Line #16 Recap/TheWireS01E03TheBuys


1	'''Season 1, Episode 03'''
2	!The Buys
3	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/z43mkwfcuvg21.jpg]]
4	->''"The king stay the king."''
5	-->-- '''D'Angelo'''
6
7	Thanks to Bubbles, Kima and [=McNulty=] are able to get more pictures of Barksdale's crew. Herc gets put on medical discharge for a day or two, and Carver and Prez are suspended for a day or two, after which Prez will be confined to the office for the rest of the detail. Sydnor gets to go undercover, with some help from Bubbles, and under orders from Burrell, Daniels (reluctantly) and the detail go to bust Barksdale's crew and get "dope on the table", but they end up getting nothing, not even money. The real reason they don't get anything is because Omar Little (Michael K. Williams) and his crew, after staking out the place for a couple of days, get both the stash and the money. On the plus side, the detail finally gets a photo of Avon, and Fitz agrees to lend [=McNulty=] and Kima equipment for the detail to use.
8	----
9	!!This episode contains examples of:
10
11	* CallBack: D'Angelo and Shardene [[Recap/TheWireS01E01TheTarget recognize each other]], and [[{{Foreshadowing}} they're attracted to each other]].
12	** Also, at a press conference, Rawls denies [[Recap/TheWireS01E01TheTarget Gant's murder]] had anything to do with his being a murder trial witness, [[Recap/TheWireS01E02TheDetail whatever the press may think]], and [=McNulty=] [[EtTuBrute is disappointed Bunk, who's also at the press conference, toes the company line on that]].
13	** Also, [[Recap/TheWireS01E02TheDetail Bunk and [=McNulty=]'s remarks from the interrogation about the senselessness of some of the drug-related murder]] has clearly had an effect on D'Angelo, as he snaps at Bodie for beating up on customers, and parrots some of Bunk and [=McNulty=]'s lines about the "bodies".
14	* CanAlwaysSpotACop: Despite Sydnor having a reputation as one of the best undercover cops in Baltimore, his junkie disguise quickly gets holes punched in it by Bubbles. Justified in that Sydnor probably hasn't gone undercover in a narcotics investigation before, having worked in the auto theft department.
15	* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Omar casually curses in his very first scene. After a scene in episode five where he chides his lover Brandon for using "ugly language," it becomes a character trait that he never swears.
16	* ChessMotifs: Bodie and Wallace play checkers with a chess set. D'Angelo comes over and tries to teach them chess in terms of the drug trade and the characters, with plenty of subtext. He likens himself and his fellow hoppers to pawns, who can make it to the edge of the board to become more powerful Queens, but will never get to be King. He admits with some regret that pawns are chumps and get killed fast, but his youthful audience has faith that [[HardWorkFallacy "smart-ass" pawns can get ahead]]. [[spoiler:By the end of the show, everyone in the conversation has been killed in conflicts between greater forces then themselves, and shortly before his death the last surviving member of the trio makes a CallBack and explicitly says that they really were pawns]].
17	-->'''D'Angelo:''' This (''kisses the king piece''), this the kingpin, all right? And he the man. You get the other dude's king, you got the game. But he trying to get your king too, so you gotta protect it. Now the king, he move one space any direction he damn choose, cause he's the king (''demonstrates''), but he ain't got no hustle. But the rest of these motherfuckers on the team, they got his back, and they run so deep, he really ain't gotta do shit.\
18	'''Bodie:''' Kinda like your uncle.\
19	'''D'Angelo:''' Yeah, like my uncle. You see this? This the queen. She smart, she fierce. She move any way she want as far as she want, and she is the "go-get-shit-done" piece.\
20	'''Wallace:''' Remind me of Stringer.\
21	'''D'Angelo:''' And this over here is the castle. It's like the stash. (''demonstrates how it moves'')\
22	'''Wallace:''' No, the stash don't move, man.\
23	'''D'Angelo:''' C'mon, yo, think, how many times we move the stash house this week? All right? And every time we move the stash, we gotta move a little muscle with it, right? To protect it.\
24	'''Bodie:''' True, true, you right. All right; what about them little bald-headed bitches right there?\
25	'''D'Angelo:''' All right, these right here, these are the pawns. They like the soldiers. (''demonstrates how they move'') And they like the front lines, they be out in the field.\
26	'''Wallace:''' So how do you get to be the king?\
27	'''D'Angelo:''' It ain't like that. You see, [[{{Epigraph}} the king stay the king]].
