S4:The Wire S04E01 - S04E13

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- WARNING: THIS THREAD WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT YET SEEN Season 2 -

Episode Title: S04E01 " Boys of Summer"

Episode Title: S04E02 "Soft Eyes"

Episode Title: S04E03 "Home Rooms"

Episode Title: S04E04 "Refugees"

Episode Title: S04E05 "Alliances"

Episode Title: S04E06 "Margin of Error"

Episode Title: S04E07 " Unto Others"

Episode Title: S04E08 "Corner Boys"

Episode Title: S04E09 "Know Your Place"

Episode Title: S04E10 "Misgivings"

Episode Title: S04E11 "A New Day"

Episode Title: S04E12 "That's Got His Own"

Episode Title: S04E13 "Final Grades"

SPOILER WARNING:

From now on, this thread shall reveal details of the episode mentioned above. If you have not yet seen this episode, please do not move any further down the thread.

If you are sure you have seen the episode as mentioned above, you can move down further in order to discuss the episode.

Otherwise, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED - there shall be major plot details of the episode revealed and discussed below with no spoiler tags used!

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S04E01

"If animal trapped call 410-844-6286" -- Baltimore, traditional

Summary

Directed by: Ernest Dickerson
Story by: David Simon & Ed Burns
Teleplay by: David Simon

It's the holiday season and Sgt. Jay Landsman arrives at the Homicide unit whistling Christmas carols, stopping short when he sees some unseasonable red-new names, including John Does, being added to the board. Det. Edward Norris informs him it's all from Det. Lester Freamon, up early, rooting through vacants. Furious about Freamon's crusade to "make murders," Landsman turns his attention to a new case: Norris has a "sack in the box" - a guy who turned himself in for a murder, a guy claiming to have killed a fellow IV drug shooter with a "hot shot." When Landsman joins Norris in the interrogation room, he finds Bubbles, sober but getting sick from withdrawal, begging to be locked up for poisoning Sherrod with cyanide. As they question him, Bubbles vomits all over both detectives. Landsman heads off to wipe the spew from his Christmas tie and shirt. When he and Norris return from cleaning up, they find Bubbles, hanging from his belt. They race to get him down; he's still alive.

In an alley outside of some vacants, a sign on the plywood door reads: "If animal trapped call 844-6286." But these empty rowhouses are now swarming with cops, crime scene investigators and public works crews. Det. Shakima "Kima" Greggs and Freamon wonder how far the mausoleums stretch. "Only one way to find out," says Freamon, dialing his cell. He reaches the C.I.D. commander, Col. Cedric Daniels, who's with Deputy Commissioner for Operations William A. Rawls, Police Commissioner Ervin Burrell and Assistant State's Attorney Rhonda Pearlman at the staging area for the body bags - a gymnasium of a nearby empty and unused middle school. Rawls moans that it will take the labs a year to sift through the vaccumed and bagged dirt in the vacants in a search for trace evidence. When Daniels reports the prevailing suspicion is that the deaths are all related to the rise of Westside drug trafficker Marlo Stanfield, Burrell wants to know what his police department has on the target. Looking pointedly at Rawls, Daniels notes that they had wiretaps on Stanfield earlier, but they came down on those. Now it it may be too late -- Marlo may have changed his pattern by now. Rawls quietly eats the implied criticism of his political interference in the Major Crimes Unit and its casework. Seeing his opportunity, Daniels asks for manpower to search the thousands of vacant rowhouses in the city. Getting the okay, Daniels sets off to phone word to Freamon. Rawls warns Burrell that they're going to look bad with this case, and Daniels will be closer to "the throne" if he brings in the case. But Burrell's seemingly not worried. "He's a long way from my chair. As are you." He chastises his deputy for making his showing his own ambition and disloyalty, noting that Rawls made his move too soon, warning, "Don't you ever cross me like that again."

Landsman questions Bubbles as the paramedics, satisfied that all vital signs are normal, leave. Through fits and starts, Bubs explains that the tainted vial was for a guy who'd been beating on him, but Sherrod was dipping, something he knew even if it was unspoken. He blames himself for trying to help the kid, for taking him in and pretending to play at parenting: "Like I ain't know who I am, right? Like I pretendin' I ain't been a dope fiend my whole damn life." He begs to be locked up, but Landsman, hearing how it went down, thinks it over, walks out into the squadroom, and tells Norris he wants to throw this one back. Norris warns Bubbles might go off a roof if they cut him loose, so Landsman suggests D-Ward at Bayview. "Something with soft walls."

A quorum from the New Day Co-op confronts Proposition Joe Stewart and Slim Charles, as Marlo Stanfield and Chris Paltrow also look on. They don't want to pay twice for the same package, and they've decided Joe - being responsible for handling the shipment from the Greeks - needs to make this right. Joe explains that's not the nature of a Co-op: "Share in the good, share in the bad." When the other dealers show their reluctance, Joe agrees to pay for the replacement shipment, but after that, he threatens, the drug connection will be his alone and they can find new suppliers if they won't stand together now. That wins the argument. Still, Marlo wants to "talk" to who was in charge of the stash, but Joe says it was his nephew - and he won't give up Cheese. Instead he offers his drug connection, whose people were also there when the shipment was stolen, so Marlo can hear from him directly how it went down. Marlo seems mollified by the offer.

Meanwhile, Omar Little and Renaldo have been dividing up the shipment they hijacked from the New Day Co-op, but even after splitting it with their accomplices, Kimmy and Mexican boys, they tell Butchie they have "26 raw" left. Omar's not a drug dealer, he points out; he's not set up to put this on the street. Butchie jokes that Omar can sell it back to Proposition Joe for 20 cents on the dollar, cracking himself up at the affront that would be. But Omar realizes it's not such a bad idea; in fact, the effrontery of it gives him some certain pleasure.

Sgt. Ellis Carver gets on the phone with the state Department of Social Services' child custody workers, trying to find a spot for Randy Wagstaff in foster care, as the boy waits nearby on his bench, slowly hiding some cash inside the binding of one of his schoolbooks. Social services tells him the boy's only option is a group home, since his foster mother's in the hospital indefinitely and there's a wait list for foster care.

Freamon sends Greggs to round up Sgt. Thomas R. "Herc" Hauk, who's suspended without pay. He was the one who found the nail gun in his search of Chris and Snoop's SUV, and they need his help on that point, as they try to recover the nail he fired during the car stop - as ballistics can match it to the others at the crime scenes, even if they don't recover the actual nail gun. But obsessed with his own problems, Herc won't stop talking, trying to figure why he's getting jammed up by I.I.D. when Daniels gave him a slap on the wrist earlier. He shows Greggs and Det. William "Bunk" Moreland the spot where he pulled over Chris Paltrow and Felicia "Snoop" Pearson to search their car and fired the nail gun into the asphalt by Snoop's leg. As Herc keeps talking, not helping, Greggs and Bunk search the road hoping to find the nail. But all they find is an empty hole, the nail long gone. Finally, in response to Herc's rant, Bunk asks what he did, exactly. When Herc explains about the camera and the lies told in which probable cause was attributed to a made-up informant, Bunk and Greggs shake their heads in disbelief. "Son, they gonna beat on your white ass like it's a rented mule," Bunk tells him. Meanwhile, the patrol shifts in every Baltimore district mobilize to search every vacant displaying the kind of nails utilized by the bail gun, as the body count rises.

At the hospital, Dennis "Cutty" Wise is laid up with a fractured leg. The nurse, having looked at his past hospital records and knowing he has no insurance, assumes he's a gangster and - as a weary veteran of the drug wars herself - gives him hell for relying on the hospital to put him back together free of charge. Howard "Bunny" Colvin shows up and introduces himself -- Sgt. Carver suggested Cutty might be able to help him with Namond Brice. Cutty wants to know why Colvin cares, and Colvin admits that he has come to care about the youth.

Back by the vacants, a crowd has gathered as L'il Kevin's body is pulled from one of them, Bodie and Poot among those watching. Bodie starts to lose it, yelling about how wrong Marlo is to do all these killings. Poot tries to calm him down, but Bodie throws a fit, kicking and punching in the windows on a parked radio car. Det. James "Jimmy" McNulty sees Bodie go off, trying to explain to his fellow cops, "That's his friend in the bag." But Bodie's gone too far. He's cuffed and dragged toward a jail wagon.

Mayor Thomas "Tommy" Carcetti and mayoral aide Norman Wilson watch the national TV news reports of the bodies being found. The only good news is that it's knocked the disastrous school deficit off the front pages. Both problems should be on former Mayor Royce, Carcetti complains, but it's the new administration that is going to have to deal with the fallout. They review his options on the school problem with his new Chief of Staff: if he takes the money from the Governor, then the D.C. suburbs won't vote for him for governor in two years because he took money from suburban taxpayers to pay for city schools. But if he doesn't take the money and makes it to Annapolis, he could help Baltimore then, his Chief of Staff points out. Wilson says the schools can't afford to get any worse, even if they can't fix them, noting that Carcetti is the mayor of Baltimore right now. He urges Tommy: "Go back to Annapolis, eat his s**t."

Lonely for his friend, Duquan "Dukie" Weems walks by the dark shell of Miss Anna's row house, where there's no sign of life - including Randy.

At the appliance store, Proposition Joe, Slim Charles and Cheese review his handling of Marlo's suspicions. Cheese thinks he's putting their drug supply at risk by introducing the younger, volatile dealer to their connection, but Joe says he has no choice - he needs to reassure Marlo that Joe wasn't in on the heist. In the midst of their discussion, Omar shows up, surprising everyone with his nerve. He offers to sell them back their supply at 20 cents on the dollar. After his lieutenants threaten him, suggesting they might torture Omar and recover the drugs without paying any tribute, Omar replies by asking Joe whether he believes Omar will ever - even at the point of torture - give it up. Joe relents, realizing it's a better offer than having to replace the shipment at cost. As he's leaving, Omar remembers his repair slip, and Joe hands over his clock - ticking like new.

At home in front of the family Christmas tree, Carcetti reviews his options about the school deficit with his wife. "I think you'll do the right thing," she says, leaving Tommy to wonder what that is.

Dukie lets himself into Michael Lee's new crib with his key. Following the sounds of rhythmic music, he finds Michael in his room having sex. He backs away, the few remaining shards of his childhood stripped away, and takes refuge on his bottom bunk, after tucking Bug into the top bunk.

At the staging area of the gymnasium, as the body count builds to seventeen cases, McNulty wanders in, looking for Pearlman to put her A.S.A. signature on case he wants dropped - Bodie's vandalism of the radio car. He's unable to restrain his curiosity about the vacants, firing off questions as Bunk and Freamon taunt him. "If I was a police, I don't think I could hang back on it," Bunk says to Freamon, for McNulty's benefit.

Dukie arrives at his first day of Frederick Douglass High School, but as a group of bigger kids pushes by him aggressively, he loses his nerve, and turns back. Meanwhile back at Edward Tilghman Middle School, Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski presides over his class as they take the statewide test, with some students working away, others indifferent and a few angrily defeated. Ms. Duquette watches as the project class pores over their exams, exhibiting the same range of effort and ability.

Back at the gym, Daniels and Pearlman quiz Freamon, Bunk and Greggs on their progress. They've identified the model of the nail gun. They also report coming up empty on finding the nail Herc fired into the street weeks earlier, though they ordered up a metal detector and searched the block. Freamon is hopeful they'll get lucky in the trace work - hairs, fibers, maybe a blood sample - at the vacants, but all agree the next investigative move is to write search warrants and hope to catch Chris or Snoop with the offending nail gun, a murder weapon or some other evidence. Pearlman wants to know what probable cause she can use for the warrant application. The detectives cite Herc's previous discovery of the nail gun and other tools in their SUV. There is no law against owning power tools, Pearlman notes. Bunk argues that they have a witness that links Chris and Snoop to the murders - a reference to Randy Wagstaff's previous statements. But unwilling to cross Prez on this point, Freamon corrects him, saying they have a source, not a witness - a distinction that means they won't ask the boy to testify in court and therefore can't cite him as backing for the warrant. Frustrated, Bunk asks for an hour and leaves with Greggs behind him.

Colvin pays another visit to Cutty in the hospital, who tells him he was able to get word to Namond's father, who will talk to Colvin. On his way out, Colvin sets the nurse straight on Cutty - he's not a gangster, he got shot trying to pull a kid off a corner.

Greggs and Bunk pay a last visit to Lex's mother, who's distraught that she couldn't even see her son's body because it was so decayed. Bunk points out that they did the best they could with the information they had - a pointed criticism of her unwillingness to help the investigation earlier. Finally she tells them what she's heard that Snoop and Chris killed her boy.

At the D.S.S. child services offices, Carver pleads with a bureaucrat to find a solution for Randy that doesn't involve a group home. In frustration, he offers to become the boy's foster parent himself. But even that won't work - the screening process is three-to-four months and Randt can't be in Carver's custody in the meantime. Randy has to go back in the system, as per the court order that put him there in the first place.

With Chris and Snoop cuffed on the curb, Bunk, Greggs and Freamon - now armed with a good warrant - search the SUV. No nail gun or lyme is found; none of the tools that Herc saw earlier. No weapons either, but unable to believe these two would be "riding tame," Greggs roots around under the dash and finds a wire. Connecting it to the ignition wire, a secret drop box above the glove compartment pops open to reveal a pistol. "Ain't even our car," says Snoop.

Meanwhile, Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos sits between Marlo and Prop Joe, backing Joe and assuring Marlo that the rip off wasn't a set up. Marlo asks Vondas how he can be sure, and Vondas says he talked to his own people - "he looked into his soul," he says of his subordinate, indicating that he tortured the man to be sure. That settles Marlo, who accept Vondas's word, but tells his lieutenant Monk to put a tail on Vondas - not because the supplier is a problem, but to find out more about the man. Marlo tells Joe he'll get the $90,000 for his share to Joe in the morning and will hunt Omar once the heat from the investigation into the vacants calms down. Monk also tells him that Chris and Snoop have been popped on a gun charge and Marlo tells him to get the bail bondsman on it.

McNulty greets Bodie as he emerges from Central Booking, telling him he was the one who got him sprung and offering him lunch. They are glimpsed by Monk, arriving with the bondsman in tow. Vaguely curious, Bodie follows McNulty to his personal car. While Chris and Snoop are required to submit to blood and hair samples, per a court order obtained by Freamon and Greggs, along with the grand jury A.S.A., Bodie and McNulty enjoy lunch in the garden's of Northwest Baltimore's Cylburn Arboretum. Bodie insists he's no snitch, but McNulty gives him room to vent about the current state of his business, and being tired of being "them little bitches on the chessboard." Bodie talks himself into stepping up to put an end to "Marlo an' his kind." McNulty hears him out and acknowledges Bodie's integrity: "You're a soldier." Able to serve up this level informant to Freamon, McNulty will be back in the game.

At the visiting room at Jessup, Colvin talks to Wee-Bey. After reminiscing about their old adversarial roles as corner boy and patrolman, Colvin gets to the point of his visit: he cares about Namond and thinks he has real potential, and he wants Wee-Bey to let him go so he can have the opportunity to go places and do things neither one of them could. The corners have changed; the old codes have fallen. Namond will not last on those corners nowadays. "You askin' too much," says Wee-Bey. "Yeah, but I'm asking," counters Colvin.

Monk tells Marlo and Chris that he saw Bodie getting into a car with a white guy when he got out of Central Booking. Assuming it's police, Marlo orders Chris to have his "pup" take care of it, "get him started." Chris objects that Michael worked for Bodie, "First time, best be someone he ain't know." Marlo agrees. He tells Chris that Omar, having stolen the shipment, is now selling it back to Proposition Joe at thirty cents on the dollar – indicating that, unknown to Marlo, Joe is making an additional ten cents on the dollar above Omar's price.

Colvin returns to Tilghman, where Miss Duquette and Professor David Parenti have been waiting with Namond. He sends Namond outside and tells his colleagues that he suspects Wee-Bey will refuse to let Namond go, but they'll know tomorrow. Parenti informs him that tomorrow is a big day all-around: State Delegate Odell Watkins got them a half hour at the Mayor's office.

On his corner, Bodie's having a slow night, along with Poot and Spider, who is now working the corner. When Poot alerts him to Chris approaching, Bodie refuses to leave. "This is my corner. I ain' runnin'." He fires at the cars Snoop and Chris are ducking behind, as Poot pleads with him to run. Unable to convince Bodie to flee, Poot finally runs for cover, passing a young hooded boy - O-Dog, one of Snoop and Chris's trainees - who creeps up to Bodie and shoots him in the head. Bodie falls to the ground and is finished with a second shot to the head. He lays there dead, as O-Dog jogs off to join his mentors.

Working late, Carver puts a jacket over Randy, who has fallen asleep on the bench reading a comic book.

At City Hall, Colvin gets nervous waiting, having second thoughts about being in the meeting with Parenti, given his involvement in the failed drug legalization project the previous year - a project that Carcetti condemned publicly to gain attention and position himself for his mayoral run. When Colvin offers to excuse himself from the meeting, the secretary informs him the Mayor won't be in their meeting anyway, he's in Annapolis - the first indication that they are already being marginalized.

Chris, Snoop and Marlo pay a visit to Michael in his new crib - which the Stanfield organization has clearly provided. Marlo suddenly recognizes the ring around Michael's neck - the one he last saw when he relinquished it to Omar during the robbery of the card game. Marlo asks where he got it. "Took if from a nigga," says Michael, asking if he wants it, but Marlo, amused and fascinated, tells him to keep it. Marlo informs Michael they're giving him Bodie's corner, and that there's one "other thing" they have for him to do. Seeing Dukie getting Bug ready for school, Snoop asks Michael who it was they dropped for him. "Bug's daddy," Michael says, coolly. Bug shows no reaction.

Carver spots McNulty in the hall at Western District, asking if he heard about Bodie - shot dead on his corner. McNulty rushes to confirm it on the 24-hour reports, as Carver gets called back into the drug enforcement unit offices by an angry Lt. Dennis Mello, the shift commander, who has discovered that despite his insistence, Randy has not yet been remanded to D.S.S. custody. Mello orders the sergeant to do so immediately, then stalks out. Citing the money he keeps in the schoolbook binding, Randy offers his $230 in cash to Carver, suggesting maybe they can pay someone for a foster spot. But Carver realizes they are out of options.

Back at the Mayor's office, Colvin and Parenti meet with the Mayor's Chief of Staff and mayoral aide Jerilee Bennett, who see their project as "tracking, plain and simple" and are concerned they aren't teaching the curriculum, thereby leaving some of the kids behind. "As it is, we're leave 'em all behind. We just don't admit it," Colvin blurts out. When the meeting adjourns quickly - and it's clear that the pilot program is now doomed - Colvin is despondent, concerned he proved himself a liability in the meeting. "Seems like every time I open my mouth in this town, I'm telling people what they don't wanna know." Parenti assures him it wasn't him, it's the process. And this time, they didn't listen. But he's still optimistic about the great research they did and the attention it will get from academics. "Academics? What, they gonna study your study?" Colvin asks incredulously. "When do the s**t change?"

At Jessup, Wee-Bey meets with De'Londa to tell her he wants her to let Namond go. She balks at first, but Wee-Bey reminds her of his own status and what he can have done to her, even from prison. He then says, with some pride: "Man came down here to say my son can be anything he damn please." "Except a soldier," she retorts. Wee-Bey, doing life without parole, asks her to look around at the Jessup visiting room: "Who the f**k would wanna be that if they could be anything else, De'Londa?" he demands. He'll stick with her, he tells her, but she has to let go of the boy.

Omar meets Renaldo and Butchie in a garage with a duffel bag of cash, and pays some out to Butchie for his pains. Butchie asks if Omar was followed, but Omar tells him Joe had to play it clean - and agree to giving up the money before getting back his drugs. Joe had to admit that Omar's word was better than his own, Omar muses. They lock up the garage with the stolen drugs inside, in the back of a van, and Omar dials, leaving word with Joe of the address. As they all depart, leaving the shipment to be picked up, Butchie warns Omar that when you steal this much, "it ain't over."

Carcetti and Wilson burst into the office late night, back from Annapolis. Carcetti didn't take the money, he couldn't stand being made to beg for it - the Governor was going to call a press conference, showing Carcetti as a beggared supplicant. The Chief of Staff is pleased, but Wilson, thinking of the school system, is decidedly unhappy and leaves angrily.

McNulty grabs Poot on Bodie's corner, and making sure no one's watching, demands to know who killed Bodie. "Y'all did," Poot says. Word was he'd been seen talking to police. Not wanting the same fate, Poot tells McNulty to boot him off the corner and McNulty, feeling both guilty and angry, does.

Outside Tilghman Middle, Dukie waits for Prez before school, and presents him with a gift - a desk set. When Prez asks where his book bag is, Dukie lies that he's stopping home to get it before he goes to class. Sensing the lie, Prez tells the boy to stop by anytime, let him know how things are. In the project class, Miss Duquette informs her charges that the program is over and they'll be returning to regular class. Zenobia doesn't want to return, others are of mixed emotions. Colvin asks Namond how he feels. "This was alright...but maybe it's time," he says.

Beatrice "Beadie" Russell awakens to find McNulty up and thinking - even though he worked a late shift. He wants in on the investigation of the bodies in the vacants, he admits. He feels that he owes it to someone. She asks who and he references a kid who got killed. One of those in the vacants? No, they shot him down in street. McNulty thinks he may be different this time, he's changed - no more drinking and whoring. "You are different," she confirms, as they make love.

Feeling like a failure, Carver delivers Randy to a group home. The boy assures Carver it's OK: "You tried." But as he walks Randy inside and up the stairs to a room with bunk beds and older, feral looking kids, Carver feels even worse. He returns to his car and throws a tantrum born of frustration.

McNulty assures Col. Daniels he can handle returning to Major Crimes: "I think I can do this and keep myself away from myself, if that makes sense." Reversing the language of their first argument four years earlier, when the detail was forming to work the Barksdale case, Daniels tells him they aren't going to get Marlo Stanfield on street rips, it'll be "Either a wired C.I. or a Title Three." When McNulty starts to contradict him, Daniels shuts him down, throwing McNulty's words back at him. McNulty acquiesces: "Chain of command, Colonel."

Reviewing preliminary results from the state exam, Prez is in disbelief that his classes could have improved on math and reading, with a significant percentage showing themselves to be proficient with the material. Grace explains that "proficient" means at least two grades below their level, and "advanced" means at or a year below grade-level - that's how the scoring shows they've made progress. Prez is embarrassed at his naivete, but Grace assures him he's doing fine. In his class, he welcomes Zenobia, Albert and Namond back and when the returning Albert starts the day with a wisecrack, Zenobia and Namond ignore him, and Prez - with a look that no first-year teacher can manage - shames Albert into better behavior. Clearly, Prez is becoming a teacher.

At the gym, the body count is up to twenty two. Daniels and Freamon update Pearlman: there are no ballistics matches to link the weapons seized from Chris' truck to the murders, no prints on the weapons. They're in for the long haul, says Freamon, already worrying about how they can get back up on a wiretap or some other proactive means of investigating the Stanfield crew. Freamon asks Daniels why he chose to stage the body recovery operation out of the Lemel Middle School gym and Daniels replied that he knew the school was in the area and not being used, having been closed earlier. Daniels remarks that he went to school here. "Got a pretty good education, now that I think on it." He and Pearlman exit, leaving Freamon amid the bodies and a case that he will likely need months to bring home.

Having finally heard the news about Bubbles, Greggs brings Walon, Bubs' one-time N.A. sponsor, to Bayview Hospital to visit. He hasn't spoken to Bubs in a couple of years - since he was last on the wagon. "But if he's up in D-Ward, he's clean as a motherf**k right now," he notes. They head inside, but Greggs isn't up for a one-on-one visit. She watches through the window as Walon enters the ward and Bubbles, ashamed and in pain, collapses in tears in his sponsor's arms.

Over drinks with Coleman Parker, Wilson confides he can't believe Carcetti's political ambition wouldn't allow him to take the state money for the sake of the schools and the kids. Parker chastises him for being so naive: "They always disappoint," he says of politicians, before discussing what campaign he might sign up with next.

Walking up to a crowded drug corner, Michael takes down his first slinger with a gunshot straight to the forehead as Chris and Monk watch from the SUV. When he jumps in the car and they pull off, Chris knowingly tells him, "You can look 'em in the eye now. No matter who he is or what he done - you look 'em in the eye."

As Paul Weller's version of Dr. John's classic "Walk On Gilded Splinters" plays, the coming days and weeks and months play out. Wee Bey says goodbye to Namond in the visiting room and hands him off to Colvin. McNulty returns to Major Crimes and goes to the board to contemplate the photograph of Marlo Stanfield. Herc stoically attends his I.I.D. hearing and listens to the charges arrayed against him. Marlo and Chris stake out Vondas and Proposition Joe, beginning to learn whatever they can about the source of Baltimore's best heroin and cocaine. A weary and disgusted Colvin leaves Professor Parenti's well-attended research presentation early. Saddled with nearly two dozen open murders, Bunk reviews evidence with Det. Michael Crutchfield and Norris while Landsman observes the growing list of red names on the board. Ever closer to the seat of power, Pearlman and Daniels lunch with Carcetti as State Sen. Clayton "Clay" Davis and Burrell - now ever more the political outsiders - look on. Prez sits in his car, watching Dukie working a corner with Poot, as Michael - now the man in charge - drives off in an SUV. Prez himself is forced to drive away when he is offered drugs by Kenard - now also working the corner for Michael, and no doubt unlikely to cheat Michael as he did Namond, given the beating he received. At the group home, Randy returns to his room to find graffiti marking him as a snitch on his bunk, as well as the binding of his textbook ripped open, the money gone. The older boys stalk in and glare at him and Randy resolves to get in at least one good punch before being beaten. Cutty, on crutches, is back to coaching at his boxing gym - with the hospital nurse now fully charmed and by his side. Carcetti wearies of budget meetings, where - without the state bailout - the dollars do not add up. Carver lectures ever younger kids outside the abandoned factory hangout before running them off, then spots the graffiti on the wall as he leaves: Namond, Michael, Randy, Dukie, Donut, Kenard and others, with the mockingly false phrase: "Fayette Mafia Crew 4evah." In his new crib, Michael works on homework with Bug in a quiet, placid moment as, suddenly, we return to Michael being awakened from this dream-like reverie in the back of Chris's SUV - time to dump the gun. He hands if off to Monk, who opens the door and drops it into a storm drain before they drive off into night.

Early morning, on the Colvins' porch, Namond finishes both his breakfast and his homework assignment before school as Mrs. Colvin warns him he's going to be late. He goes inside and is told to go back out and retrieve his plate. As he does, an SUV rolls by, music blaring as the driver slows. Namond nods at Donut, who nods back before accelerating down the street, nearly getting broadsided as he runs a stop sign. Namond watches the SUV roll away, leaving behind a quiet Baltimore neighorhood that is his new home, in a new life.

godtabh

S04E02

"I still wake up white in a city that ain't." - Carcetti

Summary

Directed by: Christine Moore
Written by: David Mills
Story by: Ed Burns & David Mills

Confused about the morning schedule for the Mayor, officer Thomas "Herc" Hauk waits by the truck, loses patience and goes looking for Lieutenant Hoskins, who heads the security detail. Opening doors in his search for his supervisor, Herc is surprised to encounter Mayor Clarence Royce on the receiving end of a robust act of fellatio, courtesy of his secretary. Stunned like a cow with a sledgehammer, Herc stares at the sight for a moment before slamming shut the door. In that moment, the Mayor sees him.

Meanwhile, Assistant State's Attorney Rhonda Pearlman meets with Detectives Lester Freamon and Leander Sydnor about the stack of Barksdale money-trail subpoenas to politically sensitive targets. Sydnor is having second thoughts about whether their pursuit of the money will blow back on them by antagonizing the powerful and politically connected elements in the city. Pearlman, too, is wishing she had run the subpoenas by her front office, alerting her bosses to the coming controversy and thereby protecting herself from retribution. Freamon quickly realizes that Pearlman has not forwarded signed subpoenas for two notable targets --developer Andrew Kracyzk and State Sen. Clay Davis. Pearlman responds that she is holding those until after the primary election. Freamon gets angry and points out that now -- with the election in play -- is the only window they have for seeing this pursuit of the Barksdale money trail through. Months ago, the powers that be would have taken down the unit and stifled the investigation. Months from now, with the election in the bag, they will do the same. But now, with the election ongoing and politicians being scrutinized, those in power will not dare to impede the subpeonas of the investigation itself. And that includes Pearlman's boss, State's Attorney Demper, who is among those running for reelection on the Democratic ticket. Pearlman recalls Freamon's earlier claim that he only recently was able to get back to the Barksdale money trail because other cases intervened, and she realizes that he lied to her. Freamon has timed this carefully.

