Yeah, he's dead to us.
- Also, Bunk and Lester think it's hysterical that McNulty stuck the Homicide unit with 13 more homicides; at least until they get stuck with them themselves.
- All for Nothing: Sam Choksey kills 10+ women to leave no witnesses after one dies. But the Greeks still catch him easily and get him to confess what he did, slitting his throat after talking to him.
- Asshole Victim: Cutting the throat of someone you beat up to get information would be a Kick the Dog moment if the "victim" hadn't killed 10+ women to cover his own ass.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Avon and Wee-Bey have a darkly comedic version. While in jail, a corrupt prison guard named Dwight Tilghman spends a great deal of time harassing Wee-Bey, and then brusquely refuses Avon's attempt to make a deal, which no one does to Avon. Eventually Wee-Bey hears the reason why Tilghman won't let up on him: Tilghman is related to someone that Wee-Bey killed on Avon's orders. Avon doesn't remember a thing about it, not even when Wee-Bey starts trying to supply details to jog his memory. (By the time Avon and Wee-Bey are in jail, their organization is responsible for around twenty murders in the past two years alone. Is it any wonder Avon can't remember them all?)Avon Barksdale: What's up with this motherfucker?
Wee-Bey Brice: You remember LaDonte? [Avon squints in confusion] Burner from over in the Poe Homes, finally caught him over in the parking lot after school?
Avon Barksdale: We did that?
Wee-Bey Brice: Tilghman is LaDonte's cousin or some such. He found out I ate the charge for killing him, now he busting my chops.
Avon Barksdale: LaDonte? [shakes head in confusion] I can't even remember that one. Need a scorecard to keep up with your lethal ass. - Continuity Nod: Once again, Burrell and Rawls' idea of manpower for an investigative detail is Polk, and once again, Polk's primary concern is who signs the overtime slips.
- Also, D'Angelo is keeping his distance from Avon, even though Avon doesn't like it.
- Also, Rhonda and McNulty are still Friends with Benefits as far as he's concerned (Rhonda, not so much), and Marla still wants Daniels to quit.
- Dirty Coward: Sam Choksey saw an opportunity to make money by pimping the prostitutes they were smuggling to the crew. When one of the girls resists and ends up dead at the hands of another man (or so Sam says), he bangs the air pipe on the top of the cargo container the girls would be in down to make no witnesses and cover his own ass. He's a sniveling mess when the Greeks catch up to him.
- Disposable Sex Worker:
- Along with no one wanting to get stuck with 13 unsolvable murders, this is why no one wants jurisdiction over the 13 dead prostitutes, except for McNulty and Beadie.
- Also, it's clear from The Greeks' conversation after killing Sam (the one who killed the girls) that they don't care about the women as people. They care about the money they lost. But they reassure themselves in that there will be more girls.
- False Reassurance: All while talking to Sam Choksey, The Greek reassures him that he won't kill Sam. After they're done talking, Spiros slits Sam's throat.
- Foreshadowing: Tilghman's feud with Avon and Wee-Bey, as well as Stringer's suspicion of D'Angelo, and Ziggy's argument with "White" Mike McArdle (Brook Layton), an east side drug dealer he's been working with, over money owed. Also, Andy Krawczyk, the developer Valchek tries to convince to help with Frank, becomes more important over the next couple of seasons.
- Gay Bravado: After Bunk continues to press McNulty to find Omar:Bunk: It's time you show Bunk the love.
McNulty: You want love, you come and sit on my lap.
Bunk: Shit. - Good Cop/Bad Cop: The interrogation of "Sailor Sam". Sergei uses his fists to soften him up, then the Greek plays the friendly part.
- Ironic Echo: "You look like you could use a good cup of coffee."
- Jurisdiction Friction: An unusual example in that the quarreling agencies (City Homicide, the Baltimore county police, the Coast Guard, Maryland State Police) are fighting *not* to take the case. The City gets stuck with it thanks to Jimmy's interference.
- Leave No Witnesses: Sam Choksey killed all those women by suffocation because they saw one of the women die thanks to him pimping them out when he wasn't supposed to.
- Might as Well Not Be in Prison at All: Avon had hinted this to Stringer, but we see here how he generally is able to do what he wants - including eat what he wants and play video games - even though he's locked up.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: The Greeks kill Sam Choksey for killing the women.
- Rank Up: This is the first episode that deals with Ervin Burrell being promoted to Acting Commissioner.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Frank gives one to Valchek.Valchek: You don't want my finger in your eye, you better do what's right here.
Frank: What's right, huh? What's right would be for you to come down here to my house like a decent human being and ask a common courtesy. But that's not you, it's not your way. My old man always said you were a half-ass punk over at Holy Redeemer as a kid, and my sister said you were a pain in the ass pest at all them C.Y.O. dances when none of the girls would even look at you. And damn near everyone down the point said when you got your badge it was too much for anybody named Valchek to have even a patrolman's drag, and sure enough, you been an official asshole every day since. (Valchek spits and coughs) Fuck you! And your window! - Serious Business: Wee-Bey is upset with Tilghman not just because he keeps hassling him and tearing down his room, but because he fucked with his fish (plastic fish, but still).
- A Simple Plan: Sam Choksey wanted to pimp the women to make a little money on the side. He didn't count on one of the women resisting.
- Small Role, Big Impact: The entire season is kicked off, it turns out, by Sam Choksey suffocating 13 women in a cargo container. He dies in this episode after maybe 15 minutes on screen.
- Title Drop: When Bunk tells McNulty thanks to his shenanigans, Cole is stuck with a "stone-cold whodunit", McNulty admits, "That's collateral damage."
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: The guard at the Philadelphia docks doesn't bat an eye watching Sergei and his men beat and kidnap Sam Choksey. He and Sergei cheerfully say goodbye to each other, so the the guard is presumably dirty.
- Villain-by-Proxy Fallacy: Valchek's method of trying to persuade Frank to let him have the window at the church is to have his squad harass the union members, from sending cops past the union hall twice a day to ticket vehicles, to "random" DUI checkpoints outside the bar the stevedores frequent. It doesn't work, leading to their Escalating War.
