I have in my hand a copy of the series bible for ‘The Wire’ AKA the best television show ever made AKA the best piece of media ever made AKA the best anything ever in existence. This is a document that has been floating around online for a while. I’ll be breaking down all of the differences between the final show and this document written before the show was made. There are lots of little changes and some huge ones so join me in looking at what ‘The Wire’ almost was. You can think of it like an alternate reality that begins at the same point and ends in a wildly different manner.
If you aren’t familiar with what a series bible is, it’s essentially the master document for a television show. There are different types of series bibles and they can vary widely from show to show. You can however slide every series bible into one of two categories, one type is for pitching, and the other is for internal use after the show is already greenlit.
The Pitch Bible
This particular series bible is a pitch bible. The document is dated September 6th 2000, and the show wouldn’t hit the air until 2002. This bible was of course written by David Simon and was his roadmap for the show that was delivered to HBO.
I’ll take you through this series bible in order, and it is a full 78 pages long, so let’s get started. There will be some spoilers moving forward, but I’ll avoid all the major ones. The first difference between the bible and the show is actually on page zero, right on the title page. Handwritten on the cover are titles for episodes one through three, and these episodes would wind up being called “Targets”, “The Detail”, and “The Buy” respectively, but at one point they would have been called “When It’s Not Your Turn”, “You Can’t Lose if you Don’t Play”, and… something that I can’t read. It looks like it says “Thin Tween” something, but I doubt that’s right. Maybe “Think between”, I don’t know, it got lost In the penmanship and photocopy. While these didn’t end up being the episode titles, they did become the selected quotes that appear for the episodes right after the intro sequences… except for episode 3, because this definitely does not say “The King stay the King.”
Section 1 – The Overview
Section 1 is an overview of the series as a whole. This quote demonstrates how David Simon always had the big picture in mind from the very beginning: “‘The Wire’ will be far more than a cop show, and to the extent that it breaks new ground, it will do so because of larger universal themes that have more to do with the human condition, the nature of the American city and, indeed, the national culture.”
An interesting note to point out is that this series bible does not specify Baltimore as the setting. The overview refers to the setting as “an American rust-belt city”, without specifying a specific city. Baltimore does get mentioned later in the context of “Baltimore street figures will serve as inspiration for storylines.” Having seen the show in its final form, I think every fan would agree that it’s impossible to imagine the show set anywhere other than Baltimore Maryland. The setting is such an intrinsic part of the experience of the show. David Simon has ties to Baltimore from his days in journalism, as do other major players behind the scenes like George Pelecanos or Ed Burns who served as a Baltimore detective for two decades. It’s entirely possible that David Simon always intended to set the show in Baltimore and just didn’t specify that when pitching to HBO, or maybe teaming up with other members of the creative team who had ties to Baltimore is what led to the setting.
Also, of note is the episode count. Obviously since this was a pitching document, the number of episodes ordered by HBO was not set yet. This series bible outlines the first season as nine episodes, but the first season would wind up being 13 episodes long.
David Simon writes, “Each season of ‘The Wire’, be it nine or thirteen episodes, exists as a stand-alone journey. Some characters may progress to the following season for continuity; most others will have their stories resolved in a single season.” This is something that would end up changing a great deal. The finished show does certainly change from season to season, but the progression is less a change of story, and more of an evolution. New characters are added, but there are many characters who remain leading figures throughout all five seasons and there is far less division as the world of the story continues to expand.
Seasons
Each season, as initially planned, would have revolved around a single case per season, meaning the Barksdale crew would have had their story wrapped up by the end of the first season, and a new investigation would have taken center stage for each subsequent season. This plan held true somewhat for the second season which focuses much more on Frank Sobotka and the docks as the central case of the season, but season three then returns focus onto the Barksdale’s, and they never really left prominence throughout the second season at any rate.
Equipment
The next change from pitch to production is a huge one and affects the entire visual style of the show. In the pitch bible David Simon says of the visual aesthetic: “It should be shot 16mm and hand-held.” This is completely different from what we ended up getting.