In the Carcetti living room, Norman Wilson grows impatient making small talk with Jennifer Carcetti while waiting for Tommy, who is late to begin another campaigning day, and goes to fetch him. But Tommy's playing Battleship with his daughter and refuses to be rushed, insisting that since there's no way he can win the election, he may as well enjoy some quality time with his child.

The Edward J. Tilghman middle-school classroom Prez inherited is now unrecognizable: clean and orderly. Unfazed by hacking at dried bubblegum and scrubbing ink-stained desks, Prez has whipped his room into Prez-like obsessive-compulsive order. Meanwhile, it's visiting day at The Cut in Jessup, and Namond Brice and his mother, De'Londa, visit his father, Wee-Bey. Incarcerated on multiple life sentences for his role as an enforcer in the now-fallen Barksdale organization, Wee-Bey asks his son how his job is going with Bodie Broadus, and De'Londa jumps in, reporting that Namond skips work and wastes the money he does make. Wee-Bey presses Namond to be patient with his runner duties, but echoes Bodie's warning about his pony tail: "Even the white police lookin' out from three blocks away gonna be able to spot you from every nigga out there."

Back in West Baltimore, Marlo Stanfield and Chris Partlow watch with pride as Marlo's lieutenant, Monk, hands out back-to-school-supply cash to a group of ecstatic kids to build goodwill for Marlo. "Your name gonna ring out, man," says Monk, while out in the suburbs, as he unloads lawn mowing equipment at a job, Cutty talks trash Spanish with some of his coworkers. Their truck's driver, impressed, notes that Cutty could run his own crew and suggests they team up, but Cutty demurs, saying he has other obligations that matter more.

Returning to Bodie's corner, Namond tries to talk Bodie into hiring his friend Michael Lee. When Bodie resists, Namond suggests Michael assume Namond's position until he earns enough to pay for school stuff for himself and his little brother. Bodie agrees just as Bunk and Carver approach, looking for Lex. Eeluctant to talk to police, Bodie says nothing about what he knows about the murder of Fruit by Lex, or Lex's subsequent disappearance, but merely reports he hasn't seen Lex, and promises to call Carver if he does.

Driving Royce, Herc catches the Mayor's eye in the rear view, certain now he's doomed for what he witnessed, while Bubbles rattles across the streets and alleys of the westside, doing business with his store on wheels, "Bubble Depo" breaking in his young intern, Sherrod, as he makes a sale. When Sherrod miscalculates the total price of a sale, Bubbles is distressed. Later, he chastises Sherrod about his weak math skills and demands that he return to school to improve himself this fall.

Trying to convince Lex's mother that her son is in trouble, Bunk pleads for her cooperation, but she stonewalls him, while at the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) lodge, the police union president explains to Carcetti that he'd be their guy, except that Royce is ahead in the polls. "We endorse you now, we're out in the cold." Carcetti understands the tough position he's in, but suggests perhaps his officers don't need to get too aggressive with extracurricular campaigning for anyone. The FOP president agrees. Norman gives Carcetti the rest of the night off to prep for the debate, but Carcetti is still convinced nothing matters at this point.

Spider's mother approaches Cutty at the gym to thank him for the interest he's taken in her son, coaching his boxing. She offers to cook him dinner ("I throw down in the kitchen. Among other places.") but Cutty begs off, insisting that he needs time to train his fighters for upcoming bouts, and asking if she might just bring by a plate instead.

At Pearlman's, Rhonda and Daniels do paperwork in bed as she complains about how Lester manipulated her with his subpoena ploy. But Daniels just finds it funny. "I'm just glad to see Lester doing it to somebody other than me." Pearlman is beside herself with worry over her standing in the state's attorney's office, but Daniels can't hold back his amusement and their candor with each other, which turns playful, indicates that their relationship has grown deeper.

Namond, Michael, Randy and their friends debate about which girls will have gotten phat over the summer and who'll they try to tap -- the usual adolescent bragging that ends when Monk approaches and starts peeling off $100s for back-to-school clothes, telling the boys to thank Marlo, who stands a distance away, enjoying his moment as streetcorner patron. Only Michael refuses the cash and Marlo crosses to ask Michael why he won't take his money. As Marlo shows some belligerence and turns insulting, Michael just stares him down. "Ain't no thing shorty. We cool," Marlo says in response.

Herc seeks out Carver to get advice on how to handle his embarrassing situation with the Mayor, convinced he'll never make rank now. "This is way beyond my pay grade," says Carver, thinking about who to consult.

On the eve of the mayoral candidates' debate, Wilson and Theresa D'Agostino try to lead a distracted Carcetti through debate prep, but he's more concerned about minor personal matters. When they press him to focus, he reels off his strategy for when Royce comes at him on themes of race and crime, impressing them. "Tomorrow night, I will kick his ass. But the next morning, I still wake up white in a city that ain't," Tommy says.

Namond asks Michael why he wouldn't take Marlo's money. "Owin' niggas for s**t. It ain't me," Michael responds. They're interrupted by Donut, their sixth-grade companion, barely visible above the wheel of the stolen Cadillac Escalade he's attempting to drive. But as they're all debating where to take it, Carver and Herc drive by and, spotting the stolen car, begin a pursuit. The boys bail from the SUV and bolt into the alleys. Carver calls in the bailout and starts to give chase, then thinks the better of it; he knows most of the kids, Herc's overdressed, and they need to see Carver's contact about Herc's situation. Meanwhile, the Western District's Officer Walker catches Randy in an alley, and when the boy plays dumb about the stolen car, he confiscates the $200 cash Randy claims his foster mom gave him for school clothes. "Tell her to come down to the Western [District] and I'll give it back to her."

Back at the Clinton Street detail office, as he fingers the signed subpoenas, Lester offers to serve them himself if Detectives Shakima Greggs and Sydnor don't want to catch any heat. But Greggs will not be cowed and Sydnor reluctantly follows. Gregg's first stop is Andrew Krawczyk at his waterfront development office; he asks for her name and unit and she gives him both, unwavering. Sydnor hits Clay Davis, and tries to defuse the situation by pretending to admire his office trophies and awards as Davis, outraged, demands his name. In for a penny, in for a pound: Sydnor refuses to back down from the moment and hands over his card. "Major Crimes? Sheeeet," drawls the state senator.

While overseeing semi-automatic target practice for some young apprentices, Snoop, Monk and Marlo field a business call on Monk's cell phone from "Andre," who, though impatient for a re-up, is put in his place by Marlo, who gets on Monk's cellphone to do so.

Meanwhile, Sherrod has been mulling it over and suggests to Bubbles he could go back to school to learn some math skills, just as Herc gets advice from the politically connected and astute Major Stanislaus Valchek, who has a different take on Herc's predicament. The Major would like to be in Herc's shoes: "Kid, careers have been launched on a helluva lot less. Just shut up and play dumb."

Davis rants to the Mayor about his subpoena and the money laundering probe that is now apparently targeting him. "You think I have time to ask a man why he givin' me money or where he gets his money come from?" Royce says he doesn't want to know, and Davis asserts that he has been doing yeoman's work funding Royce and his ticket, and he warns him he needs to get his police department to back off. He storms out as Parker enters, announcing a similar complaining call from Krawczyk. Before he takes the call, Royce asks about Herc. He's mulling over whether to let him go or keep him close.

Finding the boys in their hangout behind a vacant factory, Carver warns Namond, Randy, Dukie and the boys that if any of them "smile at a motor vehicle again," he'll be settling with them in the alleys, not at a JV hearing, and in doing so demonstrates his knowledge of their identities and activities.

Back in the homicide unit, Bunk tells Detectives Holley and Norris that in the confrontation with Lex's mother, he sensed a weird vibe from the woman, noting that it "wasn't the usual way a mama lies." A call comes in and they debate who will take it. Holley, worried about his bad luck, demurs and Norris takes the call "a body found in the street, no suspect and no witnesses." Holley and Bunk hi-five for not catching that case.

At the gym, yet another woman brings Cutty peach cobbler--even though she has no sons, she just appreciates what he's doing. Clearly, Cutty -- as a law-abiding single man working with youth -- is a fresh prize among the ladies of West Baltimore.

In the wiretap room of the detail office, Freamon, Greggs and Massey listen to the recording of Monk talking to Andre, intrigued. They make him as Old Face Andre, a mid-level dealer supplied by the Stanfield organization. They are also fascinated by the notion that they are listening to Marlo getting on Monk's phone to berate Andre -- indicating that he is less cautious about using cellphones himself and therefore vulnerable. They also wonder about the barrage of gunshots heard in the background -- notable given the lack of violence seen from Marlo's organization.

Police Commissioner Ervin Burrell and Deputy Commissioner for Operations William Rawls discuss the Mayor's angry response to the subpoenas, which has clearly rolled downhill at them. The Mayor wants no more surprises in this election season. Rawls guesses the subpoenas came from Lester Freamon; they can't shut his unit down now, due to how it would look if such a move became public, but Rawls suggests the unit get some "proper supervision."

Meanwhile, Norris discovers that his seeming drug murder actually involves the death of a witness in a pending drug prosecution, meaning that the case has some priority and will result in overtime and a major investigation for Norris. But Landsman tells him to bury the witness angle in his initial reports because it's an election year then calls Major Valchek to report these developments. Valchek, in turn, shows up at Carcetti's with news of a murdered witness -- which Carcetti had apparently told him to keep a close watch for, should such a thing occur.

At school, Prez gets a briefing from the other teachers in his team, who agree on class rules double space papers, never assume, use the same headings on lab work, keep the windows closed to keep them drowsy, and for the troublemakers, call home. In the front office, Assistant Principal Marcia Donnelly asks a student to take a box of new school clothes to Dukie as a cleaned-up Bubbles shows up, claiming to be Sherrod's uncle so as to enroll him in class. As they pass in the office, Prez and Bubbles exchange an awkward glance of confused recognition.

Hitting a bag at the gym, Namond and Michael watch as yet another mother -- this one more attractive than the previous two -- brings Cutty some dinner and receives some attention in kind. Cutty's now-veteran fighters, Justin and Spider, interrupt to pick a fight over the use of the bag, and Cutty breaks up the scuffle. Cutty uses the opportunity to try to lure Michael into being officially trained, and though he seems intrigued, Michael stubbornly refuses.

During the Mayoral debate, Carcetti challenges the Mayor's claim that crime is down in Baltimore and reveals his bombshell: That a recent homicide victim was a key witness in a drug case. He blames the Mayor for refusing to spend the witness protection money that Carcetti himself secured from the Feds, reminding Royce that he wrote to the mayor last year, expressing his disappointment over the matter in a signed letter. As the Mayor responds haltingly, his aides, as well as Burrell and Rawls, watch grimly, while Carcetti's crowd beams. Rawls reminds Burrell that the Mayor wanted no more suprises coming out of the police department -- presumably that included news that a state's witness had been murdered.

Namond arrives home to find De'Londa has laid out a full array of new school clothes. He turns on the TV in his room. The debate is still on and some politician -- Tony Gray, as it happens -- is talking about schools and the relevance of education; Namond switches on his X-Box, and starts firing away.

godtabh

S04E03

"Love the first day, man. Everybody all friendly an' ****." -- Namond Brice

Summary

Directed by: Seith Mann
Story by: Story by Ed Burns & Richard Price
Teleplay by: Richard Price

Omar Little awakes to the sound of a garbage truck outside his window. Annoyed to discover there's no cereal, he blames his newest protégé Renaldo, still asleep, for letting the Honey Nut Cheerios box go light. In his silk pajamas, unarmed because the big gun won' stay in his waist, he heads out to the local grocery, then stops under a row house window on his way back, only to light a smoke, as cries of "Omar comin''" ring throughout the neighborhood. As Omar lights a Newport, a bag of vialed, ready-to-sling cocaine drops to his feet. Back at home, he dumps the bag on the breakfast table, then laments that he doesn't even want it. "It ain't what you takin', it's who you takin' it from," he explains to Renaldo. "How you expect to run with the wolves come night when you spend all day sportin' with puppies?"

The Deacon drops by Howard "Bunny" Colvin's to feel him out about a job at University of Maryland's school of social work, which has landed a good-sized grant to look at repeat violent offenders. The Deacon has already sold the UM faculty on employing his friend, who carries some gravitas with the academics as the police commander who tried to legalize drugs in West Baltimore. But Colvin notes that the academics were the only ones who liked the idea and he says he's had his fill of do-gooders. Colvin insists he's happy at a hotel security job, making "52, good bennies" and getting a take home car.

Marlo Stanfield, Chris Partlow and Felecia "Snoop" Pearson pull up to Preseton "Bodie" Broadus's corner, where Bodie, Little Kevin, Michael Lee and others are working Bodie's package. It's clear that Bodie has made a little something out of the formerly moribund strip. Bodie tenses as they approach, but Chris assures him they are there to parley only. Marlo tells him he needs the corner now that it's developed. "Two choices, you start takin' our package or you can step off." Marlo also has his eye on Michael, who earlier wouldn't take Marlo's handout of back-to-school money, but is now working a drug corner. "He got some good signs on him," Marlo tells Chris.

Mayor Royce meets with State Delegate Watkins, his chief of staff, Coleman Parker, Police Commissioner Ervin Burrell and State's Attorney Demper to discuss the dead witness issue that Carcetti so effectively used in the campaign debate. Upset about Carcetti's eight point bump in the wake of that ambush, Royce takes the gloves off, telling his team to begin playing hardball, tearing up campaign signs and towing Carcetti's vehicles and telling campaign donors that they can't ride the fence and give to both him and his opponents. Then he tells Burrell and Demper to "talk down that witness angle" on the recent murder, and, if necessary, to get out in front and take the heat for the case. Most important, the mayor tells them, they need to prevent any further revelations on the case "which reflects poorly on Royce's ability to protect state's witnesses and gives Carcetti a strong issue" from coming out before the primary vote. Demper protests about having to take any blame at first. "I'm running dead even with Bond right now," he says of his own re-election effort. "How you gonna be running if I drop you from the ticket?" Royce fires back. After Demper and Burrell exit, Watkins points out that Carcetti has a point about the Royce administration failing to claim matching funds that Carcetti had Watkins secure a year earlier during the previous legislative session in Annapolis. Royce explains that he will claim those funds after the primary, for the next fiscal year. To do so prior would have given Carcetti a campaign highlight.

Back on the corner, Michael doesn't rattle when some buyers try to scam him on some heroin sales and backs the older heads down. Bodie, impressed, tries to get Michael to work the after school rush hours, but Michael wants to quit now that he's repaid the money he needed for back-to-school supplies for himself and his younger brother. Besides, school's starting.

Kima Greggs surveys the street outside Old Face Andre's store, as Omar and Renaldo -unnoticed - survey her. Renaldo asks if Greggs is federal and Omar replies that she is city police and that he knows and likes her - up to a point. A school girl goes in the store, all dressed up and carrying a backpack - on the day before school starts - raising Omar's suspicions. He assumes that Greggs would notice such a detail as well. After the girl leaves - minus her backpack - Greggs heads into the store to buy some gum and check it out. She notices better security cameras outside the store than inside, as well as reinforced doors - indicative of a stash house rather than a viable grocery. As she drives away, Omar notes she needs more patience. But Greggs is off to report what she saw at Old Face Andre's to Freamon, who has been doing wiretap work ever since they picked up the call from Andre to Monk, a Stanfield lieutenant, a week prior - the one in which an irate Stanfield grabbed his lieutenant's phone and told Andre not to harry him. They consult the wiretap chart, trying to link Andre into the higher rungs of the Stanfield organization. "We're getting close," says Greggs. Lt. Asher then leaves his office, saying he's been called downtown by Deputy Commissioner of Operations William Rawls. "You guys aren't into any s**t are you?" he asks on his way out. They deny it, of course.

At Police Headquarters, Deputy Commissioner Rawls Lt. briefs Charles Marimow on his new job - making sure he gets the Major Crimes unit back on the street where it belongs. No more movement on the subpoenas, which will not be answered until after the primary in any event. Asher arrives for his meeting with Rawls and is relieved of command of Major Crimes, transferred to the Telephone Reporting unit, and told he has done a fine job. Just fine.

It's the picture of domestic bliss at Beadie Russell's house, as Bunk arrives for dinner and McNulty introduces him to Beadie's kids, who are studying from the homeland security binders that McNulty liberated earlier at the Western. Afterward, Bunk lures McNulty out for drink at their old haunt of the railroad track, but McNulty nurses a single beer, much to Bunk's disappointment. Bunk presses him on whether he's really comfortable in his new life. "Sometimes it is what it is," McNulty explains.

Bodie complains to Slim Charles about Marlo's latest pressure, noting that he could only make a go of the new strip because he was selling Slim's package of high-quality narcotics. On Marlo's weaker package, his profits will fall. Bodie wants to fight back, but he is alone now. Slim explains that the people he is working with now - Prop Joe and the New Day Co-op, of course - they aren't going to battle for any territory. Later back in a discount hotel meeting room, the Co-op crew, including Proposition Joe, Slim Charles and Fat-face Rick and others, meet to discuss how to handle Marlo's hegemony and that of the New York Boys on the eastside. Marlo is running off some of the independents supplied by the Co-op on the Westside, or forcing them to take their package. But the bigger problem is the recent emigrants from Brooklyn and the Bronx, setting up shop in East Baltimore and running various local crews off. The Co-op finds consensus: If they are going to bump with the New Yorkers, they need to stand together and Marlo, as young and violent as he is, would be an asset in that regard. It's noted that Marlo can "make an inconvenient n***** disappear," and there is some discussion of how Marlo is hiding the bodies his organization drops. Proposition suggests its time to talk to Marlo again, to get him to cooperate, but Slim is skeptical he'll listen.

At his hotel security job, Colvin gets summoned to a room where a hotel patron has beaten a prostitute who lifted cash from his wallet. Colvin wants to arrest the assailant for assault, but the manager doesn't want any trouble for a customer who is instrumental in booking conventions into Baltimore. When Colvin cuffs him regardless, the manager has to remind him he's no longer a police officer: "You work for us." Colvin relents and, ashamed to be doing what he is doing, leaves. The next day he tracks down Deacon to see about the social work grant he dismissed earlier.

The first day of school, Randy, Michael and Dukie head over to pick up Namond, with Michael keeping his younger brother, Bug, in tow and Randy giving his lunch to Dukie on the way. De'Londa Brice allows Michael and Randy into her home to collect Namond, but shuts the door in Dukie's face.

At morning roll call, Charles Marimow addresses his new unit, demanding to know where Officer Massey, who manned the wiretap overnight, is and why she is not present for the meeting. When the reason is given, it is insufficient. Marimow asserts his leadership and says he wants to be briefed on every action by the unit. Freamon, Greggs and Sydnor are not thrilled with the new boss.

At Tilghman Middle School, the first day begins in a rush of activity. Prez struggles to control his homeroom class. But the kids ignore his seating chart, steal his bus and hall passes and disrespect his authority. Fellow teacher Grace Sampson has to step in to restore order.

The Mayor calls a private meeting with Herc, inquiring about his career goals. Briefed about this very outcome by Major Valchek earlier, Herc feigns surprise as, Royce, after establishing Herc's loyalty, offers to make a call to push Herc's name to the top of the sergeant's list and then move him off the mayoral detail and back into another assignment. Herc expresses gratitude "Don't mention it," Royce intones precisely.

In Prez's math class he attempts to lead them through a word problem but the kids knowingly interrupt and effectively destroy the lesson. One girl, Chiquan, refuses to sit near Dukie, complaining that he smells. Humiliated, Dukie says nothing. Chiquan provokes another girl, flashing the sun with a piece of jewelry to shine in the other girl's face. The teased girl goes for Chiquan, Prez tries to break it up and chaos breaks out until Grace arrives once again to help restore order.

Marimow comes down on the unit for all the time they're spending on Marlo Stanfield when there's no body count connected with the Stanfield organization. He lays down the law - no more long-term wire taps, no more subpoenas. He declares the Barksdale case closed immediately and says that when the fledgling Stanfield wiretaps come up for renewal, they will be terminated as well. Freamon argues it's up to a judge to decide when a wiretap comes down, but Marimow informs him the Deputy Commissioner for Operations will be talking to him about that very subject.

After using the disturbance to sneak out of class, Randy uses a string of different colored uniform shirts to mingle with different grades in the school cafeteria. He works the crowd, pitching his product: a backpack full of candy. Dukie watches with amusement, while he plays with a plastic battery-operated mini fan he's found inoperative in the street on the way to school.

Omar and Renaldo catch the next re-up at Old Face Andre's grocery, holding him up for the backpack the girl delivered. To distract Andre, Omar sent Renaldo into the store with a small-caliber handgun, knowing that Andre would be confident in the depth of his plexiglass. But while Andre is preparing to counter Renaldo, Omar slips past the security camera, enters the store and fires a shot high, through the plexiglass, using a large-caliber semi-auto. Renaldo gives up the package, and Omar to rub it in buys a pack of Newports and demands his change. As they leave, he references the look on Andre's face to Renaldo, saying, "That's why we get up in the morning."

At the social work college on UM's Baltimore city campus, The Deacon brings Colvin to talk Professor David Parenti about a job as a field researcher - going out in the hood to find some corner boys to talk to for his study. He's looking for 18-to-21 year olds. Colvin thinks 18-21 a too late to be trying to influence behavior; by that time they are already lost to the game. "So show him," says Deacon.

Carcetti shows up at the wake for the dead witness he used so effectively against Royce in the debate, checking with Wilson on his way in about the invited press. Clearly, they are planning to use the wake as a campaign event. He enters the funeral home, pays his respects to the boy's mother, launching into a speech before stopping himself. "I'm just sorry for your loss." Seeing Watkins and Marla Daniels in the back of the room, he greets them both, then wishes Daniels luck with her race. "The council sure could use you." Outside, he refuses to talk to reporters, much to Wilson's annoyance. But Carcetti considers appearances and implies that the real audience at this moment might be Watkins. Better to appear sincere at this moment, rather than calculating - he calculates.

Colvin gets Sgt. Carver to let him and the professor talk to an 18-year-old kid, Shawn, in the interview room. Shawn nearly attacks the professor for writing while he's talking, and after a tough few minutes in which Colvin quickly provokes the young man's rage, the professor has to concede that "18-to-21 might be too seasoned." Carver suggests they try the local high school, but Colvin suggests they need to go even younger. He takes the professor to Tilghman Middle School and on encountering the 6th-to-8th graders, they sense that they are in the correct place to undertake their research.

Meanwhile, the exodus from the Major Crimes Unit is now on. Kima meets with her old mentor, Major Cedric Daniels, looking to get back under his new command in the Western District, but he says she's too good to go back to a district and that she needs to move laterally at worst. He offers to talk to people on her behalf. In the meantime, Freamon visits the Deputy Ops and is told by Rawls that he is a hell of an investigator - Rawls seems sincere in his praise - but that his investigation is at an end. Sending the subpoenas to politically sensitive targets has made it so; they can't stop the subpoenas, but they can get the unit that sent them by sending in "my Trojan horse" Charlie Marimow. Rawls anticipates that Freamon might go to the city judge who signed the wiretap order, seeking protection. Rawls references the fact that an earlier Deputy Ops once had to bury Freamon years ago for a similar action: "You have a gift for martyrdom," Rawls tells him. "But I wonder, are your disciples as keen for the cross?" To protect his comrades, Freamon concedes defeat. Rawls then offers to let him land softly, transferring him back to C.I.D. homicide and telling Freamon that while it is hard to think it so now, he should consider this a favor.

Following this, Daniels approaches Rawls to plead for a Homicide assignment for Greggs. The only open spot was just filled, Rawls reports dryly, but, he adds, looking at the Homicide roster, "Lemme see who I don't love no more."

Prez tries to get the class to tackle another math word problem, as the kids inject their jokes and commentary. Chiquan acts out a bit and the other girl, still angry at the earlier teasing, leaps up and slashes Chiquan across the face with a razor. As blood gushes from a screaming Chiquan, chaos erupts in the classroom. Prez is momentarily paralyzed with shock, but Grace Sampson arrives to disarm the angry girl and call for an ambulance. As Ms. Sampson tends to Chiquan, Dukie softly approaches the angry girl, producing his mini-fan, which he has repaired. He turns it on, blows it gently toward the girl, then leaves it on the floor for her. She ignores him, her eyes glazed and hands bloodstained, as Dukie watches her.

godtabh

S04E04

"No one wins. One side just loses more slowly." -- Prez

Summary

Directed by: Jim McKay
Story by: Ed Burns & Dennis Lehane
Teleplay by: Dennis Lehane

At an underground, all-night poker game at a westside skin joint, Marlo Stanfield is getting schooled by some old heads who know the game better than he does. Heading out into the early morning sunlight, he calls Chris Partlow before stopping at a corner grocery, where he buys a water and - upon being coldly eyed by the security guard -- brazenly pockets some lollipops and glares at the guard. The working man waits for Marlo's exit before confronting him outside. "You think I dream of coming to work up in this s**t on a Sunday mornin'?..." As Marlo ignores him, the guard gets more riled. "I know what you are. And I ain't stepping to, but I am a man. And you just clip that s**t and act like you don't even know I'm there." "I don't,' Marlo says, before going eyeball to eyeball with him. "You want it to be one way...but it's the other way," he says coolly, before driving away with Chris.

At Dennis "Cutty" Wise's gym, the boys are talking about the bloody attack at school. Dukie Weems heard that the girl who wielded the razor in Prez's class had a father who killed three police and that her mother boils cats and serves 'em. Namond Brice mocks Dukie for such nonsense. Randy Wagstaff finally sets them straight: she's from a group home off Edmondson Avenue, and in those places, he tells them knowingly, you don't need to eat boiled cat to make you crazy.

Tipped off by The Deacon to a better paying job opportunity than his landscaping, Cutty shows up at Tilghman Middle School to see about a custodial job, only to learn from Assistant Principal Donnelly that what they really need is for him to mop up truants. Baltimore city can no longer afford actual truant officers or a anti-truancy program, so Donnelley has learned to keep a couple custodial positions unfilled at the beginning of the year for this contingency.

Still shaken by the attack in his classroom and believing that his students must be deeply shaken as well, Prez prepares a talk for the kids to help them come to terms with what happened. His wife tries to get him out of the house to take his mind off of events, but he's too wound.

Her first day in homicide, Shakima "Kima" Greggs runs into her fellow refugee from the Major Crimes Unit, Det. Lester Freamon, and her new boss Sgt. Jay Landsman assures her she'll get time to learn the basics, working nothing as a primary investigator for a few weeks. She gets a tour and stops to see William "The Bunk" Moreland in an interrogation room; he's lined up a witness to Fruit's murder, and the woman definitively identifies Lex as the shooter who murdered Fruit outside the downtown nightclub. Greggs picks up her first message: a call to a Mr. Lyon about something known as the methane probe protocols. Landsman and Freamon suggest she get right on it, then hang around and wait as she dials. An employee from the city zoo picks up, and when Greggs asks for "Mr. Lyon," she chastises her: "You sound a little old for this." The guys try to contain themselves: The hazing has begun.

At the rim shop, Old Face Andre is trying to buy time from Marlo, calling Omar a terrorist who "blow up s**t just to," and carrying on about the government cutting Delta and the insurance companies and NASDAQ some slack in the wake of similar terrorist attacks because they know "ain't nothing they could do." Marlo takes a shine to Andre's ring, and makes him hand it over before responding: "Omar ain't no terrorist. He's just another ****** with a gun. And you ain't no Delta Airlines neither...So bring me what you owe and talk that global economy mess somewhere else."

After Andre leaves, Marlo tells Chris he needs a hundred and a half for another card game. "Learnin' their ways require some patience." He assures Chris he's gonna take the old heads soon enough. "Else maybe I get bored and send you to take 'em."

