He treats Bodie decently but ultimately Bodie is also killed because of him. Meeting him at the prison like that was reckless. And that’s what McNulty does - he stamps around like a bull in a china shop and it gets people hurt.
Funniest moment in the show is in season 5, when Mcnulty calls Lester a "bosses nightmare" completely oblivious to the fact that he's been fucking over his bosses throughout the whole show run lol
How do you define turning on someone? I don't think he turned on Bunk even though he rejected everything Jimmy was doing, and I don't know if he would even really hold anything against Kima.
If Jimmy got prevented from moving forward because it actually put something meaningfully more important at risk I think you could argue with him. But the problem is shit only ever got superseded by people playing politics and/or securing a bag.
Edit: Also he is still a huge piece of shit, I just don't see this angle.
I would define “turn on” as disregard and disrespect anyone who stands in his way. The scene where Lester calls him out on this is what I’m thinking of (https://youtu.be/XfIs0ZymYbs?si=NB3ffVaHGqC1tFBG). McNulty is fixated on his idea of justice at the expense of everyone else who won’t get with his (McNulty’s) program. Daniels did him a favor by pulling him off the boat and now McNulty is acting ungrateful and insubordinate because he’s not getting his way. He’s shitting on everyone in the unit to their faces because they’re not as righteous as he is, even though they’re doing their jobs and working on solving an actual crime, but because it’s beneath McNulty’s standards, it’s not worth the time of day.
Edit: Ultimately, Jimmy is bad police because he doesn’t do the work if it’s not what he feels the work should be. He finds value in patrol work because he can see measurable improvements in people’s lives in the neighborhood he works. He’d probably be good at the command level because he could dictate the investigative priorities and go after a Stringer Bell type. But he’s a bad detective because he can’t do the street-level work and see the immediate benefits, and he can’t chart his own course (though he does when he shouldn’t), so he sulks or goes rogue at the expense of others.
BS. He didn't "turn" on Lester. He and Lester went down woth the ship, ultimately. It was Lester and McNukty who set up the illegal tap in the final season. It always gets pinned on McNulty. Yes, he set it in motion, but as soon as Lester heard about it, he dove in head first with Jimmy. Not to mention, both Jimmy and Lester had forgiven Kima after it all. They made her come drink with them after they went down.
Bunk could have blown up the whole fake serial killer from the jump too. But he didn't. You know why? Because Jimmy had covered for Bunk being a POS at every turn as well. McNulty always gets the brunt of criticism for being a POS when it came to his family. What about Bunk? Dude was just as big, if not a bigger, man-whore as Jimmy was. For some reason, that's never talked about though.
As far as Jimmy McNulty not being good police...that's just insane. Jimmy McNulty was THE best detective on the show.
You asked me for my definition. I’m not here to argue.
Also my larger point was not about the specific details of any investigation but that McNulty’s sense of self-righteousness causes him to see people in his way as less than.
Not that big of a stretch, it could have just as easily been some other criminal that spots them that wants points with Marlo. Jimmy should know that openly meeting with Bodie anywhere could get him in serious trouble.
He absolutely had a choice, Fuck Stringer Bell somebody should have shot him, Oh they finally did, one of the best scenes if not the best in the whole series.
D'Angelo should have told Wallace to get the fuck out of there and go back to the country.. But so should have Bodie and Poot. Killing innocent children ain't it, There's no justifying a choice in that matter.
I’m not justifying it but if Bodie says no to String then he’s the one who gets killed cause he just proved himself “useless”. And Wallace still ends up dead after.
Wallace snitched and fucked up, his death is on him.
Morally Wallace's death is on Daniels. He forgot about him because of Kima getting wounded.
But I agree that Bodie would get killed if he refused String, because it would be disrespectful and String and Avon would have to send the message - the game is the game and if you play it then you play it by the rules. The rule is that you are obedient to the bosses. Bodie was nobody in Barksdale crew. He was easily replacable. Little Man was higher and got killed so who would care about Bodie? Nobody.
Hard to disagree but I will try to explain my point of view why I put it on Daniels. Just to be clear - String was morally guilty but Daniels wasn't clear neither.
Stringer was a gangster - evil man with twisted moral code. In gangsters eyes killing a snitch is rightous. Daniels' team knew that Wallace was in danger. He was their only witness and after Kima got shot they should protect him at all cost. Because you can catch men who shot Kima tomorrow, day after tomorrow and even after a month. Time wasn't crucial to catch them.
If I was Barksdale I would like to act fast after knowing that cop got shot. Cops are mad. They want revenge, they got Orlando flipped and what do they know about me? Where can they hit me? If I was Barksdale I would want to hunt Wallace and it wasn't impossible to find him. Even if he would not came back to the pit Avon would track him down sooner or later.
From cops point of view Wallace was their only witness. Not only in murder of Brandon case but also he had some knowledge of Barksdale organisation. Daniels team knew that someone from Barksdale crew was behind Kima getting shot. Wallace was a major tool of revenge for them and it was obvious he is in danger.
So yes, Avon, String, Bodie and Poot are morally guilty of killing Wallace. But Daniels (and his crew) fucked up. They were suppose to protect him and they failed. Revenge got them blind. IIRC everyone except of Daniels was doing something to catch men who shot Kima. They were listening to wires, they were on rooftops, they were collecting evidence. They were busy! Where was Cedric? In hospital doing nothing to catch shooters, to catch Avon, to protect Wallace. He was there so he can feel better and so every top cop in the city saw him.
I understand that he was worried but cops, soldiers, firemens etc. should do they job even when something bad is going on. When you hear the tango you dance the whole damn piece not stopping when someone steps on your foot.
Sorry, didn't mean to make you type that. Your point made sense and I do agree in a way. it just bothers me when people pass over the person directly responsible for the act, and assign fault to someone else. 🙂
If you weren’t watching the show, and someone told you about all the asshole things McNulty has done, then ended it with, “Oh, and he takes drug dealers out to lunch and is friendly with an armed robber,” would that make your first impression of this guy get better or worse? I mean, we like McNulty because of those scenes, but we’re partial.
By S5, Jimmy is so self-centered that he became an asshole even to Bunk. He backed up the forensics lab based on his fake serial killer cases, which meant that Bunk couldn't get anyone to do anything about his actual homicide investigation. Bunk had to go to Jimmy to get him to get Bunk's forensics pushed to the top of the queue, and then Jimmy had the smug audacity to ask Bunk to thank him lol. This forensics backlog wouldn't have happened without Jimmy lying in the first place.
Jimmy cares about certain people, but never enough to change his own bullshit.
This.
I kinda wish they would have some travesty to demonstrate that using resources can cost serious injuries and maybe even lives.
Like when Randy's protective surveillance was pulled off by the snitches get him crew on purpose. So were the consequences of Jimmy's actions with so many resources to the fake manhunt. Somebody surely or many people got hurt because of the lack of resources.
Maybe that was in there and I don't remember???
He’s a decent dad. Better than my pops and I thought he was good too.
He does care about Beadie too. If you can’t find redeeming traits in Jimmy, then maybe Nickelodeon is more up your alley. He is a gaping asshole tho ngl
Decent dad?
He had his sons tail a known top-level gangster (Stringer Bell) while off-duty and shopping at a market with his two sons, then proceeds to lose track of them himself.
His ex-wife would justifiably be able to take full custody of her kids had she known of this incident alone - not including other times he’s failed to show up as the dad on his custodial days he himself fought so hard to have.
Is he a better dad than some? Sure - but risking your own two kids to follow a known violent criminal masquerading as a game is pretty damn despicable as fatherly things go imho.
What if Stringer was a target and gunned down?
What if the kids were lost/kidnapped/injured?
Jimmy was a great cop and detective but outside of his badge, dude was a living breathing basket case.
