Bunk Moreland
Encyclopedia
William "Bunk" Moreland is a fictional character
on the HBO drama The Wire
, played by actor Wendell Pierce
. Bunk's character is based on a retired Baltimore City Police
Detective named Rick Requer and nicknamed "the Bunk", an officer who joined the force in 1964 as a Western District patrolman who eventually moved into the Homicide Division. Like his partner Jimmy McNulty
, Bunk is shown to be a thoroughly competent and generally moral detective, with similar problems related to infidelity
and alcohol
abuse. He is however more mindful than Jimmy of the "chain of command" in the department.
in West Baltimore, where he played lacrosse
. He lives in Randallstown, MD, a predominantly African American
suburb of Baltimore, with wife Nadine and three children. Bunk worked as a patrolman in Baltimore's Southwestern District before becoming a homicide detective.
's lone ally in the homicide unit, informing him of its happenings while chiding him for getting involved in the Barksdale case. He is also the primary investigator for the murder of William Gant, who testified against D'Angelo Barksdale
. Omar Little
informs Bunk that the shooter is a Barksdale soldier called Bird, and agrees to testify against him in court. Because of this, Bunk persuades his colleague Detective Cole not to arrest Omar for the murder of Stinkum. When Omar is at the police station, Bunk discovers they went to the same high school, beginning an ongoing association between the two.
After one night of particularly heavy drinking, McNulty has to pick Bunk up from a woman's house. Bunk has locked himself in her bathroom and burned his clothing so that his wife will be unable to find trace evidence of him having slept with the woman.
At Landsman's insistence, Bunk and McNulty review the old Deirdre Kresson murder, which ultimately turns out to be related to the Barksdales, and is solved as part of the final arrests of D'Angelo Barksdale and Wee-Bey Brice
.
in Homicide, and they are quickly recognized as the squad's best detectives. This reputation leads Landsman to assign them to investigate the deaths of fourteen Jane Does in a shipping container on the docks, a seemingly impossible case. They are detailed Officer Beadie Russell
from the Port Authority, who initially found the bodies. The women suffocated after an air pipe was deliberately closed off.
Bunk and Freamon track down the ship which carried the package, and hold it in port in Philadelphia to question the crew. None of the crew admit to speaking English, and Bunk and Freamon let the ship go after learning that two crewman jumped ship after Baltimore. Based on a few sparse facts, Bunk and Freamon deduce (correctly) that the women were prostitutes being smuggled from overseas, that one of the girls was murdered by a sailor after refusing sex, and the rest were killed for witnessing the crime. The murderer is one of those who fled, so the investigation is at an impasse, and Bunk and Freamon come under heavy criticism from a frustrated Colonel Rawls
for releasing the ship without getting statements.
Bunk also worries about the William Gant murder; state's attorney Ilene Nathan threatens to drop the charges if the police cannot find key witness Omar Little. Bunk repeatedly reminds McNulty of this, and eventually McNulty finds Omar with help from Bubbles
. Omar testifies, and Bird is imprisoned for a maximum term.
Later, Bunk and Russell return to the port in Philadelphia and find video evidence implicating Sergei, whose testimony leads to the solving of the Jane Doe murders, as well as aiding the Major Case unit's investigation into Frank Sobotka
.
. They all consider the weapon's recovery a top priority, though he thinks it is a frivolous use of his abilities.
Bunk meets with Omar, confronting him about the "innocent" victim. Omar informs him that she was part of his crew, and says he would never kill an innocent person. As Omar states that no one will talk to Bunk about the murder, and that she died in the game, Bunk makes Omar feel guilty about his negative influence on the world due to the collapse of their old West Baltimore neighborhood. Bunk says that predators like Omar are all that still exist in their old neighborhood, which was once a community despite its hardships. To assuage this guilt, Omar finds Dozerman's gun and returns it to Bunk.
Bunk is also one of the investigators of Stringer Bell
's murder, during which Bunk uses the acronym "BNBG" - Big Negro, Big Gun - to sum up witness Andy Krawczyk's stereotypical description of the murderer. Bunk realizes Omar was the shooter but does not conclude the case. After the investigation, he tells McNulty the city's homicide rate will probably reach 300 by New Year's, noticing how McNulty has slowed down on his consumption of alcohol.
's drug dealers. He is unable to find his main suspect, Curtis "Lex" Anderson, and it becomes clear that Lex was murdered, but no leads are forthcoming. At the same time, Bunk is surprised at McNulty's seemingly successful attempts to get his life back on track.