Looking thin and wan, clearly quite ill, C.I.D. commander Col. Ray Foerster meets with Commissioner Ervin I. Burrell and Deputy Commissioner William A. Rawls about the murdered state's witness, and finds himself suddenly defending veteran homicide Det. Ed Norris's ability to work the case. Burrell has another idea: give it to the "fresh eyes" of the rookie, Kima Greggs. When Foerster realizes what's really going on - that Burrell is trying to slow and impede a politically sensitive investigation, he asks to keep Norris on the probe but promises to prevent any more press leaks prior to the primary election. "I resent the implication," Burrell responds, and Rawls gives Foerster a quick, subtle headshake: No argument on this. Foerster makes his appeal to Rawls later: "This gets out, who do you think it's gonna land on? I got two years to make forty and a pension bump." Rawls concedes it's a bad call, but says it's the Commissioner's decision to make. "He's the one over City Hall every day getting his ass chewed."

When Bubbles finds out Sherrod has been skipping the first days of school, he gives him an ultimatum: "School or out the business." Given that Sherrod last attended the fifth grade, Bubbles asks Assistant Principal Donnelly to consider returning him to that level where he might be able to do the work. Donnelly explains that because of thin resources, Sherrod has to be "socially promoted" to eighth grade. Besides, she explains, putting older kids with the young ones isn't fair to the teachers - all the harder to maintain order.

Prez tries to talk to his class about the bloody attack, but they appear indifferent, cynical and disrespectful as always. Moreover, someone got wind that he was once a cop, and they want to know if he ever shot anyone, and what kind of gun he carried. He finally caves to their questions, admits he was once police, but insists the job wasn't about carrying a gun, "it was about working with the community." The kids laugh, then mime popping off rounds. Chaos ensues. Prez tries to walk the aisles to get control, but Randy grabs his bag and slips out, followed by Sherrod, who has only moments before been dumped into Prez's class. Changing his shirt to the sixth grade color and using a stolen hall pass, Randy heads to the lower-grade lunch with a bookbag of snacks, ready to make sales. His classroom still in chaos, Prez tosses the notes from his speech, and catches sight of Sherrod outside, picking up discarded books from the blacktop.

Chris and Felicia "Snoop" Pearson do surveillance on the grocery store security guard, checking his hours. "What he do again?" Snoop asks. "Talked back," says Chris. They then head to Hilltop and Bodie's corner to put the heat on Preston "Bodie" Broadus, and realizing he has no choice, Bodie agrees to take their package. When they ask about young Michael Lee's whereabouts, he tells them he's not a regular, just a kid working the corner long enough to pay off a debt. "Why you asking?" Bodie inquires. "Never mind why," says Chris, letting Bodie know his low standing in the Stanfield organization. "Why ain't in your repetoire no more."

Back in the sixth-grade lunch period, Randy's former teacher spots him and drags him back to the main office, where Donnelly accuses him of using hall passes to spray paint walls during classes. "You know I don't." Randy protests. "Then who is?" she presses. He won't give, until she threatens to call his foster mom, Miss Anna. Randy caves as Cutty, watching from across the office while filling out paperwork, shakes his head sadly at the snitching.

Meanwhile, Howard "Bunny" Colvin pairs up with UM Sociology Professor David Parenti to pitch the pilot program to the school bureaucracy. Meeting with an area superintendent, Mrs. Conway, they find that she bristles defensively at first, worried that their program implies a negative critique of the school system. "This isn't about the system," they assure her. They're just trying to get to the troubled kids who are about to fall out of the system altogether. She'll allow it, but with a caveat: "Nothing that gets anyone upset...there's an election going on and we don't want to put our schools in the middle of that mess." Colvin, of all people, knows this score. "No indeed," he replies.

Dets. Leander Sydnor and Off. Caroline Massey shut down the wire room, as Lt. Charlie Marimow, now firmly in control of the Major Case Squad and quite satisfied with himself, watches them head back on the street to pursue low-level arrests.

Armed with an arrest warrant, Bunk and Freamon wait for three marked units to answer their call for backup to search Lex's mother's house. They light up when they see one arriving officer is McNulty, who in turn, teases Freamon about having reached too far with his wiretap unit. Freamon explains that he tried to follow the money and McNulty shakes his head knowingly. When he offers to take the back, Freamon reminds him the man who takes the back buys the rounds.

Back or front, they come up empty except for Lex's distraught-looking mother, who's lit a shrine of candles on her mantle of photos. Noting this, Bunk presses her on whether her son is still alive, threatening to return often if she doesn't give up an answer. "I don't know where my son is," she says through watery eyes. She is not only grieving; she is frightened as well.

At Marlo's pigeon coop, Proposition Joe makes a case for him to join the New Day Co-op - the consortium of citywide dealers. He lays out the benefits of "standing together": good quality drugs always available at the best wholesale prices, lawyer and bondsmen on hand, shared information...and "no one f**ks with you." "No one f**ks with me now," Marlo shoots back, before thanking Joe for his time and sending him away.

At City Hall, mayoral Chief of Staff Coleman arker is pushing Royce to rally his base, concerned about the mayor's thinning lead in the primary race. He shows him campaign posters in African nationalist colors emblazoned with the slogan that the mayor "makes US proud." Royce frowns: "You want me to start wearing dashikis? Go all Marion Barry and sh**t?" Parker says he also wants to put another $75,000 on the street in "walk-around money" on primary day. The Mayor tells him to call another game.

Running against Royce, Councilman Thomas "Tommy" Carcetti wants to meet with Royce's "base" as well - in the form of the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance -- despite the fact that he hasn't been invited to their endorsement interviews with candidates and he'll never get their vote. His team thinks it's a waste of time, except Wilson, who agrees with the councilman that, done right, they'll respect him for it and, given that respect, they might be less than aggressive for Royce even after endorsing him. "And if they don't, then at the least they get to see a beggin' ass white man on his knees. Always a feel-good moment for the folks."

At a community meeting in West Baltimore, Marla Daniels and her opponent in the 11th District council race, incumbent Councilwoman Eunetta Perkins, take questions from the residents, along with other district candidates. One complaint involves a halfway house for recovering addicts going up on one man's block. "Not if I have anything to say about it," says Perkins. Daniels tries to point out the bigger picture: that the city's thousands of addicts need to live somewhere. "Though not in white neighborhoods," Perkins interjects. Marla, suddenly on the defensive and showing her political inexperience, concedes her point, but adds, "These are people - our brothers and sisters, our children, our friends, who are trying to change their lives..." Meanwhile, watching from the sidelines, State Delegate Odell Watkins - Daniels' mentor and a power behind Royce, fumes as he spots a pamphlet: Mayor Royce ticketed up with Perkins, not Daniels - despite promises he made to Watkins earlier.

At a hotel suite downtown, Andy Krawczyk and six or seven other fat-cat developers join Mayor Royce in a card game, the second of the month. Privately, Krawcyzk commiserates with a colleague about how hard it is to feign losing hand after hand to the mayor when Royce plays cards so poorly. "Texas Hold 'Em," the Mayor says, smiling as he deals. "I begin to understand the popularity of this game... No limit."

Over drinks with Bunk, Freamon tries to put the pieces together on Marlo's missing bodies and the missing Lex, speculating about dumping grounds and the means of disposing of bodies, but Bunk is only interested in bodies of another sort: hitting on the women across the bar. As Freamon drones on about police work, a tanked-up Bunk watches the women walk out and begins bellowing for his old partner: "Jimmy!"

Snoop and Chris survey Michael's battered rowhouse, an old rummy sitting on the front stoop. They watch as Michael exits with Bug for school, and Snoop speculates they are just going to school so as to get out of their house every day. "Make a good run at that boy, he'll be on a corner, no problem," Snoop says.

Bunk and Greggs arrive at a crime scene -- a body in a field. "Soft eyes,' Bunk advises her, echoing the same advice given to Prez in a teacher's meeting a couple weeks earlier. "You got soft eyes you can see the whole thing. You got hard eyes, you staring at the same tree, missing the forest." Greggs isn't impressed with his zen, but watches as they measure, order tests, use obscure technical terms - and fails to notice as Bunk slips a note inside the dead man's hand. When she takes her turn examining the corpse, she spots it, and they hand over tweezers. She unscrolls the paper: "Tater killed me." The guys crack up. Burned again.

Colvin gets started on his research, observing classrooms that range from out of control to sternly subdued to genuinely attentive. He's almost plowed down by a kid rolling through the hall on a chair. "You can tell the days by their faces," Grace Sampson explains to him later. "The best day is Wednesday. That's the farthest they get from home, whatever's going on in the streets."

Out on his truancy rounds, Cutty learns what his job is really about. The school is only interested in having the kids show up for one day a month in September and October - the minimum attendance that assures each school will be funded for the fullest enrollment. Cutty is incredulous. "Naw, naw man. School is school," he says to deaf ears. "Which one of y'all still needs your September day?" his round-up partner asks the kids in an abandoned lot. Cutty is disgusted.

At Blind Butchie's bar, Proposition Joe Stewart tries to clear the air with Omar, insisting he wasn't involved with Stringer Bell and Brother Mouzone in their play against him - he was merely the messanger. To set things right, he offers him a cut of a high-stakes card game on the west side. Omar suggests that Joe is trying to set him up and Joe denies it. Omar says he will watch the game and see if it is a legitimate target; if not, he promises to come back on Joe.

Marimow's stripped-down Major Crimes Unit gets two fresh new recruits: Off. Dozerman, now transferred to C.I.D. after being wounded in the line of duty last year, and the newly-minted Sergeant Thomas "Herc" Hauk. "I see you just made sergeant after driving the Mayor around for less than three months...you must be a helluva driver," Marimow says to Herc dryly, before letting them both know that like Sydnor and Massey, they'll be on the street doing rip n' runs.

At the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, Carcetti makes his appeal to the all-black group. He voted for Royce twice but now he's disappointed and angry - mostly at the crime. "Wherever I go, people want the same things, they need the same things, but they're just not getting them. I'm going to change that." He tells them he's not going to ask for their vote now, but that when he's mayor, "my door is open to you, regardless of who you endorse." The ministers pointedly thank him for coming.

Sgt. Landsman, having gotten the order from Colonel Foerster, assigns Greggs her first case: primary on the investigation of the slain witness. Norris is being pulled off the politically controversial case. Greggs is as surprised as everyone else, thinking at first that this is more hazing.

On the way home from school, Namond says he heard someone's snitching on the wall taggers. "Bam, bam," he says, giving a one-two punch, "do that to whoever be snitching'." Randy keeps his head down. Michael takes Bug home and sits him down to do his homework, ignoring the rambling comments of his obviously drugged mother. Seeing that Bug is cared for, he leaves to go to Cutty's gym.

After school at Tilghman, school police deliver the latest on the slashed girl, Chiquan, to Prez and Donnelly: more than two hundred stitches, and the muscles in her face don't move right. As for her attacker, Laetitia, she'll go to a juvenile facility, "only a little worse than her group home," Donnelly says. Chiquan wasn't HIV positive though, she tells a stunned Prez, who never even thought to worry about such a thing, "if you're looking for a silver lining and all."

After using their nail gun to board up another vacant-rowhouse mausoleum, Snoop pulls out a rent-a-cop badge and shows Chris, smiling. "Souvenir" she explains, as he takes it from her and tosses it into a trash pile. The trouble with disappearing people is that nobody knows, she tells him, implying that this is doing nothing for her reputation. Chris shakes his head.

Bubbles waxes on about his lost innocence to Sherrod: "Everything changes. You know. One minute the ice cream truck be the only thing you wanna hear...next thing, them touts callin' out the her-ron be the only thing you can hear." He notices Sherrod pretending to study an algebra text, telling Bubbles that the dictionary he has is a workbook to use with the text. "It ain't no thing," Sherrod shrugs. Bubbles takes in the lie - and Sherrod's illiteracy -- and replies, "I see that."

Cutty takes Michael and Justin to the armory fights, and as the boys admire the boxers, he offers tips about the skills of the men in the ring - and the discipline they've needed to get into fighting form. Michael seems ill at ease with Cutty and was quick to make sure that Justin would be attending as well before agreeing to even come to the fights. Now he offers an off-point comment to Justin about one of the fighters: 'Bet his woman's fine." Cutty is weary at the lack of attention to the sport itself.

Back at the underground card game with the old timers, Marlo is trumping Fowl George when Omar and Renaldo enter with the guard as hostage, armed for bear. "That's my money," Marlo says, as the banker rounds it up for the stickup crew. "Money ain't got no owners, only spenders," Omar tells him, admiring the ring Marlo took from Andre. It takes a pistol under his chin for Marlo to hand it over, but he finally does, with a threat: "This ain't over." Omar, holding the trigger, reminds him, "I can find your people a whole lot easier than they can find me." Marlo nods at the ring. "Wear it in health."

After the fights, Cutty drops off Justin, then turns to Michael to get his address. Michael bolts out of the van with sudden urgency, passing on a ride home. Hiding behind a corner until Cutty drives away, Michael makes his own way down the street, walking home in the Baltimore night.

godtabh

S04E05

"If you with us, you with us." - Chris Partlow

Summary

Directed by: David Platt
Written by: Ed Burns
Story by: David Simon & Ed Burns

Late at night, outside an abandoned factory in West Baltimore, the young crew all sit together, contemplating mysteries: Michael Lee, Randy Wagstaff, Duquan "Dukie" Weems, Namond Brice, Donut and little Kenard. They've heard talk of the bodies in the vacant rowhouses and they've heard about who puts the bodies there: "There's dead, then there special dead," intones Donut. Gunshots are heard in the neighborhood, followed by police sirens, but that's merely ordinary and the boys pay little heed. Instead, gravitating back to ghost stories, Namond floats a theory that Chris is turning the disappeared into zombies. "Chris got the power. He tell 'em to come and they gotta come." Michael plays along with the gothic storytelling, adding that Marlo is probably using the undead for his own purposes: "Prob'ly spies, man. Can't figure any other way Marlo knows so much." Scaring themselves with their musings, the boys - like the children they still are - spook themselves and flee in panic at the sudden sound of a kicked bottle and the stumbling arrival of a stray dope fiend.

Major Stanislaus Valchek tips off his First District political patron Tommy Carcetti on what's happening with the Braddock case - the one involving a slain state's witness, which was used so effectively by Carcetti against Royce in the mayoral debate. Detective Norris, a veteran, has been pulled from the investigation and replaced by a rookie detective. Along with his handlers, Theresa D'Agostino and Norman Wilson, Carcetti contemplates the crude attempt to slow the murder probe. Too crude, they reason, for Royce. "This one has Ervin Burrell written all over it," agrees Tommy, reasoning that Burrell is doing what he thinks he ought to for his political patron. Having already slapped Royce once with the Braddock case, Carcetti worries that going public a second time with the new revelation will backfire on Carcetti, or seem more of the same to the media. Instead, Wilson suggests they feed it to Tony Gray, which will not only keep them out of the line of fire, but will boost Gray's campaign at the expense of the Mayor's base. "I'm a devious mother-f**ker once I get going," Wilson smiles.

At the Western District, Major Cedric Daniels meets with Lt. Charles Marimow and Assistant State's Attorney Rhonda Pearlman to go over what's become of the prolonged wiretap efforts against Marlo Stanfield's organization - a handful of search warrants and planned street sweeps of various corners. Pearlman points out they're wasting a wiretap on street-level arrests but Marimow insists if the raids go right, they could catch Marlo or one of his people "with dope on the table." Daniels and Pearlman doubt this and Pearlman tells Marimow she isn't about to litigate an entire wiretap for street-level arrests. Marimow is indifferent and leaves. Pearlman blames Freamon for their case being gutted - he overreached with his subpoenas probing the Barksdale money trail, bringing Marimow down on the unit.

Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski tries to take control of his class with a new rule system - doing classwork and homework earns stickers and ultimately prizes, misbehaving earns detention. He illustrates his system by assigning Namond, who interrupts his explanation, to detention. When Namond objects that he didn’t yet know the rules, Prez agrees to his logic and removes his name - quickly adding another student's name Zenobia when she acts out moments later.

Over in the teacher's lounge, Howard "Bunny" Colvin and Professor David Parenti review with Grace Sampson how to proceed with their grant-funded pilot program. As Colvin sees it, there are two kinds of kids: stoop kids (who hang out near home and obey their parents) and corner kids (who don't and go down to the corners). When he suggests separating the groups so the stoop kids have a better chance at learning without disruptions, Grace and Parenti warn that "tracking" can suggest reduced expectations for certain students and is looked upon with disfavor by the school system and by the public. Bunny argues that by not separating the kids, everyone suffers. Grace agrees to the separation if he thinks it will truly help the corner kids, rather than merely warehousing them in a separate class.

Prez tries to help Michael in class but he just sits there, staring at his page blank, forcing Prez to give him detention. Suddenly Namond jumps up to watch Assistant Principal Marcia Donnelly overseeing a shakedown of bushes outside. When Prez can't reign in Namond with detention, he orders him to leave. Their argument escalates until Namond shouts at him: "Get your police stick out the desk and beat me. You know you f**kin' want to." Storming out, the boy walks straight into Sampson, Colvin and Parenti; Colvin tags him as one of the corner kids for the program.

At Marlo Standfield's outdoor lair, Marlo and Chris Partlow talk about what to do about Omar. Marlo wants to put a price on his head and go on the hunt, but Chris urges him to find another way, without bounties. "Barksdale turned this town upside down huntin' him and all he ended up lookin' was weak." Marlo comes around, admiring his lieutenant's logic.

Working a corner, Sherrod is trying to fend off a drug addict who is short money and insisting on a discount when Bubbles comes up asking why Sherrod's not in school. Before that question can be answered, the addict beats up Bubbles, looking for the extra $4 he needs for his purchase. He rips off Bubbles' shoe and finds a vial, which he takes instead. "Don' need the four now, son," the addict says to Sherrod as he runs off, leaving Bubbles humiliated and bloody in the street.

If he's done nothing else, Carcetti and his insurgent campaign forces Mayor Clarence Royce to shave - exuding a more youthful, hungry appearance. But out on the campaign trail, Carcetti's the one showing real hunger, pressing the flesh in both black and white neighborhoods when Wilson gets a call to meet with Tony Gray's team in 20 minutes. At the closed-door meeting between Wilson, Councilman Gray and his campaign manager, Tony - still bitter over being used by Carcetti to split the black vote - shows that he sees that Carcetti hopes to use him now to slam Royce with the revelation about the obstruction of the Braddock case. So Wilson lays out the facts: Tony's not going to win, but if he uses the leak to bring his numbers up, he's in a better position for the next round of elections, if he wants to run for the state legislature or maybe try a congressional run. Gray sees his logic.

Prez presides over a packed classroom of detention detainees - indeed, it seems like his entire roll is staying after school, well-behaved for the first time all day, as he calls roll. They shower him with pleas to leave and promises of better behavior. He agrees to make an exception this one time and as they file out, Namond, Randy and Dukie enter. Namond apologizes and Prez accepts, urging him to work harder tomorrow, but Namond says he's been suspended by Mrs. Donnelly. Prez asks to see Dukie alone, but Dukie says Randy can stay as the teacher hands Dukie a bag of clean clothes and toiletries. Randy and Dukie then explain that Michael can't come to detention because he has to pick up his little brother, Bug, because their mother is "on that stuff." Prez walks the kids out, asking them what they want to be when they grow up. The usual clichés about the NBA or NFL are quickly put aside and Randy explains he wants to own a store. Prez points out he'll need to know a lot of math to do that. When Prez realizes he's locked his keys in his car, the boys call Donut over. "Donut's crazy with cars, he can open anything," explains Randy as Donut works his slim jim into their teacher's car and pops the lock.

Sherrod comes home to the squatter's pad and finds Bubbles recuperating from his beating in bed. As a token offering, Sherrod leaves vials by the bedside. His mentor chastises him for still working the corners, warning him that it'll use him up. He points out that the corners provide for no dignity, adding that if it was Sherrod being beat, there would have been little that Bubbles could have done. He tells him he can stay the night, but if Sherrod doesn't go back to school tomorrow "this partnership need to be done." Looking over at the vials, Bubbles feels only shame.

Parker barges into an election strategy season in Royce's office and turns on the TV: Councilman Gray is talking about the "unconscionable" intervention of high-ranking police officials in the murder investigation of the witness. Meanwhile at Homicide, Dets. Norris and Greggs watch the same news reports with Gray bemoaning the replacement of a "highly decorated veteran" (Norris) for a rookie (Greggs). "The f**k I ever do to him?" asks Greggs, humiliated.

At their abandoned factory hangout, Namond, Randy, Michael and Dukie are killing time when Chris and Snoop appear - their very ghost story come to life - and asks Michael to take a walk. When he demurs, Chris orders the others to get lost. They do so, but not before Namond is quick to call both Chris and Snoop by name - a subtle indication that they are known to the boys in case they are thinking about hurting Michael. Namond and Dukie guide a scared Randy down the alley and they duck around a corner to keep watch. Chris tells Michael they've heard good things about him and are always in the market for a soldier, someone to make family. Michael begs off, saying he's got family already. "We be around if you need something," says Chris, slapping a wad of cash in his hand. When Michael rejoins the guys, thanking Namond for "good looking out," Randy babbles his fear, certain Chris is after him. He says nothing about his role in the death of Lex earlier, and Michael, amused at Randy's paranoia, teases him before assuring that "it weren't even about you, Randy."

Royce rips Police Commissioner Ervin H. Burrell as Deputy Commissioner for Operations William Rawls and Mayoral Chief of Staff Coleman Parker watch, demanding to know how he could have screwed up so much: Hamsterdam, the politically charged subpoenas, then the leak about the witness murder and now the attempted scuttling of that investigation. Burrell defends himself saying the Mayor specifically asked him to slow down the investigation. Out of Burrell's eyeline, Rawls shakes his head tellingly - a gesture noticed by Royce and Parker both. Disgusted, Royce orders Burrell out and turns to Rawls, who assures Royce he tried to warn Burrell that his plan was a bad one - though in fact, he issued no such warning -- but he didn't warn City Hall because he's "a loyal subordinate." Royce tells Rawls "I need you to make this go away, Bill. I won't forget. Believe me." Rawls nods agreeably.

Chris tells Marlo that Slim Charles sent word that Proposition Joe wants a sit down. "Slim says the fat man knew the card game was gonna get took." Hearing this, Marlo tells Chris to set it up. They're interrupted by Old Face Andre, who has clearly been summoned to Marlo's lair. Marlo tells Andre they have a plan: They're going to stage a robbery in his store, and he's to call the police and file a report fingering Omar for the crime. Andre doesn't like the plan - Omar will get right out and come back at him. "He won't get out," assures Marlo. When Andre leaves, Chris questions him: "A man can make bail on a robbery." Marlo has a solution: "Make it no bail." Sensing his meaning, Chris laughs.

Lunchtime in Prez's classroom, and many of the kids choose to hang out in the new teacher's classroom rather than the cafeteria. Prez talks to Michael, telling him he needs to come to him with problems like not being able to come to detention. He excuses him and calls Dukie to his desk offering him some of his lunch and sending him to the cafeteria to get a drink to wash down the sandwich. When he leaves, Prez asks Crystal why Duquan isn't wearing any of his new wardrobes. "His people take his clothes, sell it on the corners," she explains, adding that Dukie's situation is common knowledge at the school.

Meanwhile, Colvin and Parenti meet with Principal Withers and Donnelly to discuss their proposal: "Different kids, different approaches." Withers gets called away to deal with a situation, but tells them if they want to jump in and help, that's all the OK they need. He dismisses the school system hierarchy and tells them thank you, as it's the only time they'll hear it said. Donnelly then emphasizes to Colvin and Parenti that they need protect Withers -- if anyone has a problem with their plan, he'll get the blame. They agree and get down to business. Of the 256 eighth graders, she guesses about 40 are hardcore corner kids and when they find that number an acceptable one, she dissuades them: Start with 10, she warns. Colvin is pleased to hear that one of them is Namond Brice.

Dets. Lester Freamon and William "Bunk" Moreland stroll Leakin Park, famed dumping ground of West Baltimore, looking for some of the bodies that Freamon believes Marlo ought to be dropping. But come up empty.

At the Western District, Marimow briefs his detail on the impending raids as Daniels and Pearlman listen in. Pearlman whispers that the addresses are a week old, so the raid will be a certain bust. As they're dismissed, Sgt. Ellis Carver complains to Sgt. Thomas "Herc" Hauk, who is subordinate to Marimow in the Major Crimes Unit, that "warrants are one thing, but street sweeps of Marlo Stanfield's crews? Are you guys serious?" Herc defends the raids and Carver shrugs it off, but asks why he's not out campaigning for his man Royce. "He gets another four years, you're liable to be wearing the gold braid," Carver points out. Herc takes in this profundity. And back in the major's office, Pearlman laments the last crusade of the once-vaunted Major Crimes Unit, going out with a whimper. She's frustrated with this poor quality of casework, weary of the drug war itself. She tells Daniels that that she is ready for something new - that is, if Demper wins and forgives her for the untimely political subpoenas.

In homicide, Sgt. Jay Landsman breaks the news to Greggs that Norris is back on the dead witness case by order of Deputy Ops and she has to get the new story straight: Norris has been the primary all along and she's merely been assisting him. "F**k you, fat man," she tells him, letting him know she's fed up with their games and humiliations. He shuts the door and lets her know what they're up against, then tells her to prepare for the further deceit of a press conference.

Randy confides to Dukie his fears about Chris taking him to the vacants like he took Lex and so many others and confides his role in Lex's disappearance. Dukie sets him straight that Chris isn't "changing" anyone into zombies in the vacants, he's killing them. Dukie confesses he saw Chris walk a boy into a house over on Calhoun, but begs Randy not to tell anyone. Secrets shared, they sit, fretful.

The police raids descend on various addresses and corners in search of the Stanfield organization. They come up with goose eggs on the warrants and minor arrests on the corners. Marimow, enraged, is convinced that Stanfield's people were tipped. He wants blood and demands to know where Marlo hangs out. Herc is clueless but Carver offers the outdoor lair he's seen him in: "So no one can drop a microphone on him." Marimow asks Herc what they can do with that.

Royce tells State Delegate Odell Watkins that keeping Burrell was his biggest mistake, but Watkins points out that Royce did indeed tell the police commissioner to slow the Braddock investigation. Moreover, Watkins confronts the Mayor with two versions of Royce campaign literature - one pairing him with Eunetta Perkins in precincts where Perkins is strong, the other with Marla Daniels in other precincts. Royce promised Watkins he'd go with Marla. Royce pleads ignorance in the ruse, but Watkins doesn't buy it. He also knows about the mayor's fundraising card games with every developer and city contractor worth shaking down, and he's had it. "I'm gonna sit what's left of this one out," he says, passing Parker on his way out. Parker tells Royce he better go after him; they can't afford to lose Watkins and his political organization so close to election day. When Royce, prideful and angry, won't give chase, Parker does. Lt. Hoskins, who heads the mayoral security detail, witnesses the dust up and places a call to Deputy Commissioner Rawls.

Herc and his running buddy, Officer Dozerman, pull up near Marlo's outdoor hang out in an undercover van and position a camera, with Det. Leandor Sydnor's assistance. As soon as they leave, a young hopper appears, checks out the camera and pulls a cell phone to report the news.

In the visiting room at M.C.I. Jessup, or "The Cut" as it's known in Maryland, DeLonda leaves for the ladies room so Wee-Bey and Namond can have some father-son time. Namond doesn't want to be lectured about school when Wee-Bey dropped out at 6th grade, so Wee-Bay backs off from such hypocrisy, though he urges his son to tread lightly if only to appease his mother. But when Namond scoffs at how Bodie buckled to Marlo's pressure, Wee-Bey warns that while Namond's spit and fire is admirable, it's a different world out there today. Loyalty is no longer prized and the old codes are being lost. Bodie had no choice.

As Snoop stands watch, Chris heads into Old Face Andre's store, shoots a delivery woman dead and pistol whips Andre ordering him: "Say Omar."

Herc and Sydnor watch the camera feed as Marlo chats with his crew. Herc is excited by the set up, but ducks out leaving Sydnor to watch alone. Marlo then joins Chris in their SUV, telling him he hasn't decided how to handle the camera just yet. They head off to Marlo's sit-down with Proposition Joe.