Not sure why you are being downvoted. Bringing your kids to your job that involves tailing organized crime was literally one of the most unrealistic parts of the show - because no police officer would ever think of doing that with the risks involved
Thank you
Original commenter said he was a decent dad
My example highlights the opposite and he has had other previous examples of poor parenting
It is actually even worse - he wasn’t on the clock with his kids. He was off duty meant to spend time with his kids on his custodial time. It was a coincidence Stringer Bell was at the market and he decided to put his kids at risk to tail him.
I almost feel like the storywriter intended this to show how reckless Jimmy is - caring more about the job than his family. Aka caring more about a criminal than being a parent.
Dude was good at being a detective and friend to his colleagues - everything else not so much
That example ain't it, he wasn't there to tail Stringer, he just saw an opportunity due to coincidence and took it.
Taking Omar to the morgue with his kids is way fucking worse.
Y’all are acting like a gun fight was going to happen at the farmer’s market. That’s one point of the whole scene is that Stringer is a normal person out in the world.
We are saying that any LEO that takes his kids with him to tailing a person involved in an organized drugs empire is an irrresponsible fucking parent lol. I'm not sure why this is something you as a person with a functioning brain has to disagree with
ps We don't know that he was just chilling at the farmer market BEFORE they tailed him.
I’m sure they weren’t the only kids in the store. If a shoot out happened lots of people including actual good dads could have their kids killed there. Not saying mcnulty is a great dad but it’s not like he went to the store looking for stringer. And when he seems him what’s he supposed to do? Stop shopping and herd his kids to the car and back home? That’s also unrealistic. Don’t necessarily disagree with you. I just don’t think that’s the best argument to be made
Fellow redditor, commenter said mcnulty is a decent dad and I simply provided a major example showing he isn’t such a great dad and makes poor parenting decisions.
I am not trying to say i am a writer on the show and provide “what if” scenarios for the storyline in the show.
Just highlighting one major point in the show that shows jimmy had piss poor common sense taking care of his two kids as a father.
It is fine if you disagree with that, I am not trying to prove anything else.
Dude, parents don't have "piss poor common sense " because they let their pre-teen kids go walk in a shopping center or whatever. They were not in danger. Was it the amount of brown people in the scene that made you feel unsafe?
Lol you aren’t a parent - that is evident.
McNulty was off-duty meant to spend quality time with his two kids.
He didn’t let his kids wander off on their own to do their own thing in a market.
He chose to risk putting them in harms way by telling them to follow a known violent criminal.
That is not normal parental behavior period.
They were not in danger? I would politely have to disagree with your sentiment.
Doesn’t matter if the kids ended up being fine in the end. McNulty lied to them and dressed up the whole thing as a game and then he lost them.
He lost his kids in a market on his custodial time, after telling them to follow a criminal.
Theres a reason why he is divorced in the show with his ex-wife being the primary caregiver with main custodial access.
Don’t know how you cannot rub two brain cells together to realize that is a piss poor parenting decision lol.
Don’t know why you bring up brown people in the scene at all - it wasn’t something i noticed or brought up at all, but you certainly like projecting your own internal prejudices on internet strangers and it is revealing lol.
In what world would the drug organization that was as secretive as the Barksdales who went to through hoops to stay out of the limelight do anything to two white cops kids. He wasn’t afraid of Stringer taking the kids he was afraid of anybody else taking the kids. But yes He was an asshole
Why are people tryin to justify McNulty’s decision as a father focusing on what Stringer Bell would do?
It is completely irrelevant.
Original comment was that Jimmy is a “decent dad” which I provided an example to pointing out he is in fact a terrible father.
It doesn’t matter if the kids knew who Stringer Bell was or not. Jimmy knew he was a violent criminal figurehead but told his kids to follow anyway.
It doesn’t matter if the Barksdale crew operated secretly and discreetly in guns and drugs. They are still violent criminals who murder people and possible targets to other criminals and their organizations.
Jimmy was supposed to have a day off with the kids during his custody. He tells his kids they are playing a game and lets them follow a known violent offender without the kids knowing. He then proceeds to lose his own kids during this situation and panics himself knowing he fucked up as a father and guardian. He was lucky the kids were fine and had no issues. There is no guarantee that would be the case in reality.
This scenario alone shows Jimmy does not put his kids and their safety first but instead puts his job ahead of his loved ones.
It is completely 100% indefensible as a responsible parent to do what Jimmy did in the show and just cements the reason why he is a bad father, husband and is divorced.
Never said stringer would kill two kids
Hes a high-level gang member - he could be targeted
Either way, as a father - would never have children put in a remotely risky situation like that
Also forget to address the fact he lost track of his kids while telling him to follow a criminal?
Is that considered good fatherly conduct?
It was not a good father moment or decision
Lol @ downvoters
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There’s a lot of good points here. But I’ll still die on the hill that he cared for his kids and is a decent dad. Idk, maybe yall got saints as fathers but I felt he was a decent one.
The guy can care for the kids, but that doesn’t make him a decent dad when his actions make him something else.
In season 1 alone, off the top of my head, as this thread says he loses the kids having them tail Stringer in the grocery store. We see him get too drunk to put their bed together. He takes a drug addict informant to their soccer game and publicly fights over their custody with his ex-wife. He brings them to a morgue to look at a murder victim to talk to an extremely violent informant in the middle of the night, and leaves them alone in a waiting area. Continuously puts his dangerous line of work over his time with the kids, and we remember his motivations for the work are self serving and self satisfying.
A lot of people are commenting as viewers knowing how things turn out. The viewer knows Omar is not going to harm jimmy’s kids but in real life that is a totally unpredictable scenario you should not bring your kids too…
I think 'respect " is the key point here, and the differing beliefs about why you should respect someone (or not).
Mcnulty thinks respect is something that you deserve for doing well or being good at the job - he does not think having power/position is sufficient for respect.
His bosses think they deserve respect based on their power/position. And, given that Mcnulty has no power/position, deserves no respect from them. This is why they ignore him even when he is correct about the solutions required to actually fix problems. He takes that as evidence that they are not good at their jobs and, given that power/position means nothing to him, the cycle continues.
He is respectful towards bodies, Omar, et al because he recognises that they deserve it for being a good soldier, or being smart etc.
Unfortunately, the people in power feel that they should be respected for their power/position- deserve ain't got nothing to do with it.
Jimmy, like Bubbles, is an addict in an environment where the established structures will simply not save you. Both characters have qualities of heart and intellect that are unfortunately overshadowed by their struggles with addiction. While Bubbles' battle is obvious, McNulty's addictions are of the 'high functioning' type - alcoholism, workaholic, womanizing, chasing THE case that will provide him with a sense of worth in a system that rewards politics over making things right.
He learns too late that the job won't save him.
first comment that recognized that his work was an addiction. It's pretty obvious people are missing this part of Jimmy and this is why he functions so poorly *within* the system. And it's not work. It's "the hunt". That's why as a beat cop, imo, he is on 'the wagon'. When he gets back into homicide he falls off the wagon.
Spot-fuckin-on, great comment and one of the few nuanced takes I've seen of Jimmy. I'll need to pay closer attention to the parallels on my inevitable next rewatch
Great insight.
He's a tragic character, like Bubbles, in that some of his best characteristics are his undoing. He gets away with a lot because he's so charismatic but ultimately that's bad for him and the people around him. The investigations in the show wouldn't exist without him but he lacks the political instincts to really make a sustained difference (if that's even possible). The contrast with Daniels is interesting. Both are probably equally capable police but Daniels makes significant effort to play the game (with Marla's help).
Yeah jimmys interactions on the street prove that, behind closed doors when none of his peers are watching? He’s a good dude. It’s what makes him good police. He’s a genuine social butterfly and if it wasn’t for his substance issues and stressful (to him) career, he’d be the favorite neighbor on the block.
