Hard Cases (22 Jun. 2003)

McNulty goes on a self-assigned moral mission to identify his floater, but his old partner, Bunk, says they have more pressing matter at hand: finding Omar to testify against a Barksdale ... See full summary »

Director:

Elodie Keene

Writers:

David Simon (creator), Joy Kecken (teleplay),

Stars:

Dominic West, Chris Bauer, Paul Ben-Victor

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Dominic West	...	Off. James 'Jimmy' McNulty
Chris Bauer	...	Frank Sobotka
Paul Ben-Victor	...	Spiros 'Vondas' Vondopoulos (credit only)
John Doman	...	Col. William A. Rawls
Idris Elba	...	Russell 'Stringer' Bell
Frankie Faison	...	Acting Commissioner Ervin H. Burrell
Lawrence Gilliard Jr.	...	D'Angelo Barksdale (as Larry Gilliard Jr.)
Wood Harris	...	Avon Barksdale
Deirdre Lovejoy	...	Asst. State's Atty. Rhonda Pearlman (credit only)
Clarke Peters	...	Det. Lester Freamon
Wendell Pierce	...	Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland
Lance Reddick	...	Lt. Cedric Daniels
Andre Royo	...	Reginald 'Bubbles' Cousins
Amy Ryan	...	Off. Beatrice 'Beadie' Russell
Sonja Sohn	...	Det. Shakima 'Kima' Greggs

Storyline

McNulty goes on a self-assigned moral mission to identify his floater, but his old partner, Bunk, says they have more pressing matter at hand: finding Omar to testify against a Barksdale trigger man in one of last year's murders. To placate Valchek, Burrell asks Daniels to lead the detail investigating Sobotka, and Daniels agrees.

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Plot Keywords:

wiretapping

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Details

Release Date:

22 June 2003 (USA)

Company Credits

Did You Know?

Trivia

This is the only episode in the season to feature the entire starring cast.

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Quotes

Dep. Comm. for Operations William A. Rawls: If they work for me, they need my OK. Good news is I got no problem with anyone on your list. Except McNulty. No McNulty. Nothing that even resembles the son-of-a-bitch.
Lt. Cedric Daniels: That bad, huh?
Dep. Comm. for Operations William A. Rawls: He quits or he drowns. That's the only two things getting him off the fucking boat so help me God.

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Connections

References Carne (1991)

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Soundtracks

"I Promise To Remember"
Composed by Jimmy Castor
Performed by Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers

User Reviews

quiet before the storm

This is the only episode to feature the entire starring cast of the show. It is one full of those happy Wire moments we've all come to know and cherish: Rawls getting a cheeky salute from McNulty after being dumped with fourteen Jane Does; Keema pulling an insolent fratboy off the roof of his car; D'Angelo politely telling Avon to get f*cked; Burrell getting pulled up on his meddling ways in last season's investigation (even if it is by Balichek) and the unit being reunited in their new digs.

These may just be small victories for the good guys, but small victories are the only kind of victories fro the good guys in The Wire. This is the quiet before the storm of Greek tragedy of season two's ending. In the context of the whole show, this is as light as it gets and the few rays of hope mean nothing when the show's over. But for one hour, we laugh and hold them close.