The Wire - Brianna Confronts McNulty About D'Angelo 

"I liked your son. All things considered, he was a pretty decent kid. And it grinds me that no one ever spoke up for him, and it seems to me that nobody ever will."This scene is McNulty at his best

"Honestly, I thought Id tell someone who actually cared about the kid" this is brutal.

"Honestly? I was looking for somebody who cared about the kid." Call Bunk Moreland, we have a homicide. Victim named Brianna Barksdale.

"There you go McNulty. Giving a f**k when it's not your turn to give a f**K" -Bunk

When Brianna asked "why not come to me first" she already knew why he didn't, but she was hoping he wouldn't say it to her face...but this is McNulty we are talking about. He let her have it full blast !

Can we talk about how good the actress is playing Brianna? She's legit tearing up at this., Lip quivering. You forget it's a scene in a TV show.

I love how she cried. Like, one of those cries that you try desperately to conceal from people nearby, but you’re too torn to shreds on the inside. Brilliantly executed as an actress.

PEAK McNulty

“We hung more wire on your brother than AT&T”

The acting in this scene is just....superlative.

Possibly my favorite McNulty scene. "It grinds me that no one ever spoke up for him, and it seems to me that nobody ever will." Devastating and true.

One of the times McNulty being an asshole was 100% warranted. I love how absolutely nothing McNulty says is factually wrong, and for the first time in Brianna's life, someone finally told her what she NEEDED to hear, not what she wanted. Her biggest sin was something she couldn't run or hide from, and Mcnulty wasn't giving her any outs, because they both know she doesn't deserve one. I love the little detail of how he didn't even introduce himself or ask her why she wanted to see him. Just answered her questions and gave it to her straight. And he did it without once being purposefully cruel. I think his anger at the Barksdale family as a whole came out, especially the fact that D'Angelo, who he genuinely liked, was just tossed aside like garbage once he no longer had any use for them.

He shamed her ass just like Bunk did to Omar.

McNulty goes beast mode in this scene. He was brutal with Brianna but she absolutely deserved every word of it.

He cut her so deep at the end. That's the best part!

Such a heart wrenching scene but you can feel her insides twisting because she knows he’s right. She shaking from guilt. So well acted

Great little moment at the very end of the scene, too, when Brianna brings her hand up, watches and jewelry clattering. It underscores the real choice she made: humanity or money. She chose money and now she's seeing what it cost her.

The end at 3:02 is powerful without words. You hear the sound of gold jewelry as Brianna brings her hand to her mouth. The same drug game that supplied the blood money for her jewelry is also what claimed the life of her only son.

McNulty laying out the cold hard facts, no sugar coating.

This last sentence from McNulty: "You're the one that made him take the years, right!!??......It's like taking an uppercut from a heavyweight...

I love how after he walks away and she raises her hand it shows all her gold jewelry- basically showing what she traded her son for

I like this scene because you can see that McNulty is taking the opportunity to get back at her for snatching D from the cops...He sticks the knife in deep and red hot with his last phrase. Also, he doesn't let her leave when she's about to but lets her have it with the photos..such a sweet scene! I love The Wire to this day.

McNulty at the end cuts deep...hurt her heart, but she had that coming.

"I was looking for someone who cared about the kid" DAMMMMNNNNN!!!!

That moment when Briana realizes that she made D take the years because of her own selfishness is too real.

The acting by Jimmy in this scene is classic. I like how he completely brakes her and does so on purpose. Great scene. He let her know what timenit was. Broke her in half.

He literally crushed her soul at the end of their conversation. Beautifully brutal scene

jesus. He served up that ether with no remorse.

"Squeezed against the sides." GOD ITS SO COLD

She felt all of that. The tears, that fell from her soul being punished. Great scene!!

"DAngelo was strangled." Send chills everytime. The truth finally comes out.

"You're the one that made him take the years, right?" Boom! Headshot!

" I kinda liked your son... all things considered.."

This writing is so damn good, and here's why: the entire purpose of this conversation is to destroy Brianna. That's McNulty's purpose from the beginning. In a way, he's giving her a rundown of all the people who don't care that her son was murdered: the police are perfectly willing to let this one go. And Avon obviously didn't take the blood they share into consideration. And the person who killed him probably didn't even care too much, because it was obviously a calculated hit. And he mentions that even he himself does not really care anymore. Finally lays the boom on Brianna that she obviously didn't care either. So gracefully done.