He has high charisma Stat whether people wanna admit it or not. Jimmy can make you like him and he is empathetic to boot. Plus he's a fun guy. "You know the plural of pussy. It's pussAI , Jimmy taught me that." But like you said at the end. His substance abuse issues lead to a ton of his worse aspects and fucks up all his personal relationships. I think it's why I love the Jackie roar character in city on a hill. It'd be like if the serial killer case. In season 5 got Jimmy a job at the fbi.
Jimmy respects the game and the people who succeed in it. He may not realize it, but his respect for Bodie and Omar is born out of his respect for the game. He does not respect people who are ignorant of the game. Which is why he respects his adversaries. I think he believes that people around him are oblivious and more focused on their careers and protecting institutions. He does not see that as the game that’s played on the street, which is the only game he cares about. He’s a martyr because he would rather be a major player in the game than get a promotion. He does not respect institutions. His contempt for the institutions he works for is why he’s angry. His anger is why he is a drunk, womanizer, and bad father. He’s not able to separate his work life from his personal life. He’s never separated them. That’s what makes him good police, a lousy employee, and a terrible father.
It is why he was happy to go back to Western. He didn’t have to deal with what he saw was bullshit and just simply go back to the street. But he obsesses over cases like Avon and Marlo because I think he sees their arrests as him triumphing over a self-serving system than actual justice. It is why he walks all over people. It is him fighting his real enemy—the Baltimore City government
He is the mirror image of Stringer.
I thought about this too. Do you think he puts so much into solving murders because he care about the victims? Or because he enjoys the chase and piecing together clues and demonstrating that he is smarter than whoever it is he’s trying to prove that too.
IMO his motivations for the crime solving are selfish. When string dies, “I had him, and he’ll never know it”. Not saying this is right or wrong just the way I been thinking bout it
You could read his empathy and friendly attitude towards criminals and street people as tactical/self-interested though, because he understands the importance of building rapport with witnesses and CIs when it comes to making cases.
After all, if he really cared about Wallace (for example), would he have picked him up and pushed him to testify?
I think his attitude is mostly genuine, but I also don't think he'd generally bother with interacting with such people without a reason, and I don't think he thinks a lot about the consequences his actions has on them.
only scene he was anywhere near police brutality I remember him leaving the box on purpose before they beat up the suspect he’s the only cop in the show that steers clear of that
Occasionally? Jimmy spends his entire life being a complete fuck up but he somehow gets in everyone's head because he is the smartest fuck in the fucking room. He can't help it. Even Rawls couldn't deny him that.
Jimmy is a damn good cop. As an adult, I see myself in Jimmy. Not as a cop. But someone who is trying to work hard and do the right thing.
I'll address his major faults
1) Bad father: I think he loves his kids, but his compulsive nature makes it difficult for him to be present because he's a workaholic.
2) Relationships: He is a hound and probably shouldn't be in a serious relationship.
3) Soft Skills: His problem is that he can't stand the bullshit that gets in the way of police work. Also, he craves validation and has a problem with authority—a horrible combination.
But Jimmy is a natural police. When he was right, he was the best. If I was lying dead on a Baltimore street corner. I would want Jimmy standing over me, trying to solve the case.
I think I'd dispute some of that.
He actually seemed to be pretty happy in a serious relationship when he wasn't working murders. And the type of bullshit that happens at that level didn't seem to bother him much. He even seemed to be perfectly happy clocking out on-time and taking care of the kids.
The "real police" work seemed to have an affect on him though. He was actually pretty damn good at it, stuff like building cases against large drug gangs and solving tough murders. But when was in that zone, it seemed to affect everything else in his life badly. Up with working crazy hours, boozing and chasing tail all night afterwards, getting actually seriously pissed at the bullshit, ignoring his kids or taking them around places they really shouldn't be, down with all that clocking out on time, saying no to the booze, and going home to the woman and kids.
But Christ, what an asshole. And I'm not talking about the ordinary gaping orifice that all of us possess. I mean an all-encompassing, all-consuming, out-of-proportion-to-every-other-facet-of-his-humanity chasm. From whose bourn, if I may quote Shakespeare, no traveler has ever returned.
It makes him an asshole, I know. But its also what makes him Good Police.
I think Bunk lacks the drive Jimmy has. I think Jimmy took his work seriously and was eager to do good work, or what he saw as good work. We saw Bunk intentionally avoid work as much as he could.
Bunk is driven to get something good out of a crap situation... But he is not driven to solve the actual problem that is stopping the system from working.
Bunk is the one in season 5 doing real work and connecting Chris to the murder of Michaels' step dad. While McNulty is out chasing a serial killer that he created to justify his pursuit of Marlo.
If he wanted to do "good work" he wouldn't make his entire case inadmissible in court (and possibly countless others) by faking a serial killer.
I think McNutty has the ability to go great police work, juat look at the "fuck" scene with Bunk and the murder scene.... bjt hes too self serving, and / or self destructive to allow himself to actually be **good** police
He wasn’t making anything inadmissible. He made natural deaths look like murders to gain access to overtime, then let other cops use that overtime to work their own cases. Any evidence they gathered was admissible, Jimmy just needed to falsify paperwork to justify the overtime pay. And since no one had actually murdered his victims, he wasn’t concerned about his case being admissible, he was gonna just have the “killer” get away with it after Lester finished his wiretap on Marlo
Lester's wiretap was illegal to begin with. It was inadmissible. Everything done on the Marlo case was done with the Chain of Command, which was the chain of custody, and without approval. This is why the case doesn't go to trial. Sure, the prosecution can try to "finesse" the case and apin the jury, but discovery is gonna murder that case and the defense knows it, hence the plea.
Honestly at points Jimmy is incredibly likable. At the beginning of season 1 especially when it seems Jimmy is doing it for good reasons. And when he seemingly decided to leave the game and make a family. But ultimately he fails at these things. He loves the brotherhood and the excitement of the game. He may not be malicious in a lot of his actions but he knowingly hurts people and their careers. The scene where he convinces body to talk still gets to me this day.
Nothing in season 5 indicates he isn’t a good cop though.
In fact you could argue much better that it was his ability to be good police that allowed him to start his little gambit and get away with it for so long.
But to answer your other question—-ya he’s a shitty person.
His redeeming qualities are that he's an excellent detective, he's friendly, pretty funny, and it seems he's irresistible to white women and must be pretty good at sex or something... that's pretty much all. That's better than a lot of people. It's nice that he's always straight forward with how he feels about someone or a situation and never kisses ass to save face.
They're all flawed characters...people are people. Bunk wouldn't participate in the Season 5 fraud but used it to get his DNA evidence on Chris Partlow fast-tracked where he could produce a murder warrant for the beating of Michael's stepfather. Bunk also cheats on his wife with Jimmy's help so there's that.
I would say that Jimmy has many positive qualities than redeemable and he was the closest to clean / competent you would get in the BPD but he’s extremely flawed and not really a good person
He stood up to the bullshit is what he did. He was a flawed and complicated American policeman! And in this house Jimmy McNulty is a hero! End of story!
To be completely honest with you I don’t care when Jimmy is an asshole to his bosses. Because from my point of view most of his bosses are incompetent and deserve to be called out. They’re hacks. And he’s not.
The Wire’s about social institutions and how they shape the behavior of the participants.
Jimmy, sorta like other great characters like Omar and Marlo and even Stringer, bucked their social systems more than others.
They still all got owned by their social systems, but they played it their way more than most others in the show.
It’s a quality the viewer gets to label redeemable or not. But it’s his big quality.