If 16mm hand-held just sounds like jargon to you, I’ll show you the difference. This is 16mm hand-held… and this is ‘The Wire’. ‘The Wire’ was shot entirely on 35mm and there is a little bit of hand-held camera work, but not much. David Insley, one of the show’s DPs, said of the show’s cinematography in an interview, quote: “There was a lot of handheld in the first season but it evolved and became an all long lens on a dolly look.”
Section 2 – Setting
Section 2 is all about the setting, which we’ve already covered is not specified as Baltimore in particular within the series bible, though Baltimore is mentioned, and David Simon already made The Corner for HBO which was also set in Baltimore and serves as a predecessor to ‘The Wire’ in a number of ways. The Corner is even mentioned in ‘The Wire’s overview. The setting is called “an Eastern rust-belt city” and described to be exactly what it is on ‘The Wire’, just without explicitly calling it Baltimore at this point.
Section 3 – Major Characters
Section 3 is about the major characters, and there are some huge differences here. Let’s go through them one at a time.
First up: McArdle. And if that name doesn’t sound familiar, it’s because this is who would end up being called McNulty. McArdle is obviously way worse than McNulty, because then Bubbles couldn’t call him McNutty… I mean I guess he still could. It would just be weirder. So he was described as Irish from the beginning, that wasn’t something added after the casting of English actor Domonic West. The rest of his description is exactly what we got in the finished show.
Next up is Shakima Greggs. The only real difference with Greggs is that she is described as being the protégé of Lieutenant Daniels, and maybe there’s a little bit of that here and there but it doesn’t really come to fruition as a full-fledged thing.
Speaking of Daniels, he is pretty much exactly the same in the bible and in the show.
The same can’t be said of Herc however, who in the bible is described as super buff, while the TV counterpart has more of a… dad-bod type thing going on. He was originally planned to be an anabolic steroid user too which have made for a considerably different character.
Carver, one of the most lean and agile of the crew, is described in the bible as short and stocky and with a fire-hydrant build. The rest of the description sticks pretty close to what Carver would end up being at the start of the show but gives no hint of his eventual arc through the later seasons.
When it comes to Lester the main difference seems to be his disposition. He’s described as considerably quieter and gentler in the bible than what we ended up getting. His surname isn’t Freamon, it’s Weeks, which would end up becoming the surname of Johnny Weeks instead.
In the bible, Bunk gets brought onto the Major Crimes unit with the other main cops from the beginning, while on the show he remains outside the unit in the homicide department for much of the series. He is described as being close to 300 pounds and on the verge of a heart attack at any moment. Later on in the bible, Bunk actually gets described again, and this time’s he’s over the cusp, weighing in at 320 pounds. Interestingly, there’s no mention of alcoholism for either Bunk or McNulty slash McArdle, though there are scenes described with them getting shitfaced later on in the treatment sections.
Santangelo end up being a relatively minor character in the series, had a larger part to play as indicated by the bible. He’s planted in the major crimes unit as a mole, and his main characteristic was a severe gambling addiction.
And last up for the police is the Deputy Commissioner, who has no name in the bible, just deputy commissioner. His equivalent in the show would be Burrell, or it is the job that Rawls eventually takes over, so maybe this was meant more for him, the character is intended to be white in the bible. “He is not corrupt, though we may doubt this at times.” Is a line from the series bible. In the actually show, I think you could say it gets pushed a little past this.
The judge is not Daniel Phelan as in the show, but rather Judge Watkins. Other than the name change and the fact that he was written to be black in the bible, the bible and series line up otherwise on this one.
Pearlman is in the bible but doesn’t get too much description beyond the role she serves in the case, which is the same role as in the show. Instead of Rhonda Pearlman, her name is Janelle Pearlman. No mention of her relationship with McNulty/McArdle.
D’Angelo Barksdale’s entire arc throughout the first season is right here in the series bible. The Bible teases a closer more personal relationship between D’angelo and McArdle than we got from D’angelo and McNulty. D’Angelo is also described as having a casual girlfriend, rather than the serious relationship and child that he has on the show, and he’s described as having a fixation on expensive footwear, which doesn’t fully manifest itself in the show to a serious degree.