(At 3:00) Like Cheese said, "Man, y'all some cold ass muthaf#(kas man." The real irony here is that D'Angelo's girl, Donette, was the one who cared the least about him in the end.

Donette didn't care either, she was taking Stringer Bell's package!

McNulty was the 'king' of these kinds of confrontations and could be incredibly persuasive. For him to get to Brianna said it all. She was tough and shrewd. You got to 'the best' to get to someone like her. He had an instictive sense about what buttons to push and was willing to push them. It made him incredibly annoying to his superiors, but that same quality flourished in cross examinations and persuading people like Bodie, who normally were almost impenetrable. Even though they didn't like to hear what McNulty had to say, they seemed to instinctively trust him, sensing he was 'natural police' and what he was saying resonated with them.

This scene gave me the chills amazing show

God-level acting by both!

I would say it is more like McNulty confronts Brianna about D'Angelo.

I’ve always wondered. Did they enhance the sound of her jewelry clanging as she lifts her hand to fight her tears as symbolism for how that love of money not only cost her, her child. But her right to be called a mother. Brilliant writing directing and acting. This scene is amazing

One of my favorite scenes.....Mcnulty's voice and tone was on point....more wire than AT&T....... Great line.

Acting, dialogue, emotional heft, attention to detail, ramifications and realisations - all off-the-chart, absurdly good. Arguably the best scene in the entire series.

I never get enough of rewatching this... McNulty words was so true to the point D'Angelo mother died two times emotionally. and on the third charm she self-destruct when she confronted stringer and Avon about the truth... 🤐🚨

When Jimmy says it grinds him that no one ever spoke up for deangelo Brianna moves a little bit like that hurts her to the point where she's about to cry. Great acting. You know she's remembering when deangelo is asking "what about me". I feel bad for her in a way. Obviously she now knows that he had some good in him and wasn't meant for the game and she knows she should have let him take the deal so he could live a new life. Powerful stuff. I just watched the series for the first time and am watching it again with my girlfriend. I'm glad I didn't watch it live. I would have hated waiting weeks for new episodes. Ha. Gotta be in my top 5 shows

McNulty aint scared of nobody

The look on McNulty face as he walks away....too good😂

This show was so powerful with its delivery. I miss this style of show

If your beer is ever too warm, just hold it close to McNulty's heart. (Simultaneously... she kind of earned that)

You can say what you want about Brianna she was a better mother than Namond's mom

The different looks on both of their faces throughout this scene told its own story. These 2 actors knocked this scene out of the park. When fans mention all the great characters this show gave us they may go 20 deep before they mention Brianna but its those peripheral characters strong performances that put this show at the exalted level it deserves.

Such great writing. Such great acting. Such unnecessary cruelty. Such an honest show.

Wow what a brutal scene, painful truth is one of the big hallmarks of the wire.

The last line was probably one of the most brutal moments on the show. Yet it contained no violence... One of my favorite scenes from the show.

Final nail in the coffin for Brianna, knowing that while she always looked out for her son she tried to raise him as the next Avon, when he would of been better & happier being pretty much anything else

This scene is absolute genius! Mcnulty tels it as it is, and Breanna knows it!!

McNulty broke her down like a Lego set,The Wire,best television series ever!!..Even Brianna can act her ass off..what is her name in real life? #RESPECT

I literally celebrated this scene when I first saw it. She pretended to be above it all, but in the end she cared more about her cut of the family trade than the life of her son, and it took McNulty pointing that out to her for her poison mind to realize it.

This scene shows why this show was so damn good. It feels real. No overly dramatic music and over acting. Just a hard hit in the gut.

Wow, this show is so unbelievably good. The writing is second to none.

Easily one of the most powerful scenes of the series ......

So I just wrote a 2,400 word evaluation essay for my english 111 class. And it was about the wire, I covered my body paragraphs about the subtle dialog that was play out through the season, this was one of the quotes I used. The other body paragraphs were about "the game" and the police-- good police and "juking the stats" police. I love the technique David simon used to establish such an underrated hit television series. I concluded by saying how many of the fans who watch the wire enjoy for its subtle moments and character development. This was truly a underrated television series. Just the show alone, never has there been another cop drama that humanize heroin addicts, or had a Omar character to help the citizens of Baltimore. Thank you David Simon for producing this hit. I was extremely excited and honored to write an evaluation essay on the show. Much love for the fans as well! ❤

Jesus... This show was so good.