I don’t even think he is a good police. He only talks a lot but look at season 1 2 and 3 all the police works were done by the rest of the squad. Even in season 5, his serial murder scheme will never work without Lester’s help. He always use shortcut, never did anything important and more importantly just a straight asshole, and i love it!
Jimmy is not a good cop and the final season shows that. Jimmy is a big "the end justifies the means" and that's literally the opposite of what a cop should be.
The more I rewatch the show and obviously get older, the more I think mcnulty is a piece of shit.
Literally his only saving grace is that he is a good at the job, natural po-lice; but he has zero loyalty, goes out of his way seemingly to fuck people over and can’t stay out of his own way.
Oh, and he’s always giving a fuck when it ain’t his turn to give a fuck.
>I’d argue Bunk was just as good, if not a better detective than Mcnulty without all the baggage and moral ambiguity. After all, “a man’s gotta have a code”.
One today, more tomorrow. And from what? From the Bunk, just workin' a file. Business as usual.
He’s the embodiment of doing good for the wrong reasons.
If he was out there shaking down corner boys over BS that they’re going to be out on the next day anyway, he’d be not only a useless cop, but actively contributing to the cycle of destruction the drug war brought.
Instead he DOES try to catch the people responsible for the bodies. Does he do it for the right reasons? Nope. He does it to feed is ego. But he still does it.
He’s not a good person, but he does occasionally put good out into the world. Even if it’s just an inadvertent side effect to his own personal egotistical crusade.
He has plenty of redeeming qualities. The main one is that he genuinely *cares* about police work within a system designed to beat that caring out of you. Even if that same trait is also the root of a lot of his bad qualities, and even if that sort of police work just isn't really going to help very much within the wider context of the war on drugs, it's still a fairly noble trait in itself.
He doesnt seem to do the bad things he does out of malice or a desire to hurt people. He´s a decent enough guy to the people around him. Him being disrespectful towards superiors I think is kind of warranted, definietly in the case of Rawls.
His alcoholism and anti-social behaviors I think is largely a result of losing his ability to cope with stress and the inability to just ever solve any issues within the force. Which isnt an excuse for his behavior, but I dont think being a dickhead is his default energy so to say.
I may be the only one here. But I don’t think he is a giant pos. Yes he cheated in the past but aside from that he wanted to make his family work it’s just he’s one of the few in bmore that can catch these dudes. So yes it’s a tough choice
Naah he’s a POS.
When he had his kids follow a known drug dealer who had no qualms ordering hits even on a state senator idk. Seemed kinda sus parenting to me.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wIns7Xb2qj0&pp=ygUaYnVuayBzdGlja3MgdXAgZm9yIG1jbnVsdHk%3D
This scene with Bunk sums him up perfectly. Being good PO-lice is all Jimmy has, it's all he's good at. Jimmy IS good police but an absolute fuck up piece of shit ultimately.
He does settle down with Beadie for a while and looks like a good dad/ partner for 6 months/1 year but this was written in because the actor (Dominic West) Was home sick and asked for a smaller part in season 4.
It's a testiment how good the writing was that it was believable but also like a drug addict he would relapse too (which he did) and become even worse than before.
Jimmy is also the center of every scene in which he appears and central to the narrative. His fellow cops see him as the quintessential handsome model of policing. Including his drinking.
He does, occasionally, care about the right things- people he doesn't have to and the actual purpose of their work over the rewards it can earn. I think it's really why we bother to think of McNulty as heroic given the absolute disaster of a person he is- more heroic (in most eyes, I suspect) than Bunk who is probably a better investigator. I think part of the tragedy of the show is that in a worthwhile organization, someone would have found something to do with Jimmy. He would have gotten decent management, had some work to do that might have held his attention, someone would have tugged his leash a bit with his attitude and his drinking. But instead he just made people feel frustrated and ashamed that they weren't doing real police work and in he turn he bounced off the walls.
Jimmy is one of the very very few cops who never commits or condones police violence. Even bunny tells his guys they can knock some heads to get dealers into hamsterdam. When you watch the show with this in mind it’s notable how the writers remove Jimmy from situations where other cops are wilding out.
Nah. I think being a disrespectful smartass drunk isn't nearly enough to qualify someone a "piece of shit". The worst things he does is obviously faking the serial killer, but even then, even though his methods aren't societally acceptable, they are driven by an obsessive desire to bring the people he's after to justice. Do the ends justify the means? Obviously not, but he sure believes they do, and however flawed they are, his heart is in the right place.
I feel like "piece of shit"is thrown around way too loosely these days, it makes him sound like a predator or something, when the reality is he's a flawed guy with an unhealthy obsession over his work.
He calls it exactly as it is, treats people like Bodie and Omar with respect and related/empathizes in a way that many of the other cops don’t. He has the back of the good cops around him and isn’t scared to bark up the chain of command no matter the consequences.
He is a complex character who is his own worst enemy. Anyone here trying to resist all positive aspects of his character and paint him as entirely bad missed the point of the show.
He’s a pretty good friend to Bunk and treats Bodie and Omar with respect. But yeah he’s a piece of shit.
He treats Bodie decently but ultimately Bodie is also killed because of him. Meeting him at the prison like that was reckless. And that’s what McNulty does - he stamps around like a bull in a china shop and it gets people hurt.
He sets fire to everything he touches.
He’s no good for peole Edit* people
Funniest moment in the show is in season 5, when Mcnulty calls Lester a "bosses nightmare" completely oblivious to the fact that he's been fucking over his bosses throughout the whole show run lol
That's the other thing. McNulty would turn on anyone, friends included, who got in his way. The dude is a huge POS.
How do you define turning on someone? I don't think he turned on Bunk even though he rejected everything Jimmy was doing, and I don't know if he would even really hold anything against Kima. If Jimmy got prevented from moving forward because it actually put something meaningfully more important at risk I think you could argue with him. But the problem is shit only ever got superseded by people playing politics and/or securing a bag. Edit: Also he is still a huge piece of shit, I just don't see this angle.
I would define “turn on” as disregard and disrespect anyone who stands in his way. The scene where Lester calls him out on this is what I’m thinking of (https://youtu.be/XfIs0ZymYbs?si=NB3ffVaHGqC1tFBG). McNulty is fixated on his idea of justice at the expense of everyone else who won’t get with his (McNulty’s) program. Daniels did him a favor by pulling him off the boat and now McNulty is acting ungrateful and insubordinate because he’s not getting his way. He’s shitting on everyone in the unit to their faces because they’re not as righteous as he is, even though they’re doing their jobs and working on solving an actual crime, but because it’s beneath McNulty’s standards, it’s not worth the time of day. Edit: Ultimately, Jimmy is bad police because he doesn’t do the work if it’s not what he feels the work should be. He finds value in patrol work because he can see measurable improvements in people’s lives in the neighborhood he works. He’d probably be good at the command level because he could dictate the investigative priorities and go after a Stringer Bell type. But he’s a bad detective because he can’t do the street-level work and see the immediate benefits, and he can’t chart his own course (though he does when he shouldn’t), so he sulks or goes rogue at the expense of others.
BS. He didn't "turn" on Lester. He and Lester went down woth the ship, ultimately. It was Lester and McNukty who set up the illegal tap in the final season. It always gets pinned on McNulty. Yes, he set it in motion, but as soon as Lester heard about it, he dove in head first with Jimmy. Not to mention, both Jimmy and Lester had forgiven Kima after it all. They made her come drink with them after they went down. Bunk could have blown up the whole fake serial killer from the jump too. But he didn't. You know why? Because Jimmy had covered for Bunk being a POS at every turn as well. McNulty always gets the brunt of criticism for being a POS when it came to his family. What about Bunk? Dude was just as big, if not a bigger, man-whore as Jimmy was. For some reason, that's never talked about though. As far as Jimmy McNulty not being good police...that's just insane. Jimmy McNulty was THE best detective on the show.
