Kima's actions were, in fact, the epitome of betrayal. During this and past seasons of the Wire, Simon has shown us how the system is rigged and how anyone with the courage to try new approaches to solving age-old problems (e.g. Bunny Colvin) is shut down. McNulty is a complex guy but he had the courage to take an action which, if discovered, would cost him his job, his pension and perhaps his freedom. He did this because he was frustrated that he couldn't do the simple work that he signed on to do: police work and to catch drug dealers who were killing with impunity in the streets of Baltimore. It wasnt' just McNulty who thought this, Lester and Sydnor did as well and I'm sure Bunk did also but he was clearly afraid of the repercussions. It's not courageous to turn guys like McNulty, Lester and Sydnor in. It's only courageous if the system one operates in is beyond reproach which the City of Baltimore Police Department was anything but. Change only comes about if people force the change from within. Kima's actions were simply the preservation of the status quo which will allow Marlo and his boys to continue with the senseless killing in the streets.

The epitome of betrayal is the inherent dysfunction of an organization that is mandated to "serve and protect" but will not effectively do that for all its citizens.

I side with Kima - the right thing isn't always the easiest thing or the most fashionable. And because I work a place where we had to outlaw "Stop Snitchin" tshirts and students are afraid to speak up when something's wrong for fear of retribution and ostracism, I wish for 10000 more Kimas. And Bunk's work proves the right way will win eventually. At least for a time.

And in the next week's preview, it looks like Marlo and his crew are out already. McNulty's plan was a quick fix that had deeper consequences. Sound an awful lot like the current presidential administration, huh? "Sounded like a good idea at the time" is not my definition of leadership.

but as usual the police dept which kima's wants to protect and preserve is already corrupt. its not like mcnulty and crew are going to give it a bad name. i find mcnulty actions akin to soldiers who refuse to follow orders that are "illegal" or immoral. what mcnulty did was the "right" thing to do. the fact that he had to do it this way speaks more to the ways of politics.

in a jury trial--we would see jury nullification at its finest.

Kima's actions were, in fact, the epitome of betrayal.

Kima's actions were, in your opinion, the epitome of betrayal. The facts are that McNulty fabricated evidence, falsified documents and reallocated resources from other cases under false pretenses and Kima is reporting his actions to her commander. McNulty believed he was doing this in pursuit of the greater good - taking down Marlo. But we should critically examine that belief.

Who is to say taking down Marlo is the greater good? The budget cuts in the police department that resulted in Stansfield investigation being shutdown were not done out of malice or caprice. The school budget was at a deficit and cuts needed to be made to avoid teacher lay-offs at city schools.

In my opinion, McNulty wasn't seeking justice for the families of those 26 dead people in the vacants or even retribution against Marlo. He was frustrated that his own investigation was shut down and he wanted to prove he was smarter than the bosses.

The entire enterprise is going to fall down, anyway. Herc stole the phone number from Levy's office and i bet that phone number is protected by attorney - client privilege. As a result all the evidence gathered against Marlo's crew will be dismissed as fruit of a poisoned tree.

As long as we're engaging in baseless speculation, I'll suggest that far too many people have far too much invested in the whole homeless serial killer sham for the sham to ever see the light of day. The "next on" preview kind of makes it seem that I'm wrong, but this is the result I'm still holding out for.

The mayor has put himself right in front of the homeless serial killer case and so has the entire police department. Plus, the mayor and the other politicians get a whole lot of mileage out of the "drugs on the table" from the bust made possible my McNulty's lie. I say the whole thing gets hushed up and McNulty is quietly pensioned/bought off.

And surely Daniels and Pearlman don't want to go down as the pair of whistleblowers who destroyed a major drug case by playing boy and girl scout.

I agree with you. I think the police department has too much to gain to give this up. I feel like they looked too good on TV to just turn around and throw it away. The mayor would look bad. Maybe I just dont want the bad guys to get away.

again--are mcnulty and freamon really the "corrupt" ones. you can see carcetti making every decision based on his political motivations. the previous police chief was tied in with Davis. the school system is rotting away. who has the moral ground? if you lived in these neighborhoods would you want marlo off the streets any way neccessary or stick to the "code of ethics". if we really felt this way, in this country there would be no rendition, no torture, no "gitmo". if not for people like mcnulty we not see the apparent failures of the "systems" so glaringly. yes he will be scarificed. all the visionaries are.

Heedy And Bunk's work proves the right way will win eventually.

Really? It seems to me that for all of the "fuck you McNulty" moments Bunk has given us this season, he never got anywhere until he decided to go along with McNulty's game. Had it not been for Jimmy's help, Bunk's evidence against Partlow would still be sitting unexamined in a refrigerator.

I think we have seen the exact opposite: Bunk's work proves that the right way never wins, and the game is rigged. As always, it's play or get played.

Kima wasn't presented with a moral, right v. wrong issue. She didn't face the same dilemma that Carver did when he wrote up Colicchio who was clearly abusive to that poor teacher. Her's was a much more nuanced dilemma. The fact alone that Lester "was in" on it should have really made her pause before she decided to go to Daniels. I mean of all people Lester! Sure, the right thing is for everyone to do "good old fashioned police work" to catch the bad guys with whatever resources are available. Simon, however, has shown us that the plight of America's inner cities, from the dysfunctional educational system, the police departments, the municipal government and now the local press don't lend themselves to simply "do the right thing" and get the results you wish. They are broken systems and within those broken systems if you want to get the results everyone wants, which is to make the city safer for its inhabitants, it's easy to see why the McNulty's of the world will try almost anything to do what they've been hired to do: put murderers behind bars. I understand the slippery slope of this reasoning but I also understand that if you have to choose between McNulty's conduct and seeing Marlo and his cronies continue to terrorize Baltimore, the answer is pretty clear.

This is an awesome discussion! I too was rather disappointed in Kima, but she did it from within. She didn't go to the Baltimore Sun, or to anybody outside her core 'team.' She warned Carver and then she went to Daniels. I purposely didn't watch the preview for the finale (I think they often reveal too much), so I don't know if there was a teaser for it, but I don't see Kima going much further with this. She shot her wad, so to speak. But I'm surprised I was so surprised; Kima's always been a cop's cop – what she does as a cop has fit what it means to be a cop. She will not just sit there and watch a wrong being perpetuated regardless of the big picture. To her, wrong is wrong. I wish she didn’t see everything so black and white, but to quote someone (whose name I can't recall - sorry!): There will always be Marlo and Avon and Prop Joe types out there, and we will always be fighting them; Kima’s point is that it is NEVER okay to compromise yourself in conducting that fight. Otherwise, who’s the criminal and who’s the police?

The real question is why McNulty went on his confession spree in the first place; he had to have known that somebody would say something. And did he think of what this would do to Lester?

mcnulty cared enough about kima and her "work" to tell her about the the false serial killer in order to prevent her from wasting her time. it was too much for him to let "good" cops continue pursuing empty leads. thus he "exposed" himself in order to be "honest" with his fellow workers.