McNulty and Freamon face the consequences of their actions, while Carcetti tries to save face.
Freamon's hard work pays off with a promising lead, though McNulty isn't in the mood to celebrate.
Bunk returns a McNulty favor; Carcetti is forced to make deals; Hayes asks Templeton about his sources.
An unexpected call puts Templeton and the paper back in the spotlight--and gets McNulty unwanted extra attention.
Templeton makes headlines; Bunk follows up on old leads; McNulty takes an interest in the homeless.
"Just because they're in the street doesn't mean they lack opinions." - Haynes Marlo forges an alliance with a drug connect, who shows him a new communications trick; McNulty's case gets increased attention from the newspaper, in large part thanks to the addition of Templeton to the reporting team; Dukie turns to Dennis "Cutty" Wise and Michael to hone his pitiful self-defense skills; Clay Davis finds a new ally; State's Attorney Rupert Bond raises his public profile; Maurice Levy and Herc prepare for litigation; Elena confronts her ex-husband about his behavior; Bubbles has fears about new opportunities; Greggs gets some overtime work; Omar shows patience as Marlo throws out his bait. MORE -LESS
"Buyer's market out there." - Templeton Campbell tries to smooth out the transitions in the police department; The Baltimore Sun scrambles to confirm surprising news from City Hall, but lose out to the TV media in scooping a high-profile grand jury appearance; Marlo tries to win favor with the Greeks, whilst Proposition Joe pays his last respects to a fallen colleague and prepares to make himself scarce in anticipation of a showdown; Freamon enlists the help of a past partner to help with the investigation. MORE -LESS
"They're dead where it doesn't count." - Fletcher Mayor Carcetti's master plan for the police department is leaked to the press, sending the brass into a panic; Marlo turns to Proposition Joe for help with an enviable problem; executive editor Whiting and managing editor Thomas Klebanow drop a bombshell on the newspaper staff; Michael finds temporary respite from his life on the corner by taking Dukie and Bug on a trip; McNulty shares some inside info with Gutierrez, but her subsequent story doesn't cause the splash either envisioned; McNulty, undaunted, looks for a new ally in Freamon. MORE -LESS
"This ain't Aruba, bitch." - Bunk Moreland Although he tells Sydnor that the Davis investigation could be a "career case," Freamon keeps a wary eye out for Marlo, who takes care of some unfinished business and strikes a business deal with Avon Barksdale; Carcetti throws the police a bone by removing the cap on secondary employment, which sends the detectives into fantasy-job reveries; With an eye on the state house, Mayor Carcetti's chief of staff, Michael Steintorf, tries to find good news for the mayor whilst blaming the Royce administration for the Campbell revelation; Davis turns to Burrell for help with his problem, but the commissioner's hands are tied; At the newspaper, executive editor James Whiting outlines a Pulitzer-worthy series in broad strokes, trumping Haynes while liberating the ambitious Templeton; Fed up with broken-down cars and unsolved serial murders, McNulty decides to take matters into his own hands. MORE -LESS
"The bigger the lie, the more they believe." - Bunk Moreland As McNulty and the detail continue to stake out Marlo's crew, recently promoted Sgt. Carver is welcomed by a cauldron of discontent from officers coping with unpaid overtime; Though he wants to keep his campaign promise to lower crime, Mayor Carcetti is strapped by his commitment to schools, and faces some tough choices; Col. Daniels is forced to reallocate his resources, retaining Freamon and Sydnor for the Clay Davis probe; Meanwhile, city editor Augustus "Gus" Haynes and the staff of The Baltimore Sun are reeling from corporate cutbacks, losing key personnel from both the metro and international divisions; Still, with the help of reporters Alma Gutierrez, Jeff Price and Scott Templeton, Haynes is able to break a front-page story that links a politician to a co-op drug dealer; Proposition Joe, Marlo, Fatface Rick and other new day co-op members meet in a hotel conference room to discuss divvying up drug frontiers across East Baltimore's county line. MORE -LESS