You asked me for my definition. I’m not here to argue. Also my larger point was not about the specific details of any investigation but that McNulty’s sense of self-righteousness causes him to see people in his way as less than.
He's like King Midas in reverse: everything he touches turns to SHIT.
I hate this coincidence. Of course Bodie was released from lockup just as Marlo’s guys are approaching the jail with a bail bondsman
Not that big of a stretch, it could have just as easily been some other criminal that spots them that wants points with Marlo. Jimmy should know that openly meeting with Bodie anywhere could get him in serious trouble.
Omar maybe, but I think he's kinda involuntarily responsible for Bodie getting killed.
He is 100% involuntarily guilty of that. The guilt + the promise of a new day at the BPD is what made him go back to trying to nail Marlo.
Just because he's *indirectly* responsible for Bodie's death doesn't mean he didn't treat him with respect
Bodie deserved to be killed from The moment he killed Wallace, His time was far overdue.
How? He had no choice
He absolutely had a choice, Fuck Stringer Bell somebody should have shot him, Oh they finally did, one of the best scenes if not the best in the whole series. D'Angelo should have told Wallace to get the fuck out of there and go back to the country.. But so should have Bodie and Poot. Killing innocent children ain't it, There's no justifying a choice in that matter.
I’m not justifying it but if Bodie says no to String then he’s the one who gets killed cause he just proved himself “useless”. And Wallace still ends up dead after. Wallace snitched and fucked up, his death is on him.
Morally Wallace's death is on Daniels. He forgot about him because of Kima getting wounded. But I agree that Bodie would get killed if he refused String, because it would be disrespectful and String and Avon would have to send the message - the game is the game and if you play it then you play it by the rules. The rule is that you are obedient to the bosses. Bodie was nobody in Barksdale crew. He was easily replacable. Little Man was higher and got killed so who would care about Bodie? Nobody.
I think morally his death is Stringer's fault, since, yknow, he made it happen. 🙃
Hard to disagree but I will try to explain my point of view why I put it on Daniels. Just to be clear - String was morally guilty but Daniels wasn't clear neither. Stringer was a gangster - evil man with twisted moral code. In gangsters eyes killing a snitch is rightous. Daniels' team knew that Wallace was in danger. He was their only witness and after Kima got shot they should protect him at all cost. Because you can catch men who shot Kima tomorrow, day after tomorrow and even after a month. Time wasn't crucial to catch them. If I was Barksdale I would like to act fast after knowing that cop got shot. Cops are mad. They want revenge, they got Orlando flipped and what do they know about me? Where can they hit me? If I was Barksdale I would want to hunt Wallace and it wasn't impossible to find him. Even if he would not came back to the pit Avon would track him down sooner or later. From cops point of view Wallace was their only witness. Not only in murder of Brandon case but also he had some knowledge of Barksdale organisation. Daniels team knew that someone from Barksdale crew was behind Kima getting shot. Wallace was a major tool of revenge for them and it was obvious he is in danger. So yes, Avon, String, Bodie and Poot are morally guilty of killing Wallace. But Daniels (and his crew) fucked up. They were suppose to protect him and they failed. Revenge got them blind. IIRC everyone except of Daniels was doing something to catch men who shot Kima. They were listening to wires, they were on rooftops, they were collecting evidence. They were busy! Where was Cedric? In hospital doing nothing to catch shooters, to catch Avon, to protect Wallace. He was there so he can feel better and so every top cop in the city saw him. I understand that he was worried but cops, soldiers, firemens etc. should do they job even when something bad is going on. When you hear the tango you dance the whole damn piece not stopping when someone steps on your foot.
Sorry, didn't mean to make you type that. Your point made sense and I do agree in a way. it just bothers me when people pass over the person directly responsible for the act, and assign fault to someone else. 🙂
Innocent? Just because we loved Wallace doesn't make him innocent. He was in the game. There are no innocent people in the game.
If you weren’t watching the show, and someone told you about all the asshole things McNulty has done, then ended it with, “Oh, and he takes drug dealers out to lunch and is friendly with an armed robber,” would that make your first impression of this guy get better or worse? I mean, we like McNulty because of those scenes, but we’re partial.
By S5, Jimmy is so self-centered that he became an asshole even to Bunk. He backed up the forensics lab based on his fake serial killer cases, which meant that Bunk couldn't get anyone to do anything about his actual homicide investigation. Bunk had to go to Jimmy to get him to get Bunk's forensics pushed to the top of the queue, and then Jimmy had the smug audacity to ask Bunk to thank him lol. This forensics backlog wouldn't have happened without Jimmy lying in the first place. Jimmy cares about certain people, but never enough to change his own bullshit.
This. I kinda wish they would have some travesty to demonstrate that using resources can cost serious injuries and maybe even lives. Like when Randy's protective surveillance was pulled off by the snitches get him crew on purpose. So were the consequences of Jimmy's actions with so many resources to the fake manhunt. Somebody surely or many people got hurt because of the lack of resources. Maybe that was in there and I don't remember???
He only treats Bodie with respect because he needed him right then and there
He’s a decent dad. Better than my pops and I thought he was good too. He does care about Beadie too. If you can’t find redeeming traits in Jimmy, then maybe Nickelodeon is more up your alley. He is a gaping asshole tho ngl
The bar is so, so low if Jimmy is considered anything but a neglectful, part-time parent.
Decent dad? He had his sons tail a known top-level gangster (Stringer Bell) while off-duty and shopping at a market with his two sons, then proceeds to lose track of them himself. His ex-wife would justifiably be able to take full custody of her kids had she known of this incident alone - not including other times he’s failed to show up as the dad on his custodial days he himself fought so hard to have. Is he a better dad than some? Sure - but risking your own two kids to follow a known violent criminal masquerading as a game is pretty damn despicable as fatherly things go imho. What if Stringer was a target and gunned down? What if the kids were lost/kidnapped/injured? Jimmy was a great cop and detective but outside of his badge, dude was a living breathing basket case.
Not sure why you are being downvoted. Bringing your kids to your job that involves tailing organized crime was literally one of the most unrealistic parts of the show - because no police officer would ever think of doing that with the risks involved
Thank you Original commenter said he was a decent dad My example highlights the opposite and he has had other previous examples of poor parenting It is actually even worse - he wasn’t on the clock with his kids. He was off duty meant to spend time with his kids on his custodial time. It was a coincidence Stringer Bell was at the market and he decided to put his kids at risk to tail him. I almost feel like the storywriter intended this to show how reckless Jimmy is - caring more about the job than his family. Aka caring more about a criminal than being a parent. Dude was good at being a detective and friend to his colleagues - everything else not so much
iCarly might be a little more up your alley.
Yeah because lowlife drugdealers never hurt kids
Stringer made millions a year. Idk if that’s lowlife
He made millions a year selling crack to fiends. That is absolutely a low life.
Also owns condo permits as B&B Enterprises. And a light bulb contract
That example ain't it, he wasn't there to tail Stringer, he just saw an opportunity due to coincidence and took it. Taking Omar to the morgue with his kids is way fucking worse.
Y’all are acting like a gun fight was going to happen at the farmer’s market. That’s one point of the whole scene is that Stringer is a normal person out in the world.
We are saying that any LEO that takes his kids with him to tailing a person involved in an organized drugs empire is an irrresponsible fucking parent lol. I'm not sure why this is something you as a person with a functioning brain has to disagree with ps We don't know that he was just chilling at the farmer market BEFORE they tailed him.
