Not for Attribution
| "Not for Attribution" | |
|---|---|
| The Wire episode | |
 |
|
| Episode no. | Season 5 Episode 3 |
| Directed by | Scott Kecken Joy Kecken |
| Story by |
David Simon Chris Collins |
| Teleplay by | Chris Collins |
| Original air date | January 20, 2008 |
| Running time | 58 minutes |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
"Not for Attribution" is the third episode of the fifth season of the HBO original series, The Wire. The episode was written by Chris Collins from a story by David Simon & Chris Collins and was directed by Scott and Joy Kecken. It aired on January 20, 2008.
The title, which means off the record, refers to the fabricated quote produced by Sun writer Scott Templeton regarding Daniels' backstabbing Commissioner Burrell. The title also references other plot lines, including Cheese feeding information in confidence to Chris Partlow regarding Omar's associates, Norman Wilson leaking the Burrell story to the Sun, and Detective McNulty's attempt to create a homeless serial killer on the record.
Fletcher is referring to decision-making on the newspaper concerning whose life (or death) is worthy of being covered in the increasingly shrinking amount of space the Baltimore Sun provides for information to local readers. The quote nicely aligns with the amount of determination the BPD exhibits in solving a crime, depending on the victim.
P.S. 114: Pupil Services manual 114
Although credited, Seth Gilliam, Domenick Lombardozzi, and Michael Kostroff do not appear in this episode.
Two real BPD officers, former Homicide Detective Donald Worden and former Commissioner Leonard Hamm, appear in the episode's opening as midnight shift homicide detectives. Worden utters the first phrase of the episode: "Type quieter, asshole."
Detective Jimmy McNulty continues his efforts to create the illusion of a serial killer and draw attention and funding for the police department. He falsifies a connection between two old cases involving homeless victims and the corpse which he had earlier staged to appear as a strangulation murder. The plan fails when both the media and his superiors are uninterested. Bunk Moreland remains outraged at McNulty’s plan and after several attempts to talk him out of it enlists the help of Lester Freamon. This strategy backfires when Freamon makes suggestions to improve McNulty’s plan by sensationalizing the killer. In a deleted scene from this episode, Freamon mentions the old arrest of Monk Metcalf and an unnamed associate of his. Monk is addressed for the first and only time by his real name, Bernard.
...
Wikipedia