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The third episode of HBO's slow-burn cop show is a fundamental one, in that it starts throwing some extra dirt into already murky waters and introduces one of American television's essential characters: Omar Little, played with astounding conviction by Michael K. Williams.But let's not get ahead of ourselves: Omar doesn't appear until the third act of the episode, and it's only a small (but very memorable) participation. The bunk of the first season's third hour is spent on the detail's attempts to get a picture of Avon Barksdale, an operation that seems to be doomed to failure until Det. Lester Freamon (Clarke Peters) remembers Avon used to be a boxer and manages to get visual identification through one of his contacts.Minor story lines include Herc, Carver and Prez (Jim True-Frost) getting a verbal kicking for a "field interview" that went bad, Bubbles continuing with his snitch activity and McNulty learning some potentially damaging information from an FBI informant.Once again, the details are crucial: as said before, Omar's appearance is very brief, but what he says and does in those minutes is enough to give us a pretty good idea of who he is and what drives him. Even more surprising is how David Simon allows us glimpses of McNulty's personal life: we've already seen in previous episodes that he's quite a drinker, and now we learn that his marriage failed because he cheated on the missus. Lengthy monologue about his repressed guilt? No, just a quick remark made by his bedmate, Assistant State's Attorney Rhonda Pearlman (Deirdre Lovejoy).And the teaser? Just amazing: D'Angelo explaining the rules of chess to his friends by comparing the various pieces to Avon, Stringer and the rest of the gang.
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