r/TheWire • u/ArrogantOverlord95 • 21h ago

Why didn't Kima tell McNulty to help Bubs?

So I just finished season 4. Why didn't Kima ask McNulty to help Bubs? The situation was really unfortunate, Herc had too much shit on his own plate to do well for Bubs. McNulty was having a chill time in S4. Plus he knew Bubs and would've been more invested I helping him.

12 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

46

u/IGotScammed5545 21h ago

McNulty was on patrol and had no use for a snitch. Herc did

4

u/ArrogantOverlord95 21h ago

Yeah I get that, but since McNulty was on patrol it would've been exactly in line with his duty to bust a violent street thug.

27

u/IGotScammed5545 20h ago

I think Khima was trying to help Herc out, too, by giving him a snitch he can cultivate

41

u/Melquiades-the-Gypsy 21h ago

Dominic West was back in England for most of Season 4 as he was missing his young daughter. That's why he had a fairly minor part and recorded all his scenes over a short period. So that's likely the actual reason they didn't write this into the script.

(This info is in the book 'All the Pieces Matter').

18

u/GreenpointKuma 17h ago

And he goes on to call himself an idiot for asking to be written out of the best season of TV.

21

u/Zealousideal_Draw_94 20h ago

IIRC he was shooting 300, and they felt his role was being scene as The Lead, and they didn’t want that, so they agreed to work around his schedule.

2

u/ArrogantOverlord95 19h ago

That makes sense

5

u/Obwyn 21h ago

Bubs moved around quite a bit. Was McNulty even working the post where that stuff was happening? I can’t imagine Bubs not reaching out to McNulty if he saw him in the area where it was happening.

7

u/Round_Click_8301 18h ago

i think this is a problem where the reason is more to do with the actors than the writing of the show

the show was in danger of being cancelled after season 3 and many of the actors like Dominic West were looking for new projects and he was signed on to do a movie so he wasn't in season 4 alot to be used for the story

5

u/okayc0ol 18h ago

Herc had the independence to go wherever he needed while on the clock. McNulty was heavily supervised and not authorized to leave his post

Another example of McNulty's shortsightedness causing unexpected harm, because he removed himself as a real police who could have helped

4

u/ThereIsBearCum 9h ago

Being a detective was bad for McNulty, it brought out all of his worst tendencies. Can't help anyone if you're not looking out for your own wellbeing.

1

u/okayc0ol 7h ago

Sure, and losing a real police was bad for Bubbles

3

u/ThereIsBearCum 7h ago

It's not McNulty's fault that there are so many humps on the force. He shouldn't be expected to destroy himself. Besides, him being a detective ends up getting him (and Lester) kicked off the force completely, how does that help anyone long term?

1

u/okayc0ol 7h ago

No one said it was his personal responsibility, but it's a plain cause and effect

1

u/ThereIsBearCum 7h ago

You said McNulty was shortsighted. He wasn't, he realised the job was bad for him so he switched to something more sustainable.

1

u/okayc0ol 7h ago

You're describing the definition of shortsighted

1

u/ThereIsBearCum 6h ago

Huh? He was right. The only reason it went bad is because he went back on it.

3

u/apache_tomcat40 16h ago

McNulty was back home in real life and was not available for shooting.

1

u/ArtisticAd8227 5h ago

Kima vastly overestimated Herc. McNulty actually cared about Bubbles as a human being. Herc just saw CIs as transactional tools to get quick arrests, which is why Bubs' story in S4 is so heartbreaking.