We are watching this scene largely from McNulty's perspective hence it is easier to think Brianna got what she deserved. But looking from Brianna's point of view, this situation is fucking brutal. She probably grew up being taught the importance of sticking with the family, which leads her to convince D to do the same. Now she finds out the same family has thrown D under the bus for protecting themselves. Where did she go wrong? By convincing D not to snitch on Avon? Or by grooming D in the first place to join the family business? Or by not getting out of it herself long before that? We might think these questions have a trivial answer, but they are very tough questions for someone in Brianna's shoes.

This scene is definitely one of the more powerful ones in the entire series with how in such a short time McNulty just speaking cold truths breaks someone. Show's what Landsman says later at the "wake" about "You were one of the best, if I was dead on some corner, I'd want you standing over my body". What made McNulty the best though was ultimately his own downfall too sadly.

that was the most brutal 3 minute takedown of a person without one punch being thrown.

I know there are all the set piece events and "Stars" of The Wire but the woman that plays D'Angelo's Mum was one of the people that stuck with me the most- she was incredible at that tortured loyalty and total devestation about what happened. It was heart breaking.

This is one of the best acted scenes in the series in my opinion, with Brianna stealing the show. Michael Hyatt does such a great job transforming from cocky pissed off arrogance to puddle of tears as it all started to make sense.

The way McNulty handles the conversation is Emmy.

This scene is perfect! I just noticed that when brianna starts crying realizing that jimmy is true, you can see that she's got plenty of gold but her son is dead!

One of the best scenes in tv history.

Now, one thing to understand is that it actually took almost no effort for McNulty to figure out Brianna's complicity in D'Angelo suddenly backing out of the deal: The cops have a general idea of who most likely visits who in cases like this. D'Angelo suddenly had a change of heart following a visitation by her. So it wouldn't take much for McNulty to conclude what happened.

mcnulty did not go savage mode, he just spoke the truth, and no one likes to be told the truth because the majority cannot take it. plus, a wise person would have figured out that was no suicide anyway, it just doesnt make it as one.it looks as a set up. and the cop knew it right away, common sense.

This show is far more better than anything out there. It's just brilliant

Geez! what a series. These RU-vid clips! Everything is so strong!

She knew he was right too and that's why it hurt so much.

"Squeezed between the sides" Goddamn that's a cold thing to say to his mother

Still resonates til this day.

When he’s like “no one else cares” I felt that

McNulty inadvertently gets Stringer killed. Tells Brianna, so Stringer tells Avon, who because of that gives up Stringer. If McNulty kept his mouth shut he'd have arrested Stringer the day he was killed. :) It's this kind of storytelling that makes The Wire the best show.

This why this was show was so great.. there are good guys on BOTH sides of the war.. As a convicted felon, I still got respect for cops like McNulty.

One of the best scenes in TV history. These two pulled off something electric here. Poignant and amazing.

One of that best sense in the wire

McNaulty was in rare form for this one.

Both of Mama Franklin son’s went out bad

Going back looking at this scene, Great acting, makes my eyes well up😭😭😭

How do this show not win every award?!?!? How are these actors and actresses sought after and receiving super high pay days?!?! My Lord!

The winner of the Mother of The Year Contest and McNulty just handed her the prize. A Reality Check!

Avon should have told Brianna what went down with D'Angelo. He truly had nothing to do with it and would have never, ever agreed to it. Avon was a gangsta, but he had a heart when it came to his blood. He shouldn't have let his sister suffer thinking that he had anything to do with her son's murder.

Damn near every scene was award winning. This really STILL IS the BEST series ever

So many layers, such great acting, such dialogue...The Wire...THE GREATEST TELEVISION SHOW OF ALL TIME!

"he asked for no quarter, and he gave no quarter" -- Jay

You know how people are always trying to comfort grieving parents "It's not your fault". It was her fault.

Such incredible, top-class acting from both of them!!

Great writing and fantastic acting by West and Mrs Hyatt. The expression on her face as mcnulty walks out is killer. She slowly crumbles without saying a word. It’s all in her facial expressions.

I never saw a tea bag jump back into the glass from the trash like that before.

Her expression at 3:03! Amazing acting.

Wow. Those last couple of lines. Powerful stuff. One of the very very best scenes in a show that moved from one great scene to another.

Oh man, the acting of this actress is perfect, amazing.

"...and it grinds me that no one ever spoke up for him". MnNulty knew the streets man.