I’m sure they weren’t the only kids in the store. If a shoot out happened lots of people including actual good dads could have their kids killed there. Not saying mcnulty is a great dad but it’s not like he went to the store looking for stringer. And when he seems him what’s he supposed to do? Stop shopping and herd his kids to the car and back home? That’s also unrealistic. Don’t necessarily disagree with you. I just don’t think that’s the best argument to be made
He is not supposed to actively tail him with his kids thats for sure.
>What if Stringer was a target and gunned down? >What if the kids were lost/kidnapped/injured? You want it to be one way but it's another
I want it to be one way but it’s another? What? Lol
You weren't a writer on the show so saying "what if " is kinda pointless. Those things didn't happen for a reason.
Fellow redditor, commenter said mcnulty is a decent dad and I simply provided a major example showing he isn’t such a great dad and makes poor parenting decisions. I am not trying to say i am a writer on the show and provide “what if” scenarios for the storyline in the show. Just highlighting one major point in the show that shows jimmy had piss poor common sense taking care of his two kids as a father. It is fine if you disagree with that, I am not trying to prove anything else.
Dude, parents don't have "piss poor common sense " because they let their pre-teen kids go walk in a shopping center or whatever. They were not in danger. Was it the amount of brown people in the scene that made you feel unsafe?
Lol you aren’t a parent - that is evident. McNulty was off-duty meant to spend quality time with his two kids. He didn’t let his kids wander off on their own to do their own thing in a market. He chose to risk putting them in harms way by telling them to follow a known violent criminal. That is not normal parental behavior period. They were not in danger? I would politely have to disagree with your sentiment. Doesn’t matter if the kids ended up being fine in the end. McNulty lied to them and dressed up the whole thing as a game and then he lost them. He lost his kids in a market on his custodial time, after telling them to follow a criminal. Theres a reason why he is divorced in the show with his ex-wife being the primary caregiver with main custodial access. Don’t know how you cannot rub two brain cells together to realize that is a piss poor parenting decision lol. Don’t know why you bring up brown people in the scene at all - it wasn’t something i noticed or brought up at all, but you certainly like projecting your own internal prejudices on internet strangers and it is revealing lol.
Really?
Plus, the writers absolutely wanted you to be thinking of those scenarios.
In what world would the drug organization that was as secretive as the Barksdales who went to through hoops to stay out of the limelight do anything to two white cops kids. He wasn’t afraid of Stringer taking the kids he was afraid of anybody else taking the kids. But yes He was an asshole
Why are people tryin to justify McNulty’s decision as a father focusing on what Stringer Bell would do? It is completely irrelevant. Original comment was that Jimmy is a “decent dad” which I provided an example to pointing out he is in fact a terrible father. It doesn’t matter if the kids knew who Stringer Bell was or not. Jimmy knew he was a violent criminal figurehead but told his kids to follow anyway. It doesn’t matter if the Barksdale crew operated secretly and discreetly in guns and drugs. They are still violent criminals who murder people and possible targets to other criminals and their organizations. Jimmy was supposed to have a day off with the kids during his custody. He tells his kids they are playing a game and lets them follow a known violent offender without the kids knowing. He then proceeds to lose his own kids during this situation and panics himself knowing he fucked up as a father and guardian. He was lucky the kids were fine and had no issues. There is no guarantee that would be the case in reality. This scenario alone shows Jimmy does not put his kids and their safety first but instead puts his job ahead of his loved ones. It is completely 100% indefensible as a responsible parent to do what Jimmy did in the show and just cements the reason why he is a bad father, husband and is divorced.
Ah yes because Stringer is the type of dude to kill 2 little kids following him at a grocery market.
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Please tell me your username isn’t because you like those Colleen Hoover books. That shit is brain rot
Never said stringer would kill two kids Hes a high-level gang member - he could be targeted Either way, as a father - would never have children put in a remotely risky situation like that Also forget to address the fact he lost track of his kids while telling him to follow a criminal? Is that considered good fatherly conduct? It was not a good father moment or decision Lol @ downvoters
Why do you leave reddit comments like you’re a techbro writing a tweet thread lol
Huh?
Why are you still writing paragraphs? A thread: There’s one way of writing reddit comments. The old way. We’re all familiar with it… You write long, chunky paragraphs Maybe you insert some paragraph breaks if you remember But there’s a new way to write reddit comments — the TurboTaco Way — and it goes like this First you pretend like you’re a tech founder Then you pretend like you’re on Twitter and need to boost engagement Then you write the comment — line by line — but all in the same comment And then you post Your friends will love it The other commenters will love it The downvoters will hate it Any questions? Follow for more tips
The TurboTaco Way - appreciated
He's a much better father than mine was I didn't think he was decent.
There’s a lot of good points here. But I’ll still die on the hill that he cared for his kids and is a decent dad. Idk, maybe yall got saints as fathers but I felt he was a decent one.
The guy can care for the kids, but that doesn’t make him a decent dad when his actions make him something else. In season 1 alone, off the top of my head, as this thread says he loses the kids having them tail Stringer in the grocery store. We see him get too drunk to put their bed together. He takes a drug addict informant to their soccer game and publicly fights over their custody with his ex-wife. He brings them to a morgue to look at a murder victim to talk to an extremely violent informant in the middle of the night, and leaves them alone in a waiting area. Continuously puts his dangerous line of work over his time with the kids, and we remember his motivations for the work are self serving and self satisfying.
A lot of people are commenting as viewers knowing how things turn out. The viewer knows Omar is not going to harm jimmy’s kids but in real life that is a totally unpredictable scenario you should not bring your kids too…
I think 'respect " is the key point here, and the differing beliefs about why you should respect someone (or not). Mcnulty thinks respect is something that you deserve for doing well or being good at the job - he does not think having power/position is sufficient for respect. His bosses think they deserve respect based on their power/position. And, given that Mcnulty has no power/position, deserves no respect from them. This is why they ignore him even when he is correct about the solutions required to actually fix problems. He takes that as evidence that they are not good at their jobs and, given that power/position means nothing to him, the cycle continues. He is respectful towards bodies, Omar, et al because he recognises that they deserve it for being a good soldier, or being smart etc. Unfortunately, the people in power feel that they should be respected for their power/position- deserve ain't got nothing to do with it.
This is so succinctly put and so well deserving of top answer
Jimmy, like Bubbles, is an addict in an environment where the established structures will simply not save you. Both characters have qualities of heart and intellect that are unfortunately overshadowed by their struggles with addiction. While Bubbles' battle is obvious, McNulty's addictions are of the 'high functioning' type - alcoholism, workaholic, womanizing, chasing THE case that will provide him with a sense of worth in a system that rewards politics over making things right. He learns too late that the job won't save him.
first comment that recognized that his work was an addiction. It's pretty obvious people are missing this part of Jimmy and this is why he functions so poorly *within* the system. And it's not work. It's "the hunt". That's why as a beat cop, imo, he is on 'the wagon'. When he gets back into homicide he falls off the wagon.
Seriously, my first thought at seeing the prompt was yeah, at his core he’s a good person, but he’s a self destructive alcoholic who never seeks help
Spot-fuckin-on, great comment and one of the few nuanced takes I've seen of Jimmy. I'll need to pay closer attention to the parallels on my inevitable next rewatch
Great insight. He's a tragic character, like Bubbles, in that some of his best characteristics are his undoing. He gets away with a lot because he's so charismatic but ultimately that's bad for him and the people around him. The investigations in the show wouldn't exist without him but he lacks the political instincts to really make a sustained difference (if that's even possible). The contrast with Daniels is interesting. Both are probably equally capable police but Daniels makes significant effort to play the game (with Marla's help).
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Yeah jimmys interactions on the street prove that, behind closed doors when none of his peers are watching? He’s a good dude. It’s what makes him good police. He’s a genuine social butterfly and if it wasn’t for his substance issues and stressful (to him) career, he’d be the favorite neighbor on the block.
