r/TheWire • u/Hot-Geologist6330 • 3d ago
What does Jay Landsman mean when he talks about self preservation to McNulty?
Jay tells McNulty “It’s all about self-preservation, Jimmy. Something you never learned (A Stranger Among us)”
I never really understood what Jay was trying to get at with this line. Was he basically telling McNulty to stop doing stupid shit ?
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u/JoshuaBermont 3d ago
He's chastising McNulty for basically going at his job like some kind of half-assed gambler, doing whatever he feels without giving any kind of shit whether the higher-ups will approve, or how they'll choose to punish him if they don't.
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u/MeaninglessGuy 3d ago
Wanna ride the boat? That’s how ya ride the boat.
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u/Southside_Burd 3d ago
Hold up. When does he say this line?
I remember Landsman asking him where he “didn’t want to go,” because of the “fumes.” Then Rawls figures it out, via Landsman; at the end Jimmy gets his lick back with all the jurisdiction murders.
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u/HamroveUTD 3d ago
He doesn’t say that exact line but something like after jimmy tells him where he doesn’t wanna go.
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u/structured_anarchist 3d ago
Rawls doesn't 'figure it out'. Landsman tells him directly in the last episode of season 1.
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u/Foreign-Cow-1189 3d ago
McNulty would rather be right than be employed.
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u/TheDoethrak 3d ago
Jimmy is a “the end justifies the means” guy, without realizing that sometimes the means come at a great personal/professional cost. Jay is pointing out that even though his end goal might be righteous, he is going about them in a way that’s affecting his career.
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u/JeanVicquemare 3d ago
This is like, one of the big themes of the entire show.
Career police, from the officers to the middle management to the top brass, are all incentivized to just do what it takes to make themselves look good, and get that next promotion.
The show comes back over and over again to how they want to have good numbers on paper, make a good presentation to the commissioners or the mayor, have a good press conference with contraband on the table.
Jimmy is a troublemaker because he cares too much about actually catching the bad guys and he is willing to step on people's toes to do it. He does more than what he's expected to do. That's not appreciated.
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u/thePHTucker 3d ago
This was always my take. McNulty has been warned by every superior and colleague that his righteousness will get him in trouble. Yet, time and again, he does what he does. Whether it's from hubris or sheer stubbornness, he's going to do what he wants to do to catch the "bad guys" even if it means tanking his career to accomplish it.
He also makes his team look like dummies time, and again, when he puts his mind to an investigation, he typically solves the case.
We can also assume that he was, at a certain point, Rawls' golden boy/prodigal son, and he was nurtured for an administrative role in the future but couldn't stomach all the beaurocratic nonsense. Thus why he went directly to Phelan and short-circuits the administration.
"The fuck did I do?"
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u/JeanVicquemare 3d ago
Exactly, and that's the funny thing about it. In his mind he's just doing his job. But his idea of the job is different from what everyone else's is.
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u/RedditReader4031 3d ago
McNulty was a loose cannon who often got to the right conclusion but at high risk. Landsman’s advice was akin to living to fight another day.
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u/LighterThan1 3d ago
Was he basically telling McNulty to stop doing stupid shit ?
Yes
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u/dickbarone 3d ago
Lester telling him the job won’t save him changed my whole perspective on life haha. It’s easy to find comfort in trying to be the best at something until you burn out and realize nobody but you cares.
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u/iLikeAza Look the part, be the part 3d ago edited 3d ago
Jay is a cog in the chain of command. He was trying to tell Jimmy that he is getting on the bad side of those above him in the chain of command. The people responsible for your assignments & promotions. Jimmy thought the work would save him but it doesn't. Just ask Lester
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u/post-melody 3d ago
It’s like a lot of jobs, where to move up, or at least stay employed, the game is to hit your (juked) numbers and be likable. Jimmy is not only breaking those two rules, but he is doing it in the most antagonistic way possible.
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u/boytoy421 3d ago
He was telling McNulty to remember the zeroth law of policing: "don't piss off people who outrank you, and especially don't make them look bad"
It wasn't even that McNulty gave a fuck when it wasn't his turn to give a fuck, it's that he went to the judge who got pissed at the deputy ops who got pissed at Rawls who got pissed at landsman who's now gotta ride McNulty.
Theoretically if McNulty goes to landsman and asks to go to Rawls and says to Rawls "I'm hearing that this guy barksdale is drowning us in bodies and buttfucking our unitwide clearance rate so I'm thinking we make a special squad that handles major drug conspiracies and works it all as one big case, that way if it works you look like a big chief badass and our clearance rate skyrockets, if it doesn't work you tell the commissioner that all that red ink is the fault of the MCU" he stands a decent chance of getting what he wants and an attaboy but Jimmy just has to fuck with authority
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u/shermanstorch 3d ago
Jimmy went out of his way to fuck with his bosses. And was always surprised when it backfired on him.
