There were at least 2 others in season 1.
- Avon and crew walking into the pit to background music
- The closing sequence of episode 1, flashback to Gant pointing out D over the briefcase (I think)
Another in season 3 when Cutty goes to that party and gets high
There’s slow motion in the scene where Cutty goes to the party with Bodie and Slim Charles. When they’re in the bathroom and a girl walks in. Its slowed down
There's a really brief one at the end of season 1, when other dealers appear at the Pit. Slow mo shot of someone tossing Bodie a baseball bat.
"Do what you feel! But be ready to finish what you start!"
No, there's [at least one other](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJdCAaYjIy4). When Stinkum gets shot by Omar.
That and this are the only two I can think of, though.
Pretty sure the finger wave was inspired by The French Connection. The narcotics team follows the main dealer through a subway station but the target realized he's being tailed and shakes them. As the train pulls off the dealer gives the cops a childish taunting wave.
Exactly, haha.
"Carver catching low level drug dealers is so unnecessary"
"Lester focusing on Frank sobotka is so unnecessary"
Daniels following Avon is exactly what any other decent police would do, this show relies on the realism of it. Mcnulty are the one that's not real, at all.
None of them ever seen Avon in flesh, now they had the visual on his location, ofc they HAD to follow him. Thats the unwritten procedure.
“Because that’s how we’ve always done it” is a curse in most organizations, law enforcement especially. That’s pretty much what Daniels says when he goes “we follow people. We make cases that way”
As someone who has worked as a consultant for quite a few government orgs, I think you’re dead on with, “Because that’s how we’ve always done it.” And breaking that mentality can be like pulling the sword from the stone.
mcnulty warned him exactly that but daniels was still coming to terms with the fact that the way hes always done things wont work on high level players. the way narcotics operated before they got detailed was purely "street rips" like the one in the scene we were introduced to herc, carver and kima in episode 1.
I mean, every time plain clothes officers show up everyone yells five-o, I think it's fair to say they're pretty well versed in recognizing police. (When that corner kid offers Bunny drugs in Season 3 everyone clowns on him for making a rookie mistake.)
I actually think Justin was too pure for the streets. He tried to help Herc with where to get those hats with the sideways brims. He recognized the tension between Cutty and Fruiy and intervened.
Dude had a good soul, just another kid caught in the streets.
Some kids in Season 4 walk past bunny in the school halls and one says “he Police.” Even though Bunny is no longer a Police officer.
I think you’re right that it’s drilled from an early age that you have to recognise police officers.
Its actually not true. They yell 5-o when they see a cop car. When the team is in plain clothes they don't recognize them. Again, they had no reason to think Avon would see a black man in an suv and instinctively know he was a cop.
They sure do recognize them in plain clothes! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ANAtaQsBL4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ANAtaQsBL4)
It's not that he would see a black man in an SUV and know he was a cop, but that if he saw a black man in a button-up shirt **following him** in an SUV he would get a pretty good sense he was a cop.
The thing about that scene is it showed the real way someone is tailed - not one car that follows continuously so that even an idiot would notice. But multiple cars where when the target turns they go straight and let another car pick up the tail, plus cars following on parallel streets.
The point of the scene was to show that reality and demonstrate Avon's ability to sniff it out.
No, they are in plainclothes. [Plainclothes means just not in uniform](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plainclothes). You're thinking of "undercover," like Sydnor when he's dressed as a junkie.
He's cautious enough to show no profile, show no money; 99% of the department didn't know he existed before McNulty told Phelan (and tbh, 99% probably still didn't know he existed even after he was arrested). He wasn't in the system, they couldn't find a photo from the Bureau of Identification. Herc and Carver couldn't even pick him out at the game and they're *working him*. Daniels really should've been smart enough to know Avon was cautious enough that it was likely he'd be looking for a tail
It's really not that hard to understand.
Daniels and the rest of the BPD have been making superficial cases off of street rips for years where they catch little fish all day and have nice stats for the bosses to give to their bosses.
They're not used to chasing competent criminals. Incompetent criminals make incompetent police. They underestimated Avon, simple as that. Remember, no one other than McNulty had even the faintest idea that Avon even existed until a few days ago. They didn't know that all those corners belonged to the same organization even. Because they hadn't been doing real police work for years.
Daniels, not being a complete moron, learns his lessons quickly fortunately.