Omar Little contacts Bunk after Chris Partlow framed him for murdering an innocent woman in a convenience store robbery. Bunk initially ignores him, reasoning that Omar was guilty of several other unproven murders (including Stringer Bell
), but Omar appeals to his sense of honor. He tracks down new evidence proving that Omar's witness Old Face Andre lied, leading to Omar's release. In exchange, Bunk extracts a promise from him to never kill again.
Freamon transfers back to Homicide, and the two are partnered again. Freamon manages to find Lex's body and, in the process, more than twenty other bodies, all of which are linked to Marlo Stanfield after Bunk gets key testimony from Lex's mother.
, Bunk gives the suspect a fake polygraph using a photocopier to coerce a real confession. Bunk and his colleagues are dealing with cutbacks, including no overtime pay, until the city's financial situation resolves. The fiscal problems cause the closure of the major crimes unit and the reassignment of Detectives Jimmy McNulty
and Kima Greggs
to Landsman's squad.
McNulty and Bunk are assigned a probable overdose. When they arrive, McNulty creates choking bruises on the body and stages the scene to suggest a strangulation. McNulty tells Bunk that he plans to create the illusion of a serial killer; Bunk leaves in disgust. Bunk cannot sleep that night and returns to the homicide unit, disgusted again to find McNulty still there, drinking and poring over case files. Bunk warns McNulty about the potential consequences of his actions, including prison time, but McNulty refuses to back down. McNulty alters an old case file and further details of the probable overdose to create links to an open strangulation case being investigated by Frank Barlow. Bunk is forced to watch his machinations. Bunk enlists Freamon to talk sense into McNulty, but this plan backfires when Freamon decides that the plan could work and makes suggestions to improve it by sensationalizing the killer.
Bunk remains angry at McNulty and refocuses his attention on the vacant house murders. Bunk delivers a report to Landsman that is placed immediately into a desk drawer. Landsman points out that Bunk is simply changing the date while submitting essentially the same report. Bunk angrily asserts that he is forced to repeat his requests as he is still waiting for the crime lab to process evidence on 14 of the 22 murders. Bunk finally gets a DNA match on Chris Partlow for an unrelated murder, but agrees to delay his case in order to allow the Marlo Stanfield wire tap to continue.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
on the HBO drama The Wire
The Wire (TV series)
The Wire is an American television drama series set and produced in and around Baltimore, Maryland. Created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon, the series was broadcast by the premium cable network HBO in the United States...
, played by actor Wendell Pierce
Wendell Pierce
Wendell Pierce is an American actor, best known for his work in HBO dramas, including his portrayal of Detective Bunk Moreland in The Wire and trombonist Antoine Batiste in Treme.-Life and career:...
. Bunk's character is based on a retired Baltimore City Police
Baltimore Police Department
The Baltimore Police Department provides police services to the city of Baltimore, Maryland and was officially established by the Maryland Legislature on March 16, 1853...
Detective named Rick Requer and nicknamed "the Bunk", an officer who joined the force in 1964 as a Western District patrolman who eventually moved into the Homicide Division. Like his partner Jimmy McNulty
Jimmy McNulty
Detective James "Jimmy" McNulty is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by British actor Dominic West. McNulty is an Irish American detective in the Baltimore Police Department...
, Bunk is shown to be a thoroughly competent and generally moral detective, with similar problems related to infidelity
Infidelity
In many intimate relationships in many cultures there is usually an express or implied expectation of exclusivity, especially in sexual matters. Infidelity most commonly refers to a breach of the expectation of sexual exclusivity.Infidelity can occur in relation to physical intimacy and/or...
and alcohol
Alcohol
In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....
abuse. He is however more mindful than Jimmy of the "chain of command" in the department.
Character storyline
Bunk attended Edmondson High SchoolEdmondson/Westside High School (Baltimore, Maryland)
Edmondson-Westside High School is a public high school and trade school in Baltimore, Maryland. It is located in the southwest section of the city in the area known as Edmondson Village...
in West Baltimore, where he played lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
. He lives in Randallstown, MD, a predominantly African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
suburb of Baltimore, with wife Nadine and three children. Bunk worked as a patrolman in Baltimore's Southwestern District before becoming a homicide detective.
Season 1
Bunk serves as Jimmy McNultyJimmy McNulty
Detective James "Jimmy" McNulty is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by British actor Dominic West. McNulty is an Irish American detective in the Baltimore Police Department...
's lone ally in the homicide unit, informing him of its happenings while chiding him for getting involved in the Barksdale case. He is also the primary investigator for the murder of William Gant, who testified against D'Angelo Barksdale
D'Angelo Barksdale
D'Angelo "D" Barksdale is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire played by actor Larry Gilliard Jr. D'Angelo is the nephew of Avon Barksdale and a lieutenant in his drug dealing organization which controls most of the trade in West Baltimore...