Randy is approached by eighth-grader Monnel with an offer to earn some real money $5 to stand watch while he and his friend Paul get it on with a girl, Tiffanie, in the bathroom. That's a lot of candy sales, so Randy obliges.

At Royce campaign headquarters, Herc works the phone bank, making the hard sell for Royce votes as best he can - the political process being new to him.

In a Homicide interrogation room, a bloodied Andre fingers Omar for the murder. Meanwhile, having checked the sewers for bodies unsuccessfully, Freamon and The Bunk return to the unit and Bunk urges Lester to focus his mighty intellect on some real murders, giving up on the hypothetical ones.

While Carcetti and Wilson are going door-to-door pressing flesh in a rough section of East Baltimore, Rawls pulls up, surprising them. He announces that Watkins is breaking with Royce, and claims he's sided with the Mayor because he had to as a loyal subordinate. But he'd be happy to see some fresh blood in the city, and he'd like to have the chance to do some good in the police department. Carcetti and Wilson wait until he drives away, then race to their truck to speed off to see Watkins. "And f**k them red lights, man!" orders Wilson.

Proposition Joe Stewart and Marlo sit across from each other in a Christian Science reading room as Chris and Slim Charles stand by. Joe makes it clear he has a way of hearing about things before they come down - like the card game and a set of imminent grand jury indictments he shows Marlo, naming drug kingpin Charlie Burman and others. He might warn Burman what's coming; he might not - Burman is not a member of the New Day Co-op. Marlo asks if he's heard anything about the video camera aimed at him. "Had no incentive to listen," says the fat man. "You do now," replies Marlo, reaching out a hand to shake on it and embrace the collective.

Carcetti makes a case to Watkins for jumping to his side. Right now both Royce and Carcetti may need Watkins, but after the election, Carcetti will need him more. "I'm a white mayor in a majority black city," he explains. "If you support me, you will have a voice within my administration simply because I'm gonna need it." Watkins says he's heard Royce is ahead by seven points. Carcetti denies it, saying his latest poll shows him within four. Watkins takes this in, impressed with the opportunity.

Late night in a rear alley, Dukie leads Michael and Randy to the vacant house he spied Chris escorting one of his victims. Prying the plywood off the door, they creep inside, making their way to the decaying bodies in the back of the house. "He dead," Dukie says, pulling away the plastic cover. "They all is." As they file out, Dukie proves his point to Randy, who, still childlike in many ways, seems relieved to know that they are not, at least, zombie spies ready to haunt his dreams. "There ain't no special dead," says Dukie. "There's just dead."

godtabh

S04E06

"Don't try this s**t at home." - Norman Wilson

Summary

Directed by: Dan Attias
Written by: Eric Overmyer
Story by: Ed Burns & Eric Overmyer

On the Sunday before the primary, the mayoral candidates attend their church of choice with their families and entourages. Mayor Clarence Royce heads to a black Baptist Church in East Baltimore, Councilman Tony Gray to St. Bernadine's Catholic Church in Edmondson Village, while Councilman Thomas "Tommy" Carcetti use the opportunity to travel to the church of a politically influential minister in West Baltimore, where an A.W.E. gospel choir is tearing it up. Randy Wagstaff and his foster mother, Miss Anna, head into a storefront Pentecostal church, while Bodie's boys, including Kevin, sling on the corner across the way. The Reverend Reid Franklin holds forth with an election day homily, preaching to his flock and Carcetti in particular about Moses as law-giver, and "men of truth who fear God and hate covetousness." He asks the congregation to keep those standards in mind when they choose their city's leaders.

After services, Carcetti tells Reverend Franklin he hopes state Delegate Odell Watkins - now firmly in the Carcetti camp -- won't be the only one to break with the incumbent mayor. "You're holding me to a high standard," he chides. "Moses? I mean, Jesus, Reverend..." Jennifer Carcetti winces at the small blasphemy. Unperturbed, the Reverend promises to keep an open mind - a sign that Carcetti is indeed making inroads among black voters - and shoots back: "Moses will do for now. We'll save Jesus for your second term."

Across town in a surveillance van, Sgt. Thomas "Herc" Hauk watches for Marlo Stanfield and his lieutenants, spying through the camera hidden by the Major Crimes Unit in Marlo's outdoor lair. No signs of life. Hauk tells Detective Leandor Sydnor to call him when someone shows up, and departs.

Carcetti and aide-de-camp Norman Wilson work the crowd outside Baltimore's new African-American History Museum when Watkins, pressing the flesh for Carcetti, arrives with an attack flyer he has just been handed by a voter. The flyer screams: "Carcetti Defended Notorious Slumlord." A last-minute smear campaign depicts the candidate getting a loathed local landlord off the hook during his days as a private sector lawyer. Tommy claims he never met the guy, much less represented him. "They photo-shopped me." He isn't appeased by Bennett and Wilson's assurances that they have time to knock the false allegation down.

At their lair, Marlo and Chris arrive and stage a phone call for the hidden cameras, of which they are well aware. Monk takes a call and hands it to Marlo, who asks what time he can pick up "the skinny girl from New York," insisting he's gonna take care of it himself. As Herc and Sydnor watch from the van, a lip reader translates. Herc decodes: The skinny girl is cocaine. Sydnor can't believe Marlo would go near a package himself, but Herc feels vindicated in his view of Marlo as a mope.

Back in the Carcetti war room, the team reviews the fake flyer and how to debunk it. Tommy is beside himself, convinced this will destroy his chances. His campaign staff assure him they'll take care of it.

Namond and De'Londa, dressed in their Sunday best, meet with Brianna Barksdale, who breaks the news there will be no more money coming their way on Wee-Bey's behalf. Outraged, De'Londa threatens Brianna, noting that Bey could get to speaking about her brother Avon - exposing Avon to even more prison time. "I don't give a **** what happens to Avon," Brianna fires back, before telling Namond that she invited him to the meet for a specific purpose - to make it clear that his mother's been paid enough that he should have enough money going forward. Namond doesn't know what to believe.

Working the weekend shift two days before the primary election, Norris fills Greggs in on a message from a jailhouse snitch who wants to make a deal for the information they need to make the dead witness case. Norris wants to push it through before the election to shake things up - not knowing or caring whether it hurts the Mayor or Carcetti. "I don't even vote. But it'll be fun to f**k with all them downtown suits." Not to mention the fact that an arrest in the controversial case could land Greggs on the 11 o'clock news, payback for what the politicians put her through.

At home, the Carcettis watch the late night news, exhausted by the campaign and wishing it was over. Even though they found the original photo in the local newspaper's morgue files and were able to prove that it was doctored, some damage has been done. And officially, the Royce campaign claims to know nothing about claiming the smear tactic or the origin of the slanderous fliers. Tommy Carcetti confides to his wife that he'd have been okay losing by fifteen points, but now that he has a shot, he can't take the idea of losing by two.

Back at home, De'Londa Brice tells Namond Brice he's now going to have to step up. He can't quit school, but he has to go ask Bodie for his own package. Namond asks his mother what Brianna meant about her being paid enough money. "She's a lying bitch," De'Londa claims, as she calls Wee-Bey to break the news. Wee-Bey seems decidedly non-commital as De'Londa rails her outrage, indicating he has no plans to snitch on the Barksdales.

At roll call in the Western District, Lt. Dennis Mello announces the new arrests warrant for murder and a weapons charge for Omar Little. The cops know him well; they're glad someone finally got paper on him. But Off. Jimmy McNulty finds something strange. "You ever know Omar to do a citizen?" he asks Officer Tony Colicchio.

Early that same morning, Wilson finds Carcetti at campaign headquarters, where he's been poring over data trying to figure where he should go door-to-door in the waning hours of the campaign to pick up more votes. Wilson drags him off to do his radio shows, insisting he leave the campaign planning to the experts.

As the Tilghman Middle School students arrive for the day, Roland "Prez" Pryzkylewski intercepts Duquan "Dukie" Weems and takes him to the gym locker room, where he presents him with a locker, clean clothes, soap and a laundry bag. If Duquan gets to school early, he can shower and change and Prez will take the dirty clothes and wash them.

Deputy Commissioner for Operations William A. Rawls pays a visit to Homicide, surprising Sgt. Jay Landsman. He's heard about Norris making a move on the Braddock case to writ out a jail witness for an interview, and he's not happy with the "let the chips fall where they may" approach, given that a determination over whether the murder resulted from Braddock's witness status could risk either Royce or Carcetti holding a grudge if they win. And it turns out that city polling places still need to be covered by more uniformed officers. He tells Landsman to order Greggs and Norris to report for poll duty. "They can pick up their writ and talk to their snitch on Wednesday," Rawls says.

As Grace Sampson hands out the list of the ten students being pulled for the University of Maryland study, the teachers are genuinely relieved to lose a few of their knuckleheads. Prez is trying to explain fractions to his math class when he's interrupted by Assistant Principal Marcia Donnelly, who pulls Namond, Darnell and Zenobia from class with no explanation, leading to lots of speculation about what kind of trouble they're in. Donnelly and Sampson round up the remaining students from other classes. As they are walked to their new classroom, Tiffany - now subjected to teasing over her bathroom trysts with the boys - is talking animatedly in the front office.

With Carcetti still wound up about the flyer, Wilson reports that state Senator Clay Davis wants to meet, likely to throw in with Carcetti. But of course, Davis won't come cheap. Tommy is dubious about Davis squeezing him and not coming through, but Wilson and Theresa D'Agostino convince him the money is worth the gamble.

Settling into seats at a nice restaurant, Davis explains to Wilson and Carcetti that he can't offer a public endorsement so late in the game, but he can see to a push in a few of his organization's key precincts, and split some of his tickets and walk-around money between the Royce and Carcetti camps. He slips Carcetti a piece of paper with a figure on it and Tommy nods. Carcetti and Wilson beg off the sit down lunch - they're due on the campaign trail -- and Davis jokes they should just leave enough for his tab.

When RandyWagstaff is called to Donnelly's office, he at first denies he knows anything about Tiffany being in the bathroom with two boys, Monnel and Paul. But when he hears she claimed they raped her, he quickly and truthfully insists he was just a lookout -- and she went willingly. Donnelly warns him there will be an investigation and likely suspension, if not explusion. Maybe even criminal charges. As she dials Randy's foster mother, Randy begs her, offering all of the valuable information he has about other activities at Tilghman Middle - tagging, thieving, slashed tires. As nothing stops her, he makes a last ditch effort. "I know about a murder," he says softly, recluctantly, finally getting her attention.

Grace Sampson and Howard "Bunny" Colvin explain the mandatory program to the ten chosen students, who are none too pleased to hear about it - Namond, well versed in the terminology of incarceration by his father, immediately declares the new class to be solitary. They've been removed from gen-pop and sent to the hole. Colvin agrees with the assessment. From Donnelly, Prez learns about Randy's situation, and pleads with the assistant principal to let him call someone he trusts at the police department. "I don't want to see him get chewed up by the system." He pays a visit to Major Cedric Daniels, who suggests passing it to Sgt. Ellis Carver. Prez is dubious, but Daniels assures him Carver's come a long way.

At the Amtrak station, Herc stakes out the arriving New York train. When he spots Marlo approach a woman arriving on a southbound Metroliner - who Marlo clearly does not know and who is clearly confused - Herc sends the Amtrak police supervisor to make the collar so he can surprise him at the interview. He grabs both her and Marlo, confiscating her bag in the process. Marlo smiles to himself as he's dragged away. Herc looks on, proud. But minutes later, when the supervisor reports they'e both clean, Herc has no choice but to cut Marlo and the woman loose.

Brought into the school case, Carver pays a visit to Randy'shome to talk to Miss Anna, and as Randy listens from the other room, he explains to the foster mom that the boy was just an unwitting go-between on the possible homicide case. If he keeps his mouth shut and cooperates, they can keep him out of it. Miss Anna is distraught at the danger he could be in, not to mention his bad judgment in that matter, as well as the incident at school. Carver agrees, but assures her that "rom what I can tell, he's not a bad kid."

When Election Day finally arrives, Dennis "Cutty" Wise gets up early and heads out for a jog, evading his latest conquest's questions about when he's coming back. As he runs through the poster-festooned streets, campaign workers herd people to the polls, and candidates cast their votes for the cameras. At Tilghman Middle, now a polling precinct, Miss Anna heads in to vote while Randy waits outside. Spider, handing out Carcetti ballots for pay, quickly bolts when he sees Cutty - who has been searching for him for weeks. The Precinct Captain then hires Randy to take Spider's place, giving him a crate of flyers and $50 to put one in every doorway in a Westside neighborhood. Miss Anna okays it, but orders him to come straight home after. So Randy sets out with the flyers, rounding up Dukie, Donut and Kenard to help, while Michael begs off to head to the gym.

Meanwhile, Greggs gives Norris hell for getting her stuck on polling detail, thanks to his plan to jerk around the politicians and get them both on the 11 o'clock news. Carcetti is meeting and greeting his public in his home district when he's accosted by an older supporter who says he knew his father, then starts in on what's happened to the city starting in on what's happened to the city since "the moolies" took over city government. In the wake of the racial epithet, Norman Wilson offers Carcetti a bitter smile. Carcetti is speechless as the man walks off.

De'Londa drags Namond to see Bodie Broadus, humiliating her son as she demands he be given his own package. Bodie can't say no. Meanwhile, Namond's friends are not far away, growing tired of their own new gig papering row houses with campaign literature, but Randy threatens not to pay them if they quit. When they realize he's already been paid and is holding their money, they demand instant gratification. Randy pays out the cash, but continues to finish the job on his own.

At the gym, Michael Lee works a bag as Cutty works yet another lady, showing her some moves. Namond comes in looking for the gang. He tells Michael he's got his own package from Bodie, and asks if Michael wants to go in on it. Michael refuses. He goes back to shadow boxing, as Cutty tries to engage him in conversation, asking why Spider hasn't been around. "Why don't you ask his moms," he says, nodding towards the lady Cutty's been putting moves on. Clearly, Cutty also made time with Spider's mother. "Ahh, I ain't no angel," Cutty says, smiling at his latest. "No you ain't that," Michael responds, his distrust of Cutty on full display.

At Carcetti headquarters, they watch the TV as Clay Davis stands at a podium with Royce, fully endorsing the incumbent. They surmise that he probably shook the Mayor down for even more than the $20,000 they paid him. Wilson insists it was worth a shot, but Carcetti - wondering if Davis knows who the winner is likely to be and has backed Royce accordingly - shows that nerves are getting the better of him.

In a grocery, Omar Little spots a radio car outside. Cautious, he goes back to the beer refrigerator and slips his gun behind the forties. As soon as he exits, Officer Walker orders him against the wall and spotting his ring, pockets it. When Omar accuses him of not playing by the rules, Walker throws him to the pavement, just as McNulty, Colicchio and other cars pull up. The charge is robbery murder, McNulty tells him. Omar shows his surprise then tells McNulty he needs to make a quick call. McNulty looks to Walker - who has the collar - and Walker shrugs indifferently. McNulty dials the number that Omar offers then holds the phone for Omar to tell the voice on the other end that he's been arrested and is on the way to Central Booking. "I'm on it," Butchie responds. Omar nods a quick thanks as he's tossed in the wagon. Something doesn't add up for McNulty.

As the early returns come in, the candidates watch from their respective hotel suites. Namond heads home with Bodie's package, telling his mother it's a piece of cake. In the privacy of his bedroom, he stares at the vialed coke package as if it's a bomb.

Omar's brought into the bullpen at Central Booking on Eager Street downtown, to the jeers of inmates - many having been robbed by him. For the first time in a long while, he looks genuinely fearful.

Tense with anticipation, Tommy and Jennifer Carcetti take a break and walk along the harbor boardwalk. He speaks about what could happen if Baltimore found the strength to turn itself around, to solve its problems. When his cell phone rings, Jennifer urges him to answer. He hangs up before giving her the news: "Royce is conceding...we won." "Are we happy about that," she asks wryly. Carcetti allows that he thinks so.

An hour later, still incredulous, Carcetti takes the podium at his campaign's hotel ballroom, thanking his team as he points out they still have a general election to win. "Is there a Republican candidate for mayor in Baltimore?" he asks to laughter, Baltimore being almost exclusively Democratic in voter registration. As Jennifer begs off the celebration to go home, Wilson approaches with an unrepentant, shameless Davis. "Shouldn't you be dead to me?" Carcetti asks Davis. "You got off cheap," the senator laughs.

In his holding cell, Omar readies for a fight as the guard lets in two hulking new inmates. One of them pulls out a shank, as if ready to fight, before muttering, with a half-smile, "Butchie sent us." Omar sighs relief, taking the weapon.

As the celebration winds down at the Carcetti suite, Theresa D'Agostino and the victorious candidate are the last ones left. Pouring one more for the road, D'Agostino - an old flame from their law school days -- goes in for her "win bonus," kissing Carcetti deeply. He starts to respond, then pulls back. "You suddenly feeling mayoral?" she needles him. She's not convinced he's changed, she says, telling Carcetti that Wilson routinely saw him ogling women on the campaign trail. She tries again and he gives in, momentarily, then he stops them. "Maybe you have learned something," D'Agostino says on her way out. "Write me a check." The episode closes on Carcetti, with his future suddenly unwritten.

godtabh

S04E07

"Aw Yeah. That Golden Rule." -- Bunk

Summary

Directed by: Anthony Hemingway
Story by: Ed Burns & William Zorzi
Teleplay by: William Zorzi

In his cell, Omar gets help from Donnie and Big Guy, who create a makeshift suit of armor by wrapping books around his midsection with an ace bandage and duct tape. All padded up, the three head out to the food line. A fight breaks out between two men in front of them, and as one drops, Omar takes a shank to the chest. When the weapon bends against his armor, Omar grabs the shocked attacker's arm and twists him into a lock, then slams his face against the wall. "We could'a made a baby," he says demonically, licking the guy's ear before ramming his own weapon up the guy's rectum. The rest of the inmates flinch as the man collapses, screaming in pain.

"How that for a message?" Omar asks Donnie and the Big Guy back at his cell. Not bad, they tell him, except the price on his head is up to five figures. And the man paying the bounty? Some westside player named Marlo. Omar claims he's never heard of him, then asks for a phone to call a police -- a man who owes him a favor.

Still on a rush from his win, Carcetti meets with the ex-mayor for advice. "National party has to take notice, young and pretty as you are," he tells the councilman. Tommy can't hide his excitement at the thought, but he has a burning question -- he wants to know why the old guy didn't run for a second term when it was his for the taking. The ex-mayor tells a tall tale about his first day on the job, about eating silver bowls full of sh*t from the unions, the blacks, and the Polacks. "You sit there eating sh*t, all day long, day after day, year after year." When he realized this, he decided being a downtown lawyer and getting to see his family every night made for a fine life. Carcetti smiles politely.

Spider is working one of Marlo's corners, taking money from two addicts, when Cutty approaches, pressing him on where he's been. "You ain't my f**kin' father," Spider snaps, turning away. Cutty tries to assure him that what happened between his mom and him should have nothing to do with him taking advantage of the gym. "You one of my best, boy. If I thought I was gonna hurt you..." "Man, f**k you," Spider fires back, "ain't nobody gonna hurt me." Cutty looks defeated.

The boys have taken to spending their lunch break in Prez's classroom, playing poker. Prez reminds them he said no gambling, but they try and assure him it's all for peanuts. He decides to use their card game as a math exercise, and gives them tips on figuring out their odds.

Now that the election is over, Greggs and Norris have permission to solve the Braddock case, and they bring in an inmate, Anthony Wardell, for questioning.

After kicking him out, Bubbles goes to the school looking for Sherrod, worried about his whereabouts. Asst Principal Donnelly tells him he hasn't been in class since he last brought him in. "If you see him, tell him he can come home if he wants," Bubbles tells her.

Prez gets the idea use games that the kids understand -- like craps -- to teach them math skills and goes off in search of dice from the school's board games. Donnelly is alarmed at first, worried he's veering from the curriculum, but she gives him the key to a storage room -- where he's stunned to find a treasure trove of newer edition books, videotapes, VCRs, even a brand new computer.

Bunk meets with Omar in jail, who reminds him he's still holding prosecutor Ilene Nathan's card, an IOU for the police gun he helped locate awhile back. But Omar's get-out-of-jail free card was for a small felony or two -- not a "taxpayer murder with an eyeball witness." Omar insists he's been set up, that Bunk knows he's never put a gun to anyone who wasn't in the game. Andre runs a package out of his stores, and resents "folk like me." Bunk reminds him about the other murders he likely did, Stringer Bell among them. "This one gets to court, you can tell a jury how wrong it is." Omar reminds him he's not likely to survive that long in jail. "If I knew I'd be sharin' quarters with all these boys, I might not robbed so many of 'em," he confides. "Aw yeah," Bunk says, "that golden rule." Somebody else took down that delivery woman at Andre's store, Omar insists, and now Bunk's letting him walk. "A man must have a code." Bunk is stopped by his own words thrown back at him.

As Namond works the corner, a rival gang hovers on a corner down the block, staring him down and placing a 9mm gun on a tire. They debate messing with him, but decide they just need to let him know they're taking over his turf. Among their runners is Sherrod, who hangs back.

On a bench in an abandoned park, Marlo tells Proposition Joe about the train station raid. He was hoping to flush out who was really after him, but no such luck. Joe tells him to steal the camera. If someone makes a stink about it -- it's local. If not, it's the Feds; they can afford to lose one.

Still searching the streets for Sherrod, Bubbles gets shaken down by Fiend again. "Money or pills, I don't care which," the kid says, roughing him up. A cop pulls up, but instead of going after the violent offender, he warns Bubbles that he can't sell on the street without a license, then takes his DVDs, citing copyright infringement. "You gonna rob me too?" Bubbles says helplessly as the cop drives off.

At the gym, Cutty calls a timeout to talk to the boys, apologizes for "welcoming the attentions" of some of their female relatives. He was in jail for a long time, he explains, but "I didn't mean no disrespect." He doesn't want to get in the way of them learning the sport and bettering themselves.

Bunk takes Omar's case to detectives Holley and Crutchfield, and asks them what they ran on the witness, Old Face Andre. Pissed he's getting up in their business, Crutchfield tells him to f**k off.

Outside Cutty's gym, the rival corner boys pull up to wait, snorting a vial as they pull a gun, and hand it to Sherrod. When Namond exits the gym, they send Sherrod to set him straight: "You need to back off that spot," Sherrod says before shoving him. Namond drops his backpack and shoves back. "The f**k you thinkin'?" he says, loud enough for the gym to hear. The two go at it until Sherrod, wild eyed, pins Namond against a dumpster. Cutty steps out and intervenes, sending the rivals away and Namond back to the gym, where he gives him a warning about messing with someone who's high. Namond plays tough, pissed at Cutty for having to come to his defense. Cutty asks Michael what Namond is wrapped up in. He tells him it's not his business.

In Mayor Royce's office, Carcetti and his team meet with their former rival to talk about the transition, and the two share a few laughs about their worst campaign moments, including the witness story and slumlord photo. "I'm halfway glad to get out," Royce says about his mayoral run, offering up Parker to help Carcetti with whatever he needs in the transition. Wilson is taking over for Theresa D'Agostino, who's off to help the DCCC win back the red states. Carcetti assures them she got her win bonus.

In the surveillance van, Herc and Sydnor notice something's awry on the monitors -- close ups of pigeon wings. They check to see if their camera's been moved -- it's gone.

At a downtown law office, a nervous Pearlman meets with her new boss, newly-elected State Attorney Rupert Bond, and congratulates him on his win over Dempner. When Bond brings up the pre-election subpoenas, she begins to explain, apologetically. He interrupts: he wants to put her in charge of all homicide prosecutions. Ilene Nathan is moving up to second deputy. "I admire your courage, if not your loyalty," he tells her. Pearlman can hardly believe it.

Donnelly visits Prez's classroom to let him know Randy is off the hook with the rape charge -- the girl now says it was consensual, and that Randy wasn't involved. As for the police interest, it's out of her hands. The kids in the class are more settled, but only Michael has diligently completed his homework. In another classroom, Colvin's pilot program kids are acting out again -- Namond tells the teacher to "f**k off," and makes fun of another kid, Darnell, for his drinking problem.

In the courthouse, Greggs, Norris and ASA Ilene Nathan watch as a polygraph examiner wires up Anthony Wardell, the young dealer that the murdered Braddock was going to testify against. The man asks the kid a series of questions, and despite pissing him off ("Are you female?"), the machine shows little change. When it's over, the examiner tells Greggs, Norris and Nathan he can "call it like you want it." "F**k kinda science is that?" snaps Greggs. "I'm here for you, detective," the examiner explains. Norris tells her the polygraph is used as leverage -- to bring them in and mess with them. The kid's lawyer knows the game. He lets Wardell explain that Braddock's mom and his mom are like cousins, and he wouldn't have killed him for flipping -- he was only looking at three and a half years. Greggs looks almost convinced.

Bunk tells Ilene Nathan about the Omar situation, showing her the card she gave him. Omar claims he's being set up on this one, and is worried he'll be killed in prison. Nathan agrees to move him to a protective custody detention center, but her debt has been paid.

At Police Headquarters, Major Daniels presents crime statistics to the department's top brass, pointing out that while murders are down, all other violent crime is up. When Carcetti shows up to observe, they all stand at attention, then let Daniels continue. He outlines a new plan: his officers have spent too many years chasing stats, and not enough of them are sufficiently trained to investigate violent crimes properly. Burrell takes offense, but Daniels presses on as Carcetti takes it in.

Herc pleads with Carver to help him recover his camera -- he's worried Marimow is gonna burn him for losing something worth more than four grand. He's certain Marlo has it, but they combed the Westside looking for every pigeon coop. Carver suddenly remembers debriefing a kid who knew about a murder Marlo's people did. He meant to call Bunk on it -- he had a warrant on the guy who supposedly got killed. If Herc brings his boss a murder, Marimow will probably forgive the camera. Carver calls Bunk but gets Crutchfield, who crumples the message. "F**k the Bunk."

When Herc finally questions Randy, the boy tells him about passing along the message from Little Kevin to Lex, and later being told by Kevin that Chris and Snoop killed Lex. He heard they turn people into zombies for Marlo. "This is bulls**t," Herc says, trying to get Randy to say he saw the murder. Randy insists he didn't. They drop the boy off a block from his house, as he requests, so no one sees him with police, and Herc decides they need to go right at Marlo.

Carcetti decides to do a ridealong with a squad car, just in time to witness a fresh crime scene -- two men shot by police, one body to the hospital, the other on the street. Carcetti watches as Daniels arrives and takes over -- impressed with his command.

Still troubled by the fact no one heard a bullet in the Braddock murder, Greggs heads to the scene by herself, and using crime photos, she reenacts the possible bullet trajectories. Tracing their origins, she winds up deep in an alley, landing on Chlorox bottles set up for target practice near a row house, and a dresser riddled with bullet holes. From one hole, she plucks a .38 caliber slug. Hearing voices inside the nearest row house, she knocks on the back door, gun drawn: "Baltimore Police."

When Asst. Principal Donnelly tells Cutty and his truancy round-up partner she needs kids for their October day, Cutty tells her the work is not for him. He'd be open to something where he'd be working with the kids, he tells her, but this elicits nothing but an exasperated look.

In a time-out room, an angry Namond sits, arms folded, as a social worker takes notes. Colvin tries to talk to him, but the boy lashes out, repeating "f**k you" as fiercely as he can. Colvin lets him know he's not going back with the others until he learns to behave, and he's not going home either -- there's no more suspension for him. He leaves to pay a visit to Parenti in the pilot program classroom, and as another student lashes out, he whispers, "This might be harder than we thought." "Fascinating, though," Parenti responds. "Clinically speaking, I mean."

Prez's kids are tame by comparison, playing dice with monopoly money. Dukie is working at the new computer, smiling even, as Randy catches up on what he missed. When Grace Sampson appears in the doorway to observe the games, Prez explains: "You trick 'em into thinking they aren't learning, and they do."

Bubbles finally finds Sherrod on his corner, scratching his skin and wiping his nose, eyelids heavy from the drugs wearing off. "Been lookin' all over for you," Bubbles tells him, before trying to apologize. He warns him that the corner is going to run him down fast, and urges Sherrod to come home as soon as he gets paid: "I'll see you in a few."

