Television Review: The Buys (The Wire, S1X03, 2002)

The Buys (S01E03)

Airdate: June 16th 2002

Written by: David Simon
Directed by: Peter Medak

Running Time: 55 minutes

David Simon’s unflinching dissection of Baltimore’s institutional failures reaches a critical juncture in The Buys, the third episode of The Wire. Simon continues his relentless project of painting law enforcement not as society’s noble bulwark, but as a fractured, self-serving entity that often mirrors the very drug-fuelled organised crime it purports to combat. Through a meticulously woven tapestry of internal disputes, calculated betrayals, and Machiavellian intrigues within the Baltimore Police Department (BPD), the episode starkly illustrates how the machinery of justice is frequently subverted by personal ambition and political expediency. Simultaneously, "The Buys" delivers television history by introducing one of the most iconic and enduring characters of early 21st-century screen: the enigmatic, whistle-haunting stick-up artist, Omar Little.

The narrative thrust emerges directly from the disastrous, impromptu raid on the Barksdale Organisation’s open-air drug market in the high-rises, depicted in the previous episode. That botched operation, which sparked a minor riot, cost a teenager his eye, and left three detectives under formal investigation by the Internal Investigation Division (IID), casts a long shadow. Deputy Commissioner Ervin Burrell orchestrates a tense meeting where Major Robert "Bobby" Reed (Tony D. Head), heading the IID probe, effectively agrees to quash the investigation into Detective Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski’s brutal assault on a civilian. This concession, secured in exchange for Prez’s removal from active field duty to a strictly clerical role within Lieutenant Cedric Daniels’ nascent detail, is transparently a political favour to Stanislaus Valchek (Al Brown), the powerful Southeast District commander and Prez’s father-in-law. The compromise is less about justice and more about protecting Valchek’s influence and the department’s fragile facade, revealing how easily official misconduct is buried when powerful patrons demand it. Daniels’ reluctant agreement to retain Prez, albeit desk-bound, underscores his precarious position, forced to navigate treacherous political waters just to keep his fragile task force intact.

Compounding the task force’s woes, the investigation against the seemingly omnipotent Avon Barksdale grinds to a frustrating halt. Hindered not only by the perceived inadequacy of some assigned detectives and antiquated equipment but by the near-mythical status of Barksdale himself – a phantom with no criminal record and no known photograph – the unit flounders. It is here that the quietly observant veteran detective, Lester Freamon (Clarke Peters), emerges from the shadows. Acting on a nebulous tip, Freamon locates Barksdale’s photograph at a local boxing gym, a simple yet pivotal act demonstrating that institutional memory and street-level intuition, long dormant within the BPD, remain potent investigative tools. To gather actionable intelligence for a desperately needed warrant, Detective “Snot” Snydor prepares for an undercover buy in "The Pit," coached meticulously by the indelible Bubbles on how to convincingly mimic a "dope fiend." This operation, reluctantly greenlit by Daniels under intense pressure from superiors like William Rawls, sets the stage for the episode’s central, bitterly ironic action – a raid McNulty vehemently opposes as premature and reckless.

The bitter irony, however, lies in the revelation that Daniels’ task force is not the sole entity surveilling the Barksdale operation in The Pit. Unbeknownst to the police, a trio of meticulous stick-up artists, led by the chillingly charismatic Omar Little (Michael K. Williams), has also been observing. After days of patient reconnaissance, Omar and his crew strike just before the police raid commences, making off with a significant stash of drugs and cash. This sequence is The Wire’s genius in microcosm: the police, focused on their own bureaucratic imperatives and blind to the street’s complexities, are spectacularly outmanoeuvred by the very criminals they seek, while simultaneously missing the far more immediate threat operating in their blind spot.

McNulty’s pre-raid efforts to bolster the operation – borrowing microphones from his FBI contact Fitz – yield further unsettling revelations. He learns Daniels himself was once under suspicion of corruption due to unexplained assets, though the investigation was mysteriously dropped. More personally shattering is the discovery that Michael Santangelo (), a former Homicide detective now assigned to Daniels' details, is actively spying for Rawls on McNulty, tasked with digging dirt. These disclosures compound the episode’s central thesis: suspicion and betrayal are endemic, permeating every level, with individuals like Santangelo weaponised as tools in internal power struggles, further eroding any sense of collective purpose.

The ensuing raid on The Pit, conducted under this cloud of deceit and incompetence, predictably collapses into farce and brutality. Thanks to the prior robbery by Omar, the police find little evidence, their frustration boiling over into violence as officers, including the usually professional Kima Greggs, rough up the young dealer Bodie Broadus after he assaults an officer. The police achieve nothing tangible, yet inflict further trauma, embodying the hollow, reactive cycle of enforcement Simon relentlessly critiques.

Directed by Peter Medak, a veteran of Homicide: Life on the Street, The Buys maintains the series’ signature gritty, documentary-like realism while expertly utilising its structure for profound character exposition. Kima’s sexuality, subtly established earlier, is discussed explicitly with McNulty, who is hilariously and tragically revealed as "the last man in Baltimore" to know – a moment highlighting his social obliviousness amidst professional intensity. McNulty’s raw admission of fault in his divorce that deprived him of two children, citing his own infidelity, adds crucial depth to his self-destructive charisma. This vulnerability spills over into his late-night visit to Assistant State Attorney Rhonda Pearlman (Deirdre Lovejoy), ostensibly to discuss "cloning pagers" for investigative purposes, which predictably culminates in the series’ first explicit sex scene – a transactional yet charged encounter underscoring McNulty’s use of sex as both escape and weapon.

Yet, the episode’s most resonant character moment belongs to D'Angelo Barksdale. While observing the dealers’ interactions in The Pit, D'Angelo articulates a startlingly pragmatic morality: violence against customers is counterproductive, as the resulting bodies and chaos are precisely what attract police scrutiny. Later, in a scene etched into television history, he uses a chessboard to elucidate the drug trade’s brutal hierarchy to his lieutenants. Comparing pawns to the expendable street-level dealers, knights to the enforcers, and the king to Avon, D'Angelo reveals a profound, tragic awareness of the system he’s trapped within. This isn’t mere exposition; it’s the thematic heart of The Wire – individuals recognising their dehumanising roles within a larger, inescapable game. D'Angelo’s chess lesson, delivered with weary wisdom, transcends the street corner, becoming a universal metaphor for power, sacrifice, and the illusion of agency within any rigid institution, whether criminal syndicate or police department. The Buys masterfully demonstrates that in Baltimore, as Simon portrays it, the lines between the enforcers of the law and the breakers of it are not just blurred, but often indistinguishable, with the true casualties lying in the human spirit ground down by the machine.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

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