The Wire “One Arrest”

Hold on…there are two arrests in this episode!  That title is misleading!

Arrest the first!

Greggs, Carver, Herc, and Lester nab a young runner, but deliberately let the fellow higher up in the chain get away.  Thanks to Prez being good at puzzles, the detail has managed to suss out Avon’s codes and know when to move.  Of course, the kid they nab is the same one Prez cost an eye.  That was awkward.  Made worse when Daniels offered to help the kid turn his life around and got laughed at to his face.

This arrest has some repercussions.  Avon and Stringer were suspecting a leak in the low rises for a while now, not knowing they’re being monitored.  Avon has the low rises shut down until some changes are made.  Stringer makes the changes when he notices the pay phones and decides to have them ripped out.  That means the wires won’t be working anymore.

See, these guys aren’t dumb.  D’Angelo might be since he’s trying to set up a side venture using his uncle’s distribution system, but Avon and Stringer aren’t dumb.

Arrest the second!

Here’s the big one.  Thanks to Omar, the detail (and Bunk) have some information about Avon’s favorite shooter, Bird.  He even advises them on when and where to grab the guy, and Omar has a code.  Don’t involve people outside the game being a big one.  As Bunk notes, every man has to have a code.  Since Bird, and by extension Avon, broke the code, Omar has no problem snitching.  Heck, Omar is full of information.  And it turns out he and Bunk went to the same high school.

Omar’s information helps out another homicide cop close out a case.  Said cop was told to close a case or give Rawls information on McNulty.  Out of gratitude, McNulty is told Rawls is out for his badge.

So, we’re at a point where the detail is bringing in some of Avon’s people, and in the case of Bird, letting Greggs smack him around for mouthing off too much.  Actually, Daniels and McNulty might have helped out there.  Bird had it coming.  But we also see Avon and his crew reacting to prevent that.  It’s fairly smart moves on everyone’s part.

And in other scenes, Bubbles takes his buddy Johnny to an NA meeting and seems rather impressed by the speaker.  Daniels, meanwhile, attends a fundraiser with his wife.  I found the fact the show cut back and forth between Daniels and Bubbles rather interesting in that dichotomy sort of way.  The Wire is good for that.