Greggs brings her find back to Norris: the .38 slug that matches the one found in the autopsy. "You veteran crime fighters got a name for this here, right? Murder weapon or some s**t like that?" She tells him where she found it. "Our guy's dead from a stray?" he says, incredulous. "And this f**k Carcetti gets to be the mayor behind the stupidity. I f**king love this town."

Opening the door to his squatter's lair, Bubbles calls out hopefully for Sherrod. He looks around at the emptiness, then collapses on his own bedroll, realizing his surrogate son's not coming home.

godtabh

SO4E08

"We got our thing, but it's just part of the big thing." -Zenobia

Summary

Directed by: Agnieszka Holland
Story by: Ed Burns & Richard Price
Teleplay by: Richard Price

Coming off his seeming breakthrough teaching gambling probabilities, Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski is once again attempting a word problem in his math class at Tilghman Middle School, as the class largely ignores him. One boy, Taye, is telling Randy Wagstaff a joke, so Prez puts him on the spot for the answer. Taye illustrates his test smarts by calling out the correct response, then offers to demonstrate how he knew as he strides to the blackboard. "Easy...five got the dinks," pointing out how Prez left multiple "dinks" of his chalk beside the right answer when he did the problem for the earlier class. Prez is dumbfounded as Taye returns to his seat, triumphant.

Sgt. Jay Landsman briefs his Homicide Unit shift that Mayor-nominee Thomas "Tommy" Carcetti will be "fact-finding" in the department. He also gives an impromptu eulogy for C.I.D. commander Raymond Foerster, who has lost his bout with cancer: "The man served 39 years, obtaining the rank of colonel without leaving a trail of bitterness or betrayal. In this department, that's not a career - it's a miracle." Later, when detectives Shakima "Kima" Greggs and Michael Crutchfield observe Carcetti pouring himself the last of the coffee, Greggs - still smarting at having her rookie status mocked in the mayoral debate -- takes it upon herself to reprimand him. "F**k that, you finish a pot, you make the next one." Carcetti sheepishly obliges.

As Dets. Thomas "Herc" Hauk and his boon companion Dozerman peruse an electronics catalogue, contemplating the high costs of most surveillance cameras, Lt. Charlie Marimow - the Major Crimes Unit commander -- confronts Herc for the bad train station roust of Marlo Stanfield and the innocent woman, who's now filing a harassment claim. Herc defends himself, saying the information was from a reliable informant. Marimow wants a name and when Herc balks, Marimow insists. "Fuzzy Dunlop' Herc blurts, assuring Marimow that the guy's never been off. Marimow isn't pleased with Herc involving another agency and bringing discredit to his unit through the complaint, and threatens to bury him with his own report if anything comes of the gaffe. Marimow wonders if the newly-minted sergeant followed the election results: "Your rabbi has left the building."

In Howard "Bunny' Colvin and Professor David Parenti's project class, the students have settled down, finally realizing their tantrums won't get them suspended. The teacher asks if they feel like winners, since the word around school is that they've beat the system by having themselves removed from regular classes. Namond Brice responds they're "players." "Kingpins?' she asks. They tell her that's two or three years away; now, they're corner boys. She asks their dreams -where do they see themselves in 10 years? Several give the rote answer of the NBA; one says pediatric neurosurgeon, like that guy at Hopkins - a reference to noted African-American surgeon Ben Carson, whose name resounds throughout the city school system. When she asks how many wrote "dead," Namond and three others raise their hands. Namond laughs, caught in another inner-city cliché: "You saw that coming, huh?" She chastises him for reading a magazine and he denies it's his, claiming someone left it in front of him. Colvin busts out laughing, suddenly seeing things clearly: The school's the system and the teachers are the cops, the corner boys just use school to practice getting over. He asks the kids to help them understand how they can teach them something useful, then gets them talking about what makes a good corner boy. Suddenly, the group comes alive with opinions: This is the world, after all, that they are learning for.

Staring up at the The Board at the homicide unit, Det. William "Bunk" Moreland points to the name of the dead delivery woman at Andre's store, trying to talk fellow detectives Crutchfield and Vernon Holley into revisiting Omar Little as the killer -- or at least revisiting the crime scene. When Carcetti approaches, trying to make small talk about the number of names on the board, Bunk steers the detectives off to an interrogation room to talk privately. Crutchfield angrily argues that even if Omar didn't do this one, his name pops up on lots of other cases, that an eyeball witness has identified Omar as the shooter - and further, that Bunk is out of line interposing in their casework. But once his partner's out of the room, Holley is pressed by Bunk to at least take another look.

Meanwhile, Carcetti continues to put a damper on the day's activities, despite assurances that he's "not the hall monitor or anything." When he urges the detectives to do what they normally do, Greggs snipes: "I wouldn't know what we normally do around her. I'm new and inexperienced." This prompts Carcetti to realize she's the rookie who was assigned to the Braddock case and who he mocked in the debate. He swallos that and tells them to do as they normally would. So Greggs reclines, Lester Freamon goes back to working his dollhouse miniatures, and Landsman flips open his skin magazine. "This is your day?" asks Carcetti. "When we catch a body, it's different," explains Freamon.

Herc and Dozerman pull over Marlo Stanfield, asking for the camera back. Marlo asks for Herc's card and peers at it: "City, huh?" Herc makes him an offer: "You do me one, I'll do you." Marlo says he'll keep an ear out for the camera, but you know how camera's are, like pigeons in the wind - a twist of knife knowing that Herc was probably staring at images of pigeons for a time after the camera disappeared and was dumped in a coop. Marlo drives off, leaving Herc to contemplate the moment. Dozerman then tries to convince Herc to come clean with Marimow about the camera, but Herc refuses. If he tells the truth now, he'll lose his stripes.

Walking home from school, Michael Lee quizzes Randy on how he got off so easy on the rape charge at school. The girl dropped it, Randy tells him, as Michael advises him that things go away if you keep your mouth shut. Randy complains Miss Anna has him on a short leash now. '****, at least you got a leash," Michael laments.

At Kavanaugh's, Colonel Foerster's detectives wake is in full swing, pints poured as a packed crowd of police, prosecutors and law enforcement officials belts out the choruses of The Pogue's "Body of An American" while Foerster lays in repose on the pool table nearby. Already drunk, Bunk bolts outside to puke in the gutter, then nods acknowledgment to the waiting funeral home attendants. When he comes back, he finds McNulty drinking a club soda and lime. Bunk is disappointed that McNulty will not join him in his excesses.

In a homegoing of a different kind, late at night in East Baltimore, Chris and Snoop lay out some more New York boys in another row house mausoleum - chasing the out-of-towners off the Monument Street corners as Marlo agreed to do for Proposition Joe Stewart and the New Day Co-op. Snoop says a few words about the departed having wandered too far south.

In Prez's class the following day, he tries to enforce quiet during a quiz, but one of the girls blows up and storms out and Prez begins to sense that whatever advances he makes by teaching lessons informally don't necessarily translate to the regular curriculum. Meanwhile, Chris and Snoop lead some young soldiers through their own schooling on shooting -- when to take a head shot, and when to aim for the belly and below the belt to get around the vest. In these lessons for the world they know as real, the children of West Baltimore are adept, competent and confident.

At Prop Joe's second-hand appliance store, Marlo hands over Herc's card to Proposition Joe and Slim Charles. Proposition promises to check him out but in return, they ask Marlo to consider not losing the New York bodies in the vacants -- it defeats the purpose of sending a message if they just disappear. A little bit amused, Marlo tells them he'll get word to his people.

Suited up in a Kevlar vest, Carcetti spends his next day with the drug enforcement squads in the Eastern District, observing low-level buy-and-busts and other street-level arrests - up to and including an occasional entrapment or two.

In the project class, Colvin quizzes the kids about corner logic. They talk over each other, excited to explain and debate something they know about. When Colvin tries to quiet the din of voices, asking for one at a time, Namond tells Darnell to speak for them. Colvin and the teachers are impressed with the newfound focus and self-regulation.

Bunk and Holley visit Old Face Andre's store to review how the robbery-murder went down. As Andre warily recounts his story, once again implicating Omar, Bunk takes in the empty shelves, the steel reinforced rear door, the heavy-duty bullet proof glass cage, the fact that there is a high-end security camera at the store entrance pointed on the street outside, but the security camera inside the store is broken and defunct - a definite drug front. Andre tells his story and the Bunk finds the holes. He asks Andre to come downtown and clear a few things up and Andre refuses. After buying a bottle of Mylanta for his hangover, Bunk reiterates to an already converted Holley the holes in Andre's story.

After school, Namond brags about his new class to an incredulous Michael and Randy - it's like the kids are schooling the teachers, talking about "bidness." Namond blows off going to the gym with Michael; he has to vial up the rest of his package so he can sell it off and re-up.

Proposition Joe calls the police department from a payphone to track down Herc, entertaining himself by using fake voices and names as he follows the trail with increasing surprise: from narcotics to the Mayor's office, and then to Major Crimes, where he's told Sgt. Hauk is on the street.

Chris Partlow comes up with a way to suss out the New York boys on the street - ask them a Baltimore question about local Baltimore club music. "They don't know s**t 'bout that in New York," he explains. Turns out Felicia "Snoop" Pearson isn't much of a music person; she doesn't follow that "Ninety-Two-Q s**t" either, but she's willing to give it a try. She asks a corner kid who his favorite is on the local hip-hop station's Big Phat Morning show. When he says a name Chris hadn't mentioned, she puts a gun to his head. But Chris waves her back at the point of killing the man. The deejay mentioned is also on the show.

Carcetti complains to Deputy Commissioner for Operations William A. Rawls and Carcetti aide Norman Wilson about what he saw on his ride-along - entrapment for twenty dollars worth of drugs, and lots of manpower for a haul of three vials of coke. Rawls agrees, but says his hands are tied. He blames affirmative action, explaining it's a numbers game - a 20-percent hike in black officers to match the city's demographic which, due to affirmative action, has to be matched up the chain. Inexperienced people get promoted and are put in charge, he tells him. "And he who owes his good fortune to the numbers? Abides in them." To show arrests are up, they have to make arrests - even those of a lesser quality. Implicitly, he is criticizing Burrell. Those are the orders currently, Rawls explains, but he suggests he'd be interested in having the opportunity to change things.

Walking in on Namond thinning out his remaining vials, stretching them for additional sales, De'Londa Brice lets him have it for bringing his work home. His father never brought it home; it's too dangerous if the cops come. "That's what you have a lieutenant for," she chastises him.

After their meeting, Carcetti and Wilson tells Carcetti remark on Rawls' naked appeal to racial solidarity and willingness to use affirmative action as a scapegoat for the department's problems. Carcetti asks about Major Daniels, but Wilson doesn't know much, only that Daniels is black and doesn't have any obvious political sponsors.

Michael comes home to find empty kitchen cupboards -- his mother has sold off their food. When she tells him she has to go out, he only gives her $10 to score. She tries to hold the "D.S.S. card" over his head, threatening to take it back, but he isn't swayed: "Next time, don't go selling the food outta our mouths," he shouts as she departs.

Back in the project class the following day, Namond is holding forth arrogantly, rationalizing the drug trade by noting societal disconnects. They are told not to hustle, lie, cheat, steal, he declares. But they're just doing the same thing as the government - "Amron," steroids, booze and cigarettes, the real killers. It's hypocritical, Namond insists, and Colvin doesn't argue back. An argument is not the point. The fact that these adolescents are now fully involved in discussing their life, their society and their place in it - this is what matters to Colvin, Parenti and the class teacher. Colvin asks them to sit down and write the laws to being a corner boy, challenging them to do it together, as a group.

In the teacher's lounge, Prez vents about having to stick to the dry, No-Child-Left-Behind, test-based curriculum -- the kids aren't learning it. The teachers insist he has to; if their students don't pass the test in April, the school gets taken over by the state. "Maybe they should," he replies. The teachers tell him to teach the test, not math: "North Avenue is all about the 'leave no child behind' stuff getting spoon-fed." Grace suggests a middle ground: some of the state stuff, and some of his own methods. An older teacher finally speaks up: "The first year isn't about the kids, it's about you surviving." Prez takes it all in and wonders how to proceed.

Herc, Dozerman and Western District D.E.U. plainclothesmen Tony Colicchio and "Truck" Carrick bust in on Marlo and his guys, who are just hanging out in Marlo's open-air lair. They toss the area as Marlo and his crew remain unfazed. "Every day," Herc warns, until his camera comes home.

Pearlman enters Daniels' office in the Western District at the tail end of a phone call from Carcetti, who wants to meet Daniels to have a conversation about what works and what doesn't in the police department. "You have the Mayor's ear now?" she says, proudly. He wonders how honest he should be. He doesn't know the incoming mayor at all. What if Daniels criticizes Burrell and Rawls and then is hung out to dry? Pearlman acknowledges the risk, but urges him to fire away, both barrels.

At night on the street, Chris and Snoop use their Baltimore music litmus test to I.D. a transplant from New York City. They shoot him in the head, leaving him where he falls.

Michael comes home to find an excited Bug: his dad came home. He glares at his mother, then turns away in disgust as his younger brother's father brushes his face. "Damn, You grew," his stepfather tells him. Later, Michael confronts his mother -- she promised he'd never come back. He was paroled early from his 12 years on a drug charge, she tells him, and he's changed. She tells Michael to give up the D.S.S. card. "He gonna take care of all that for us."

Bunk and Holley show up at Old Face Andre's store with a summons for the Grand Jury.

Carcetti and Wilson meet with an emissary from the national Democratic Party and more transition team members. They discuss the future. It's acknowledged that they need to quickly produce something they can herald as a "Baltimore Miracle." The D.N.C. official suggests a double-digit percent drop in crime and a downtown building project - something tangible that Carcetti can put his name to. When education is brought up, Wilson is adamant they stay away from the schools: "Our last four administrations left us with an inner city system with inner city problems. We get involved, start talking s**t, It becomes our mess." Still, Carcetti is told, if he gets the crime down builds something nice, and keeps his boyish good looks, he may be running for governor in '08, taking back the statehouse from the Republican incumbent.

Prez tries to talk to a brooding Michael in class. When the boy won't open up, Prez offers to send him to see a school social worker and Michael pauses, thinking, but ultimately decides against it.

Colvin, Parenti and the project class teacher debate whether the kids' focus can be brought to bear on regular learning. The teacher points out they're not just dealing with corner issues, but problems like post-traumatic stress disorder, clinical depression, maybe even borderline psychosis in one case. These kids have suffered a lot of damage in life. They decide to let things play out for now, before forcing any other learning.

Namond applies some of the corner boy rules he and his classmates have been articulating to Kenard, the youngest kid in the Fayette Street crew. In the basement of Kenard's rowhouse, he hands over his remaining vials for his new lieutenant to store. Being under 13, Kenard is safe from a serious charge – safe from anyone but Namond or Marlo should he mess up, Namond says, falsely claiming Marlo as his patron. "All's I get is a extra ten dollars?" asks Kenard. Namond promises they can talk about that if Kenard performs well.

Bunk and Holley wait with Old Face Andre before his grand jury testimony, warning him about the time he can get for a perjury charge. Andre claims he was put on medication that made him groggy, and worked over by Holley when he was first interrogated - he didn't know what he was saying. As Andre shuffles off to the washroom - a witness who has now thoroughly impeached himself -- Holley angrily denounces Andre as a liar. Bunk dryly feigns surprise: "You think?"

Chris and Snoop are pulled over by Herc and Dozerman. They search the car, failing to discover the dashboard trap that holds their weapons, spotting only some lyme and the nail gun in the back of the truck. No weapon, no drugs. Nothing that they can use for a criminal charge. With the gangsters seated on a curb, Herc fires a nail from the gun into the asphalt near Snoop's leg. "I want my f**king camera," he threatens, before tossing the gun back and leaving them.

Daniels and Carcetti meet over lunch and Daniels, upon hearing about Carcetti's day with the Eastern drug squads, guesses Carcetti found the street -level busts a waste of time, money, energy and, sometimes, talent. Carcetti reveals that Rawls claims he'll change all that if he's in command. Daniels shows his surprise for a moment, but refuses to "go up the chain" with his opinions, but does tell the mayor-to be that there was one unit doing good work: Major Crimes. Carcetti asks what happened to that unit, and Daniels replies: "A good question." Carcetti asks if he'd object to replacing Foerster as C.I.D. commander under Rawls. When Daniels questions the "under Rawls" part of the formula, Carcetti affirms that he is not ready to do away with the current No. 2 in the department: "He is the Deputy Ops, is he not?" Daniels considers him, "How for real are you?" Carcetti tells the new Colonel they'll find that out together.

Dozerman tries to talk Herc into the two of them and Det. Leandor Sydnor kicking in for another camera, but Herc notes that a new camera would not have the same serial number as the one they lost. Desperate, Herc remembers that Randy told them a kid named Little Kevin was the one who told him to tell Lex to go up the alley, and then later told him that Lex had been killed. Maybe Little Kevin saw something.

De'Londa counts Namond's profits, and it comes up short in her opinion. When she finds out that Namond has been slinging on a weak strip, she storms out to set Bodie straight, over her son's embarrassed objections.

Police Commissioner Ervin I. Burrell comes to Rawls, unhappy with how Carcetti's running around, talking to people out of school within the department. He suggests to Rawls that they need to regroup. Rawls interrupts him to say that he's talked to Carcetti already. Burrell gets the picture: "You're making your move." Rawls cannot deny it.

Michael shows up to retrieve Bug at the after school rec-center, but is told by Miss Ella Thompson, the rec center director, that Bug went home with his father. Michael bolts in a panic.

Landsman is handed a report by Holley as Bunk looks on. He yells at them both for unsolving a murder.

Michael runs home to find Bug doing math homework with his father, and orders the boy to come to him right away. Bug obliges, confused, and Michael eyes his stepfather with rage.

Snoop and Chris toss their guns into the harbor below the Hanover Street Bridge. To be safe, as an afterthought to Herc's car stop, Chris tosses the nail gun into the water too. Snoop can barely watch. Telling Chris that he owes her eight hundred for the tool.

godtabh

S04E09

"Might as well dump 'em, get another." - Proposition Joe

Summary

Directed by: Alex Zakrzewski
Story by: Ed Burns & Kia Corthron
Teleplay by: Kia Corthron

On his corner, Bodie Broadus listens to Little Kevin talking with other lookouts, touts and runners about Sponge Bob, and chides them for watching too many cartoons. But Bodie breaks into a smile when he sees Poot approaching, having been paroled after 15 months on his four-year sentence. Bodie updates him on the new boss, Marlo Stanfield. As they joke about Poot's penchant for chasing girls, Sgt. Thomas R. "Herc" Hauk and Det. Kenneth Dozerman pull up, forcing the crew to hit the bricks. Herc's looking for "Little Kevin," but no one gives him up, so he orders the four smallest guys into the car and takes them downtown. Kevin, Poot and Bodie remain. "These police out here knew how to flip it even just a little, my s**t'd be in handcuffs," says not-so-little Kevin.

Det. William "Bunk" Moreland greets Omar, who - with the murder of the delivery woman no longer charged to him - is released from custody in the Harford County Detention Center, north of Baltimore. But as Omar tries to figure who did do the murder, Bunk gets in his face, ordering him, "No more f**kin bodies from you. No comebacks or get-evens on this. No more killing." Omar gives his word, but when Bunk suggests he get out of the city, offering to put him on a northbound Amtrak, Omar won't go for it. "Baltimore all I know. Man gotta live what he know."

Mayor-Elect Thomas "Tommy" Carcetti heads a discussion with City Council President Nerese Campbell, his aide Norman Wilson, newly elected State's Attorney Rupert Bond and other city officials about his plans, and it quickly becomes clear that his goal of attacking crime with a new police commissioner will face some major hurdles from the budget process - and council president Campbell.

When the students arrive for class, Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski has rearranged the desks into small groups and placed the kids in new seats; they grumble but acquiesce.

Proposition Joe Stewart pulls up to Marlo and Chris Partlow's car to report that Herc (whose business card Marlo provided) is assigned to Major Crimes - the guys responsible for bugging Barksdale and Stringer Bell. When Marlo says he changes his phone every two weeks, Prop Joe hands over a wire tap report that named Stringer, who was changing his phones every day. Marlo nods and Chris immediately tosses a cellphone out the SUV window.

In class, Prez has the students doing practical math exercises: measuring height and arm span to learn fractions, and Duquan "Dukie" Weems shows kids how to search the Internet. Typing in "candy," Randy Wagstaff discovers he can get a better wholesale price on his products online, but Dukie points out the obstacle: the need for a credit card.

Carcetti's meetings continue with a presentation from the Baltimore Development Corp. President on waterfront development options. Tommy is lukewarm about the idea of a promenade with his name on it, but lights up at the idea of casinos and all the possible revenue that might result. He quickly backpeddles when Campbell objects to "sucking paychecks out of my community." Tommy adjourns the meeting to meet in private with Campbell to press her on her opposition. She accuses him and Councilman Anthony "Tony" Gray of having "jumped the line" - she had a deal with Mayor Royce that he'd back her for mayor when the time came. He urges her to work with him; after all, in '08 he may be governor and as council president, she'd end up appointed to the mayoralty "without so much as a campaign speech."

Bubbles has tracked down Det. Shakima "Kima" Greggs for some help busting the fiend who's continuing to beat him up for drugs and money. She tells him she's homicide now, not looking for drug information, but she grudgingly agrees to drive Bubbles around to try to find his nemesis.

Carcetti, Wilson and State Del. Odell Watkins review their options for getting rid of Police Commissioner Ervin H. Burrell in light of Campbell's opposition, since they won't be able to recruit a top-level black candidate to replace him without her agreeing to at least a $50,000 bump in the commissioner's salary. Wilson suggests they get Burrell to quit; if he leaves on his own, Campbell can't say anything.

Randy and Dukie try to talk Prez into using his credit card number to buy candy. He reluctantly agrees, but only if they give him cash up front. More important, he tells them he doesn't want them on the corner to get it. When a teacher realizes her car's been stolen, Prez shoots the boys a look; they shrug ignorance.

Meanwhile, Donut pulls up to Namond Brice's corner in a car with a Tilghman faculty bumper sticker. Bodie and Poot, who have their own corner adjacent, are instructing Namond on where to place his lookouts. Before handing over the package, Bodie warns Namond not to be sending his mother to speak for him. Embarrassed, Namond tries to explain he had nothing to do with that.

At Marlo's outdoor lair, Chris reports there's been no sign of Old Face Andre - his store's locked and he hasn't called for a re-up. Marlo worries that Omar may have been sprung, which means Andre could be backing up on his story to the police - and possibly implicating Chris in the murder of the delivery woman. Chris reports they've dropped five New York bodies; Marlo thinks that's enough to serve the Co-op's interest in driving the out-of-towners off Monument Street, and so, he gives him his marching orders: "This s**t with Andre? Job one."

Having no luck in their search for the fiend, Greggs promises Bubbles she'll hook him up with Herc or Det. Leander Sydnor at Major Crimes and get him working their drug stuff in exchange for their help.

Renaldo and Omar stake out Andre's gated store. He may have promised Bunk not to kill a man, but Omar says he can still put a gun in Andre's face. "That man got some explainin' to do."

Randy, accompanied by Dukie, buys his way into a dice game. He leaves later that night with a wad of cash, protected by a player who let him in, and then followed him on his every pass and made money, and who wants to know the boy's system. Randy explains it's all about the math and probabilities. "Where you learn your game?" asks the player. "Edward Tilghman Middle," says Randy, with no small amount of pride.

Herc and Dozerman get reacquainted with Bubbles, and ask him about Little Kevin, who Bubbles confirms is Bodie's boy. Bubbles offers to give Kevin a new hat the next afternoon so they can ID their suspect, and Herc promises they'll take care of the fiend oppressing Bubbles as soon as they have Kevin.

Bug shows his brother Michael Lee his baking soda volcano project, but when Bug's father hovers, Michael sends Bug up to bed. "Ain't got a forgiveness to your soul," the man says to Michael. "F**k you!" Michael fires back. His stepfather gives him a warning, "You're big, but not big enough," before pressing him for the D.S.S. account card. Michael tells him there's nothing left from this month's check. "Before the first of the month then," his stepfather says.

Greggs shows up at ex-girlfriend Cheryl's apartment and hands over an envelope of cash. With her homicide overtime, she can catch up on back monthly payments for Elijah. As she watches the boy playing in the living room, they're interrupted by a guest, a woman who announces she's "home." Cheryl's new partner apologizes for the mess, and Cheryl explains they're expecting company, a celebration for her new roommate having passing the bar. Kima excuses herself, making an awkward exit.

Chris and Snoop bust into Andre's woman's bedroom, and fire a shot right beside her head. Terrified, she swears she doesn't know where Andre is. They believe her.

Presenting a wad of cash to Prez to pay for his candy order, Randy reports that the teacher's schoolings earned him the money. "You shouldn't gamble," Prez says. "I’m just saying, the math be right, Mr. P," he says proudly, ignoring the admonishment.

Crammed into a deli booth, Carcetti meets with Burrell to ask the police commissioner to resign. But Burrell shrewdly refuses: "If you want me to go, you gonna have to s**tcan me."

In the project class, the kids are instructed to pick one of three tables, each with a scale model erector set. Whichever team puts its model together first wins dinner at a downtown restaurant of their choice. The instructions have been removed to make it more interesting. "Yeah, it ain't like we follow the instructions anywhere else, right?" quips Namond.

Old Face Andre looks for help from Proposition Joe, hoping that in exchange for the deed to his store, Joe could front him some cash to get out of town. Out of options, Andre is forced to accept the low ball offer: $2,000 and a safe ride north.

In the project class, Howard "Bunny" Colvin and the team observe the groups arguing over how to assemble their projects. But Namond manages to lead his team to a fairly successful Eiffel Tower - pocketing just a few extra parts before presenting the finished product to the teacher. When she questions him on the extra parts, he denies their existence. "So who cook a good steak 'round here?" he asks.

Carcetti and Wilson meet with Deputy Commissioner for Operations William A. Rawls to lay out how things will work once Carcetti takes office. Having refused to quit, Burrell will have to clear any new initiative through Rawls and all day-to-day administration goes through the Deputy Ops as well. Tommy confides he has to make Maj. Stanislaus Valchek the Deputy Commissioner of Administration as a political pay back, but asks him to make sure Valchek does no harm. And finally, he wants to bump Maj. Cedric Daniels up to colonel, giving him C.I.D. and "carte blanche to fix the investigative units." Rawls balks a bit at Daniels' "independent streak" but agrees to all points. He does have one question for Carcetti and Wilson: Why keep Burrell as a puppet commissioner instead of firing him? They offer no answer.

Michael uses his mother's D.S.S. to make an ATM withdrawal - securing the last of this month's money - before joining Randy and Dukie. He asks Randy whether he's ever called social services on his mother, because he's thinking about it. Randy advises him against it, warning that once social services gets involved, they'll separate Michael and Bug, put them in group homes. Dukie suggests he talk to Prezbo, and Michael admits the teacher did suggest the school social worker. But Randy rules him out, declaring the school social worker to be an alcoholic. Dukie asks about Cutty but this sets Michael off : "He's too friendly...like he some type of **** or something...Everybody just too motherf**kin friendly!" Dukie and Randy are surprised; Cutty doesn't seem to be remotely gay. But Michael storms off, leaving Dukie and Randy confused.

Herc and Dozerman watch a heavyset Little Kevin sporting his new red hat and realize they didn't get the joke about his nickname. "They flipped it," Herc says, belatedly.

At a Tilghman Middle School staff meeting, Donnelly informs the teachers they all have to focus on teaching language arts test questions to prepare for the state exam. Prez can't believe the pointlessness of teaching test questions, and wonders how it will ever assess how much the kids are learning. Grace explains they're not really assessing the kids - if the scores go up, the school administration can say the schools are improving. Prez realizes he's been here before; they're "juking" stats, just like in the police department. "Making robberies into larcenies. Making rapes disappear. You juke the stats and majors become colonels."

Sgt. Ellis Carver and plainclothes Off. Anthony Colicchio make a move on Namond's corner. As the boys scatter, they grab little Kenard. But Carver won't give chase to the others or book the eight-year-old. "He isn't even bait," he says as he destroys the vials of drugs found in a nearby ground stash. Colicchio doesn't get the point of it all. "I like to think that until the handcuffs actually fit, there's still talking to be done," Carver explains.

