• Air date: 02 Jun '02 13 episodes
      The first season of the television series The Wire commenced airing in the United States on June 2, 2002, concluded on September 8, 2002, and contained 13 episodes. It introduces the drug-dealing Barksdale organization and the police detail that is investigating them. The first season aired Sundays at 9:00 pm Eastern in the United States and was released on DVD as a five-disc boxed set under the title of The Wire: The Complete First Season on October 12, 2004 by HBO video.
  • List of Episodes (13)
    • 1. The Target

      02 Jun '02
      "... when it's not your turn." - McNultyDuring the trial of D'Angelo Barksdale, a mid-level dealer accused of murder, the prosecution's star witness recants her testimony, resulting in a not guilty verdict. After the trial, Detective James "Jimmy" McNulty is taken to task for his indiscretion. Meanwhile, D'Angelo is free to return to work, but he soon discovers that he's been demoted.
    • 2. The Detail

      09 Jun '02
      "You cannot lose if you do not play." - Marla Daniels The witness who testified against D'Angelo winds up being a murder case for "Bunk" Moreland. However, McNulty tells Bunk that since the victim testified against D'Angelo, this murder was probably ordered by Avon Barkdsdale. McNulty and Bunk pick up D'Angelo for questioning and convince him to write an "apology" to the victim's family. Just as he's about to start, D'Angelo's attorney arrives and makes him leave. Meanwhile in "The Pit", Detect
    • 3. The Buys

      16 Jun '02
      "The king stay the king." - D'Angelo After early morning "field interviews" conducted by Herc, Carver and Prez lead to a minor riot and bad publicity for the police, Daniels gets called in by the Deputy Commissioner. McNulty sends Mahone and Polk to the terrace to get a photo of Avon Barksdale. They come up short but soft- spoken Freamon comes through with an old photo from Barksdale's boxing days. McNulty and Greggs visit FBI agent Fitzhugh to try and obtain some surveillance equipment. D'Ange
    • 4. Old Cases

      23 Jun '02
      "It's a thin line 'tween heaven and here." - Bubbles Bodie manages to slip through security and escape from lockup. Meanwhile Herc and Carver continue their renegade ways by travelling to Marlboro to find Bodie and beat him into giving up information on the case. Once they get there, Herc has a change of attitude after meeting Bodie's grandmother. Furious at being robbed of his product during the "re-up", Avon Barksdale instructs Stinkum, Wee-Bey and Stringer to double the existing reward to an
    • 5. The Pager

      30 Jun '02
      "..a little slow, a little late." - Avon Barksdale Avon becomes more and more suspicious, he orders Wee-Bey to change phone lines in his apartment and promotes Stinkum to manage a new territory. He gets word that one of Omar's crew members has been "got". Stringer Bell warns D'Angelo that a snitch may be in his camp. The detectives get their affidavit approved for a cloned pager but they are puzzled when the numbers they receive are not regular Baltimore phone numbers.. Herc and Carver catch up
    • 6. The Wire

      07 Jul '02
      "..and all the pieces matter." - Freamon Brandon's bloodied body is discovered in a lot that coincidentally is located next to Poot and Wallace's home. Wallace in turn, reports this to D'Angelo, and tells him about how seeing Brandon's boy has started to bother him. D'Angelo tells Wallace that he needs to get over it, but Wallace is still unsure about all he is involved in. Wallace gets even more unsettled about the situation after Avon rewards D'Angelo and him with extra cash for their parts i
    • 7. One Arrest

      21 Jul '02
      "A man must have a code." - Bunk Greggs, Herc, Carver, and Syndor grab the runner who is holding the re-up stash for the pit. Now that the cops have the stash, a furious Avon begins to question D'Angelo about a possible snitch in the pit. D'Angelo says it can't be possible and he knows nothing of a snitch. Stringer tells D'Angelo and his crew they are to now use pay phones a block away and to not use the same phone twice. This in turn disconnects all the detective's wiretaps they fought so long
    • 8. Lessons

      28 Jul '02
      "Come at the king, you best not miss." - Omar McNulty has his sons play the game of "front and follow" with Stringer Bell as the target at a local market, and the two get Bell's license plate number. As a result, the two get Stringer's license plate number and McNulty couldn't be happier. Greggs and Carver bust a driver picking up a suspiciously large amount of cash from the Towers, only they are forced to return the money on orders of the Deputy Commissioner. Avon finds out about Orlando's inq
    • 9. Game Day

      04 Aug '02
      "Maybe we won." - Herc Freamon gets Syndor and Prez started on the Barksdale money trail. They discover the usual ties to dummy companies, but they also find large sums of political contributions. Herc and Carver bust Wee-Bey holding $22.000 but only $15,000 is reported. Lieutenant Daniels discovers the discrepancy and orders them to find the money before the morning roll call. Omar's mission takes him to Proposition Joe where he promptly offers another recently stolen Barksdale stash to Joe in
    • 10. The Cost

      11 Aug '02
      "And then he dropped the bracelets..." -- Greggs After being clean for three days straight, Bubbles gets some strong advice from another former addict named Walon. He also gets a promise of extra help from Detective Greggs. When Omar's murder attempt on Avon Barksdale fails, Stringer lays down some new laws for the Barksdale crew. There will be no phone use, no more money runs, a new pager number and anyone that needs to talk to Avon has to go through Stringer first. They also send a word to Om
    • 11. The Hunt

      18 Aug '02
      "Dope on the damn table." -- Daniels While Greggs' life hangs in the balance, the officers deals with the shock in many different ways. Herc, Carver, and Syndor get back on the case after Freamon puts the incident into perspective. After seeing McNulty close to the breaking point, Rawls instructs him not to have any guilty over Gregg's shooting because he's not the one responsible. Daniels is ordered by the Deputy Commissioner to raid all the locations to appease the Commissioner's desire for "
    • 12. Cleaning Up

      01 Sep '02
      "This is me, yo, right here." -- Wallace After the Barksdale's supply gets confiscated in another bust, Stringer gives more new rules to the crew. Avon and Stringer meet with Levy to discuss the next steps, which include the elimination of any and all persons that can connect Barksdale to the drugs. Wallace goes back to the pit and asks to be let back in but Stringer has another plan for Wallace. Stringer then asks Bodie to take Wallace's old job.
    • 13. Sentencing

      08 Sep '02
      "all in the game..." -- Traditional West Baltimore In the season finale, Greggs finds the strength to finger "Little Man" as one of the men who shot her. Daniels and McNulty go to the feds with crushing evidence about some Baltimore politicians tied to Barksdale, thinking they finally have him. However, the Feds only want the politiicans and not Barksdale. D'Angelo can't swing a deal, and cops to a possession charge and 20 years hard time after a talk with his mother.