SEASON 1: EPISODE 2: "The Detail"

Structurally, this episode is wholly different to the first - and naturally so, since it serves a different narrative function. Having exposed the characters and really just hinted at possible threads in W1.1, here two definitive plot lines are laid out:

 - A weakness in the character of DiAngelo Barksdale emerges. The concept of 'weakness', though, is reversed here, and it's actually his humanity that looks set to be his downfall as he cries over the murder of Gant, most likely committed on his behalf by his Uncle.
 - Ill-discipline and lack of efficiency rule at the police HQ. Although this plot-line appears at first to be a side-commentary on the state of the force by David Simon, it serves as a useful and key narrative counterbalance since if the force was in good, working order the Barksdale Organization would be broken down far too quickly to sustain the whole series.

This binary opposition is instructive - the narrative tension is built, two dominos leant together. It's hard to tell at this stage which way the structure will fall and the tension gives a permanent, low-frequency momentum which works away below deck, propelling the narrative along.

On a critical, micro-level note, the scenerio whereby Bunk and McNulty guilt DiAngelo to tears and a written 'apology' to Gant's family, was for me a rare  narrative 'slip' in the screenplay, as this weakness is inconsistent with DiAngelo's character as seen before or subsequently. Faced with the writer's brief: "DiAngelo Barksdale must show fatal weakness when interviewed by police," I wonder whether there's a smoother solution.

An interesting technique is the laying of a seed for a much later plotline, as Daniels appeals to State's Attorney Rhonda Perlman for better quality manpower in his detail, and calls her 'Rhonda, darling', very pointedly. This scene may have been inserted into the script at a late stage, once that plotline had been established. Satisfylingly, the hint is left here, and there are no further romantically-charged scenes between the two for some time.