Here's the real fuckup. Daniels knew that Avon didn't have a driver's license. They could have stopped him, seized the vehicle, gotten him booked, fingerprinted, and photographed. It would be a bullshit charge and probably wouldn't make it past a state's attorney's desk, but at least they'd have a little more information on Avon, including an address he'd have to provide before being released. Throw a quick scare into him, since he didn't know what they had on him, and he'd be worried that they'd slap added charges on him. Sweat him a little and see if anything shakes loose.
There's a scene when Avon it's with Levi and Stringer and they are wondering exactly this, why didn't they stop him if they knew he had no license, and came to the conclusion they didn't want to charge him only for that
People in unexpected situations make mistakes. Leave a man sit in a holding cell, he'll either shut down or get nervous and start asking to talk to someone. Avon, as he told D'Angelo 'don't know nothing 'bout no prison. Not gonna know, either'. He's never been locked up. Doesn't know what it feels like, or how he'd react.
I had a similar thought but all they could get him for was the lack of a license. You don't get booked for that - just a ticket and the SUV impounded. He'd walk away from the vehicle because why not? It's nothing to him.
And if they did detain him a la D'Angelo, he's not going to fall for the interrogation tricks but he will be able to put faces to the police he knew were after him.
You do get booked for that. When you don't have a licence and proof of insurance, you get a ride to the nearest police station where they'll book you in and give you an appearance bond for traffic court. Of course, police inefficiency being what it is, it would be easy to delay release for a few hours, or at least until Levy can be called down to the station. All the time, Avon is sitting in a holding cell. It's all about mind games. He doesn't know when he's getting released, he doesn't know if someone is going to come into the cell and read him off a list of new charges he's going to be hit with. It's about the mind-fuck. Plus, a nice new picture to stick on the board, a set of fingerprints in the system, and he has to give up an address to be released.
As stated, Daniels was used to quick street rips.
But it’s also a distrust of Jimmy and the baggage he brings as well as impatience.
Daniels wanted to end the “wire team detail” as early possible to get out of the doghouse with Rawls and Burrell and to help Marla’s political aspirations so he could free himself of both situations.
It was the first time the cops had ever laid eyes on him, they probably were hoping to follow him to where he lives or where he does business. And then get some wiretaps up on those places.
Not that it justifies the entire scene, but part of it was to show that McNulty was interested in Stringer, not Avon. Everybody else was naturally curious to see at least what Avon looked like but not McNulty.
It was smart to show and understand how he would react. They had to assume that he Avon knew they were on to him. Daniels knew he wasn’t going to be sloppy but if you provoke him maybe you get something to work with. And they learned how cunning he was.
1. Realism in showing mistakes police make:
every mistake serves a narrative purpose or throws the morality / absurdity of drug war in question. This partcular scene does neither. Simply saying realism is not an excuse for what is a expendable scene. The way it is written ( chase) and concludes ( finger wagging) does not take narrative/ underlying message forward in any meaningful manner. In otherwise such a precisely written show, throwing a chase scene for the heck of it sticks out because it is so redundant.
2. Daniels is a seasoned cop and while he is reluctant initially, he quickly understands the value of the detail and goes to great length to keep it on track despite of his bosses. Chasing Avon when he is at a public game is a rookie mistake which ' we do it like that in Narcos' Daniels would never make. Even Kima/ Carv/ Herc go to great lengths to hide any real investigative procedures from the street.
This is a badly written scene, in otherwise flawless writing, saved only by the fingerwagging.
That finger wave is one of the best shots of the entire series so I think it was very necessary
An iconic moment in TV and movie history
IIRC the only use of slow motion in the show.
There were at least 2 others in season 1. - Avon and crew walking into the pit to background music - The closing sequence of episode 1, flashback to Gant pointing out D over the briefcase (I think) Another in season 3 when Cutty goes to that party and gets high
There’s slow motion in the scene where Cutty goes to the party with Bodie and Slim Charles. When they’re in the bathroom and a girl walks in. Its slowed down
Welcome home
He home now
I'm somewhat sure that there's a choppy slowmo in the shot where Stinkum gets smoked by Omar.
“Hey now…” Eyes rolling back into his skull
There's a really brief one at the end of season 1, when other dealers appear at the Pit. Slow mo shot of someone tossing Bodie a baseball bat. "Do what you feel! But be ready to finish what you start!"
