Television Review: Cleaning Up (The Wire, S1X12, 2001)

Cleaning Up (S01E12)

Airdate: September 1st 2002

Written by: George Pelecanos
Directed by: Clement Virgo

Running Time: 56 minutes

During the zenith of the Golden Age of Television, a distinct narrative convention emerged: the placement of the series' most seismic, transformative events not within the anticipated catharsis of the season or series finale, but rather in the penultimate episode. This structural gambit, once an aberration, found its influential genesis in The Sopranos, fundamentally altering audience expectations for prestige drama. HBO’s other towering achievement, The Wire, appeared to consciously adopt this template, at least superficially, with The Cleaning Up – the twelfth and penultimate episode of its inaugural season. On the surface, it delivers the ostensible climax the entire narrative engine seemed designed to achieve: the takedown of the formidable Barksdale organisation. Yet, as is the show’s enduring genius, this apparent victory is rendered profoundly hollow, exposing the brutal, cyclical nature of the institutions it dissects, making The Cleaning Up not a triumphant climax, but a devastating autopsy of the cost of the game.

Written by the esteemed Washington D.C. crime novelist George Pelecanos, the episode finally confronts the nominal mission of the series' protagonist, Jimmy McNulty: bringing down Avon Barksdale. This culmination, however, is born not of meticulous police strategy, but of desperate political expediency. Lieutenant Cedric Daniels, pressured by Deputy Commissioner Ervin Burrell to terminate the costly and politically sensitive investigation – exacerbated by the shooting of Detective Kima Greggs – was forced to act prematurely. The subsequent raids and seizures deliverrf a significant, albeit rushed, blow to the Barksdale empire. Avon and his cerebral lieutenant, Stringer Bell, find themselves cornered, their stash houses emptied, their operational capacity crippled. Their response is characteristically ruthless: a systematic campaign to eliminate any potential witnesses who might implicate them further or lead to their incarceration. This chilling purge is the episode's grim backbone. Little Man, the triggerman in Greggs' shooting, is executed by his own comrade Wee-Bey before he can flee to Philadelphia. Nakeesha Lyles (Ingrid Cornell), the security guard whose perjured testimony freed D'Angelo Barksdale months earlier, meets a similar fate. Most devastatingly, Wallace, the sensitive soul who foolishly returned from his grandmother’s safe haven to the poisoned well of The Pit, is coldly executed by his former comrades, Bodie and Poot, as he pleads pathetically for his life.

Yet, even as Bell attempts to sever the wiretap by confiscating communication devices, Daniels, undeterred by Burrell’s direct order to cease operations and intimidation tactics involving the corrupt Senator Clay Davis, persists. He leverages the remnants of his task force to establish new surveillance, yielding critical intelligence. The arrest of D'Angelo Barksdale while returning from New York, initially resistant to flipping, becomes the pivotal moment. Upon learning of Wallace’s murder – the final, unforgivable betrayal by the organisation he bled for – D'Angelo’s fragile loyalty shatters. Those events provide the necessary leverage for McNulty and Daniels to finally arrest Avon Barksdale himself. McNulty, in a moment of characteristic bravado tinged with weary certainty, assures Stringer Bell that will "catch him later.” On paper, the mission is accomplished.

The Cleaning Up endures as one of The Wire's most searing episodes primarily due to the visceral, unavoidable tragedy of Wallace’s death. His return to The Pit was a narrative death sentence, yet the execution scene remains shattering. Wallace, never the sharpest tool in the shed and prone to poor choices, had nevertheless garnered profound audience empathy through his gentle care for the younger children in the pit and his palpable, haunting remorse over his unwitting role in Brandon’s murder. To witness this fundamentally decent, broken boy – reduced to abject terror, begging for mercy from the friends he considered family, only to be gunned down for the "crime" of showing conscience – is an act of narrative violence that feels utterly undeserved. It is the purest distillation of the show’s thesis: the game consumes the vulnerable, the kind, and the remorseful long before it touches the true architects of power.

This emotional devastation is compounded by D'Angelo’s prison confrontation with Stringer. Sitting behind the glass, the weight of Wallace’s death crushes his remaining loyalty. His simple, repeated, desperate question – "Where isWallace?" – and the chilling, evasive non-answer from Bell shatter the code of silence (omertà) from within. It’s a moment of profound moral collapse for D'Angelo, the moment he truly realises the organisation discards its own without a second thought.

Crucially, The Cleaning Up simultaneously deconstructs the supposed moral anchors of the police narrative. McNulty, still reeling from Greggs’ shooting, admits his crusade against Avon was driven less by civic duty and more by wounded pride and a need to prove himself after being sidelined. Daniels, confronting Burrell over the corrupt dealings in his own past, acknowledges the potential validity of the accusations but masterfully turns the tables, threatening to expose Burrell or even the entire department if pressured further. Their victory over Avon is rendered morally ambiguous, achieved through compromised individuals within a compromised system. The triumph feels pyrrhic, the cost measured in blood – Greggs’ near-fatal shooting, Wallace’s murder, D'Angelo’s shattered psyche.

Despite this overwhelming darkness, the episode offers fleeting moments of light, primarily embodied by Shardene Innes. Operating with quiet courage and resilience within the treacherous environment of Orlando’s strip club, she becomes the unsung hero, risking everything to feed crucial intelligence to the task force. Her brief, flirtatious exchange with the ever-patient Lester Freamon provides a rare, humanising spark of warmth and potential connection amidst the pervasive cynicism – a reminder that decency and agency, however fragile, can still exist within the machine.

Ultimately, The Cleaning Up transcends the conventional penultimate-episode climax. It delivers the expected takedown of Avon Barksdale, yet immediately undermines it by revealing the true, devastating price paid – a price measured not in seized drugs or arrests, but in shattered lives, broken loyalties, and the moral corrosion of those fighting the battle. The episode’s enduring power lies not in the arrest of a kingpin, but in the unforgettable image of Wallace, begging for his life, a stark symbol of the human cost the system so readily sacrifices. It is a masterpiece not of resolution, but of devastating, necessary disillusionment.

RATING: 8/10 (+++)

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