Not for Attribution (20 Jan. 2008)

"They're dead where it doesn't count." Fletcher Summary provided by www.HBO.com . Det... See full synopsis »

Directors:

Joy Kecken, Scott Kecken

Writers:

David Simon (creator), Chris Collins (teleplay),

Stars:

Dominic West, Reg E. Cathey, John Doman

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Dominic West	...	Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty
Reg E. Cathey	...	Norman Wilson
John Doman	...	Dep. Comm. for Operations William A. Rawls
Aidan Gillen	...	Mayor Thomas 'Tommy' Carcetti
Clark Johnson	...	City Editor Augustus 'Gus' Haynes
Deirdre Lovejoy	...	Asst. State's Atty. Rhonda Pearlman
Thomas McCarthy	...	Scott Templeton (as Tom McCarthy)
Clarke Peters	...	Det. Lester Freamon
Wendell Pierce	...	Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland
Lance Reddick	...	Col. Cedric Daniels
Andre Royo	...	Reginald 'Bubbles' Cousins (credit only)
Sonja Sohn	...	Det. Shakima 'Kima' Greggs
Seth Gilliam	...	Sgt. Ellis Carver (credit only)
Domenick Lombardozzi	...	Thomas 'Herc' Hauk (credit only)
Michael Kenneth Williams	...	Omar Little

Storyline

"They're dead where it doesn't count." Fletcher Summary provided by www.HBO.com . Det... See full synopsis »

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Plot Keywords:

wiretapping

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Details

Release Date:

20 January 2008 (USA)

Company Credits

Did You Know?

Quotes

Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: You see Griggs out there, bagging evidence alone, then going back out there to recanvas on a triple? A triple fucking murder! A home invasion, and she's working it alone. They pulled Crutchfield this morning, put him back on the rotation.
Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: That's on them! You can't come --
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: Fucking right, it's on them. A triple murder, and 12 hours later they leave one detective alone on it? I guess she's lucky she has a car!
Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: This shit won't work.
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: Well, then we're no worse than before. Extra red name or two on ...
[...]

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Connections

References Batman (1966)

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Soundtracks

"Messin with the Kid"
Performed by Junior Wells

User Reviews

A classic episode up with the best!

Ever since I started becoming aware of The Wire and knew I had to soon start watching it, I've always heard, as a mantra, that Season 5 wasn't quite in the same ballpark as seasons 3 and 4. Season 5 seemed like an afterthought to some people I've spoken to, or read. Like, the series really ended after Season 4, for all intents and purposes. So, I went into the seasons with those thoughts, though knowing in the back of my mind that I might very well indeed love Season 5 just as much. After all, I sometimes hold Season 2 as my favorite, which few do.

Seasons 3 and 4 were great and I can see how they have become the standard bearers for the show. However, Season 5 so far has been tremendous to me, almost seeming like a "surprise", as I felt myself feeling down that I was done with the hyped-up seasons 3 and 4.

Episode 3 of the 5th season is brilliant. The newspaper/media angle is great and I foresee an awarding finish, rife with societal commentary and astute observations. After all, Simon saved his forte, journalism, to be the 5th and final institution that he examines, critiques, and ultimately holds accountable for some of our society's failings. He knows this stuff and you can bet that everything portrayed is going to be transcendentally real. The seeming set-up for journalistic in-fighting and strife is obvious and has me looking forward to how journalist Scott is going to make a contribution to the paper, and the show, in a major way.

"Not Attribution" continues the downward spiral of Jimmy, including a classically comedic scene of him having sex with a woman on a car hood, flashing his badge, as police roll by. Its entertaining as hell to watch him go about setting up a serial killer story, getting giddy and almost high from the prospects of what it would mean. And then to see the moral compass of Bunk in this regard is intriguing. At the end, the willingness of Lester to continue down that path with Jimmy was surprising and made me not want to wait to see where that storyline would go.

The dogs are closing on the Master Snake Clay Davis and that interplay with Burrell is great. There's a brutal scene where Butchie is tortured, still refusing to give up the whereabouts of Omar. After that, its priceless to see Chris Partlow and Snoop obviously express fear that Omar would be coming after them now, and questioning Marlo's plan. Speaking of Marlo, its great to see his "uncivilized" ways when dealing with the Greeks and their insistence on clean money. Then, at the end, the episode is capped as the writers finally show us what Omar is up to (living it up in an ocean front little town somewhere south of here), and its dramatic perfection to watch him learn of Butchie's fate (via Spanish) and the look that comes over his face, with tears in his eyes.