. Omar Little
Omar Little
Omar Devone Little is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, portrayed by Michael K. Williams. Omar is a renowned stick-up man who lives by a strict moral code and never deviates from his rules, foremost of which is that he never robs or menaces people who are not involved in "the game"....
informs Bunk that the shooter is a Barksdale soldier called Bird, and agrees to testify against him in court. Because of this, Bunk persuades his colleague Detective Cole not to arrest Omar for the murder of Stinkum. When Omar is at the police station, Bunk discovers they went to the same high school, beginning an ongoing association between the two.
After one night of particularly heavy drinking, McNulty has to pick Bunk up from a woman's house. Bunk has locked himself in her bathroom and burned his clothing so that his wife will be unable to find trace evidence of him having slept with the woman.
At Landsman's insistence, Bunk and McNulty review the old Deirdre Kresson murder, which ultimately turns out to be related to the Barksdales, and is solved as part of the final arrests of D'Angelo Barksdale and Wee-Bey Brice
Wee-Bey Brice
Roland "Wee-Bey" Brice is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Hassan Johnson. Wee-Bey was the Barksdale Organization's most trusted soldier before being sentenced to life imprisonment for multiple homicides....
.
Season 2
Bunk is partnered with Lester FreamonLester Freamon
Lester Freamon is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Clarke Peters. Freamon is a detective in the Baltimore Police Department's Major Crimes Unit...
in Homicide, and they are quickly recognized as the squad's best detectives. This reputation leads Landsman to assign them to investigate the deaths of fourteen Jane Does in a shipping container on the docks, a seemingly impossible case. They are detailed Officer Beadie Russell
Beadie Russell
Beatrice "Beadie" Russell is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actress Amy Ryan. She was featured prominently in the second season, after she discovered thirteen corpses in a container on the Baltimore docks....
from the Port Authority, who initially found the bodies. The women suffocated after an air pipe was deliberately closed off.
Bunk and Freamon track down the ship which carried the package, and hold it in port in Philadelphia to question the crew. None of the crew admit to speaking English, and Bunk and Freamon let the ship go after learning that two crewman jumped ship after Baltimore. Based on a few sparse facts, Bunk and Freamon deduce (correctly) that the women were prostitutes being smuggled from overseas, that one of the girls was murdered by a sailor after refusing sex, and the rest were killed for witnessing the crime. The murderer is one of those who fled, so the investigation is at an impasse, and Bunk and Freamon come under heavy criticism from a frustrated Colonel Rawls
William Rawls
William A. "Bill" Rawls is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor John Doman. Over the course of the series he ascends to the rank of Superintendent of the Maryland State Police.-Season 1:...
for releasing the ship without getting statements.
Bunk also worries about the William Gant murder; state's attorney Ilene Nathan threatens to drop the charges if the police cannot find key witness Omar Little. Bunk repeatedly reminds McNulty of this, and eventually McNulty finds Omar with help from Bubbles
Bubbles (The Wire)
Reginald "Bubbles" Cousins is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Andre Royo. Bubbles is a recovering heroin addict. His real name is not revealed until a fourth-season episode when he is called "Mr. Cousins" and in the fifth-season premiere when he is called "Reginald"...
. Omar testifies, and Bird is imprisoned for a maximum term.
Later, Bunk and Russell return to the port in Philadelphia and find video evidence implicating Sergei, whose testimony leads to the solving of the Jane Doe murders, as well as aiding the Major Case unit's investigation into Frank Sobotka
Frank Sobotka
Francis "Frank" Sobotka is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Chris Bauer.-Biography:Frank is a respected Polish-American secretary treasurer for the International Brotherhood of Stevedores at the Baltimore docks...
.
Season 3
When the city deals with five homicides in one night, Bunk must leave his son with McNulty at an Orioles game to investigate one. He quickly recognizes the scene of Omar Little's drug robberies, and (wrongly) believes one of the victims (Tosha Mitchell) to be an innocent taxpayer. He becomes incensed, and obsesses over her death, continuing to investigate it even after his superior officers Landsman, Colonel Raymond Foerster and Rawls order him to find the stolen weapon of Officer Kenneth Dozerman, who was nearly killed in a failed drug bust led by Sergeant Ellis CarverEllis Carver
Ellis Carver is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Seth Gilliam. Carver is an African American lieutenant and formerly in command of the Baltimore Police Department's Western District Drug Enforcement Unit...
. They all consider the weapon's recovery a top priority, though he thinks it is a frivolous use of his abilities.