Colvin takes Namond's winning team for their steak dinner to Ruth's Chris in Baltimore's Inner Harbor - Zenobia Dawson, with her 3-hour hairdo, Darnell Tyson and Namond. They arrive open to the idea of a new experience, then proceed to argue about what "rare" means when it comes to ordering steak.

A jittery Bubbles stakes out his persecutor and makes his payphone call to Herc, leaving a message that he's holding fiend for the five minutes Herc promised it would take him to get to Riggs and Calhoun. Meanwhile, Herc is questioning Little Kevin about the murder of Lex, and when Dozerman gives him Bubbles' message, Herc says he'll deal with it tomorrow. Sydnor leaves the interrogation, disgusted - they have no leverage, no body, just the name Lex. Herc makes the mistake of asserting to Kevin that they have a witness to his involvement, and when Kevin invokes Randy's name, Herc compounds the mistake by failing to feign curiosity about the name. Meanwhile, Bubbles, seeing an unmarked car with a flashing light, assumes the cavalry has arrived, and taunts the fiend, only to have the car race past to some other call. The fiend beats him with a metal pipe, leaving Bubbles bloody in the street.

At the fancy steak house, Darnell , Zenobia and Namond are out of their element, having never experienced coat checks, recited specials or what to do with their napkins. After dinner, they're demoralized. Zenobia doesn't want to take a photo of the restaurant anymore, Darnell wants to go to Mickey D's for a real meal and Namond blasts hip-hop on the radio, no longer interested in the Billie Holiday that was on Colvin's car radio earlier. Colvin drives off, the kids arguing. Chaos again.

On the eve of his promotion, Daniels enjoys leftovers and wine at ASA Rhonda Pearlman's house, as they toast their good fortune. "Funny how it works," Daniels says. After all the years he tried to climb the ladder "kissing ass, covering ass and doing what I'm told," he finally gets the big promotion when he says what he really thinks, while the subpoenas end up getting her promoted. "Maybe we're turning a corner here," Daniels adds, hopeful, "and it's not gonna be so unbelievably f**ked up anymore."

Prez leads his now-indifferent class through sample test questions. All enjoyment from learning - and teaching - effectively squashed, he spoon feeds them the verbatims of what they need to write on their No Child Left Behind mandated tests.

Marlo and Chris hand over payment for a package to Proposition Joe and Slim Charles, but Proposition notes they are $25,000 short. Marlo figures the New York bodies are $5,000 per head, the going rate for a professional hit, but Proposition reminds him that the spirit of the co-op means they all watch out for each other, and the price he gave included consideration for the N.Y. bodies. "On the other hand," Slim Charles points out, "we got something that you want an' it's coming back to you, free of charge."

"It's a proud day for the Baltimore Police Department," Commissioner Burrell says from the podium before a seated crowd of colleagues and family, including a proud Pearlman, as he announces the promotions of Valchek and Daniels and several other newly minted police supervisors. The Commissioner pulls Rawls aside after, not realizing his Deputy Ops was prepped on Carcetti's promotions: "Valchek we coulda guessed, but Daniels?"

Colvin reports to Professor David Parenti about what the restaurant trip revealed, describing how the outing plummeting the kids from masters of the universe into fear and humiliation, without any awareness on their part. Parenti suggests maybe they were aware, but didn't want to acknowledge it. "How do you get them to believe in themselves when they can't admit their feelings about who they are and what they're doing in this world?" asks Colvin.

Prez, frustrated with the student evaluations and sample tests, comes to a decision. "To hell with Donnelly and to hell with their statewide test scores," he says to Grace Sampson. "I came here to teach, right?" Grace looks at him, offering the trace of a smile.

Carver shows up at the gym to do some talking. He gives Namond, Kenard and Donut a warning: "I see you out there a second time and everyone takes a beating and goes to Cheltenham." Dennis "Cutty" Wise fills Carver in on Namond's lineage, surprising Carver, who years ago locked up his father, Wee-Bey. "Same blood, but not the same heart," says Cutty.

Thinking he's headed north, Old Face Andre is introduced to his real escorts: Chris and Snoop. He begs them not to do him in the vacants; his people won't know. But Chris just assures him, "I got your back," as they lead him off to his death.

Staking out Marlo's lair from a nearby row house, Renaldo and Omar identify Marlo for the first time, and realize he's the dealer they robbed at the players' poker game. "No wonder he don't like me," says Omar, amused.

Michael comes to Marlo looking for Chris: :"I got a problem I can't bring to no one else." Marlo and Snoop sit and listen to Michael's dilemma as Omar watches, dismissing Michael as no one he need be concerned with: "He's just a kid," he sighs.

godtabh

S04E10

"The world goin' one way, people another." - Poot

Summary

Directed by: Ernest Dickerson
Story by: Ed Burns & Eric Overmyer
Teleplay by: Eric Overmyer

With bass booming and eyes barely clearing the wheel, Donut drives another stolen SUV right past Officer Eddie Walker, giving the cop a double take. Within seconds, he's got the siren and lights on him, as the boy guns it around a corner and careens into several parked cars. Donut makes a run for it, sending Walker after him. But as the kid turns a corner, he finds his boys and trades his retro jacket for a sweatshirt and ballcap, throwing his pursuer off the trail - briefly. Walker eventually catches up to the boy, even more enraged and determined. "You know what kinda f**king paperwork I got now?" he says, breaking a few of the boys fingers, insisting it's time for Donut to feel his pain.

Police Commissioner Ervin Burrell vents to state Sen. R. Clayton "Clay" Davis about the box into which he's been forced, required under the new administration to run everything through his deputy. He even heard Mayor-Elect Thomas "Tommy" Carcetti put out feelers to a black deputy chief in Pittsburgh, promising him "pie in the sky." Davis tells him he just needs to give the Mayor-elect a little something to see him in a new light, "some kinda police s**t...something that looks good to Carcetti." Burrell is without ideas, but Davis promises to lobby the new mayor on behalf of his old ally.

At Tilghman Middle School, Grace Sampson explains to Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski why the heat in the classrooms is suddenly being set so high - it's intentional. With statewide exams coming up, the only way to get the kids to sit through the 90-minute prep classes is to make them drowsy. "From now 'til they're done, everything's about the tests," Sampson tells him.

Covering their corner, Poot assures Preston "Bodie" Broadus that the winter won't be too cold this year - global warming. Then why are we cold right now, asks Bodie. "We're getting older," Poot explains to his friend's amusement. When Little Kevin shows, looking sheepish after missing time on the job, Bodie presses him on why the police picked him up. Some murder, he tells him, but "I didn't say s**t to them bitches," he assures. "I ain't the one you need to convince," Bodie tells him, implying that being out of pocket for a few days after the "po-po" come looking will surely get back to Marlo Stanfield. Bodie and Poot agree that Kevin should tell the boss of the police encounter before anyone starts to suspect Kevin's got something to hide.

As the corner kids in the experimental class role-play behavioral skills at a restaurant, Assistant Principal Marcia Donnelly sticks her head in to summon Howard "Bunny" Colvin and Professor David Parenti. She's getting heat to push every class to prep for the tests, no exceptions, with 90 minute blocks of math and language. Parenti protests: they can't sit 30 minutes. And Colvin thought they were the exception - the whole point of the project. He asks if they can talk to anyone. In fact, he's told, the Area Superintendent wants to meet with them.

Renaldo, keeping surveillance on Marlo and his crew, asks Omar Little whether he knew the kingpin when they robbed his card game. "Boy was just barely a name to me," Omar responds, implying that while he knew Marlo was an up-and-coming westside dealer with a fierce rep, he had not yet laid eyes on the young man. Renaldo wants to know if he would've still gone through with it - knowing who they were dealing with. "Woulda enjoyed it that much more." Omar tells him.

Sgt. Thomas R. "Herc" Hauk brings a peace offering - chicken wings from Tyrone's up on North Avenue - to an angry Bubbles, who is all banged up from the beating he took from his oppressor, the dope fiend who has been shaking him down almost daily. Herc tells him how bad he feels, expressing surprise when Bubbles tells him that he drove right by the beating. Knowing he never even left the office, Herc explains dismissively that they had a "communication problem." He then buys his informant a disposable cell phone, telling him to call direct next time he's in trouble. He just needs him to get word out about a missing police camera, and a $500 bounty for its return. "Five hunnert for a camera and a chicken box for Bubs, huh?" Herc offers him a $100 cut, but Bubbles reminds him it's not about the money for him - the fiend is terrorizing him and messing with his livelihood.

Little Kevin pays his pre-emptive visit to Marlo, explaining what the police wanted and pinning the blame on Randy Wagstaff for talking to them. "Who the f**k is Randy?" Marlo asks. Kevin explains he was the young messenger he chose to "put some distance 'tween me an' Lex." Marlo asks if he told the boy what happened to Lex. "No, swear," Kevin says and waits. As he starts to leave, two henchmen escort him, then shove him into the back of an SUV. He stares at Marlo pleadingly. Chris Partlow asks if they should target Randy next. "He can't hurt us," Marlo explains, and it's true: the most the boy could have in the way of information is heresay. But, he adds, put the word out that he's a snitch.

As Omar watches them all from his row house hideout, he's surprised to see a former Barksdale lieutenant, Slim Charles, arrive to witness the abduction of Little Kevin and discuss the coming re-up with Marlo. "Don't add up," he tells Renaldo. "Interesting though."

Donut returns to the corner to display his finger splints. As Namond Brice talks about f**king up the evil Officer Walker, two police cars pull up and the kids scatter, but not before Sgt. Ellis Carver corners Namond. "Gave you fair warning, didn't I?" he says, as his sidekick, Off. Bobby Brown, finds the boy's dropped stash of drugs. Carver snaps on the cuffs.

Now that Carcetti is the Mayor-elect (he won the general election by 82 percent in predominantly Democratic Baltimore), Clay Davis pays him a visit at his interim City Hall office, claiming he wants to clear the air. "You gonna give the money back?" Norman Wilson asks. Davis laughs and cuts to the chase. Burrell has the ministers and the council president on his side. They'll see the wisdom of new leadership when they find a suitable candidate, Wilson tells him. Davis offers to help them secure what he knows they need: pay raise approval for the new candidate from Nerese Campbell, the council president, and a green light from the ministers. Carcetti asks what they owe him in return. "I'm in Annapolis," Davis says, and he's hearing Carcetti might be there too in a few years. "We may find ourselves working together closely."

"Jesus Christ," Carcetti says after he leaves. Wilson is impressed. "He's slick. Apologizes for the short con, and in the next breath, setting us up for the long. He and Burrell are thick as thieves." Carcetti asks his deputy if he knows what the long con is. "Least we know he's running one," is Wilson's response.

Carver is holding Namond at the Drug Enforcement Unit office of the Western District, but the boy can't reach his mother. She's in Atlantic City, then headed to New York for shopping and a show. Carver preps him for what's ahead: if they can't reach a guardian, they have to send him to baby booking, where he'll spend the night. Namond looks scared - he heard East side and West side don't get along in there, and guys get raped. The only other guardian Namond can come up with is an aunt, but he can't get her on the phone either. Carver plays tough at first, determined to teach the boy a lesson, but seeing Namond's genuine fear, he gives in and lets him spend the night on the bench in the DEU, with oversight from a midnight shift officer.

Chris and Snoop watch as Michael Lee points out Bug's father, who's buying drugs off a dealer, most likely for his mother, he tells them. "I just want him gone. Away from me an' Bug," Michael tells them. "The f**k he do to you?" Snoop asks. Michael can't answer. But Chris gets it: "We take care of it, boss."

In the roll call room of the Western District, the troops get their marching orders for the day. Notable on the shift commander's briefing sheet are a rash of church burglaries they need to get on - one of them was on Off. James "Jimmy" McNulty's post - and the word from on high is to double arrests over the next month, with a focus on minor quality-of-life violations - disorderly conduct, open containers, public indecency. More of New York's 'broken windows' theory. Some of the Western officers protest, but Lt. Dennis Mello explains the Commissioner himself wants to spike arrests.

Colvin and Parenti meet with the Area Superintendent, who questions them about the restaurant field trip. They try to explain why their kids can't be put through 90-minute test prep classes. "So we're writing them off?" the Superintendent asks. Colvin tries to explain: they're learning for their world, and every one of them knows they're going to the corners. "They're not fools, these kids...Jesus, they see right through us." Parenti reminds her he made it clear at the beginning: they'd be addressing kids who needed to be socialized before they could be educated. "We can't lie - not to them, not to ourselves," Colvin adds. The area superintendent seems to withhold final judgment.

After spending the night on the Drug unit's bench, Namond still can't get his mom or aunt on the phone. Carver asks him to think of someone else - any other adult who could come get him. Namond has only one idea: Mr. Colvin. Carver is amused at the mention of the name of his old boss, the former commander of the Western.

Herc still can't find the camera, and Det. Leander Sydnor tells him it's time to come clean with Lt. Charles Marimow. He refuses at first, certain the man will take his stripes, but eventually heads into the boss's office, just as Bubbles finds his persecutor again. As Herc begins to explain about his sloppy paperwork, he gets the call from Bubbles, and tries to tell his boss he needs to take it. "I don't care who it is, turn that f**king thing off," Marimow insists, before launching into a tirade about the train station incident, accusing Herc of making up his informant, then assailing him for failing to bring in a single worthy case - otherwise he might have some reason to let a few things slide. Herc backs down from telling the truth about the camera.

In the halls between classes, Randy gets shouldered by a kid coming the other way. "Snitch bitch," the kid says. When Michael asks what it's about, Randy just shrugs, trying not to look shaken.

The patrolmen begin their street sweeps; McNulty, Off. Anthony Colicchio and the other young officers start round ups for open containers outside a bar. "I know you think its bulls**t," Officer Baker tells McNulty, writing up a ticket on a double-parked car, "but I spend my shift where they tell me." McNulty lets him in on a "little secret." "The patrolling officer on his beat is the only true dictatorship in America," he says, rattling off their liberties, like locking up a guy on a humble and getting drunk on shift. "No one - I mean no one - tells us how to waste our shift." Besides, McNulty boasts, he has some bigger fish to fry - he's figured out a pattern on the church burglaries. They're interrupted by angry bar patrons who are furious at the tickets on their cars, the sudden police onslaught. A punch is thrown and a melee is in the making. "This could get outta hand," Baker says to McNulty. "Isn't that what we want, right?" McNulty says, heading towards his cruiser. "More arrests?"

Carver brings Namond to Tilghman Middle to greet Colvin, explaining that the boy "invoked your name with a measure of respect." Colvin recalls his disrespect from a few weeks earlier. "Mr. Colvin, Sir: F**k. You." Namond at least wants credit for saying "Mr," but Colvin suggests a ride on the juvenile services bus might do him some good. The boy pleads with him. Colvin agrees to call his wife.

Over dinner, Namond puts on his best manners for Mrs. Colvin, who says she was expecting "more of an adventure" as her husband suggested. "Don't be fooled," Colvin says, smiling. "This is his Eddie Haskell act." When Namond hears his wife call him Bunny, the former cop warns him not to spill it. "I'll cut your balls off," he says, convincingly. But inside, Colvin is a bit charmed.

At the booking desk, McNulty brings in a felony burglary arrest on another church robbery - in stark contrast to all the misdemeanor arrests that are clogging the Western. Meanwhile, over in Col. Cedric Daniels' new office downtown, Mello complains about all the weak charges for loitering and disorderly conduct. "Neighborhood people, sometimes they appreciate quality-of-life arrests," Daniels says diplomatically. "Except we're locking up the neighborhood people," Mello responds. As for morale among the officers, it's split - the officers who love stats are happy, but Mello was hoping a new mayor would put an end to juked numbers, not ramp it up.

Bodie and Poot get a visit from Slim Charles, who spills the news about Little Kevin. "Chris and Snoop walked him down an alley. He in a vacant now." Bodie stares, dumbstruck.

With the Area Superintendent visiting Prez's class, he focuses on sample exam questions. As soon as she leaves, he lets the kids decide what they want to do with the remainder of the 90-minute test-prep block. The boys go back to their dice and probabilities. None of the boys will pair off with Randy, but Michael steps up and joins him.

Renaldo's at the wheel of a borrowed taxi, with Omar sitting in back, as the two of them continue their surveillance - this time on Slim Charles, who they have followed away from his meet with Marlo.

In the pilot project classroom, Zenobia Dawson and Chandra act out another simulation exercise, this time as a case worker and applicant at Social Services. As Principal Claudell Withers enters with the Area Superintendent, Zenobia takes her part a little too seriously, insisting she's just trying to make it realistic. The hostility ratchets up until Chandra slaps her, then shoves the social worker who tries to contain her. Colvin has to intervene. "Typical day?" the superintendent asks Withers. "I wouldn't know - my first day.... Mrs. Donnelly oversees this project."

In a front office meeting later that day with Withers and Assistant Principal Marcia Donnelly, the superintendent is harsh. "What I saw today wasn't education as I understand the term. And they didn't seem very socialized either." The teacher tries to explain it wasn't their best day, as Parenti argues that, on the whole, they've actually made progress. Colvin adds that the outbursts are fewer, and they're more engaged. But when pressed as to how many could return to a regular classroom, the teacher offers only three names: Namond, Darnell and Zenobia. Donnelly calls it "a tremendous achievement," and the principal - deciding to back his subordinates - concurs. Then the social worker weighs in: "Many of these kids are profoundly damaged... any gain or progress is temporary. I think this project may be flawed."

Daniels goes to Carcetti to let him know that Burrell bypassed Deputy Commissioner for Operations William A. Rawls to double street arrests and juke the stats - the chief is reasserting control of the department and making a play for the Mayor to keep him. "Why did you come to me?" Carcetti wants to know. He explains his logic: if Rawls already came to Carcetti with it and he let it happen anyways, that's a problem for Daniels - because Carcetti's claim that he wants to reform the department is dubious. If Rawls didn't tell him, then the Deputy is okay with Burrell's tactics, or he's letting the chief screw up so he will get fired. Either way, Daniels needs to know where Carcetti stands. "I gave you my word," the Mayor says. "Thanks for going outside the chain of command," he adds. Daniels assures him it won't be a regular practice.

Bubbles rattles his cart past a Baptist church, asks two churchgoers if they can help him get something to eat, and gets no reaction. He spots a black minister in a suit making his way to his car, and calls Herc using the cellphone that the plainclothesman purchased for him. Herc casually apologizes for not taking his call when he was in a meeting, and Bubbles responds by giving him the license plate of the minister's car - and telling him Marlo's people have a bag in the trunk, getting ready to make drops. Herc jumps on the tip with Off.. Kenneth Dozerman, and Bubbles, his working relationship with Herc over, tries to sell off the cell phone.

Within minutes Herc, Dozerman and a chopper are on the minister's car - siren blaring, lights flashing, as Herc orders the man out of the car, hands up, and spins him onto the hood to search him, then forcing him to sit on the sidewalk. They pop his trunk then search the car, as Herc confidently grabs his briefcase, taunting him knowingly as if it's the motherload. When he opens it, all he finds is a Bible. Herc has come up empty again. Bubbles set him up. "I'm damn sure gonna have your name and badge number," the minister tells Herc.

Clay Davis meets with City Council President Nerese Campbell, urging her to give Carcetti $25,000 for a salary bump for the police commissioner job, to buy time for Burrelll. Davis explains that the money won't be enough to lure serious candidates from the outside, but it will be enough movement so that the new mayor will believe that he will eventually get what he needs from the council. Then, Davis beautifully plays the middle between Carcetti and Burrell, calling the Mayor and leaves a message that he got him the money for a new police chief. "Tell him, 'Senator Davis has his interests at heart.'"

Colvin drops Namond off at his house, and he gets a peak into his home life when the boy introduces him to his mother, explaining that Colvin took him in after the cops picked him up. "Leave my son the f**k alone," De'Londa says to Colvin, before chastising her son for being afraid to go to baby booking.

McNulty and Det. William "Bunk" Moreland get their sons together at a restaurant, and Bunk asks the young McNultys if they plan to follow in their dad's footsteps. One wants to be a video game designer, the other a rock star. As for Bunk's kids, the older one wants to be chief of police, the other a pediatric neurosurgeon. McNulty's ex, Elena, arrives to pick up the kids, and sees that he's not drinking. They get some alone time, and ask about each other's new partners. "We're close, we're not..." Elena says of hers. "If I'd known you were gonna grow up to be a grown up..." she says smiling fondly at him. McNulty is clearly gratified by this belated endorsement.

Bodie is still upset about Little Kevin, especially as he's the one who told him "do the right thing, go talk to the man." Poot tries to get him to see it from Marlo's point of view, invoking their own murder of Wallace years earlier, but Bodie thinks the logic is flawed - Kevin didn't snitch. Marlo's just a "cold motherf**ker." "It's a cold world, Bodie," Poot tells him. "Thought you said it was getting warmer," he responds. "The world goin' one way, people another," Poot says.

As Michael's mother heads out to look for Bug's dad, he stops her. "He ain't coming back," he says, staring her down. A few blocks away, the man leaves a grocery store to face Snoop and Chris, who follow him, Chris drilling him on whether he likes f**king boys. He tells them he's living with a woman now. "She got kids." Snoop says. "I ain't touch them kids. Who told you that?" he demands. Chris plays friendly. "When you inside, ain't no p**sy." "Well, yeah, s**t," he responds. "You been inside. Man gotta bust his nut, know what I'm sayin'?" "I do," Chris says, as he pulls a gun and pistol whips the man, kicking and pummeling him bloody, only stopping when he's unrecognizable - and still. Snoop looks stunned at the ferocity of the beating, so much more emotional than any other violence in which Chris has been involved. "Damn, you didn't even wait to get the motherf**ker inside."

Back at home, Michael watches as his mother, agitated and waiting for her fix, glares at him. He smiles knowingly, once again the man of the house.

godtabh

S04E11

"You play in dirt, you get dirty." --McNulty

Summary

Directed by: Brad Anderson
Story by: David Simon & Ed Burns
Teleplay by: Ed Burns

At a Korean-run carryout joint, Namond Brice flashes his wad of cash as he treats Michael Lee, Duquan "Dukie" Weems and Randy Wagstaff. When Dukie orders "yakame with turkey grease" Namond and Michael crack up and a defensive Dukie wants to know what's so funny - it's what his mom always orders. Michael gently explains that turkey grease "makes the drunks, you know, throw up all that liquor they was drinkin' so they can get back to swilling that ****." As the boys, joined by Donut, chow down on Namond's largesse on some steps on the commercial strip, they discuss Little Kevin, and Randy is frightened to hear the word is he's dead, up in the vacants. Officer Eddie Walker walks by and runs the boys off of "his Avenue," telling them to get back to where they belong. Fed up, the kids brainstorm how to send Walker a message, and when Michael gets confirmation from Donut that Walker goes to the club on Stockton - the after-hours joint that the Western police favor - he assures him he's "got this one."

Concerned about Sgt. Thomas R. "Herc" Hauk's bad stop-and-search of the politically connected Minister, Reverend Frank Reid and the Minister himself pay a visit to Mayor Thomas "Tommy" Carcetti to lean on him about supporting a civilian review board for the police department - otherwise how can they trust any investigation of any complaint? Mayoral aide Norman Wilson points out to the men of the cloth that the Police Department has a black Commissioner and I.I.D. director, but Rev. Reid counters that they've heard Burrell's authority is being limited. Carcetti assures him he takes the problem seriously and asks them to trust the process. When they leave, Wilson and Carcetti ponder the rock and hard spot he's between: Even Royce - a black mayor - did not risk a rebellion among the rank-and-file by implementing civilian review. And on a smaller scale, if Carcetti moves overtly to have Sgt. Hauk fired, he pisses off the rank and file; if he doesn't, he pisses off the black political infrastructure.

At Edward Tilghman Middle School, Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski continues to fight the good fight, overseeing practical math problems as he struggles to explain the area of a circle to Charlene Young and watches as a boy, Perry, is knocked in the testicles by a comrade using the tape measure. In the project class, Ms. Duquette quizzes the group on what takes courage outside of being on a corner. To illustrate bravery, she asks Namond to stand on a box and do a trust fall, relying on his classmates to catch him. Namond balks, but Howard "Bunny" Colvin eyes him and he reluctantly climbs up, warning: "Y'all drop me, we gonna have more than words." He's exhilarated by the exercise, but when other volunteers are solicited, Albert bolts from the room with a string of profanity and a concerned Colvin follows on his heels. Later, in the lunchroom, Randy is shunned as he tries to ply his candy on the usually receptive kids. Word has even seeped to the lower grades of Tilghman is out that Randy's a snitch.

Parked at an intersection in a yellow cab, Omar and Renaldo debate whether they've lost Slim Charles' trail. It was at this same intersection where they lost the man on a previous run. Just as Renaldo is fed up with the tedium of their stake out, Slim's SUV drives by and they follow. They follow him back to Proposition Joe Stewart's appliance store, much to their surprise. Says Omar, "on this caper, the more we learn, the less we know." When Renaldo begs for a bathroom break, Omar just hands him a roll of toilet paper and orders him to squat in the alley.

Colvin and Mrs. Rennert, a new social worker - the previous one has left the project in the wake of her expressed doubts about its merit - talk to a crying Albert, urging him to unburden himself. Finally he comes clean: "I went home yesterday. My ma's on the couch, she dead." His grandmother made him come to school. Heartbroken, Colvin understands - the boy just wanted to be with his mother. The profound emotional neglect on some of these kids is stunning.

Assistant State's Attorney Rhonda Pearlman and Col. Cedric Daniels address the homicide unit in their new capacities as head of the courthouse Violent Crimes Unit and the department's Criminal Investigation Division, respectively. Emphasizing they have a mandate for change under the new administration, the pair asks for feedback on how to improve things. They're bombarded with suggestions, from "better witness protection" and "more proactive investigation" to "more scotch," "loose women" and above all, "pay hike." Laughing at the spirit of optimism, Det. Shakima "Kima" Greggs notes to Sgt. Jay Landsman, "Sounds like a new day, don't it? Department's finally gonna get what it needs. State's Attorney's office too." Landsman is non-committal, saying only that Daniels and Pearlman make a nice couple.

Meanwhile, Wilson hands over a decree from the Mayor to Deputy Commissioner for Operations William A. Rawls, ordering all police commanders to avoid mass arrests and emphasizing community-based and higher-end law enforcement. When Rawls asks hungrily why they don't just fire Commissioner Ervin Burrell, Wilson explains they don't have the political capital to do that just yet, using it as a segue to explain the delicate situation with Sgt. Hauk and the ministers. Rawls suggests that they let Col. Daniels handle it, since the sergeant is under his command now, and the ministers might be more inclined to accept the decision of a black commander.

The corner has taken its toll and Sherrod stumbles into Bubbles' garage late at night, admitting to having messed up the count on a package, and asking to be taken back in. Bubbles, pleased to have him, feeds him hotdogs and promises they'll find a way together to pay back the "cheddar" that Jo-Jo is claiming Sherrod owes.

Heading out on the payback caper that Michael has masterminded, Dukie, Namond and Randy are having second thoughts about taking on a police officer, but Michael is determined that they go through with the tasks they've drawn straws for. When Walker emerges from the club, Randy signals Dukie, who provokes Walker by keying his car. When Walker gives chase, Dukie leads him into an alley, where a masked Michael aims a gun at him: "You the police like to f**k with a nigga," he says, firing a warning shot to impress Walker as to the seriousness of the moment. Just as Namond's about to toss a can of yellow paint on the officer, Michael spots a ring on Walker's finger - the same ring that Walker took off of Omar and Omar stole from Marlo Stanfield, who, in turn, took it from Old Face Andre. Risking exposure should Walker turn around, Michael pulls down his mask for a better look as he orders the man to hand the ring over. Walker does, and Namond finally tosses the paint: "Payback," says Michael.

Daniels reviews the complaint against Sgt. Hauk, asking Rawls what's expected of him, given that he sees "a lot of smoke, but I'm not feeling much in the way of fire." With no witnesses and no indication of racial or religious undertones or serious brutality, his punishment options are limited. Rawls tells him City Hall just wants him to "do the right thing." Daniels - and even Rawls - are amused at the rarity of such a moment.

The next morning, Carcetti starts his day with a series of visits to city agencies. He reports an abandoned car that needs towing to Public Works, a leaking hydrant to Wastewater Management and a playground that needs cleaning up to Parks and Recreation - but gives no locations, forcing the agencies to spring into action citywide.