Avon Barksdale is not Avon in the series bible, but rather Aaron Barksdale. Though Avon is more hands-off in the first season than in later seasons, he is described as being even more hands-off in the series bible. Interestingly enough, the season 3 plot thread that sings Stringer get involved in the real estate game, is instead attributed to Aaron Barksdale in the bible and would’ve been part of season 1.
Stringer Bell was originally supposed to be called, wait for it, Stringy Bell. Ew. It just sounds gross after hearing Stringer for so long. Stringy? Yuck. Stringy is described as older in the series bible, and his eventual role in the show is really minimized in the series bible. He is described as the No. 2, but his role seems much smaller than it would actually end up being, and there’s no hint at any of his own goings ons, like his community college classes for example.
Bubbles is massively different in the show vs the series bible. In the bible, he’s sixty, and he actually has AIDs. There’s a whole subplot in later seasons of ‘The Wire’ where Bubbles is afraid he might have aids, his buddy Johnny Weeks has HIV, but when Bubbles finally does get tested, he finds out he is miraculously clean. In the show bible, he is dying slowly of aids throughout the series.
Omar is pretty different in the bible vs in the show. The two biggest changes are Omar’s reputation, which isn’t nearly as legendary in the bible, and he isn’t openly gay in the bible, he even has a girlfriend character that he stays with, though it is still implied that he has a male lover on the downlow.
And the last character described in the bible is Bodie. His description is short, and lines up perfectly with what’s in the show.
And yes that is the last character described, meaning there was no Wallace in the bible (Where’s Wallace?! clip). There’s no Rawls, unless he was meant to be sort of a combo character with Burrell as the Deputy Commissioner. There’s no Jay Landsman in the bible either and there’s no Maurice Levy, though there is brief mention of an unnamed drug-organization lawyer. There’s no bio for Johnny Weeks but he does get mentioned in other places within the bible. Another huge absence is Prez. There is absolutely no mention of Pryzbelewski whatsoever. Smaller players like Poot or Wee-Bey don’t get descriptions either.
Fitzhugh is also absent from the series bible, along with the rest of the FBI. Between the bible being written and the show being made, 9/11 happened. I think it’s extremely likely that this led to several changes, and it’s a subject that David Simon has commented on a bit in the past, even managing to predict the FBI’s response to 9/11 since ‘The Wire’ was made before the FBI took action, but released afterward, so significant forethought was required.
The rest of the bible is a detailed description of each episode of the first season as initially planned to be self-contained and nine episodes in length. I’ll take you through the major differences.
Differences
First major difference is, the opening scene of the show? Not in the bible. Instead we open right in the court house. The first scene in the bible, is the first scene following the opening credits in the show.
From how the scenes are described, Jimmy’s Irish heritage may have played a larger role initially. He’s constantly referred to as “The Irishman” in the description.
One small detail that changes between the bible and series is the name of the low-rises. In the show they’re called the Franklin Terrace Towers, but in the bible, they’re called the Latrobe Courts and the actual courtyard is called the Douglass Homes. The name of the nightclub changes too. It’s not Orlando’s in the bible, but rather Five Mile House nightclub, which is a real spot in Baltimore. And, actually, Orlando’s is mentioned too, so I guess they got combined in the actual show.
Greggs apparently goes to night school in the series bible. Maybe that idea is what morphed into Stringer’s community college classes.
That’s all for the significant changes to the first episode. Some scenes are shuffled around and there are a a few extra scenes in the show that aren’t in this outline, but otherwise it sticks pretty closely, which makes for the pilot episode.
Into episode 102
The two shitty detectives that Daniels gets saddled with in the show are named Mahon and Polk, but in the bible, they are named Shea and Varitek. Other than the name change, they are the same. There are also a couple of extra cops in the detail at the start who are described as brutal thugs, one from Vice, one from the warrant squad.
