| Series: | The Wire |
| Season: | 3 |
| Episode: | 2 |
| Director: | Steve Shill |
| Story: |
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| Teleplay: | Richard Price |
| Length: | 58 minutes |
| Prev: | Time After Time |
| Next: | Dead Soldiers |
| Episode List: | List of The Wire episodes |
"All Due Respect" is the second episode of the third season of the HBO original series The Wire. The episode was written by Richard Price from a story by David Simon & Richard Price and was directed by Steve Shill. It originally aired on September 26, 2004.
McNulty visits medical examiner Randall Frazier, skeptical that D'Angelo Barksdale's death in prison was a suicide. Frazier reports that D'Angelo's death could have been a homicide, citing bruises on his neck and back. McNulty visits D'Angelo's ex-girlfriend Donette, who doesn't tell him anything. Meanwhile, Cheese executes his dog when it loses in a dogfight. Soon afterwards, Tree, a drug dealer attending the dogfight, approaches and kills another dealer named Jelly. The MCU hears chatter about the murder over the wire, assuming a gang war has erupted.
Daniels and the Major Case Unit want to make arrests for the murders, but McNulty argues that they should gather more evidence in the hope of ultimately bringing down Bell. The unit arrests Cheese's crew. Under questioning, Cheese admits to killing his dog not a person as the detectives assumed meaning he can't be charged. The following day, the MCU finds that their wiretaps have gone dead. While patrolling the Western, Herc and Carver pick up Poot.
Herc, Carver and Kenneth Dozerman go to the movies with their girlfriends, where they are mortified to bump into Poot, Bodie, and Puddin with their dates. Later, Dozerman is shot and wounded while undercover, and his gun is stolen. The next day, Colvin tells his men that he is suspending all undercover narcotics work, likening the War on Drugs to Prohibition. Back out on the street, Herc cannot understand Colvin's reasoning. Omar and his crew stick up Shamrock and Country while they collect money for a drug resupply.
Bell visits Avon in prison and reveals his plan to supply other dealers. Avon asks Bell to target specific high turnover areas, but Bell expresses reluctance to use violence to maintain their street cred. Country, Shamrock and Bodie are sent to talk to mid-level dealers to try to displace their suppliers. Bodie is tasked with approaching Marlo, but is unable to find him; Marlo instructs his corner boss Fruit to ignore Bodie and go back to work. At the funeral home, Bell sends Bodie out to look for Marlo again and learns of Omar's robbery. Marlo meets with Vinson, who advises him to prepare for war if he doesn't compromise with the Barksdales.
The phrase "all due respect" is spoken by several characters, starting with a drug dealer addressing Omar Little as Omar is robbing him. "Respect" is a recurring theme in the episode, in which many characters, on either side of the law (e.g., McNulty and Bodie), struggle against authority figures. In particular, a strong contrast is drawn between the cordial meeting between police (Herc, Carver, and Dozerman) and drug dealers (Bodie and Poot) at the movie theater, when they are all "off-duty", and their more fraught interactions during a typical day.
Colvin makes the comment "There's never been a paper bag for drugs" in a speech in reference to an unofficial policy of declining to arrest people concealing open alcohol containers in paper bags in public, technically a violation of open container laws, in order to focus on more significant crimes. This is a prelude to his forthcoming policy of non-enforcement of narcotics laws in unofficial free zones, which will become a significant part of the season's storyline.
Colvin's "paper bag" speech is very similar to an extended discussion of the same topic in David Simon's book The Corner.[1]