Meanwhile, as they enjoy a round of late fall golf, Commissioner Burrell and State Sen. R. Clayton "Clay" Davis discuss Daniels' decision on the Minister's complaint against Sgt. Hauk: sensitivity counseling and two weeks extra duty. Davis explains how and why the decision was put off onto Daniels, but tells Burrell it won't be enough for the ministers - something Burrell already knows. Burrell sees an opening for himself.

At Western District, Walker, in plainclothes, riles up some young cops with his report that he was attacked by three "Bloods" with shotguns: "the paint supposed to be some kind of declaration of war...it's us against them." Ofc. James "Jimmy" McNulty, overhearing, gives Walker a doubtful glare: "Yellow paint, a declaration of war?"

At Tilghman, Colvin praises Namond's progress, suggesting he's doing so well he could go back to regular class. But this doesn't strike Namond as progress. "The s**t they be teaching be deadly." More notably, Namond teases Colvin about his nickname and Colvin, too, responds playfully. A bond is forming between the two.

The Mayor meets with Wilson and the Budget Director, insisting he needs to find the funds for a 5 percent police raise. The Budget Director warns against using the rainy day fund because the national bond houses want at least 5 percent of the budget in reserve, but Wilson and Carcetti think it looks like rain.

Outside of school, some thugs confront Randy, who's walking home with Michael and Dukie, and accuse him of talking to the police. Randy denies it and they challenge Michael for standing with a snitch. Michael throws the first punch and Prez has to break up a serious melee that leaves Randy stunned and bloody on the ground.

The reunited team of Bubbles and Sherrod are having a banner day with the Bubble Depo, making sales and coming across a toppled lamppost, which Bubs figures will get them an easy $100 for the scrap aluminum.

At a westside subshopt, McNulty spots Bodie, taking cover from the cops who are shaking down the corners hard. McNulty explains that the response is due to Walker getting jumped. Bodie is amused at what happened to Walker. "Walker's an asshole," McNulty admits, to Bodie's surprise. McNulty gets a call and has to rush out, but he leaves Bodie with a strange feeling of camaraderie between himself and this police.

As Prez attends to Randy's wounds, with Michael and Dukie standing by, Randy swears he only told the police what everybody knows that Lex went to the playground behind Fulton and everyone says he got killed, and that he heard about it from Lil Kevin. He asks Michael if he's a snitch for doing that much, and Michael responds that because Randy didn't give up any of his friends, he is not. But, Michael cautions, you shouldn't talk to police in general. Dukie reports that now people say Kevin's in the vacants with Lex. Prez tells Randy that Michael is right: If anyone tries to talk to him again, he's to say nothing.

At Police Headquarters, Deputy Commissioner Rawls hands out Carcetti's memo ordering quality police work over making stats to the department heads, including Daniels and Maj. Stanislaus Valchek. When the Chief of Patrol moans about how difficult it will be ("Our people were raised on stats."), Rawls suggests he can replace him if he can't bend Patrol to the mission. As the meeting breaks, Daniels asks Rawls for permission to reconstitute Major Crimes, bring it under the Homicide umbrella, and shake up the personnel - as that unit was all about the high-end. Rawls tells him to go for it. When Daniels leaves, Valchek, who's heard the exchange, commends Rawls for approving an idea from the "anointed fella." Seeing the look on Rawls' face, Valchek realizes with shock that this is the first time Rawls has been tipped to the idea that Daniel -- not Rawls -- is being seriously groomed for Commissioner. Now the delay in firing Burrell makes sense to Rawls. "Jesus, Bill, it's Baltimore. You ain't one of the natives, are ya?" Valchek reminds him.

Staking out the Holiday Inn, Renaldo reports that Slim Charles went in a big room with a sign that said New Day Co-op with Joe, Fat Face Rick and eight or nine others - at least one of whom Omar and Renaldo have robbed. Just then they spy Marlo arriving as well. Omar is excited: "If it's what I think it is, our little clutch of chickens might be putting all their eggs up in one basket." Omar has, through much surveillance, figured out the connection between Proposition Joe, Marlo and many other Baltimore narcotics traffickers. He sees the outline of the Co-op.

As Michael and Namond check out gold chains, Namond warns his friend against wearing Walker's ring around his neck where the officer can spot it. He asks what's up with Michael, taking risks like that, especially pulling off the mask in Walker's presence, and starting the fight to defend Randy. Michael asks him back: Wouldn't you have stood tall for a friend? "It's not that you do s**t, it's how you do it," worries Namond.

Daniels reports the good news about Major Crimes to Det. Lester Freamon, giving him carte blanche to pick his squad and supervisor. "It's morning in Baltimore, Lester. Wake up and smell the coffee."

Prez intercepts Sgt. Ellis Carver on the Western District backlot, in a rage over how he handled Randy: "I trusted you, trusted Daniels. My f**kin' mistake, huh?" Carver gets him to explain what happened and angers when he hears Randy was beaten - he put the kid onto Det. William "Bunk" Moreland and Herc. He offers to put a plainclothes unit on Randy's house. Prez thinks that will only make things worse, but Carver assures him they'll be discreet and convinces Prez to accompany him while he gets to the bottom of what happened.

Late night, Freamon lets himself into the wiretap room at the Clinton Street detail office, frustrated by the signs that there's been no progress since he left - that the machines themselves have been removed or shut down. Curious, he goes into Lt. Charles Marimow's office and finds a box marked "Barksdale Subpoena Returns." He goes through the folders, spotting Ed Bowers, Andrew Krawcyk, and Maurice Webber. Meanwhile, Mayor Carcetti attends a fundraiser for the Ella Thompson Fund, a part of the Parks and People Foundation of Baltimore that helps sponsor inner-city recreation programming, where he meets and greets these very men - who are rushing to ingratiate themselves to the new city administration. Freamon's pursuit of the Barksdale money has been renewed, and Marimow's days as commander of the MCU are numbered.

At home, Namond contemplates cutting off his ponytail, as De'Londa warns him she'll do it for him. It's why the police can target him so easily. But he's not yet willing to make the sacrifice.

As Freamon packs up his desk in the Homicide Unit, Bunk and Greggs heckle him about leaving so soon to return to the wiretap unit. Carver interrupts, looking for Bunk, asking what happened with Randy. But Bunk doesn't know anything about any kid witness in Lex's case. Carver, frustrated and embarrassed, tells him Herc was supposed to bring the kid to Bunk. Freamon can see something's wrong and asks what happened to the boy.

Assistant Principal Marcia Donnelly delivers the good news to five eighth graders, including Dukie, that they'll be promoted to ninth grade at the end of the marking period - an upward promotion of at-risk kids that helps the system's matriculation rates even if it dislocates students in the middle of an academic year. Dukie clearly doesn't view this as good news. Next she delivers a blow to Colvin: "They pulled the pin on your program."

Mayor Carcetti addresses the Western District roll call, announcing the five percent salary bump he's scraped together, and his mandate to abandon quotas and stats in favor of quality police work. McNulty challenges him that they've heard empty promises before, and without educating the community and the bosses, who's to say they won't be back to juking stats as soon as the neighborhoods start complaining. "If the old dogs can't handle the job, I'll find new ones who can," Carcetti vows. A good many of the troops are won over, but McNulty's not so sure. The FOP President warns Carcetti that his new popularity may be short lived if he doesn't handle the Sgt. Hauk situation just right.

Bunk and Freamon interrogate Herc in the wiretap room, as Bunk - playing the bad cop - lets him have it for not bringing Randy directly to him - and putting his paws in a murder case. He storms out, leaving Freamon to play good cop. Herc lays out his story from the beginning, including his search of Chris Partlow's and Snoop's Chevy Tahoe, and the nail gun he found which meant nothing to Herc, but is taken down - as all details are - by Freamon.

The Mayor grudgingly agrees to see Commissioner Burrell, who admits that overall policing strategies may not be his strong suit. But he does know that Col. Daniels' recommendation on how to handle Sgt. Hauk will not fly with the ministers, while conceding that Carcetti can't fire a white cop for stopping a black minister without losing the rank and file. His solution: Herc worked narcotics for six years, "and in narcotics, there are no virgins." He hands over a hefty binder that contains the department's General Orders; there's sure to be grounds for firing a saint in there. Carcetti begins to see why Burrell has survived and thrived for so long.

Bubbles and Sherrod get attacked once again by the predatory fiend and their renewed teamwork doesn't help the situation and they both end up beaten and defeated.

Omar and Renaldo pay a visit to the appliance store, beating the outside lookout down, then holding a semi-automatic and a .50 caliber on Proposition Joe and his lieutenants, Cheese and Slim Charles. Omar reveals he knows about the New Day Co-op and Marlo's involvement, then makes his demand: he wants Marlo: Not to kill him, but to take what's his. Joe agrees to have his nephew Cheese make the drop on Marlo's next package and they'll alert Omar to the spot in advance. Omar agrees, but warns that if Prop Joe tries to put a twist in the plan, he'll make sure to tell Marlo he's the one who put Omar up to the card game heist. Before leaving, Omar asks for a service ticket for the antique clock he's dropping off for repair. In disbelief, Joe writes one up and they leave. Cheese can't believe Joe's really going to do this, but Proposition tells him it's the only way out. Omar knows too much and will only keep his secrets if he gets what he wants. Outside, while Slim Charles berates the beaten lookout in the background, Omar tells Renaldo he trusts Proposition Joe's fear, but now they're going to follow Cheese day and night.

Bunk and Freamon pay a visit to Prez's class to complain that Randy's foster mother won't let him talk, per his math teacher's advice. "I'm siding with my kids," Prez insists when they press him. Lester sees the ethic involved andagrees to back off, but as they're leaving, Bunk asks for just a "little something." Prez gives in, telling him only the address of the playground where Randy told Lex to meet a girl. "That's all he did," Prez insists.

On the corner, Michael's mother approaches, asking for a price break on a fix and indicating that she is short the money. Namond relents and gives her drugs at a discount, knowing that in doing so there will be more money in Michael and Bug's house and that she is sure to cop somewhere in any event. Namond authorizes the charity, only to have little Kenard chastises him for his weakness. He doesn't see Michael's mother; he sees only a dope fiend.

Running late to an update from city bureaucrats, Carcetti is pleased with the reports: vehicles have been towed, new playground equipment installed, all hydrants fully capped, and 32 tons of waste pulled from alleys. But when the Budget Director remains to give his update, the news isn't so cheery: a $54 million deficit for the school system. Carcetti can't believe there's been no warning of this mess Royce left. "How the f**k do we deal with that?" asks the Mayor. So far, no one has any ideas. This could wreck their agenda.

Colvin, Professor David Parenti and Donnelly make an appeal for the project class before the Superintendent and Area Superintendents. Attendance is excellent and there have been no suspensions, plus they've helped the other classes function better by pulling the troublemakers and they hope to expand and cover the whole eighth grade in January. The Superintendent can see the benefits, but with the new administration and the sudden budget deficit, they're under too much scrutiny. "If City Hall were to sign off on this, we could go forward," says the Area Superintendent. "But now is not the time to rock any boats."

Back at his lair, Marlo remarks that he heard Chris took care of his puppy Michael's problem. But Marlo mentions that Michael stood tall for a snitching boy. Chris takes this in.

At the abandoned playground that Prez mentioned, Bunk and Lester look for clues. Using soft eyes, Freamon sees the large number of vacant houses that surround the playground on three sides. Freamon heads toward the rear of one vacant, examines the plywood that boards it up, so loosely affixed that he can pry it off with his hands. Bunk questions what he's doing but Lester plows on, down the row, noting that another plywood door is secured with machine-driven nails that will require a crowbar. "This a tomb. Lex is in there," he explains to a dumbfounded Bunk, who steps back and finally sees it as well.

godtabh

SO4E12

"That all there is to it?" -- Bubbles

Summary

Directed by: Joe Chappelle
Story by: Ed Burns & George Pelecanos
Teleplay by: George Pelecanos

Michael Lee runs down a back alley, looking over his shoulder, stumbling and regaining himself as he searches for an open door, somewhere to hide. Two shadowy figures chase him, pistols drawn, as he turns a corner, grabbing a rag so he can break a window, open a derelict warehouse door. The figures gain on him, and closer up they become clear - Felicia 'Snoop' Pearson and Chris Partlow. Inside the vacant and trashed warehouse, Michael tries to look for an exit on the other side. Trapped, he tries for a hiding spot instead. Chris and Snoop find the warehouse and catch up to him. Realizing there's only one place he can be, they corner him and take aim - firing several shots at the first sound. Michael ducks out and fires back, as Chris falls against a wall, holding his abdomen, red seeping out from his hand. Snoop screams a banshee wail as she drops to the ground next, also seemingly shot.

Michael steps over to Chris, who's drenched in sweat and bleeding red. "What's next?" Chris asks, breathing heavy. "One to the head. I keep it quick," his protege responds. "Not yet, motherf**ker," Snoop says, back up and smiling. "You shoot live rounds like paint, boy, you gon' be the ****," she tells him. Michael smiles back - he's earned his stripes.

In one of Marlo Stanfield's mausoleums, Det. Lester Freamon stares at a badly decomposed body of Lex as crime lab technicians work the scene. He steps outside and motions to Det. William "Bunk" Moreland to examine the plywood of the house next door, then starts pulling at it, explaining his detective work to the arriving Sgt. Jay Landsman: the nails on the mausoleum came from a nail gun; every other house on the block has the ordinary screws that Baltimore's housing department uses. They keep looking for the unique nails and they'll find more bodies. Landsman gets sarcastic. "Do you see a tool belt on me?... Three weeks left in the year, our unit clearance rate is under 50 percent. We do not go looking for bodies, especially moldering John Does. We don’t put red up on the board voluntarily." Freamon explains the bodies are Marlo's. "Then they belong to him," Landsman responds, before pulling rank and giving him an order: "You will not pull down any more f**king wood." Landsman stalks off and Freamon shows his frustration.

At an informal budget meeting, Mayor Thomas "Tommy" Carcetti goes ballistic over the $54 million school deficit. City Council President Nerese Campbell shifts the blame to the school board, while the Mayor's new chief of staff reminds her that the Council has oversight. As they argue over who is to blame for the disaster, and whether the cause is waste or fraud or embezzlement, the School Superintendent steps in, conceding that her system's accounting practices are a problem, but "we're gonna find that most of the money was properly spent on programming." They debate their next move -- raising property taxes, cutting services, scaling back budgets, denying pay hikes to police and firefighters. "How?" Carcetti asks, his voice rising. "I just ran a clean-up-the-streets campaign...and I just got done promising the world to every cop in the city." Campbell has the inevitable answer: "Annapolis," she says, referring to the Governor's office and the possibility of a state bailout. "You go beg his Republican ass."

Omar Little and Renaldo are now following Cheese, one of Proposition Joe Stewart's lieutenants, having gotten onto him after the earlier confrontation at Prop Joe's second-hand electronics store. Cheese has led them to a meet with Marlo and Marlo's lieutenants at their outdoor lair. Renaldo wonders if this is their big drug drop. Omar hopes not, because they haven't called him yet with the tip-off -- as promised -- "and that would make me feel bad toward Prop Joe."

Marlo and his lieutenants greet Cheese as a runner hands him a book bag full of cash: 25 back to Joe for what they were short before - their claim to payment for their hired killings of the New York Boys having been denied -- and 150 to up their order to six, Marlo tells him. Cheese doesn't know if they'll have extra coming off the boat for six. "Short someone else then," Marlo says bluntly. Cheese throws him a disposable cellphone. Marlo affirms he no longer uses cellphones. Cheese tells him they don't either and that he should merely look for a call from an eastside exchange, toss the phone and go for the meet. Watching the transaction from the row house, Omar decides to continue to follow Cheese.

Freamon and his new unit, including Sgt. Thomas R. "Herc" Hauk, Det. Leander Sydnor, and Det. Kenneth Dozerman, watch smugly as Lt. Charles F. Marimow packs his things - a victim of the same petty and political machinations that Marimow so often employed. The second the door shuts behind him, they bust out laughing. "Sometimes," Freamon says, "life gives you a moment." "He's gonna do me and instead he gets done," Herc adds. "I'm dipped in s**t here. I'm the luckiest motherf**ker you know." Freamon gets down to business and delivers the plan: Marlo is still the target. The bosses might not let Freamon go after the murders but they can't stop him from chasing the drugs. He assigns the team their orders - Sydnor on surveillance, Dozerman on the paper trail, Herc on the paper work to get the wiretap back up. As for Freamon, he's off to the missing persons unit downtown. Herc pulls Freamon aside and asks that he give the orders; Herc, after all, is the sergeant. Freamon stares at him for a moment before walking off.

Namond Brice is getting his hair braided on a corner - his ponytail replaced by less conspicuous cornrows - when little Kenard pays a visit to tell him their package was taken from Kenard's basement when the police kicked in his door. Namond wants to know how they knew where his stash was. "Some snitch-ass bitch," Kenard tells him, claiming he's gonna find the informant.

Howard "Bunny" Colvin and the Deacon share a Polish sausage at one of Baltimore's last remaining Polack Johnny's restaurants, as Colvin unloads about the pilot program being denied approval to continue. They went all the way to the School Superintendent, who's too scared - given all the budget problems - to take any fresh complication to the Mayor. The Deacon mentions State Del. Odell Watkins. "I was hoping you'd say that name," Colvin says, acknowledging that Watkins, having supported Carcetti in the election, has the new mayor's ear.

Bubbles meets with some old-time street sages at an A-rabbers' stable on the westside and gets a few tips on ridding Fiend from his life. One of them eventually recommends he lace his drugs with sodium cyanide, easy enough to get hold of if you know where to look. They caution him not to go overboard - one vial could kill every horse in the stable. "That all there is to it?" Bubbles asks. "Ain't no thing to kill a ****** if he's already 'bout the business of killin' hisself," one of the men tells him. "Police, they ain't gonna pay no never mind. You're the one that's got to live with it, is all."

In the Missing Person Unit, Freamon sifts through photos, mug shots and family shots of all the young black males - more than he expected. He pulls out Lex's photo and Little Kevin's mugshot as well, as the M.P.U. detective explains why he hasn't done any street work on any of them: They cut his department down to one detective five years ago. "I barely keep up the paperwork." Freamon leaves with the photos and reports.

When Michael hears that Kenard's stash is gone, and asks a few follow-up questions, he realizes the scam and tells Namond the kid took it himself. "And now you gotta step to him, put somethin' real behind them words."

Omar pays a visit to Blind Butchie's bar, explaining that he's rounding up soldiers, and Butchie offers up his own confederates - the very players who saved Omar when he was alone in the city detention center on his murder charge. Omar acknowledges Big Donnie, remarking that his 2255 federal post-conviction appeal must have worked out. Donnie affirms that this is so. Omar says, however, that he's planning to go "subtle" in his approach, and as if on cue, he gets a visit from an old friend, Kimmy, who he has called back into town for a chance at a big score.

Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski stops by Randy Wagstaff's house to drop off his homework assignments - Randy is still not attending class for fear of being targeted and beaten as a snitch - and Miss Anna tells him she's thinking of moving the boy to another school for the next semester. Prez hopes it's not necessary. He leaves, but as he does, spots the plainclothes surveillance car on the way out, and realizes that if he can spot the protection detail, it's likely that the neighborhood can as well.

Carcetti and Wilson pay a visit to the State House, where they're made to wait an hour to meet with the Governor. An aide surfaces to say it will be longer, as the Mayor - humiliated - explains he has appointments. Wilson reads his boss a quote from the Washington Post, from the governor himself, about Baltimore's "latest fiscal emergency" calling into question not only the school system but "local oversight of the system." "Motherf**ker," Carcetti says. "He's playing to the D.C. suburbs. The governor sees Tommy running against him in two years and is going to use any school bailout to damage Carcetti politically with voters statewide. Wilson agrees with Carcetti's assessment, saying of the governor: "He ain't no fool."

At the Major Crimes Unit off-site office on Clinton Street, a confused Lieutenant Asher returns with his things, interrupting Herc and Freamon at work. The Lieutenant asks Freamon what the hell's going on, given that he's been transferred from Major Crimes to the Telephone Reporting Unit and back again - all in a few months time. Freamon just smiles and asks, "How's the beach house?" as the lieutenant heads to his office. Herc inquires as to Asher's identity and Freamon identifies the passive, do-nothing lieuenant as one of the department's most effective supervisors.

Prez makes an appeal to Assistant Principal Marcia Donnelly on behalf of Duquan "Dukie" Weems. Dukie's mid-year promotion to the ninth-grade may be helping the school system juke its matriculation rates, but it is disruptive to the child. Dukie is finally thriving where he is. Donnelly acknowledges that she is aware of all the extra attention Prez has given the boy. She guesses that Prez and his wife don't have kids. "Have them," she advises him. "For better or worse, they'll be yours for life." There's plenty of other kids coming up behind Dukie who will also need his help, she adds knowingly.

In the project classroom, the teacher, Ms. Duquette, tries to get the kids to focus on the upcoming statewide tests - as the system demands of all classes, but they don't see the point. "You need to take the test so you can move on to the next level," Ms. Duquette explains. "I ain't movin' nowhere but out this motherf**ker," Darnell Tyson responds. Namond thinks they got schemed, because now their class is just like the ones down the hall. Colvin leans into Parenti and concedes that the boy is right. "The test material doesn't exactly speak to their world," Parenti affirms. "Don't speak too loud to mine, either," says Colvin.

As Prez tries to teach math and percentages, the kids press him about why he got married. "To build a life together," he says, "family...to have intimacy." They razz him about "getting some," and he gets flustered. "Not just that. Intimacy can be a quiet conversation. Or fun. Like when you tickle your partner." "Yo, tickle my nuts," one boy responds. Prez turns to face the blackboard and manages to suppress a laugh. Even in their effrontery, these kids have charmed him.

Ignoring Landsman's order, Det. Freamon pays a visit to Col. Cedric Daniels and Assistant State's Attorney Rhonda Pearlman, the respective chiefs of the department's Criminal Investigation Division and the Violent Crimes Unit of the prosecutor's office. They are shocked to hear about the bodies - Freamon learns that Landsman has made no mention of the matter - and Daniels and Pearlman express further dismay at Freamon's estimate of how many they might find: a couple dozen, perhaps. Daniels questions whether they're likely to deploy half of Public Works to open thousands of vacant houses, only to raise the city's murder rate by 10 percent. Pearlman asks any direct links between these presumed bodies in vacant rowhouses and Marlo, and Freamon points to Lex as a known victim whose murder can be linked to the drug trafficker. Moreover, two missing persons can also be tied to Stanfield's organization through the earlier wiretaps that Freamon had up. Pearlman says the decision to begin opening up vacant houses is not for her office to make; prosecutors won't care until they see case files. Daniels agrees to run it upstairs and see what comes.

After an inordinate amount of time, Carcetti tells the Governor's aide he gets the point and leaves. "I'm the mayor of a major American city for chrissakes," he says to Wilson on the way out. "How much s**t do I have to eat from this guy?" He scoffs as he re-reads a Washington Post quote the man delivered, "'because those are my children in Baltimore too.' He's gonna bleed me for that money." On their way out of the State House, Carcetti gets the word from a state trooper at the security checkpoint - portrayed, notably, by Maryland's actual governor, Robert Ehrlich - that the governor is now ready to see him. Wilson takes a line from the Christmas carol playing through the halls to nudge Carcetti back up the stairs to the governor's suite: "We won't go until we get some..."

Bubbles is hard at work in his garage, a mad scientist dicing up powdery substances and loading three small vials, which he tucks in his coat's front pocket, same as always. When he catches up with Sherrod later, he sends the boy off into a different quadrant of the city with his own inventory for the first time, as he heads elsewhere to seek out the predatory dope fiend who has so tormented them.

Prez sits with a depressed Dukie by the computer, and tries to convince him he's ready for his promotion to Southwestern High School, adding that he can come back and use the computer and the showers and give him laundry any time. Dukie tries to show Prez how to use the computer, realizing he won't be back. After school, he catches up with Michael and Namond and tells them that Randy's foster mother is talking about taking their friend out of Tilghman, re-enrolling him elsewhere. When Dukie gets back to his own house, its contents are out on the street, an eviction notice on the door. Not again, Dukie says. Michael invites him to stay at his new home with Bug - the first suggestion that Michael and his brother are no longer living with their mother.

Daniels goes to Deputy Commissioner for Operations William A. Rawls with Freamon's theory about the bodies and the missing persons, and the suggestion that City Hall might look more kindly on the discovery if the bodies are brought in before the year's end - so that the bump in the murder rate will fall on Royce's watch, rather than in the first full year of Carcetti's new administration. "I see you've thought this through - politically, I mean," he says. "I'm learning as I go," Daniels responds. "I bet you f**king are..." says Rawls dryly, now conscious of Daniels' prospects for political advancement. Keep this conversation close, he orders Daniels. "That's a direct order."

When Namond tells his mother Kenard took the drug stash, De'Londa goes off on him, angry he didn't make the kid "feel pain." She belittles him for not measuring up to his father, and when Namond reminds her that the man is locked up, she smacks him. Shaken, he leaves the house, despite her protests.

Over beers, Freamon talks to Bunk and Off. James "Jimmy" McNulty about the bodies, how wrong it is to just let them lie there. McNulty suggests going over Landsman's head, and Bunk, not knowing Freamon already has, explains that his colleague "don't fancy boats," referring to McNulty's harbor re-assignment after he ignored the chain of command two years prior. With a few beers in him, Freamon eyes the nail he saved and bets them ten bucks they can go find bodies at any boarded-up rowhouse with a similar one. Bunk takes the bet, if only to play with Freamon.

Namond takes Michael along to confront Kenard on his lie - Kenard's front door showed no sign of having been kicked in by police, and Namond wants to know where the package is. "Package up my ass, Gump," the kid says. Namond hesitates a moment and Michael takes over, punching the little kid bloody with a fierceness Namond hadn't seen before. "Go 'head Namond, get your package off this bitch and let's go." Namond looks sickened by the site of the battered Kenard. "I ain't want it," he says, running off, leaving Michael with his victim.

In another vacant rowhouse, Freamon collects on his bet as he, Bunk and McNulty look over another decomposing body. They debate whether to call the crime lab, but Freamon says no bitterly; there are no bodies until the bosses say there are. There is talk that eventually, this will become a helluva case. McNulty warns that they should expect the inevitable: the brass will mess it up. "Maybe not this time," Freamon says. "Daniels is C.I.D. It's a new day downtown."

Having no luck scaring up his nemesis, the predatory fiend, Bubbles returns home to the garage. He sees Sherrod cocooned in his covers, and smiles proudly when he sees the cash the boy left for him.

When Sgt. Ellis Carver visits Randy Wagstaff at home, Miss Anna says they're going to wait a little longer before he returns to school. It'll blow over in a week or so, Carver assures them. Until then, he's got the plainclothes unit protecting the house, and Randy can call him any time. Randy now seems wary of Carver, but Miss Anna insists Carver stay for breakfast.

Bubbles awakes in the morning with a new idea - they made so much money hauling that felled aluminum lightpost two weeks ago that maybe they can go all Paul Bunyan and start knocking a few more streetlights down themselves - and he starts laying out a plan to Sherrod. When he gets no response, he finally looks around to see the boy's empty bedroll, then finds him lying on the floor, next to Bubbles' coat. Suddenly frantic, Bubbles kneels next to him and reaches for his hand, finding an empty vial. "No, no, no, what'd you do, Sherrod?" he pleads, shaking the boy and pumping his chest, tears pouring out of him.

In the Major Crimes Unit, the team is reporting to Freamon on their Marlo findings - no more cellphones; even the Stanfield organization lieutenants who were using burners months ago are now taking only face-to-face meets. Two Internal Investigation Division detectives interrupt, looking for a Sergeant Hauk and citing a missing surveillance camera - as well as some paperwork on a couple of informants. They also want to see Sydnor and Dozerman. "Paperwork is all mine," Herc tells them. "On the camera. On the informants. Me alone." Herc stands up manfully to take the weight for his mistakes. He departs with the I.I.D. men.