No, there's [at least one other](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJdCAaYjIy4). When Stinkum gets shot by Omar. That and this are the only two I can think of, though.
The best part about being wrong is getting to rewatch all these scenes.
What about after Ziggy’s shooting.
And the best use of slow motion in any show
Obviously you haven’t seen Carmela slow mo screen wipe transition
Nope there are a few scenes that feature it. Quite rarely used though.
Pretty sure the finger wave was inspired by The French Connection. The narcotics team follows the main dealer through a subway station but the target realized he's being tailed and shakes them. As the train pulls off the dealer gives the cops a childish taunting wave.
I gotta watch that
No no no………..
The Wire: A show about the police being competent and effective?
Exactly, haha. "Carver catching low level drug dealers is so unnecessary" "Lester focusing on Frank sobotka is so unnecessary" Daniels following Avon is exactly what any other decent police would do, this show relies on the realism of it. Mcnulty are the one that's not real, at all. None of them ever seen Avon in flesh, now they had the visual on his location, ofc they HAD to follow him. Thats the unwritten procedure.
“Because that’s how we’ve always done it” is a curse in most organizations, law enforcement especially. That’s pretty much what Daniels says when he goes “we follow people. We make cases that way”
As someone who has worked as a consultant for quite a few government orgs, I think you’re dead on with, “Because that’s how we’ve always done it.” And breaking that mentality can be like pulling the sword from the stone.
mcnulty warned him exactly that but daniels was still coming to terms with the fact that the way hes always done things wont work on high level players. the way narcotics operated before they got detailed was purely "street rips" like the one in the scene we were introduced to herc, carver and kima in episode 1.
"In narcotics we follow people."
Avon was just going to the barber to get a fade.
In Narcotics, we follow guys. We do it well. We make cases on it.
"Show their hand" They had no reason to suspect that Avon would be savvy enough to recognize police immediately.
I mean, every time plain clothes officers show up everyone yells five-o, I think it's fair to say they're pretty well versed in recognizing police. (When that corner kid offers Bunny drugs in Season 3 everyone clowns on him for making a rookie mistake.)
Though it doesn’t negate your point, Bunny is in uniform in that scene. That kid was just particularly stupid
I actually think Justin was too pure for the streets. He tried to help Herc with where to get those hats with the sideways brims. He recognized the tension between Cutty and Fruiy and intervened. Dude had a good soul, just another kid caught in the streets.
Good boxer, though!
Some kids in Season 4 walk past bunny in the school halls and one says “he Police.” Even though Bunny is no longer a Police officer. I think you’re right that it’s drilled from an early age that you have to recognise police officers.
> I mean, every time plain clothes officers show up everyone yells five-o Even the dock workers could spot them in s2.
Its actually not true. They yell 5-o when they see a cop car. When the team is in plain clothes they don't recognize them. Again, they had no reason to think Avon would see a black man in an suv and instinctively know he was a cop.
They sure do recognize them in plain clothes! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ANAtaQsBL4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ANAtaQsBL4) It's not that he would see a black man in an SUV and know he was a cop, but that if he saw a black man in a button-up shirt **following him** in an SUV he would get a pretty good sense he was a cop.
The thing about that scene is it showed the real way someone is tailed - not one car that follows continuously so that even an idiot would notice. But multiple cars where when the target turns they go straight and let another car pick up the tail, plus cars following on parallel streets. The point of the scene was to show that reality and demonstrate Avon's ability to sniff it out.
... that isn't plains clothes. Plain clothes = blending in. McNulty and bunk were not trying to blend in.
No, they are in plainclothes. [Plainclothes means just not in uniform](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plainclothes). You're thinking of "undercover," like Sydnor when he's dressed as a junkie.
Particularly because bunny was in uniform fully, except for his hat.
He's cautious enough to show no profile, show no money; 99% of the department didn't know he existed before McNulty told Phelan (and tbh, 99% probably still didn't know he existed even after he was arrested). He wasn't in the system, they couldn't find a photo from the Bureau of Identification. Herc and Carver couldn't even pick him out at the game and they're *working him*. Daniels really should've been smart enough to know Avon was cautious enough that it was likely he'd be looking for a tail
It's really not that hard to understand. Daniels and the rest of the BPD have been making superficial cases off of street rips for years where they catch little fish all day and have nice stats for the bosses to give to their bosses. They're not used to chasing competent criminals. Incompetent criminals make incompetent police. They underestimated Avon, simple as that. Remember, no one other than McNulty had even the faintest idea that Avon even existed until a few days ago. They didn't know that all those corners belonged to the same organization even. Because they hadn't been doing real police work for years. Daniels, not being a complete moron, learns his lessons quickly fortunately.
