The Pager

"The Pager" is the fifth episode of the first season of the HBO original series The Wire. The episode was written by Ed Burns from a story by David Simon and Ed Burns and was directed by Clark Johnson. It originally aired on June 30, 2002.

Plot summary

The Police

After receiving a silent phone call, Avon tells Wee-Bey to remove the phone lines. Wee-Bey tells Avon he is worried they are being paranoid. Meanwhile, Omar, Bailey and Brandon discuss their next "rip" on an east side corner. Omar draws out a plan to trap the dealers in the alley they use. He approaches from the front carrying a shotgun while nonchalantly whistling "The Farmer in the Dell," which scares the dealers and causes them to run into Brandon and Bailey in the alley.

In the Pit, Bodie and

Avon and Stringer discuss taking over the Edmondson Avenue corners, as they are wide open. Avon suggests that Stinkum should run the territory. Bubbles tells Johnny that he is on a mission to bring down the Barksdale hoppers that beat him, but Johnny cannot understand why Bubbles is voluntarily working with the police as he feels his misfortune is all part of the "game." Avon and D'Angelo visit Avon's brother, who is hospitalized in a vegetative state due to an implied gunshot wound to the head, serving as an example of the dire consequences of acting carelessly in their way of life. Avon tells D'Angelo that one mistake could see either of them end up like his brother and that the fear motivates Avon to work harder. Later, Poot and Wallace spot Brandon in an arcade and notify D'Angelo. D'Angelo pages the news in from the Pit phones. Although all the pages are logged at the detail office, the calls themselves are not recorded, so the details are useless without a wire.^[1][2][3]

Production

Title reference

The title refers to the pagers used by the Barksdale organization and cloned by the police detail.

Epigraph

...a little slow, a little late.

— Avon Barksdale

Avon uses this phrase in a speech he makes to D'Angelo about the random nature of their business and the constant danger involved. It also relates to the detail; as Freamon points out, they should have had the wire up in time to catch the discussion of Bailey's murder on the phones (and, if not that, certainly the kidnapping of Brandon).

Non-fiction elements

The conversation Bodie and Poot have about HIV/AIDS transmission is taken almost verbatim from the non-fiction book The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood.^[4]

Credits

Starring cast

Although credited, John Doman and Frankie Faison do not appear in this episode.

Guest stars

First appearances

• Onyx, who becomes the second of eight musicians to play minor recurring roles on The Wire (others include Method Man and Steve Earle
  ).