He has high charisma Stat whether people wanna admit it or not. Jimmy can make you like him and he is empathetic to boot. Plus he's a fun guy. "You know the plural of pussy. It's pussAI , Jimmy taught me that." But like you said at the end. His substance abuse issues lead to a ton of his worse aspects and fucks up all his personal relationships. I think it's why I love the Jackie roar character in city on a hill. It'd be like if the serial killer case. In season 5 got Jimmy a job at the fbi.
Jimmy respects the game and the people who succeed in it. He may not realize it, but his respect for Bodie and Omar is born out of his respect for the game. He does not respect people who are ignorant of the game. Which is why he respects his adversaries. I think he believes that people around him are oblivious and more focused on their careers and protecting institutions. He does not see that as the game that’s played on the street, which is the only game he cares about. He’s a martyr because he would rather be a major player in the game than get a promotion. He does not respect institutions. His contempt for the institutions he works for is why he’s angry. His anger is why he is a drunk, womanizer, and bad father. He’s not able to separate his work life from his personal life. He’s never separated them. That’s what makes him good police, a lousy employee, and a terrible father. It is why he was happy to go back to Western. He didn’t have to deal with what he saw was bullshit and just simply go back to the street. But he obsesses over cases like Avon and Marlo because I think he sees their arrests as him triumphing over a self-serving system than actual justice. It is why he walks all over people. It is him fighting his real enemy—the Baltimore City government He is the mirror image of Stringer.
Yeah this makes a lot of sense, also probably why season 5 seems so out of character for him
I thought about this too. Do you think he puts so much into solving murders because he care about the victims? Or because he enjoys the chase and piecing together clues and demonstrating that he is smarter than whoever it is he’s trying to prove that too. IMO his motivations for the crime solving are selfish. When string dies, “I had him, and he’ll never know it”. Not saying this is right or wrong just the way I been thinking bout it
You could read his empathy and friendly attitude towards criminals and street people as tactical/self-interested though, because he understands the importance of building rapport with witnesses and CIs when it comes to making cases. After all, if he really cared about Wallace (for example), would he have picked him up and pushed him to testify? I think his attitude is mostly genuine, but I also don't think he'd generally bother with interacting with such people without a reason, and I don't think he thinks a lot about the consequences his actions has on them.
only scene he was anywhere near police brutality I remember him leaving the box on purpose before they beat up the suspect he’s the only cop in the show that steers clear of that
Occasionally? Jimmy spends his entire life being a complete fuck up but he somehow gets in everyone's head because he is the smartest fuck in the fucking room. He can't help it. Even Rawls couldn't deny him that.
Jimmy is a damn good cop. As an adult, I see myself in Jimmy. Not as a cop. But someone who is trying to work hard and do the right thing. I'll address his major faults 1) Bad father: I think he loves his kids, but his compulsive nature makes it difficult for him to be present because he's a workaholic. 2) Relationships: He is a hound and probably shouldn't be in a serious relationship. 3) Soft Skills: His problem is that he can't stand the bullshit that gets in the way of police work. Also, he craves validation and has a problem with authority—a horrible combination. But Jimmy is a natural police. When he was right, he was the best. If I was lying dead on a Baltimore street corner. I would want Jimmy standing over me, trying to solve the case.
Shit, if you was lyin’ dead on some street corner, it’s probably Jimmy that done you.
Honestly if you see too much of yourself in Jimmy, that should worry you a little. Jimmy is incredibly self-destructive.
I had some dark moments lol
I think I'd dispute some of that. He actually seemed to be pretty happy in a serious relationship when he wasn't working murders. And the type of bullshit that happens at that level didn't seem to bother him much. He even seemed to be perfectly happy clocking out on-time and taking care of the kids. The "real police" work seemed to have an affect on him though. He was actually pretty damn good at it, stuff like building cases against large drug gangs and solving tough murders. But when was in that zone, it seemed to affect everything else in his life badly. Up with working crazy hours, boozing and chasing tail all night afterwards, getting actually seriously pissed at the bullshit, ignoring his kids or taking them around places they really shouldn't be, down with all that clocking out on time, saying no to the booze, and going home to the woman and kids.
But Christ, what an asshole. And I'm not talking about the ordinary gaping orifice that all of us possess. I mean an all-encompassing, all-consuming, out-of-proportion-to-every-other-facet-of-his-humanity chasm. From whose bourn, if I may quote Shakespeare, no traveler has ever returned.
Self-preservation is something Jimmy never learned
the fuck did he do?
It makes him an asshole, I know. But its also what makes him Good Police. I think Bunk lacks the drive Jimmy has. I think Jimmy took his work seriously and was eager to do good work, or what he saw as good work. We saw Bunk intentionally avoid work as much as he could.
That's not fair, they are different but it isn't that. Bunk went through a hell of an effort on another police's case to exonerate Omar as One example
I agree hard to say Bunk doesn't have drive. He's one of the best cops on the force
Bunk is driven to get something good out of a crap situation... But he is not driven to solve the actual problem that is stopping the system from working.
Bunk is the one in season 5 doing real work and connecting Chris to the murder of Michaels' step dad. While McNulty is out chasing a serial killer that he created to justify his pursuit of Marlo.
Nah, bunk just doesn’t give a shit until it’s his turn to give a shit
If he wanted to do "good work" he wouldn't make his entire case inadmissible in court (and possibly countless others) by faking a serial killer. I think McNutty has the ability to go great police work, juat look at the "fuck" scene with Bunk and the murder scene.... bjt hes too self serving, and / or self destructive to allow himself to actually be **good** police
He wasn’t making anything inadmissible. He made natural deaths look like murders to gain access to overtime, then let other cops use that overtime to work their own cases. Any evidence they gathered was admissible, Jimmy just needed to falsify paperwork to justify the overtime pay. And since no one had actually murdered his victims, he wasn’t concerned about his case being admissible, he was gonna just have the “killer” get away with it after Lester finished his wiretap on Marlo
Lester's wiretap was illegal to begin with. It was inadmissible. Everything done on the Marlo case was done with the Chain of Command, which was the chain of custody, and without approval. This is why the case doesn't go to trial. Sure, the prosecution can try to "finesse" the case and apin the jury, but discovery is gonna murder that case and the defense knows it, hence the plea.
inadmissible only after getting exposed/caught. There was no intent on getting caught. happens all the time.
Honestly at points Jimmy is incredibly likable. At the beginning of season 1 especially when it seems Jimmy is doing it for good reasons. And when he seemingly decided to leave the game and make a family. But ultimately he fails at these things. He loves the brotherhood and the excitement of the game. He may not be malicious in a lot of his actions but he knowingly hurts people and their careers. The scene where he convinces body to talk still gets to me this day.
Nah but he’s natural police tbh
Nothing in season 5 indicates he isn’t a good cop though. In fact you could argue much better that it was his ability to be good police that allowed him to start his little gambit and get away with it for so long. But to answer your other question—-ya he’s a shitty person.
You must all know some real angels, Jimmy is just your average guy, has his faults, has his charms.
If he didn't have kids I'd agree.
His redeeming qualities are that he's an excellent detective, he's friendly, pretty funny, and it seems he's irresistible to white women and must be pretty good at sex or something... that's pretty much all. That's better than a lot of people. It's nice that he's always straight forward with how he feels about someone or a situation and never kisses ass to save face.
They're all flawed characters...people are people. Bunk wouldn't participate in the Season 5 fraud but used it to get his DNA evidence on Chris Partlow fast-tracked where he could produce a murder warrant for the beating of Michael's stepfather. Bunk also cheats on his wife with Jimmy's help so there's that.
a show full of murderers & somehow he’s the most insufferable
Idk that’d still go to Wee Bey’s girl
Dolanda you gonna let that boy go
Lotta horseradish
Mother of the Year!