In the show Jimmy and Bunk talk to Bodie and D’Angelo at that iconic couch, but in the bible, D’Angelo gets full-on hauled into an interrogation room at this point. D’Angelo’s arc is compressed in the bible, a bit sped up, partially due to the nine-episode planning in place of 13.
Worth noting, there’s no chicken nugget conversation in the bible.
Since Prez isn’t in the bible, the scene where he clocks a teenager with his pistol, instead has Carver doing the clocking. Also instead of the classy “shit bird” line, he goes with the more mainstream “shit bag.”
Jimmy’s catch phrase of “What’d I do?” is actually instead uttered by Bubbles in the bible.
The story D’Angelo tells in the lowrises about killing the ex, and the killing itself are both different in the bible than in the show. It’s left a little bit ambiguous in the show whether he did the shooting himself or not, but in the bible all of the details are spelled out. In the bible, D’Angelo knocks on the glass, just like in the show, except in the bible, when she comes to the glass, Stringer steps up from behind D’Angelo and he’s the one who shoots through the glass.
The Clay Davis figure is mentioned in episode 2 of the bible, except he’s called Senator James L. Dawkins instead.
At this point in the bible, Lester goes to the gym and tracks down the picture of Avon, or I guess Aaron. But in the show, that doesn’t happen until episode three.
Same deal with the scene where D’Angelo chats up Shardene. It’s in episode 3 of the show but in the bible its way back in episode 1. But the bible does specify that she will eventually become an informant right from her first introduction. Also, she does not have a name in the bible, she’s just referred to as a B-girl dancer.
Scene Shuffling
There’s a lot of scene shuffling due to restructuring the show from nine episodes to 13, without the scenes themselves actually changing much or at all. The scene where D’Angelo makes a faux pas with the dessert cart in the fancy restaurant is another example. In the bible that’s part of episode two, but in the show, it doesn’t happen until all the way in episode 5.
Here’s a super important note: right in the bible, there is a Sheeeeeeeeeeit. Just said by a nameless witness though.
Episode 3
Now in episode 3 of the bible, Sydnor goes undercover on the streets just like in the show, but he does NOT get pointers from bubbles. That great scene is not in the bible.
In the show, Bodie punches Mahon, while in the bible, Bodie hits Varitek with a baseball bat. The result is the same, with one of the loser detectives laid up in hospital soaking up his pension, and with Bodie getting horribly assaulted by the police.
There’s a scene unique to the bible where Herc buys a large quantity of steroids for from another cop.
There’s also another police brutality scene where Herc, Carver, and two other cops beat a man unconscious who they think is stealing a car, but he’s actually just locked himself out of his own car and trying to get back in. When they realize, they run away.
Next major change is a scene that got much better between pitch and production. McArdle is looking through old cases that have a Barksdale connection and finds one of Santangelo’s old cases that never got solved, leading into the iconic “fuck” investigation scene, one of my favorite scenes in the entire show. In the bible, the whole “fuck” angle is not part of this scene, there’s actual dialogue written out explaining the detective work as they go through it. And this is a twofold change, the second part being that Bunk is absent. In his place is Kima. One other little change is that instead of the bullet being found in the refrigerator door, it’s just in the baseboard of the wall, less clever.
Another bible specific scene with Herc continuing his subplot. He goes to a gym and sells some steroids to a dude.
The scene from the show where Bodie just walks out of juvie holding and goes home is not shown in the bible, but he does show back up and it’s said out loud that he’s getting hauled off to Boy’s village, and then he tells the story of walking out to D’Angelo, we just don’t see it happen.
In both the bible and show, Omar is introduced in episode 3, but his introduction is completely different in both versions. One of the largest changes is Omar’s reputation, or the lack thereof in the bible. In the show, he’s already got a semi-legendary persona on the streets, already infamous amongst the Barksdales, but in the bible, no one knows who the hell he is.
