The Wire (TV Series) The Pager (2002) User Reviews

A little slow, a little late.

[Hey_Sweden · 8/10 · 1 August 2022]

Drug kingpin Avon Barksdale grows increasingly paranoid, feeling invisible eyes fixed on him at all times. He even requests that the land line be removed from his residence. The detail gets the green light from the judge and district attorney for the cloned-beeper operation. McNulty and Bunk learn more about a murder victim that ties into the notorious Mr. Barksdale. Towards the end of this episode, McNulty and Greggs have a calm confrontation with the character Omar to discuss their mutual problem: Avon.

Here we see the detail really get into the nitty-gritty of their operation, and start to make moves in the right direction. But Avon (the impressive Wood Harris) and his nephew D'Angelo often take center stage, with one especially potent scene of the two of them visit another of D'Angelos' uncles in a long-term care facility. Of similar interest is a scene where Bubbs, the regular detail informant, visit his significant other Johnny (Leo Fitzpatrick) and is sobered by Johnny's condition. One great plot point is that Stringer advises D'Angelo to withhold payments to their crew to root out the possible snitch in their midst. The logical assumption is that whoever *doesn't* complain about being low on funds must be the guilty party.

One very nice touch was having D'Angelo and his girl go to a posh restaurant far out of their territory; he feels uncomfortable, knowing he's rather out of place in such a setting. Things get very, very tense towards the end when Wallace (Michael B. Jordan) recognizes a member of Omars' gang, and the drug pushers get ready to retaliate.

This viewer particularly likes the way that Omar (the late Michael Kenneth Williams) is portrayed; he's truly an interesting character.

Eight out of 10.

1x05

[formotog · 8/10 · 6 August 2020]

The ending scene for this episode was quite brilliant. What was a few bleeps and animations on an unsupervised computer screen at the office, was a revenge mission for the Barksdale crew. The show is continuing to introduce different, entertaining characters and develop the existing ones very nicely. On the whole it's more of the same, great stuff

Low 8

Paranoia and retribution

[MaxBorg89 · 10/10 · 13 February 2009]

Things get moving as the first season of The Wire gets to the practical part of the drug-fighting business, not to mention some violent reactions on the dope kingpins' part. It's slow-burning as usual, but it's never dull.

The main issue at the center of the episode is Avon's growing paranoia, which leads to Stringer telling D'Angelo to cut payments for the week in order to spot possible snitches. Also, the search for Omar and his boy continues without mercy. Meanwhile, Judge Phelan gives Daniels' detail the green light for the cloned beeper operation, and McNulty and Greggs have a meeting with Omar to discuss their common problem: Barksdale. Caught in the middle is the detail's regular informant, Bubbles, who has to deal with the hospitalization of his partner Johnny.

In keeping with the tradition of previous episodes, it's the little moments that matter. In this case, standout bits include every scene with Omar, the operation being put in action, Prez's brief moment in the spotlight and the tragic epilogue, which sets the tone for some characters' development over the course of the next eight episodes. Most revealing, though, is a scene where McNulty talks about his ex-wife with Greggs and says "a lesser man would just call her a c*nt". It's a rough, uncompromising line, just like the series. No sanitized drama here: this show looks, sounds and feels real.

...a little slow, a little late

[RainDogJr · 10/10 · 29 April 2009]

So the cloned pager is working but the weeks of wait are not being worthy since the people of Barksdale use some kind of code then the numbers that McNulty and company are getting are simply useless. This hour of "The Wire" is one of my favourites of Season 1 and it has one of the best final scenes. Omar appears more; first we see him and his men doing their job but this time is easier since they are doing it in the East, no Barksdale and soon we see him and his boyfriend with the stolen stuff wondering why their friend John Bailey (Lance Williams) is not with them. They say the enemies of your enemies are your friends, Omar and McNulty and company have a problem in common of course and here we have the first hit to Omar and the first talk between Omar and McNulty and Greggs. Our detectives will be able to know the message activity hat D'Angelo had and in a big part thanks to Prez. We know Prez since episode 2 and mostly you will really dislike until this episode since he is only someone who once shot his own car and said it was a sniper and leaved blind of one a 14-year-old kid but also someone with protection from a superior. However here McNulty will kiss Prez since he found the code of the criminals. The last 5 minutes of this hour are just superb, practically that last scene shows how was the whole thing but not for our detectives, only if the wire was in time: Wallace and Poot just by coincidence are in the place where Omar's boyfriend Brandon is, Poot recognize him and the moves are done, the first talk is with D'Angelo and is soon after when Stringer will call D'Angelo to say that everything is now fine. This is when Wallace begins to change, here is will be finally recognized by Stringer, here he does a good job but, as D'Angelo will say at one point, he is intelligent and different, he has heart.

A man like that, not me, but a man like that..

[snoozejonc · 10/10 · 23 March 2022]

Avon gets more cautious and aware he might be under surveillance and Omar shares information about a common enemy.

This is an excellent episode with clever plotting and great character work.

There are some key moments in this episode that greatly impact the main narrative of the season. They come with a strong level of irony given the failures by the police detail to fully observe events as they are transpiring. This is tied into some of the main themes of the episode about the need to be careful, organised and alert to the dangers of 'the game'. All the scenes involving Avon, Omar, and the police wiretap of D'Angelo's pager tie in well to this.

D'Angelo's character further develops in his attitude towards the business and the mentality of people in his life. Two scenes that contrast well are one set in a nice restaurant and the other in Orlando's.

Herc, Carver and Bodie interact in scenes that both shock and entertain. There is a certain level of amusement in thinking that if they were all on the same team they would be good pals. Also pretty humorous is McNulty in a few scenes concerning his personal life, particularly the way he describes his ex-wife after an irate conversation.

As ever the production values are superb with great cinematography and editing. The final sequence involving the wiretap technology capturing certain calls taking place is very effective considering you know something terrible and unseen is happening.

All performances are great as ever with Michael K Williams, Wood Harris, J D Williams, Seth Gilliam, Domenic Lombardozzi, Dominic West, and Lawrence Gilliard Jr with particularly good screen time.

For me it's a 9.5/10 but I round upwards.

There's a snitch in the pit

[gedikreverdi · 26 November 2021]

Barksdale got the boyfriend of Omar the robber. A boy named Wallace from the courtyard spotted him. But the detectives and them are on the same side against Barksdale so Jimmy might help them. I can watch the whole season at one sit but I don't want to finish it at once.