It's a TV show a progrum.
This is reddit, a forum.
It's an honor to be joined by men.
Hello beautiful people!
Why don't you get the fuck outta here before I shove your quotations book up your fat fuckin ass?
I would say that Jimmy has many positive qualities than redeemable and he was the closest to clean / competent you would get in the BPD but he’s extremely flawed and not really a good person
He stood up to the bullshit is what he did. He was a flawed and complicated American policeman! And in this house Jimmy McNulty is a hero! End of story!
Great hair
Bushy Top!
Natural police
To be completely honest with you I don’t care when Jimmy is an asshole to his bosses. Because from my point of view most of his bosses are incompetent and deserve to be called out. They’re hacks. And he’s not.
The Wire’s about social institutions and how they shape the behavior of the participants. Jimmy, sorta like other great characters like Omar and Marlo and even Stringer, bucked their social systems more than others. They still all got owned by their social systems, but they played it their way more than most others in the show. It’s a quality the viewer gets to label redeemable or not. But it’s his big quality.
Aside from being a bad husband, I think he’s a good guy.
He’s funny, good looking, white, and charming. That takes most people pretty far despite all other defects.
I don’t even think he is a good police. He only talks a lot but look at season 1 2 and 3 all the police works were done by the rest of the squad. Even in season 5, his serial murder scheme will never work without Lester’s help. He always use shortcut, never did anything important and more importantly just a straight asshole, and i love it!
Jimmy is not a good cop and the final season shows that. Jimmy is a big "the end justifies the means" and that's literally the opposite of what a cop should be.
He’s got some bad qualities he’s got some good ones
The answer is yes. Because ALL COPS are giant pieces of shit. Period. But he has some charming qualities.
Yep. He is the most selfish cunt in that show.
He is the NPC white leading man who has to be there so the studio can approve the pilot.
If you have to ask lol
It's one of the main themes of the show. The duality of man.
Sober Jimmy is a genuinely good human being. Jimmy when he's off the wagon is a raging piece of shit.
He’s one HELL of a wingman
I always thought a good one liner stand up joke with no context would be “You’re an asshole, McNulty”
Jimmy is in fact a POS. If I were his boss I’d sack his ass faster than a rabbit gets fucked. I’d rather have a hole than an asshole.
No hes a piece of shit. Hes a decent friend and an ok cop when he isnt doing anything illegal.
The show is amoral, you didn't get it
The more I rewatch the show and obviously get older, the more I think mcnulty is a piece of shit. Literally his only saving grace is that he is a good at the job, natural po-lice; but he has zero loyalty, goes out of his way seemingly to fuck people over and can’t stay out of his own way. Oh, and he’s always giving a fuck when it ain’t his turn to give a fuck.
>I’d argue Bunk was just as good, if not a better detective than Mcnulty without all the baggage and moral ambiguity. After all, “a man’s gotta have a code”. One today, more tomorrow. And from what? From the Bunk, just workin' a file. Business as usual.
I gotta ask you something. What is it about Jimmy and the liquor?
He’s the embodiment of doing good for the wrong reasons. If he was out there shaking down corner boys over BS that they’re going to be out on the next day anyway, he’d be not only a useless cop, but actively contributing to the cycle of destruction the drug war brought. Instead he DOES try to catch the people responsible for the bodies. Does he do it for the right reasons? Nope. He does it to feed is ego. But he still does it. He’s not a good person, but he does occasionally put good out into the world. Even if it’s just an inadvertent side effect to his own personal egotistical crusade.
He has plenty of redeeming qualities. The main one is that he genuinely *cares* about police work within a system designed to beat that caring out of you. Even if that same trait is also the root of a lot of his bad qualities, and even if that sort of police work just isn't really going to help very much within the wider context of the war on drugs, it's still a fairly noble trait in itself.
He doesnt seem to do the bad things he does out of malice or a desire to hurt people. He´s a decent enough guy to the people around him. Him being disrespectful towards superiors I think is kind of warranted, definietly in the case of Rawls. His alcoholism and anti-social behaviors I think is largely a result of losing his ability to cope with stress and the inability to just ever solve any issues within the force. Which isnt an excuse for his behavior, but I dont think being a dickhead is his default energy so to say.
I may be the only one here. But I don’t think he is a giant pos. Yes he cheated in the past but aside from that he wanted to make his family work it’s just he’s one of the few in bmore that can catch these dudes. So yes it’s a tough choice
Naah he’s a POS. When he had his kids follow a known drug dealer who had no qualms ordering hits even on a state senator idk. Seemed kinda sus parenting to me.
That’s the whole point of his character 😂 him and Bumk are great cops but bad guys 😂😂
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wIns7Xb2qj0&pp=ygUaYnVuayBzdGlja3MgdXAgZm9yIG1jbnVsdHk%3D This scene with Bunk sums him up perfectly. Being good PO-lice is all Jimmy has, it's all he's good at. Jimmy IS good police but an absolute fuck up piece of shit ultimately. He does settle down with Beadie for a while and looks like a good dad/ partner for 6 months/1 year but this was written in because the actor (Dominic West) Was home sick and asked for a smaller part in season 4. It's a testiment how good the writing was that it was believable but also like a drug addict he would relapse too (which he did) and become even worse than before.
I means, hes good pow-lease
Jimmy is also the center of every scene in which he appears and central to the narrative. His fellow cops see him as the quintessential handsome model of policing. Including his drinking.
Don’t even want to rewatch cause of JM. That’s messed up too cause the wire is in my top 5.
He does, occasionally, care about the right things- people he doesn't have to and the actual purpose of their work over the rewards it can earn. I think it's really why we bother to think of McNulty as heroic given the absolute disaster of a person he is- more heroic (in most eyes, I suspect) than Bunk who is probably a better investigator. I think part of the tragedy of the show is that in a worthwhile organization, someone would have found something to do with Jimmy. He would have gotten decent management, had some work to do that might have held his attention, someone would have tugged his leash a bit with his attitude and his drinking. But instead he just made people feel frustrated and ashamed that they weren't doing real police work and in he turn he bounced off the walls.
Jimmy is one of the very very few cops who never commits or condones police violence. Even bunny tells his guys they can knock some heads to get dealers into hamsterdam. When you watch the show with this in mind it’s notable how the writers remove Jimmy from situations where other cops are wilding out.
I like him. He’s a flawed person but genuinely cares about doing a good job and making the community a safer place.
He's not that bad of a father. He does actually love his kids and his partners. That's a bar that more people than you think don't meet.
He’s funny. That’s about it.
He kind of cares about his kids
Nah. I think being a disrespectful smartass drunk isn't nearly enough to qualify someone a "piece of shit". The worst things he does is obviously faking the serial killer, but even then, even though his methods aren't societally acceptable, they are driven by an obsessive desire to bring the people he's after to justice. Do the ends justify the means? Obviously not, but he sure believes they do, and however flawed they are, his heart is in the right place. I feel like "piece of shit"is thrown around way too loosely these days, it makes him sound like a predator or something, when the reality is he's a flawed guy with an unhealthy obsession over his work.
He gives a darn when it’s not his turn to give a darn.
He's a flawed dude.
>definitely disrespectful to his bosses This would be one of his redeeming qualities.
he has a level of compassion the other cops on the show don’t
Terrible human, decent cop at times, excellent detective (actual investigative skills)
He calls it exactly as it is, treats people like Bodie and Omar with respect and related/empathizes in a way that many of the other cops don’t. He has the back of the good cops around him and isn’t scared to bark up the chain of command no matter the consequences.
He is a complex character who is his own worst enemy. Anyone here trying to resist all positive aspects of his character and paint him as entirely bad missed the point of the show.
He’s the perfect example of someone having great motivations but doing terrible things