In his first scene in the bible, him and his crew are introduced in a way that misleads the audience into that they are drug cops on a stakeout of the Barksdale operation. This ruse continues with the actual Barksdale crew as well. The bible says, “The stickup is so smooth that until they’re all against the wall, D’Angelo’s confederation thinks it’s the police.”
In the bible has a Grandmother, and this is who he really cares about. She doesn’t know anything about the drug business and instead thinks he works in construction. D’Angelo also has an absent sister who abandoned two children, and these children are now being raised by this grandmother character. Completely different family dynamic than in the show.
That’s the end of episode 3 in the bible, and there’s one major absence… The chess scene, arguably the show’s single most famous scene, is nowhere to be found.
Into episode 4 now
Prop Joe’s character is first mentioned, except in the bible, he’s called Doughboy. The bounds of his territory seem to be a little bit different too.
Next is a scene where “Aaron” Barksdale listens to a middle-aged woman who’s fallen on hard times and gives her $500 out of his pocket.
In the bible, once the pagers get cloned, the monitoring setup is completely different, it’s actually just McArdle and Kima watching a half dozen pagers each.
The eastside, west-side basketball game happens in episode 4 of the bible, but not until episode 9 of the actual show. There’s no Herc and Carver mingling and watching the game in the bible though. But McArdle and Greggs do the use the game as a surveillance opportunity and start matching up pagers to faces.
The next big difference is Brandon’s death, he doesn’t get a name in the bible, but he fills Brandon’s role as the member of Omar’s team that gets got. Not Omar’s boyfriend since Omar has a girlfriend in the bible, instead he’s described as being pretty young, and just a friend of Omar’s on the crew. The Barksdales roll up on him in the same situation, but instead of hauling him off and making an example of him like in the show, they just gun him down right then and there. They don’t do the whole pretending to be cops thing.
There’s nothing at all to Kima’s homelife in the bible. She has a girlfriend, but that’s the extent of it in the bible “Greggs at home. Domestic scene with girlfriend.” That’s it. No drama to it.
In the bible, Omar finds out about Brandon’s death when McArdle and Greggs show up at his door and tell him. Omar is a whole lot less elusive in the bible, the cops can just roll up to his front door. They even bring Omar into the interrogation room.
There’s a scene in the bible where Herc, Carver, and Sydnor all testify in court against all the low players that have been scooped up. Which seems like it must mean the end of Sydnor’s undercover work with this crew.
The “follow the money” talk is a little altered but still happens.
The police show up to a stash house, and it’s revealed to belong to the woman that Barksdale gave the $500 to. Not simply the act of generosity it seemed. Another detail from the bible is that one of the people to scatter from the stash house is the ringer basketball player that Barksdale earlier recruited. The basketball player gets into a fight with Kima and hurts her bad, even hitting her over the head with a pipe at one point. She draws her gun on him, doesn’t fire, he runs off, she gets rushed to the hospital. D’Angelo sends the ball player off on a train to lie low, kind of like they do for Wee-Bey on the show.
In the bible, Bodie starts getting more respect and responsibility by episode 4. Stringer, or “Stringy” splits dealing into two shifts, gives D’Angelo the night shift, and gives the day shift to Bodie, who immediately gets stuck up by Omar.
Now we’re into episode 5 of the bible
One nice little character detail in the bible is that McArdle has a degree in philosophy.
Without Prez in play in the bible, it’s Kima who first cracks the code with the numbers.
Omar’s girlfriend comes into play when Barksdale shooters roll up to her house and try to ambush him. The house gets pretty much destroyed and the girlfriend is wounded, but Omar slips away.
One subplot from the bible that didn’t make it into the show sees D’Angelo turn over a 15-year-old under him to “Stringy” who then has a couple guys beat the piss out of the kid. D’Angelo feels bad at first, but then some of the kid’s blood gets on his shoes and he freaks out and starts attacking the kid too, because again, in the bible D’Angelo has a full-blown obsession with shoes.
Slim Charles shows up in this episode, which is cool since in the show Slim Charles doesn’t make his first appearance until all the way in season 3. He’s pretty much Slim Charles in name only though in this instance. As opposed to Anwar Glover who played Slim Charles, in the bible the slim name is ironic as he is described as “the fattest human being possible.”