That’s the message.
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u/Mtn_Man73 3d ago
Jimmy doesn't play the CYA (cover your ass) game. He doesn't have respect or patience for those that do. He thinks he's above it all and he doesn't care who knows it. This pisses off a lot of people, including his cohorts and his bosses, but he gets away with it to an extent because he's good po-lice and he gets results. Jimmy is all about solving cases, his way, even at the expense of his own career.
I have worked with people like this, believe it or not. Very talented and driven people who just can't seem to find the "play nice and keep your mouth shut" button. They're super useful until they're not, and eventually all those burned bridges catch up to them.
Landsman is the polar opposite of Jimmy. He covers his ass first, then goes from there.
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u/yossarian19 3d ago
Landsman consistently weathers the storm without a lot of drama. His unit does it's job and Landsman covers his and their asses.
McNulty is a fuckin' kamikaze. He doesn't care who else is standing around when the blast goes off, who's side they are on, as long as he wins. Every fuckin' victory for McNulty winds up being pyrhic - he can't seem to turn around without fucking himself or his team. And he keeps doing it.
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u/modoken1 3d ago
Jimmy doesn’t know how to work within a system to accomplish goals without shooting himself in the foot in the process.
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u/pipogyafrater 3d ago
Yes, sure. But what if the system is so fucked up that you can't do your job well, which is not even a simple job, but your everything. When you know that if they let you, you would actually make the world a better place. Jimmy is an idealist?yes. Asshole? Hell yes. Looking at the big picture, is he right? Sure.
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u/modoken1 3d ago
If you think Jimmy is an idealist, you should probably rewatch the show. Jimmy’s whole character is that he just wants to be right, so he forces everyone to go along with his bullshit often to his own detriment. For example, when the unit is going after Kintel Williams for dropping bodies Jimmy refuses to join in because Stringer is still out there. Jimmy is an asshole who can’t work within any system, he just happens to be a cop during the run of the series. Once he retired in the finale, he’s going to need to find a new job, and he’s most likely going to piss off his superiors and shoot himself in the foot when he gets there.
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u/TheSlyce 3d ago
Landsman is telling McNulty that his dumb actions draw the ire of his superiors. Policing is inherently political, whether we like it or not.
He was saying sometimes you have to shut up and listen to your boss, even if you’re right since your boss can damage your career in any number of ways.
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u/milknsugar 3d ago
Jimmy is so busy trying to get what he wants that he doesn't realize he is sabotaging his life and career in the process. He isn't cautious or careful, but acts impulsively without thinking of future consequences. He would screw over anyone, cut any corner, break any rule, betray, trick, or disrespect anyone to get what he wanted. He would even destroy himself, if that's what it took to win. And that's the opposite of self-preservation.
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u/Chemical_Signal2753 3d ago
I think what Jay Landsman was getting at is "survival" in large organizations often requires that you do what you're expected to do instead of doing what you think is right. A police officer in the Baltimore police department is not that different from being a cook at McDonalds. There are certain expectations on how your job should be done and you're limited in how far you can step out of line.
While the show's plot requires McNulty to go on crusades, you could likely argue that he would be better off (and the city in general would be better) if he sobered up and was just the best police detective he could be. Within the constraints of the BPD a lot of good work could be done, but repeatedly breaking those constraints meant that he would be moved to a place he could do the least harm and the least good.
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u/_Peace_Fog 3d ago
Jimmy will burn every bridge to accomplish his goals
Jimmy is good police, but he’s not a good cop. He doesn’t work well with others. That makes him an outsider & often ostracized by his peers. It ultimately makes his life harder
We’ve seen him with his shit together & he is more than capable of working the system
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u/Reddwheels Pawn Shop Unit 1d ago
Throughout the show we see that things don't change because people would rather help their career rather than do the right thing. Jimmy is one of the few people that doesn't really care if he fucks up his career, as long as he can catch who he's chasing.
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u/palestineskatinggame 15h ago
Landsman is a master of self-preservation, sucking up to Rawls, leaking stories to Valchek, forcing Kima to back the brass' about-turn and lies... he happily ignores connections between murders on other shifts and squads.
He preserves his own career and knows how to not care about the bigger picture--whereas Jimmy pisses off Rawls at almost every turn from Episode 1.
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u/Cold_Ball_7670 3d ago
He’s telling Mcnulty stop giving a fuck when it’s not your turn.