Season 1, Episode 05
The Pager
"...a little slow, a little late."
The detail get court authorization to go up on a pager, but the code the Barksdale crew stymies them until Prez figures it out; it all involves jumping the 5 on a touch-tone phone (so, for example, 714-3432 is really 396-7678). Jay connects Deirdre's murder to two other open murders. Bunk and McNulty interview the witness concerning Deirdre's murder, and she says Deirdre was going out with Avon, but became possessive and wrote a letter to the state's attorney about Avon. She also identifies Orlando's as a place where Avon and his crew do business. Kima and McNulty finally catch up to Omar (who's robbed an east side crew in the meantime), and try to get him to help them out with Barksdale; Omar says he's no snitch, but if he gets in trouble, he'll contact the two of them.— Avon Barksdale
Avon continues to worry something's going wrong with his operations, and Stringer tells D'Angelo not to pay any of his crew because he still thinks there's a snitch. Also, Carver and Herc arrest Bodie, and he's shipped off to jail. They do score some success when Wee-Bey is able to put down John, one of Omar's underlings (when McNulty tells Omar that John was murdered, Omar claims John had a lot of enemies, so it wasn't necessarily the Barksdales who got him), and thanks to Wallace and Poot, they manage to get Brandon as well.
This episode contains examples of:
- Call-Back: Jay tells McNulty he put in a good word for him with Rawls.
- Continuity Nod: Polk is still toying with injuring himself deliberately on the job to get a medical discharge, but can't bring himself to do it.
- Could Say It, But...: When McNulty is complaining about Elena's latest legal shenanigans, he informs Kima exactly how a "less-enlightened man" might respond. See....
- Country Matters: After an angry call with Elena:McNulty: You know something? My ex-wife, the way she acts sometimes, the way she deals with shit...(Beat)...You would think a less enlightened man than myself, a cruder man than myself — a man less sensitized to the qualities and charms and value of women — a man like that, not me, but a man like that, he just might call her a cunt.
Kima: You just called the mother of your children a cunt.
McNulty: No, I did not.
Kima: Yes, you fucking did!
McNulty: No, I did not! Let's just leave this, I've got some stuff to do. - Deadpan Snarker: Phelan gets to show off this side of him when, after Kima and McNulty swear the evidence they've prepared in the affidavit is true, cracks, "I now pronounce you man and wife." Also, when everyone stares at the pager, waiting for it to go off, he says, "Celebrities always seem so much smaller when you meet them."
- Epigraph: "A little slow, a little late." This is part of a quote Avon says to D'Angelo ("Be a little slow, be a little late") to illustrate how, in their life, they can only screw up once and that could make them dead.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Avon and a reluctant D'Angelo visit Avon's brother, who's in a facility and apparently in a coma.
- Foreshadowing: Orlando asks D'Angelo about getting in on selling drugs, which becomes important in later episodes. So do the two other murders that connect with Deirdre's murder.
- Good Cop/Bad Cop: Beautifully subverted; Carver and Herc catch Bodie in the Pit and take him to the police station. They plan to use this routine on Bodie, with Carver being good cop and Herc the bad cop, except Bodie sees right through it and tells Carver to suck his dick, which leads to Carver beating up on him, and Herc has to break up the fight.
- Go-Karting with Bowser: However, while waiting for the van to take Bodie to county, Carver and Herc play pool, and eventually allow Bodie to join in.
- Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Omar complains about Brandon swearing so much.
- Hidden Depths: As mentioned above, this is the first episode to indicate Prez has more to him than you would guess from his past behavior.
- Hypocritical Humor: McNulty claims in his phone call with Elena (see Country Matters above) that he has beds ready at his place for their sons to sleep in; a little later, we see him attempting to put them together. It doesn't go well, at least at first.
- Leitmotif: This is when we first hear Omar whistle "Farmer in the Dell" when he's on the hunt.
- Oh, Crap!: Kima and McNulty's reaction when Omar reveals he knows Bubbles is their CI.
- Properly Paranoid: Avon may be wrong about there being a snitch, but he's right that the police are listening in, or attempting to.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: The phone code the Barksdale crew uses, and which Prez figures out, is based on the phone code drug dealers, whom David Simon reported on, used to communicate with their crews.
- Shout-Out: Jay says to McNulty, "We can't all be princes of the city."
- Villains Out Shopping: D'Angelo takes Donette out to a nice restaurant, though he feels uncomfortable there.
- Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Bubbles visits Johnny at the hospital, and Johnny is upset Bubbles is working as a snitch for the cops. Bubbles, in turn, wants to know why Johnny was beaten up and is in the hospital. Johnny responds, "It's all part of the game, right? I mean, you taught me that." Bubbles isn't happy to hear that.