Then comes probably the single biggest difference to the entire show. In episode 10 of the show, Kima is part of an undercover sting with the DEA when she is shot and critically wounded. The equivalent of this event in the bible happens much earlier, in episode 5 and plays out differently.
The location is completely different. Instead of a car in an empty lot, the setting is actually inside of Orlando’s club. D’Angelo himself is directly involved as he is the one who recognizes Kima and outs her to the others. Slim Charles and two other guys attack her. She fights back and kills one of them, but then… Kima dies. She gets killed in the bible right in episode 5.
Episode 6
Episode 6 is wildly different all throughout. The episode opens with Kima’s funeral.
In the wake of Kima’s killing, D’Angelo gets hauled into the interrogation room and McArdle beats the hell the hell out of him while Bunk turns a blind eye. D’Angelo rolls over on Slim Charles who is currently in the hospital from a knife wound that Kima gave him but that he says he got at a card game. Bunk and Santangelo drag Slim Charles and another muscle out of the hospital.
Stringy Bell meets with the cops under the supervision of Maurice Levy, except instead of Maurice Levy it’s actually two different unnamed lawyers. Stringy also rolls on Slim Charles, completely sells him out, but swears that he and Barksdale had nothing to do with that business and that Slim just uses the same location since he and Orlando go way back. They did time together. He also sells out Slim’s compatriots and promises that he’ll make sure everyone at Orlando’s cooperates with the investigation.
D’Angelo cracks and is ready to confess by episode 6. He comes clean on everything. Just to reiterate at this point, there is no Wallace in the bible at all. I’ll also note at this point that while Lester is still acts the same and is still leagues above most cops, he is far less active and involved in the bible. He gets the picture of Avon, or Aaron, and he does some work with informants, but that’s the extent of it for him so far.
Interestingly, even though Omar’s reputation seems fairly minimized in the bible vs in the show, he does still talk to McArdle about how the way he pulls off what he does is all about reputation. This is something that luckily got smoothed out between pitch and production.
The scene where Jimmy goes to his son’s soccer game with Bubbles in the show is also in the bible, but instead of Bubbles, it’s D’Angelo who’s with him.
After D’Angelo returns to the low-rises, word has already reached Stringy of the confession through the mole in the police detail. Stringy acts like he doesn’t even know D’Angelo, kind of like that moment from later on in the show where Stringer suspects Bodie of wearing a wire.
D’Angelo doesn’t know he’s been caught out until Bodie kicks his ass right out in front of everyone and calls him a snitch. All of D’Angelo’s guys now work for Bodie who rises through the ranks much faster in the bible. When D’Angelo gets home, his porch has been vandalized with the word “snitch”.
At the end of episode six, the FBI finally steps in, interested in following the money. No Fitzhugh though, just nameless FBI suits.
D’Angelo calls McArdle for help after his beating, and McArdle brings D’Angelo home to sleep on his couch.
Episode 7
Now on to episode 7 which opens with Daniels turning down the FBI’s help since it would take the case away from him and his people.
McArdle and D’Angelo get a lot closer than McNulty and D’Angelo ever did. McArdle shepherds D’Angelo around after he’s found out as a snitch openly. D’Angelo is hanging around for days on end, he’s even right there in the room once the wire-tap on the payphones is finally up and running. McArdle even goes on a day trip with his kids and D’Angelo down to DC to check out the monuments. D’Angelo even jokes about McArdle adopting him. No one knows what is going to happen to D’Angelo after the case is over. There’s no budget for witness protection and he definitely can’t go back to his old life.
Lester and Sydnor scoop up a drug mule on his way to drop-off with the Barksdales and snag four hundred thousand dollars-worth of heroin.
One of the real estate projects that Aaron Barksdale is involved in is revealed to be a co-endeavor with Doughboy, the Prop Joe stand in.