Bunk meets with Omar, confronting him about the "innocent" victim. Omar informs him that she was part of his crew, and says he would never kill an innocent person. As Omar states that no one will talk to Bunk about the murder, and that she died in the game, Bunk makes Omar feel guilty about his negative influence on the world due to the collapse of their old West Baltimore neighborhood. Bunk says that predators like Omar are all that still exist in their old neighborhood, which was once a community despite its hardships. To assuage this guilt, Omar finds Dozerman's gun and returns it to Bunk.
Bunk is also one of the investigators of Stringer Bell
Stringer Bell
Russell "Stringer" Bell is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by English actor Idris Elba. Bell served as drug kingpin Avon Barksdale's second in command, assuming direct control of the Barksdale Organization during Avon's imprisonment...
's murder, during which Bunk uses the acronym "BNBG" - Big Negro, Big Gun - to sum up witness Andy Krawczyk's stereotypical description of the murderer. Bunk realizes Omar was the shooter but does not conclude the case. After the investigation, he tells McNulty the city's homicide rate will probably reach 300 by New Year's, noticing how McNulty has slowed down on his consumption of alcohol.
Season 4
Bunk investigates the murder of Fruit, one of Marlo StanfieldMarlo Stanfield
Marlo "Black" Stanfield is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Jamie Hector. Stanfield is a young, ruthless and ambitious player in the Baltimore drug trade who gains control of West Baltimore and is the head of his own drug crew.-Character background and plot...
's drug dealers. He is unable to find his main suspect, Curtis "Lex" Anderson, and it becomes clear that Lex was murdered, but no leads are forthcoming. At the same time, Bunk is surprised at McNulty's seemingly successful attempts to get his life back on track.
Omar Little contacts Bunk after Chris Partlow framed him for murdering an innocent woman in a convenience store robbery. Bunk initially ignores him, reasoning that Omar was guilty of several other unproven murders (including Stringer Bell
Stringer Bell
Russell "Stringer" Bell is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by English actor Idris Elba. Bell served as drug kingpin Avon Barksdale's second in command, assuming direct control of the Barksdale Organization during Avon's imprisonment...
), but Omar appeals to his sense of honor. He tracks down new evidence proving that Omar's witness Old Face Andre lied, leading to Omar's release. In exchange, Bunk extracts a promise from him to never kill again.
Freamon transfers back to Homicide, and the two are partnered again. Freamon manages to find Lex's body and, in the process, more than twenty other bodies, all of which are linked to Marlo Stanfield after Bunk gets key testimony from Lex's mother.
Season 5
Bunk first appears interrogating and manipulating a young murder suspect. With Detective Ed Norris and Sergeant Jay LandsmanJay Landsman (The Wire)
Jay Landsman is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Delaney Williams.-Policing method:Landsman's role in the police department is that of a supervisory detective sergeant who doesn't participate in much investigation work...
, Bunk gives the suspect a fake polygraph using a photocopier to coerce a real confession. Bunk and his colleagues are dealing with cutbacks, including no overtime pay, until the city's financial situation resolves. The fiscal problems cause the closure of the major crimes unit and the reassignment of Detectives Jimmy McNulty
Jimmy McNulty
Detective James "Jimmy" McNulty is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by British actor Dominic West. McNulty is an Irish American detective in the Baltimore Police Department...
and Kima Greggs
Kima Greggs
Detective Shakima "Kima" Greggs is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actress Sonja Sohn. Greggs is a police detective in the Baltimore Police Department who is a dedicated officer and capable detective with some off-the-job issues. Openly lesbian, she has had problems...
to Landsman's squad.
McNulty and Bunk are assigned a probable overdose. When they arrive, McNulty creates choking bruises on the body and stages the scene to suggest a strangulation. McNulty tells Bunk that he plans to create the illusion of a serial killer; Bunk leaves in disgust. Bunk cannot sleep that night and returns to the homicide unit, disgusted again to find McNulty still there, drinking and poring over case files. Bunk warns McNulty about the potential consequences of his actions, including prison time, but McNulty refuses to back down. McNulty alters an old case file and further details of the probable overdose to create links to an open strangulation case being investigated by Frank Barlow. Bunk is forced to watch his machinations. Bunk enlists Freamon to talk sense into McNulty, but this plan backfires when Freamon decides that the plan could work and makes suggestions to improve it by sensationalizing the killer.
Bunk remains angry at McNulty and refocuses his attention on the vacant house murders. Bunk delivers a report to Landsman that is placed immediately into a desk drawer. Landsman points out that Bunk is simply changing the date while submitting essentially the same report. Bunk angrily asserts that he is forced to repeat his requests as he is still waiting for the crime lab to process evidence on 14 of the 22 murders. Bunk finally gets a DNA match on Chris Partlow for an unrelated murder, but agrees to delay his case in order to allow the Marlo Stanfield wire tap to continue.