Refugees (The Wire)

"Refugees"
The Wire episode
Episode no.	Season 4 Episode 4
Directed by	Jim McKay
Story by	Ed Burns Dennis Lehane
Teleplay by	Dennis Lehane
Original air date	October 1, 2006 (2006-10-01)
Running time	58 minutes
Episode chronology
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List of episodes

"Refugees" is the fourth episode of the fourth season of the HBO original series The Wire. Written by Dennis Lehane from a story by Ed Burns & Dennis Lehane, and directed by Jim McKay, it originally aired on October 1, 2006.

Plot

in a debate with her opponent, Eunetta Perkins, and is outraged when he sees that Royce has broken his promise and put Perkins on his ticket instead of Marla.

has not been linked to any murders because he is hiding corpses in an unknown location.

After losing money in a poker game, Marlo has

to his house, Partlow and Snoop hide the guard's body in a boarded up rowhouse.

Proposition Joe tries to convince Marlo to join the New Day Co-Op and aid their planned war with the New York drug dealers intruding into East Baltimore. Marlo, unconcerned because his territory is on the West Side, declines Joe's offers of protection and ends the meeting. At Butchie's bar, Joe meets with Omar and assures him that he had nothing to do with Stringer Bell's scheme turning Omar against Brother Mouzone. To make amends, Joe offers information on Marlo's card game, asking for a quarter of the take. Omar finds the opportunity to his liking and robs the game while Marlo is playing, taking Andre's ring and the money. When Marlo tells Omar that this is not the end of their dealings, Omar warns him that he can find his people with less effort than Marlo will need to find him. Marlo, handing over the ring, replies only, "Wear it in health."

Marimow watches

to discuss Sherrod's poor attendance. Later, Bubbles watches the illiterate Sherrod pretend to read books from school. Sherrod takes out an algebra book and a French dictionary, claiming one to be a workbook that goes with the other. Bubbles isn't fooled but says nothing about the ruse.

. He learns that the school rounds up truants to meet minimum attendance figures it needs to secure extra funding, rather than to ensure they are educated.

. Colvin observes the students, seeing variation in how well classes perform with the best behavior in the younger grades. While the boys head home, they learn that someone "snitched" and got a student suspended over the graffiti. Prez learns that Chiquan will be scarred from the box cutter attack. Michael starts Bug on his homework and heads to Cutty's gym. There, Michael agrees to attend a boxing match with Cutty and Justin. Afterwards, Michael avoids Cutty's attempts at conversation and refuses a lift to his house.

Production

Richard De Angelis makes his final appearance as CID

.

The dialogue between Marlo and the security guard (specifically the "You want it to be one way" section) was sampled in

on the song "Sirens".

Title reference

The episode title refers to the detectives fleeing the major crimes unit. It also refers to Bodie being on his own in the streets after the fall of the Barksdale organization.

Epigraph

No one wins. One side just loses more slowly.

— Prez

Prez says this to his wife, referring to the game of football he is watching. This quote is almost certainly a reference to the 1975 film Night Moves, in which the protagonist says virtually exactly the same thing to his wife when she asks him who is winning a televised football game: "Nobody, one side is just losing slower than the other."

Credits

Starring cast

Although credited, Lance Reddick, Deirdre Lovejoy, and Seth Gilliam do not appear in this episode. This is the first episode of the series not to feature Reddick. Since Reddick was the only actor in every episode prior to this, from this point on, nobody has appeared in every episode.

Guest stars

Uncredited appearances

References

External links

• "Refugees" at HBO.com
• "Refugees" at
  IMDb