Into episode 8 now
By this point Bubbles is badly suffering the effects of HIV. He’s described as “wraith like” and in the final stages.
There’s a whole bait and switch where the Barksdale’s send muscle to a motel six where they think D’Angelo is, but it turns out to be empty. The mole business with Santangelo goes much deeper in the bible than any mole business in the show, even more than the mole business with Lieutenant Marimow in season 4.
Orlando’s club gets renamed to Odell’s. No connection to Odell Watkins, just a coincidence.
Both Bubbles and Omar go up to Stringy wearing wires at different times. Everything goes smoothly with Bubbles, but when it’s Omar’s turn, Bell has muscle grab him up and make him strip. They don’t find any mic.
Omar meets with Aaron Barksdale and offers to wipe the slate clean, expunge the vendetta. He says he can kill D’Angelo for him before he can testify. Aaron agrees, and now he’s on tape commissioning a hit on his own nephew.
Herc gets arrested by a DEA agent for selling steroids. Apparently the DEA has been working on catching Herc for the past six months, and they finally have. Except the truth is that this bust actually only came about as a result of the mole through the deputy commissioner to put a stop to the investigation. This is a problem for the whole wiretap case since Herc’s name is on the affidavits. Herc and Carver stealing money from a bust does not happen in the bible. And one Mr. Fuzzy Dunlop is completely absent from the bible as well.
The dancer from Orlando’s does become an informant and does help with the case, she even still gets along well with Lestor, but the whole business with her counting steps to the count room and all that is not in the bible. She just wears a wire and picks up on some conversations in the bible.
Carver also belts out a Shhheeeiiiiit in this episode.
Santagelo, who in the bible is so deeply crooked that he gave sold out Lester, Sydnor, Herc, and Carver and nearly got them all murdered by Barksdale muscle at the motel, is now in custody. Lester and Sydnor bring into the bathroom and beat the piss out of him.
The episode ends with Aaron Barksdale cuffed to the interrogation room table.
Now for episode 9, the final episode of the bible
Months have passed since the last scene in the previous episode.
The righteous judge who got the investigation started ends up being just as crooked as everyone else now that its close to his reelection for another 15-year term.
Herc is losing his job over the steroid rap. He gets to resign instead of being fired.
Bubbles is laid up in an AIDS treatment ward. McArdle visits him for a final goodbye.
D’Angelo goes through with testifying in court, Sydnor, Carver, and McArdle all testify too against Aaron, Stringy, and a bunch of mid-level players.
Lester and the dancer have an actual date at the harbor, a real couple it seems. She even gives him a new piece of doll furniture.
Barksdale gets found guilty. McArdle goes to tell Bubbles, but his bed is empty. He’s dead and gone. That’s the end of bubbles in the bible reality.
Next is the Stringy Bell trial, and he gets found not guilty. So this all lines up pretty well without happens in the show, just comes about in a different manner. At Bell’s trial, the jurors believe that McArdle planted the evidence at the apartment murder scene with the bullet in the wall and the casing outside the window.
They have to figure out what to do with D’Angelo now. They bring him to a train station, not knowing where to send him. He mentions he has an aunt in Atlanta, so they send him there. Lester and especially McArdle feel bad for him. They give him all the money they’ve got on them, McArdle even goes to an ATM to take out more for him.
Now that their hand in the case is over, McArdle gives the wire-tap evidence over to the FBI contact to further their own investigation.
We join D’Angelo in Atlanta, back on a corner slingin’, the only game he knows. It looks like this got repurposed as the end of Marlo’s arc, and it works better as that.
The bible season ends the exact same as the show, with Omar pulling a stickup, laughing, and a fade to black.
So those were all of the differences between ‘The Wire’ as it was pitched and ‘The Wire’ as it was produced. The season starts off extremely similar, goes way off course in the latter half of the season, but then wraps up in a pretty similar way to the actual show, minus the huge changes that would have left ripples throughout all of the subsequent seasons, the death of Kima and Bubbles for instance, though as described in the bible, the next season wouldn’t have had any of these return as leads at all.