28	* CluelessDetective: Polk and Mahon, who are ordered by [=McNulty=] to get a picture of Avon, and come back with a picture of a middle-aged white guy.
29	-->'''Kima:''' [[DeadpanSnarker Maybe he's white]].
30	* ContinuityNod: Fitz and [=McNulty=] tell Kima the FBI is no longer involved in the war on drugs, because they're too busy with UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror.
31	* DaChief: Daniels; he may be disgusted by what Carver, Herc and especially Prez did, but he nevertheless covers for them.
32	* DudeShesALesbian: Though it takes [=McNulty=] a while to catch on that Kima is this.
33	-->'''Bubbles:''' You a dog, [=McNutty=]? Cos if you are, you are barking at the wrong pussy.
34	* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Omar patiently and methodically staking out the Barksdale stashhouse before he and his crew rob it.
35	* {{Foreshadowing}}: How the Barksdale crew reacts to Omar will become important, along with the fact their product is weak. Also, [=McNulty=]'s idea of cloning a pager, the phone number Lester pulls from the stash house they raid, Bodie beating up on Mahon (and in term getting beat up by the other cops, especially Kima), and Bubbles being there to witness Omar sticking up the Pit, all become important later.
36	* HiddenDepths: This episode is the first indication Lester is more than, as Daniels described him, "[[Recap/TheWireS01E02TheDetail a cuddly housecat]]"; he's the one who, when he hears Kima say she heard from an informant that Avon participated in a Golden Gloves tournament, is able to pull an old photo of Avon for the detail.
37	* {{Kneecapping}}: Omar instructs young dealer Sterling to reveal the location of the money. Sterling refuses and Omar shoots him in the kneecap.
38	* LetMeGetThisStraight:
39	-->'''Rhonda:''' So let me understand. You're married, and a date is a room at the Best Western with the blinds closed. Now you're single, and a date is you coming over unannounced to learn the legal requisites for a pager intercept?\
40	'''[=McNulty=]:''' Pretty much.
41	* TheMole: Santangelo is Rawls' mole inside the detail.
42	* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Bodie gets brutally beaten by Carver, Kima and other police officers after he punches Mahon.
43	* NoodleIncident: Fitz tells [=McNulty=] that Daniels is dirty because when the FBI was brought in to investigate his unit, they discovered he had more assets than he should have, but we don't hear anything more specific. Justified as they were pulled off the case before they could investigate further.
44	* SherlockScan: Sydnor goes undercover as a junkie by wearing cheap, dirty clothes and not showering for a few days. Bubbles says he's okay as far as that goes, but he needs to take off his wedding ring because a true junkie would have long sold it off for the money, and his shoes should have holes from stepping on lots of broken vials. He sticks a shoe in Sydnor's face to demonstrate the last part.
45	-->'''Kima:''' He hurt your feelings?\
46	'''Sydnor:''' Little bit.
47	* [[SecondEpisodeIntroduction Third Episode Introduction]]: In addition to Omar and his crew, this episode also marks the first appearance of Maj. Stan Valchek (Al Brown), who, [[Recap/TheWireS01E02TheDetail as we heard before]], is Prez's father-in-law. [[{{Foreshadowing}} That becomes important in later episodes as well, along with the fact Valchek now owes Daniels a favor.]]
48	* StressVomit: Poot vomits after Omar and his crew rob the stash house.

Context Recap / TheWireS01E03TheBuys