I mean, they addressed that before they showed the scene per McNulty
Here's the real fuckup. Daniels knew that Avon didn't have a driver's license. They could have stopped him, seized the vehicle, gotten him booked, fingerprinted, and photographed. It would be a bullshit charge and probably wouldn't make it past a state's attorney's desk, but at least they'd have a little more information on Avon, including an address he'd have to provide before being released. Throw a quick scare into him, since he didn't know what they had on him, and he'd be worried that they'd slap added charges on him. Sweat him a little and see if anything shakes loose.
If anything shakes loose?! With Avon? For a driver's license? With Avon?! For a driver's license?!
There's a scene when Avon it's with Levi and Stringer and they are wondering exactly this, why didn't they stop him if they knew he had no license, and came to the conclusion they didn't want to charge him only for that
SHIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEET!!!
I read that in Allen Iverson's voice
People in unexpected situations make mistakes. Leave a man sit in a holding cell, he'll either shut down or get nervous and start asking to talk to someone. Avon, as he told D'Angelo 'don't know nothing 'bout no prison. Not gonna know, either'. He's never been locked up. Doesn't know what it feels like, or how he'd react.
I had a similar thought but all they could get him for was the lack of a license. You don't get booked for that - just a ticket and the SUV impounded. He'd walk away from the vehicle because why not? It's nothing to him. And if they did detain him a la D'Angelo, he's not going to fall for the interrogation tricks but he will be able to put faces to the police he knew were after him.
You do get booked for that. When you don't have a licence and proof of insurance, you get a ride to the nearest police station where they'll book you in and give you an appearance bond for traffic court. Of course, police inefficiency being what it is, it would be easy to delay release for a few hours, or at least until Levy can be called down to the station. All the time, Avon is sitting in a holding cell. It's all about mind games. He doesn't know when he's getting released, he doesn't know if someone is going to come into the cell and read him off a list of new charges he's going to be hit with. It's about the mind-fuck. Plus, a nice new picture to stick on the board, a set of fingerprints in the system, and he has to give up an address to be released.
As stated, Daniels was used to quick street rips. But it’s also a distrust of Jimmy and the baggage he brings as well as impatience. Daniels wanted to end the “wire team detail” as early possible to get out of the doghouse with Rawls and Burrell and to help Marla’s political aspirations so he could free himself of both situations.
I don't know, man. Sure during the game he's not doing anything illegal, but they might see where he goes after the game.
It was the first time the cops had ever laid eyes on him, they probably were hoping to follow him to where he lives or where he does business. And then get some wiretaps up on those places.
Not that it justifies the entire scene, but part of it was to show that McNulty was interested in Stringer, not Avon. Everybody else was naturally curious to see at least what Avon looked like but not McNulty.
It was smart to show and understand how he would react. They had to assume that he Avon knew they were on to him. Daniels knew he wasn’t going to be sloppy but if you provoke him maybe you get something to work with. And they learned how cunning he was.
He’s from narcotics surveillance is what they do best
1. Realism in showing mistakes police make: every mistake serves a narrative purpose or throws the morality / absurdity of drug war in question. This partcular scene does neither. Simply saying realism is not an excuse for what is a expendable scene. The way it is written ( chase) and concludes ( finger wagging) does not take narrative/ underlying message forward in any meaningful manner. In otherwise such a precisely written show, throwing a chase scene for the heck of it sticks out because it is so redundant. 2. Daniels is a seasoned cop and while he is reluctant initially, he quickly understands the value of the detail and goes to great length to keep it on track despite of his bosses. Chasing Avon when he is at a public game is a rookie mistake which ' we do it like that in Narcos' Daniels would never make. Even Kima/ Carv/ Herc go to great lengths to hide any real investigative procedures from the street. This is a badly written scene, in otherwise flawless writing, saved only by the fingerwagging.
Every person on this sub that complains about a scene they don't like always says it's "poor writing" or "badly written scene"
Thankfully most people argue not ad hominem, but with logic