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"How come they don't fly away?" - Ziggy
Summary
Directed by: Dan Attias
Written by: David Simon & Edward Burns
Story by: David Simon & George P. Pelecanos
Teleplay by: George P. Pelecanos
McNulty is wasted after a night of drinking and from a bar calls Elena, who hangs up
on him. Barely able to sit behind the wheel, he leaves the bar to drive home and
sideswipes a bridge abutment while making a turn. Undaunted, he backs up to try
the turn again, to improve on his technique, but crashes his car even harder,
damaging the front end severely. Nursing a bleeding hand, he goes to a nearby
restaurant, and proceeds to pick up a waitress, spending the rest of the night having
wild sex at her apartment.
At the detail office, Daniels informs his team that he — and they — are
officially "on the hook" for the 14 homicides, pleading with them to bring in the case.
Bunk Moreland is sent to the detail, much to his own dismay, as part of the
agreement between Rawls and Daniels. Looking for probable cause to justify a tap
on the warehouse phone, Freamon reports that the phone company shows calls from
the warehouse to Proposition Joe, White Mike and other big eastside drug traffickers.
They also now have Herc and Carver's discovery of Nick Sobotka. Pearlman is
convinced that they have probable cause to justify a tap on Sergei Malatov's cell
phone as well as the warehouse.
Herc and Carver, claiming information from a CI — in actuality from the $1,250
wireless mike that is now ruined — have tracked Nick Sobotka's drug activity
and traced him to his parents' home in South Baltimore. In order to get back the
money lost on the mike, they need to register an actual person, so they visit Herc's
cousin Bernard and persuade him to pretend that he is the CI who provided them
with details of Nick's drug dealing.
At the low rise, because of a shortage of good dope, Puddin notes that business is
"slower than a white man in slippers." "Word is out," says Bodie, "we be sellin'
dogshit up in here." Later, they are not happy when they observe drug dealers from
another part of town serving customers on their real estate.
Sobotka, at the union hall, becomes suspicious when he calls his wireless carrier to
reassure them that his overdue cell phone bill will soon be paid. He learns from the
customer service rep that his account has been "flagged," meaning "Do not
disconnect for non-payment." Horseface suggests that he's "been touched by an
angel."
McNulty, depressed by his marine-squad assignment and even more so by Elena's
cold shoulder, tells Bunk that he "needs to get off that boat. I need to do a
case." When Bunk carries this message to Daniels, the Lieutenant agrees to ask
Rawls if McNulty can be reassigned to his detail. And in meeting later, Daniels
reminds Rawls that he'd promised anything if Daniels would take on the 14 murders.
Rawls still resists. "Jesus, Lieutenant, When I said anything, I meant I'd let you have
a kiss. Feel my tits or somethin', y'know. But not this." But McNulty finally gets the
phone call he's been waiting for.
Nick, in a new truck he's bought with his drug earnings, meets Ziggy to give him his
share of the money they earned from their dock heist. Ziggy wants to be more
deeply involved in Nick's drug dealing, and is hurt and angry when Nick rebuffs him,
impetuously throwing the wad of bills Nick's just given him out the window of the
truck. Later, when Nick calls Serge to discuss a deal, the call is overheard at the
detail room on the newly installed tap. "Not as careful as Barksdale's people,"
observes Prez. "White boys," says Freamon. "What can you expect."
Having followed the Russian prostitutes from the club where they work to an
apartment building, the detail deduces that "the people running the girls and the
people running the drugs are the same crew," and that the apartment house is in
reality a brothel. McNulty's first task back from the boat is to talk his way into the
brothel. Surveillance there reveals a customer who is shuttled back to a distant
parking lot by one of the thugs, and after the thug departs, McNulty confronts the
customer — a well-dressed man — and prevails upon him to reveal how
one gains entrance to the brothel.
At the detail room, Russell and Freamon, glued to their cloned cargo computer,
observe a container off-loaded onto a truck driven by Serge, after which it
disappears from the computer's records. Through the tap on Serge's phone, they
confirm that the container is on the move, and Herc and Carver, sitting outside the
port in an unmarked car, follow. Moments later, Sobotka encounters two port
authority cops making their innocent rounds and asks when Russell is coming back
from the Fairfield piers. His suspicions are further aroused when they tell him that
she's not on the piers as she told Sobotka, but has been detailed to the city police.
Horseface dismisses Sobotka's concerns, telling him "Yer paranoid, Frank."
Nevertheless, Sobotka tells Horseface, who is unloading a ship, to "disappear" a
clean can, e.g. one with no contraband in it, to see if there's any reaction by
observers. Watching the clean container disappear back in the detail room, Daniels
suddenly realizes he has no one at the dock to follow this container and orders
McNulty to race over and track it to its destination. As McNulty flies into action,
Russell calls the port authority cops and has them stop the truck with the clean
container long enough to give McNulty time to arrive. From a distance, Sobotka
observes the "clean" can being stopped and his paranoia grows. He calls Vondas at
the diner, warning him that the wrong container is coming his way as a test, and
demanding that a meeting with The Greek be arranged.
When the clean can arrives at George "Double-G" Glekas' used appliance store, he is
puzzled and angry upon opening it and discovering Barbie Doll knockoffs. George
calls Vondas to complain, and is told to get rid of the stuff. "Overhearing this in the
detail room, Daniels and Freamon mistakenly believe their taps have led them to the
boss man, Vondas. In a celebratory mood, McNulty invites Freamon and Russell out
for a drink: "A good day. You guys wanna go for a taste or two?" Freamon declines,
but McNulty and Russell head to her house. While McNulty has ideas, he finds the
domesticity of Russell's home life and kids off-putting, and leaves before any sparks
fly.
At the Towers, Bodie organizes his crew to arrive at the disputed corner at 7 a.m., in
order to beat their rivals to the spot. They bring guns and bats and when the other
dealer finally shows, he threatens Bodie: "You gon' see me in your sleep." The other
gang leaves, but Bodie knows they'll be back.
Sobotka and Nick visit the diner to meet with The Greek. Vondas tries to persuade
them to meet with him, but Sobotka is angry and adamant, and only when he begins
to leave does The Greek appear. Sobotka explains the reasons for his paranoia and
advises that The Greek shut down the warehouse. Instead, The Greek tells him to
deliver more disappeared but clean containers there, "to show them there is nothing
to hide." When Sobotka demands that he be paid the regular rate for disappearing
the clean cans, The Greek is at first reluctant, but then agrees to pay after Nick is
insistent. But he urges Sobotka to lighten up: "Spend some on a little something
you can touch. A new car, a new coat... It's why we get up in the morning." Sobotka
appears to hear, but he does not comprehend.
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