We got a rare bit of comedy in this week’s episode of The Wire, Took, as McNulty freaked out Baltimore Sun reporter Scott Templeton by calling him and taking on the role of his made-up serial killer. ‘He said he wanted to bite me,’ a worried Templeton tells the staff on the paper.
McNulty’s antics don’t seem so funny, however, when Greggs reports back that the family of the latest ‘victim’ are distressed to hear how he died. The Wire is great at revealing the true cost behind all the politics and posturing.
McNulty took centre stage in this episode. As the police get extra money to try to find the serial killer, his fellow detectives turn to him to divert the cash into their own cases. ‘Ain’t you the king of diamonds,’ says Bunk, who’s angry that valuable police time is being spent chasing a fictitious killer.
While McNulty is getting what he wants, this is surely going to end badly for him. He’s worried when he hear that the FBI are trying to work out the voice of the ‘killer’ who called Templeton. ‘This is bigger than I ever thought it would be,’ he tells his accomplice Freamon.
I loved the clip that showed the police and newsroom gearing up to waste their time and money on the killer. The camera flitted between the two, and the message was the same. ‘We need to be on the street, reactive,’ Daniels tells his cops. ‘We need to be on the street, eye level,’ Haynes tells his newsroom.
They’ve now got the resources they’ve craved, but none of it is going to be used to do anything positive for their city.
