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851 is slang for arrested – it comes from the common frequency band on police radios

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[McNulty]
The boat.

[Bunk]
The marine unit?

[McNulty]
Yeah, those diesel fumes, they make me feel seasick. The Wire – The Target

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Should’ve kept your mouth shut, Jimmy…

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[McNulty]
Fuck it, I came from Western. The Wire – The Target

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Later in the series, we see McNulty reminiscing on his time as a patrolman in the Western District, and he realizes that it was the only time he was truly happy as a police.

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[Avon Barksdale]
Sit your ass down. The Wire – The Target

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This parallels the previous scene where Rawls forces McNulty to take a seat then proceeds to tell him off. Season 1 of The Wire deals almost exclusively with the police and the drug dealers, and how the two are more similar than you would think.

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[D'Angelo Barksdale]
Niggas crazy in there, yo. Eastside, Westside, everybody beefing. The Wire – The Target

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D'Angelo is talking about his experiences in the holding cell where he was kept during his murder trial. We get a few looks into these types of prisons throughout the course of the show and it isn’t very pretty.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgJu_JyfP70

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[Greggs]
Who the fuck is Avon Barksdale? The Wire – The Target

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Another important difference between The Wire and other shows is its portrayal of drug dealers/villains. In most shows, the “bad guy” is someone with a unique trait or nickname that makes them well-known throughout the entire city – both in the streets and in the police department.

But while Avon’s name rings out in the streets, he keeps a low profile when dealing with law enforcement. So low that no one knows what he looks like and McNulty is the only one who even knows his name. This is a more accurate portrayal of a drug kingpin, as most of them couldn’t give a shit less about how their name sounds anywhere besides the streets that they live in.

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[McNulty]
This'll teach you to give a fuck when it ain't your turn. The Wire – The Target

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One again, we see policemen “taking turns”. Though it’s ironic that McNulty is saying this, since the entire course of this series is often driven by his decisions to give a fuck when he probably shouldn’t, as evidenced by his conversation with Phelan about Avon and the subsequent backlash.

This actually ended up being the epigraph for this episode, so the writers want you to pay extra attention to it.

"...when it's not your turn" -McNulty
― “Episode Title and Epigraph Meanings” by The Wire

Bunk repeats a similar line to McNulty later in the episode.

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One again, we see policemen "taking turns". Though it's ironic that McNulty is saying this, since the entire course of this series is often driven by his decisions to give a fuck when he probably shouldn't, as evidenced by his conversation with Phelan about Avon and the subsequent backlash.

This actually ended up being the epigraph for this episode, so the writers want you to pay extra attention to it.

<blockquote class='rg_standalone_container' data-src='//poetry.rapgenius.com/annotations/3260796/standalone_embed'><a href='http://poetry.rapgenius.com/3260796/The-wire-episode-title-and-epigraph-meanings/When-its-not-your-turn-mcnulty'>"...when it's not your turn" -McNulty</a><br><a href='http://poetry.rapgenius.com/The-wire-episode-title-and-epigraph-meanings-annotated'>― “Episode Title and Epigraph Meanings” by The Wire</a></blockquote><script async src='//poetry.rapgenius.com/annotations/load_standalone_embeds.js'></script>

[Bunk repeats a similar line to McNulty](http://poetry.rapgenius.com/3377999) later in the episode.

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[Carver]
Motherfucker, we talking about piss. The Wire – The Target

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One of the many things that made The Wire special was its realistic depiction of police behavior. Kima, Carver, and Herc all actually give a shit about their job and doing good for their city – they aren’t just looking for a pay bump like some of the officers out there. Yet at the same time, they obsess over clearance rates, avoid paperwork at all costs, and spend most of their free-time talking about piss vs. shit instead of catching up on cases.

We also see this later in the series, when the Mayor asks to see how Baltimore police really act during the day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLSEzB5TANo

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10 Real People That Inspired Characters on “The Wire” Criminal Justice Degrees Guide (Ft. The Wire) – 10 Real People That Inspired Characters on “The Wire”

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You didn’t really think David Simon came up with all this shit on his own? This is a list of the real-life inspirations for The Wire’s diverse cast of characters, most of which Simon and Ed Burns came across in 1980’s and 1990’s Baltimore while working as a journalist and policeman, respectively.

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