Rawls breaks the news to Carcetti about the bodies and recommends they pull them out now, so they're not on his watch, but can be credited instead to the previous mayor. "Thoughtful," Carcetti says, before getting pissed. "I don’t want any more stat games from your department...If there are bodies in there, they need to come out!" Rawls looks chastened, until Carcetti puts a hand to his shoulder. "But do it now. I don't wanna be finding more bodies come January." Clearly, Carcetti, while staking out some moral high ground, sees the political logic as well.

After his meeting with the Governor, the Mayor heads into another meeting with city officials where Wilson lays out their latest predicament: they can take state money for the school deficit crisis and avoid teacher layoffs and program cuts, but the state wants more control which will mean messing with teachers' contracts and tenure, and turning the powerful city teachers' union against Carcetti. If they don't take the money, they'll look like they're shorting the kids. Politically astute, Council President Campbell points out that the Governor is setting up the Mayor for a fight in two years - the D.C. suburbs aren't going to like that he used their money to bail out his city schools. As for what she'd do? Don't look at me, Campbell insists: "If you take it, you're selling out the teachers, and that's my base. If you don't take it, you're selling out the kids. Either way, I'll probably rip you, and half the council will, too." She pauses for a beat. "Just glad I'm not the mayor." Carcetti is almost amused.

Col. Daniels summons Freamon to tell him word from down the chain is to open up the houses. They discuss adding manpower to the unit, and he offers Freamon any two bodies he wants from C.I.D.. If he gets the wire back up, Freamon can have additional manpower beyond that. On his way out, Freamon stops by to visit Det. Shakima "Kima" Greggs, who's got her feet up on the desk, talking about a hot woman at a bar and clearly enjoying her new digs. "How're you liking homicide?" he asks. "Love it. Why?" Freamon shrugs and walks off, one of his choices already made.

At the appliance store, Slim Charles enters to tell Prop Joe the delivery is on its way. Joe picks up a cell phone to make his promised call to Omar. Watching from his cab, already well aware that Cheese is now on the move, Omar puts in a call to his own people.

Over at Dennis "Cutty" Wise's gym, Namond tries to talk to Michael, who is working a bag, but gets ignored. Aware of his lowered standing, he makes a show of his bravado, taunting Dukie by calling him names, using one of the same insults that Kenard hurled at him: "Gump...dogs**t smellin' ass nigga." This gets Michael's attention: he turns and grabs Namond, throws him against a wall and begins smacking him. Cutty throws Michael out. Namond is left in tears. When the gym clears, Carver shows and he and Cutty both try to talk to Namond. "I can't go home," he tells Carver. His mother expects him to be his father, and, he concedes now, "that ain't in me." As for Michael, Namond references the brutal beating of Kenard and notes: "He 'ain't Mike no more." Cutty tells Carver privately that Namond certainly can't stay at the gym. Moreover, he regrets shutting Michael out at the very point when that boy might need help the most. He goes looking for Michael, leaving Carver to contemplate Namond.

By a row of industrial buildings, Omar and Renaldo suit up in armor and load their guns, as Kimmy, the woman from Butchie's bar, arrives in a torn housedress and imitation fur coat ready for action. Omar is amused at her get-up, though Kimmy is less so. Not far away, Cheese and his driver walk towards a small warehouse, and watch as a two-ton truck pulls in slowly. Kimmy appears, walking unsteadily and waving to the driver of the truck. As two warehouse security guards step out, Cheese and the driver standing alongside, Kimmy walks boldly up to them, looking high and singing, and plying her trade. "I'll suck your dick for fifteen," she says to one of the guards. They are dismissive and begin haggling with her, demanding that she leave.

Omar and Renaldo prepare their own side-winding approach as Kimmy keeps on it, and a van pulls in and parks - blocking the two-ton truck. Two Hispanic men get out, wearing coveralls and claiming they're painters, as Cheese and his people scream at them to leave. They play dumb and fumble with things behind the rear doors of the van. As Kimmy hikes her dress for the warehouse guards, Omar surprises one guard with a shotgun, Kimmy surprises the other with a holstered automatic from her thigh, and the Mexican painters emerge from the back of the with guns drawn, and Renaldo whistles from the roof, covering all of them with his weapon. Outmaneuvered, Cheese drops his pistol. When no one responds to Omar's request to open the truck, Kimmy shoots a guard in the ass. The Russian driver, cursing his confederates as "amateurs," opens the rear of the truck.

Back downtown, the Deacon pays a visit to Odell Watkins, asking him if he remembers Bunny Colvin. "Rogue police commander, tried to legalize drugs," Watkins says, as Colvin listens outside. Though Watkins seems reluctant to help such a man, The Deacon brings Colvin in to talk about "another bright idea," as Colvin himself puts it.

Cutty goes looking for Michael and finds only his mother, who tells him Michael left and got his "own spot," took his little brother with him, too. "You find that boy, you let him know I need some help around here," she says bitterly as Cutty leaves.

Namond is back in Carver's office, waiting for Colvin to pick him up. Carver pulls the former cop aside to tell him what the boy's mother said when he called her about her son's status: "'Put that bitch in baby booking...let him learn something.' She hung up before I could tell her there was no charge."

Up the block from Randy's house, a young thug from Tilghman calls 911 from a payphone and reports a cop being beaten and shot at a store elsewhere in West Baltimore. As the plainclothes car races off in response, two boys run by Randy's house and throw Molotov cocktails through the windows. Within seconds, the house fills with flames.

Prop Joe gets a visit from Cheese, who tells him about Omar's raid, his "commando squads" and how they cleaned them out, the entire shipment. Incredulous, Prop Joe asks about why no one fought back. Cheese insists it happened too quickly, noting that one of Omar's people pulled a weapon from her genitals. "S*** was unseemly," he remarks. Prop Joe acknowledges that while he was willing to let Omar take off that portion of the shipment destined for Marlo, he didn't see Omar's larger play coming. The two worry what they're going to tell the CO-OP -- everyone's screwed out of this one. "I say we go find this ****," Cheese says. "First thing they're gonna wonder about is us," Prop Joe tells him, worrying about how they'll prove to the co-op as a whole that they weren't in on it.

Cutty finds Michael on a corner hanging with Marlo's boys, including Monk. He tries to address the boy, but Michael brushes him off. "This here ain't you," Cutty tells him. Monk warns the coach to step away, and Cutty regards him dismissively. Monk pulls a gun and shoots Cutty in the thigh, dropping him, then points it at Cutty's head. Michael steps in and gently pushes Monk's arm away, until Monk and the others step off. Michael tells Cutty he'll wait for the ambulance, as a Korean storeowner comes out. "Go with your people," Cutty tells him, realizing that Michael has made his decision already. Michael pauses for a moment, then walks off into the night, leaving Cutty in the street bleeding.

Carver visits the University of Maryland hospital, where he checks in on the status of Miss Anna on a Burn Unit board: critical/stable condition, with second/third degree burns. He finds Randy in a family counseling room, tear tracks down his face, covered in cuts and minor burns. "I'm sorry, son," Carver says. "I'm gonna talk to social services. We'll get you some help." Randy refuses to look at him. When Carver turns to leave to begin making calls, Randy yells after him. "You gonna help, huh? You gonna look out for me?" He repeats himself, yelling louder, tears streaming, as a tormented Carver keeps walking.

godtabh

S04E13

"If animal trapped call 410-844-6286" -- Baltimore, traditional

Summary

Directed by: Ernest Dickerson
Story by: David Simon & Ed Burns
Teleplay by: David Simon

It's the holiday season and Sgt. Jay Landsman arrives at the Homicide unit whistling Christmas carols, stopping short when he sees some unseasonable red-new names, including John Does, being added to the board. Det. Edward Norris informs him it's all from Det. Lester Freamon, up early, rooting through vacants. Furious about Freamon's crusade to "make murders," Landsman turns his attention to a new case: Norris has a "sack in the box" - a guy who turned himself in for a murder, a guy claiming to have killed a fellow IV drug shooter with a "hot shot." When Landsman joins Norris in the interrogation room, he finds Bubbles, sober but getting sick from withdrawal, begging to be locked up for poisoning Sherrod with cyanide. As they question him, Bubbles vomits all over both detectives. Landsman heads off to wipe the spew from his Christmas tie and shirt. When he and Norris return from cleaning up, they find Bubbles, hanging from his belt. They race to get him down; he's still alive.

In an alley outside of some vacants, a sign on the plywood door reads: "If animal trapped call 844-6286." But these empty rowhouses are now swarming with cops, crime scene investigators and public works crews. Det. Shakima "Kima" Greggs and Freamon wonder how far the mausoleums stretch. "Only one way to find out," says Freamon, dialing his cell. He reaches the C.I.D. commander, Col. Cedric Daniels, who's with Deputy Commissioner for Operations William A. Rawls, Police Commissioner Ervin Burrell and Assistant State's Attorney Rhonda Pearlman at the staging area for the body bags - a gymnasium of a nearby empty and unused middle school. Rawls moans that it will take the labs a year to sift through the vaccumed and bagged dirt in the vacants in a search for trace evidence. When Daniels reports the prevailing suspicion is that the deaths are all related to the rise of Westside drug trafficker Marlo Stanfield, Burrell wants to know what his police department has on the target. Looking pointedly at Rawls, Daniels notes that they had wiretaps on Stanfield earlier, but they came down on those. Now it it may be too late -- Marlo may have changed his pattern by now. Rawls quietly eats the implied criticism of his political interference in the Major Crimes Unit and its casework. Seeing his opportunity, Daniels asks for manpower to search the thousands of vacant rowhouses in the city. Getting the okay, Daniels sets off to phone word to Freamon. Rawls warns Burrell that they're going to look bad with this case, and Daniels will be closer to "the throne" if he brings in the case. But Burrell's seemingly not worried. "He's a long way from my chair. As are you." He chastises his deputy for making his showing his own ambition and disloyalty, noting that Rawls made his move too soon, warning, "Don't you ever cross me like that again."

Landsman questions Bubbles as the paramedics, satisfied that all vital signs are normal, leave. Through fits and starts, Bubs explains that the tainted vial was for a guy who'd been beating on him, but Sherrod was dipping, something he knew even if it was unspoken. He blames himself for trying to help the kid, for taking him in and pretending to play at parenting: "Like I ain't know who I am, right? Like I pretendin' I ain't been a dope fiend my whole damn life." He begs to be locked up, but Landsman, hearing how it went down, thinks it over, walks out into the squadroom, and tells Norris he wants to throw this one back. Norris warns Bubbles might go off a roof if they cut him loose, so Landsman suggests D-Ward at Bayview. "Something with soft walls."

A quorum from the New Day Co-op confronts Proposition Joe Stewart and Slim Charles, as Marlo Stanfield and Chris Paltrow also look on. They don't want to pay twice for the same package, and they've decided Joe - being responsible for handling the shipment from the Greeks - needs to make this right. Joe explains that's not the nature of a Co-op: "Share in the good, share in the bad." When the other dealers show their reluctance, Joe agrees to pay for the replacement shipment, but after that, he threatens, the drug connection will be his alone and they can find new suppliers if they won't stand together now. That wins the argument. Still, Marlo wants to "talk" to who was in charge of the stash, but Joe says it was his nephew - and he won't give up Cheese. Instead he offers his drug connection, whose people were also there when the shipment was stolen, so Marlo can hear from him directly how it went down. Marlo seems mollified by the offer.

Meanwhile, Omar Little and Renaldo have been dividing up the shipment they hijacked from the New Day Co-op, but even after splitting it with their accomplices, Kimmy and Mexican boys, they tell Butchie they have "26 raw" left. Omar's not a drug dealer, he points out; he's not set up to put this on the street. Butchie jokes that Omar can sell it back to Proposition Joe for 20 cents on the dollar, cracking himself up at the affront that would be. But Omar realizes it's not such a bad idea; in fact, the effrontery of it gives him some certain pleasure.

Sgt. Ellis Carver gets on the phone with the state Department of Social Services' child custody workers, trying to find a spot for Randy Wagstaff in foster care, as the boy waits nearby on his bench, slowly hiding some cash inside the binding of one of his schoolbooks. Social services tells him the boy's only option is a group home, since his foster mother's in the hospital indefinitely and there's a wait list for foster care.

Freamon sends Greggs to round up Sgt. Thomas R. "Herc" Hauk, who's suspended without pay. He was the one who found the nail gun in his search of Chris and Snoop's SUV, and they need his help on that point, as they try to recover the nail he fired during the car stop - as ballistics can match it to the others at the crime scenes, even if they don't recover the actual nail gun. But obsessed with his own problems, Herc won't stop talking, trying to figure why he's getting jammed up by I.I.D. when Daniels gave him a slap on the wrist earlier. He shows Greggs and Det. William "Bunk" Moreland the spot where he pulled over Chris Paltrow and Felicia "Snoop" Pearson to search their car and fired the nail gun into the asphalt by Snoop's leg. As Herc keeps talking, not helping, Greggs and Bunk search the road hoping to find the nail. But all they find is an empty hole, the nail long gone. Finally, in response to Herc's rant, Bunk asks what he did, exactly. When Herc explains about the camera and the lies told in which probable cause was attributed to a made-up informant, Bunk and Greggs shake their heads in disbelief. "Son, they gonna beat on your white ass like it's a rented mule," Bunk tells him. Meanwhile, the patrol shifts in every Baltimore district mobilize to search every vacant displaying the kind of nails utilized by the bail gun, as the body count rises.

At the hospital, Dennis "Cutty" Wise is laid up with a fractured leg. The nurse, having looked at his past hospital records and knowing he has no insurance, assumes he's a gangster and - as a weary veteran of the drug wars herself - gives him hell for relying on the hospital to put him back together free of charge. Howard "Bunny" Colvin shows up and introduces himself -- Sgt. Carver suggested Cutty might be able to help him with Namond Brice. Cutty wants to know why Colvin cares, and Colvin admits that he has come to care about the youth.

Back by the vacants, a crowd has gathered as L'il Kevin's body is pulled from one of them, Bodie and Poot among those watching. Bodie starts to lose it, yelling about how wrong Marlo is to do all these killings. Poot tries to calm him down, but Bodie throws a fit, kicking and punching in the windows on a parked radio car. Det. James "Jimmy" McNulty sees Bodie go off, trying to explain to his fellow cops, "That's his friend in the bag." But Bodie's gone too far. He's cuffed and dragged toward a jail wagon.

Mayor Thomas "Tommy" Carcetti and mayoral aide Norman Wilson watch the national TV news reports of the bodies being found. The only good news is that it's knocked the disastrous school deficit off the front pages. Both problems should be on former Mayor Royce, Carcetti complains, but it's the new administration that is going to have to deal with the fallout. They review his options on the school problem with his new Chief of Staff: if he takes the money from the Governor, then the D.C. suburbs won't vote for him for governor in two years because he took money from suburban taxpayers to pay for city schools. But if he doesn't take the money and makes it to Annapolis, he could help Baltimore then, his Chief of Staff points out. Wilson says the schools can't afford to get any worse, even if they can't fix them, noting that Carcetti is the mayor of Baltimore right now. He urges Tommy: "Go back to Annapolis, eat his s**t."

Lonely for his friend, Duquan "Dukie" Weems walks by the dark shell of Miss Anna's row house, where there's no sign of life - including Randy.

At the appliance store, Proposition Joe, Slim Charles and Cheese review his handling of Marlo's suspicions. Cheese thinks he's putting their drug supply at risk by introducing the younger, volatile dealer to their connection, but Joe says he has no choice - he needs to reassure Marlo that Joe wasn't in on the heist. In the midst of their discussion, Omar shows up, surprising everyone with his nerve. He offers to sell them back their supply at 20 cents on the dollar. After his lieutenants threaten him, suggesting they might torture Omar and recover the drugs without paying any tribute, Omar replies by asking Joe whether he believes Omar will ever - even at the point of torture - give it up. Joe relents, realizing it's a better offer than having to replace the shipment at cost. As he's leaving, Omar remembers his repair slip, and Joe hands over his clock - ticking like new.

At home in front of the family Christmas tree, Carcetti reviews his options about the school deficit with his wife. "I think you'll do the right thing," she says, leaving Tommy to wonder what that is.

Dukie lets himself into Michael Lee's new crib with his key. Following the sounds of rhythmic music, he finds Michael in his room having sex. He backs away, the few remaining shards of his childhood stripped away, and takes refuge on his bottom bunk, after tucking Bug into the top bunk.

At the staging area of the gymnasium, as the body count builds to seventeen cases, McNulty wanders in, looking for Pearlman to put her A.S.A. signature on case he wants dropped - Bodie's vandalism of the radio car. He's unable to restrain his curiosity about the vacants, firing off questions as Bunk and Freamon taunt him. "If I was a police, I don't think I could hang back on it," Bunk says to Freamon, for McNulty's benefit.

Dukie arrives at his first day of Frederick Douglass High School, but as a group of bigger kids pushes by him aggressively, he loses his nerve, and turns back. Meanwhile back at Edward Tilghman Middle School, Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski presides over his class as they take the statewide test, with some students working away, others indifferent and a few angrily defeated. Ms. Duquette watches as the project class pores over their exams, exhibiting the same range of effort and ability.

Back at the gym, Daniels and Pearlman quiz Freamon, Bunk and Greggs on their progress. They've identified the model of the nail gun. They also report coming up empty on finding the nail Herc fired into the street weeks earlier, though they ordered up a metal detector and searched the block. Freamon is hopeful they'll get lucky in the trace work - hairs, fibers, maybe a blood sample - at the vacants, but all agree the next investigative move is to write search warrants and hope to catch Chris or Snoop with the offending nail gun, a murder weapon or some other evidence. Pearlman wants to know what probable cause she can use for the warrant application. The detectives cite Herc's previous discovery of the nail gun and other tools in their SUV. There is no law against owning power tools, Pearlman notes. Bunk argues that they have a witness that links Chris and Snoop to the murders - a reference to Randy Wagstaff's previous statements. But unwilling to cross Prez on this point, Freamon corrects him, saying they have a source, not a witness - a distinction that means they won't ask the boy to testify in court and therefore can't cite him as backing for the warrant. Frustrated, Bunk asks for an hour and leaves with Greggs behind him.

Colvin pays another visit to Cutty in the hospital, who tells him he was able to get word to Namond's father, who will talk to Colvin. On his way out, Colvin sets the nurse straight on Cutty - he's not a gangster, he got shot trying to pull a kid off a corner.

Greggs and Bunk pay a last visit to Lex's mother, who's distraught that she couldn't even see her son's body because it was so decayed. Bunk points out that they did the best they could with the information they had - a pointed criticism of her unwillingness to help the investigation earlier. Finally she tells them what she's heard that Snoop and Chris killed her boy.

At the D.S.S. child services offices, Carver pleads with a bureaucrat to find a solution for Randy that doesn't involve a group home. In frustration, he offers to become the boy's foster parent himself. But even that won't work - the screening process is three-to-four months and Randt can't be in Carver's custody in the meantime. Randy has to go back in the system, as per the court order that put him there in the first place.

With Chris and Snoop cuffed on the curb, Bunk, Greggs and Freamon - now armed with a good warrant - search the SUV. No nail gun or lyme is found; none of the tools that Herc saw earlier. No weapons either, but unable to believe these two would be "riding tame," Greggs roots around under the dash and finds a wire. Connecting it to the ignition wire, a secret drop box above the glove compartment pops open to reveal a pistol. "Ain't even our car," says Snoop.

Meanwhile, Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos sits between Marlo and Prop Joe, backing Joe and assuring Marlo that the rip off wasn't a set up. Marlo asks Vondas how he can be sure, and Vondas says he talked to his own people - "he looked into his soul," he says of his subordinate, indicating that he tortured the man to be sure. That settles Marlo, who accept Vondas's word, but tells his lieutenant Monk to put a tail on Vondas - not because the supplier is a problem, but to find out more about the man. Marlo tells Joe he'll get the $90,000 for his share to Joe in the morning and will hunt Omar once the heat from the investigation into the vacants calms down. Monk also tells him that Chris and Snoop have been popped on a gun charge and Marlo tells him to get the bail bondsman on it.

McNulty greets Bodie as he emerges from Central Booking, telling him he was the one who got him sprung and offering him lunch. They are glimpsed by Monk, arriving with the bondsman in tow. Vaguely curious, Bodie follows McNulty to his personal car. While Chris and Snoop are required to submit to blood and hair samples, per a court order obtained by Freamon and Greggs, along with the grand jury A.S.A., Bodie and McNulty enjoy lunch in the garden's of Northwest Baltimore's Cylburn Arboretum. Bodie insists he's no snitch, but McNulty gives him room to vent about the current state of his business, and being tired of being "them little bitches on the chessboard." Bodie talks himself into stepping up to put an end to "Marlo an' his kind." McNulty hears him out and acknowledges Bodie's integrity: "You're a soldier." Able to serve up this level informant to Freamon, McNulty will be back in the game.

At the visiting room at Jessup, Colvin talks to Wee-Bey. After reminiscing about their old adversarial roles as corner boy and patrolman, Colvin gets to the point of his visit: he cares about Namond and thinks he has real potential, and he wants Wee-Bey to let him go so he can have the opportunity to go places and do things neither one of them could. The corners have changed; the old codes have fallen. Namond will not last on those corners nowadays. "You askin' too much," says Wee-Bey. "Yeah, but I'm asking," counters Colvin.

Monk tells Marlo and Chris that he saw Bodie getting into a car with a white guy when he got out of Central Booking. Assuming it's police, Marlo orders Chris to have his "pup" take care of it, "get him started." Chris objects that Michael worked for Bodie, "First time, best be someone he ain't know." Marlo agrees. He tells Chris that Omar, having stolen the shipment, is now selling it back to Proposition Joe at thirty cents on the dollar – indicating that, unknown to Marlo, Joe is making an additional ten cents on the dollar above Omar's price.

Colvin returns to Tilghman, where Miss Duquette and Professor David Parenti have been waiting with Namond. He sends Namond outside and tells his colleagues that he suspects Wee-Bey will refuse to let Namond go, but they'll know tomorrow. Parenti informs him that tomorrow is a big day all-around: State Delegate Odell Watkins got them a half hour at the Mayor's office.

On his corner, Bodie's having a slow night, along with Poot and Spider, who is now working the corner. When Poot alerts him to Chris approaching, Bodie refuses to leave. "This is my corner. I ain' runnin'." He fires at the cars Snoop and Chris are ducking behind, as Poot pleads with him to run. Unable to convince Bodie to flee, Poot finally runs for cover, passing a young hooded boy - O-Dog, one of Snoop and Chris's trainees - who creeps up to Bodie and shoots him in the head. Bodie falls to the ground and is finished with a second shot to the head. He lays there dead, as O-Dog jogs off to join his mentors.

Working late, Carver puts a jacket over Randy, who has fallen asleep on the bench reading a comic book.

At City Hall, Colvin gets nervous waiting, having second thoughts about being in the meeting with Parenti, given his involvement in the failed drug legalization project the previous year - a project that Carcetti condemned publicly to gain attention and position himself for his mayoral run. When Colvin offers to excuse himself from the meeting, the secretary informs him the Mayor won't be in their meeting anyway, he's in Annapolis - the first indication that they are already being marginalized.

Chris, Snoop and Marlo pay a visit to Michael in his new crib - which the Stanfield organization has clearly provided. Marlo suddenly recognizes the ring around Michael's neck - the one he last saw when he relinquished it to Omar during the robbery of the card game. Marlo asks where he got it. "Took if from a nigga," says Michael, asking if he wants it, but Marlo, amused and fascinated, tells him to keep it. Marlo informs Michael they're giving him Bodie's corner, and that there's one "other thing" they have for him to do. Seeing Dukie getting Bug ready for school, Snoop asks Michael who it was they dropped for him. "Bug's daddy," Michael says, coolly. Bug shows no reaction.

Carver spots McNulty in the hall at Western District, asking if he heard about Bodie - shot dead on his corner. McNulty rushes to confirm it on the 24-hour reports, as Carver gets called back into the drug enforcement unit offices by an angry Lt. Dennis Mello, the shift commander, who has discovered that despite his insistence, Randy has not yet been remanded to D.S.S. custody. Mello orders the sergeant to do so immediately, then stalks out. Citing the money he keeps in the schoolbook binding, Randy offers his $230 in cash to Carver, suggesting maybe they can pay someone for a foster spot. But Carver realizes they are out of options.

Back at the Mayor's office, Colvin and Parenti meet with the Mayor's Chief of Staff and mayoral aide Jerilee Bennett, who see their project as "tracking, plain and simple" and are concerned they aren't teaching the curriculum, thereby leaving some of the kids behind. "As it is, we're leave 'em all behind. We just don't admit it," Colvin blurts out. When the meeting adjourns quickly - and it's clear that the pilot program is now doomed - Colvin is despondent, concerned he proved himself a liability in the meeting. "Seems like every time I open my mouth in this town, I'm telling people what they don't wanna know." Parenti assures him it wasn't him, it's the process. And this time, they didn't listen. But he's still optimistic about the great research they did and the attention it will get from academics. "Academics? What, they gonna study your study?" Colvin asks incredulously. "When do the s**t change?"

At Jessup, Wee-Bey meets with De'Londa to tell her he wants her to let Namond go. She balks at first, but Wee-Bey reminds her of his own status and what he can have done to her, even from prison. He then says, with some pride: "Man came down here to say my son can be anything he damn please." "Except a soldier," she retorts. Wee-Bey, doing life without parole, asks her to look around at the Jessup visiting room: "Who the f**k would wanna be that if they could be anything else, De'Londa?" he demands. He'll stick with her, he tells her, but she has to let go of the boy.

Omar meets Renaldo and Butchie in a garage with a duffel bag of cash, and pays some out to Butchie for his pains. Butchie asks if Omar was followed, but Omar tells him Joe had to play it clean - and agree to giving up the money before getting back his drugs. Joe had to admit that Omar's word was better than his own, Omar muses. They lock up the garage with the stolen drugs inside, in the back of a van, and Omar dials, leaving word with Joe of the address. As they all depart, leaving the shipment to be picked up, Butchie warns Omar that when you steal this much, "it ain't over."

Carcetti and Wilson burst into the office late night, back from Annapolis. Carcetti didn't take the money, he couldn't stand being made to beg for it - the Governor was going to call a press conference, showing Carcetti as a beggared supplicant. The Chief of Staff is pleased, but Wilson, thinking of the school system, is decidedly unhappy and leaves angrily.

McNulty grabs Poot on Bodie's corner, and making sure no one's watching, demands to know who killed Bodie. "Y'all did," Poot says. Word was he'd been seen talking to police. Not wanting the same fate, Poot tells McNulty to boot him off the corner and McNulty, feeling both guilty and angry, does.

Outside Tilghman Middle, Dukie waits for Prez before school, and presents him with a gift - a desk set. When Prez asks where his book bag is, Dukie lies that he's stopping home to get it before he goes to class. Sensing the lie, Prez tells the boy to stop by anytime, let him know how things are. In the project class, Miss Duquette informs her charges that the program is over and they'll be returning to regular class. Zenobia doesn't want to return, others are of mixed emotions. Colvin asks Namond how he feels. "This was alright...but maybe it's time," he says.

Beatrice "Beadie" Russell awakens to find McNulty up and thinking - even though he worked a late shift. He wants in on the investigation of the bodies in the vacants, he admits. He feels that he owes it to someone. She asks who and he references a kid who got killed. One of those in the vacants? No, they shot him down in street. McNulty thinks he may be different this time, he's changed - no more drinking and whoring. "You are different," she confirms, as they make love.

Feeling like a failure, Carver delivers Randy to a group home. The boy assures Carver it's OK: "You tried." But as he walks Randy inside and up the stairs to a room with bunk beds and older, feral looking kids, Carver feels even worse. He returns to his car and throws a tantrum born of frustration.

McNulty assures Col. Daniels he can handle returning to Major Crimes: "I think I can do this and keep myself away from myself, if that makes sense." Reversing the language of their first argument four years earlier, when the detail was forming to work the Barksdale case, Daniels tells him they aren't going to get Marlo Stanfield on street rips, it'll be "Either a wired C.I. or a Title Three." When McNulty starts to contradict him, Daniels shuts him down, throwing McNulty's words back at him. McNulty acquiesces: "Chain of command, Colonel."

Reviewing preliminary results from the state exam, Prez is in disbelief that his classes could have improved on math and reading, with a significant percentage showing themselves to be proficient with the material. Grace explains that "proficient" means at least two grades below their level, and "advanced" means at or a year below grade-level - that's how the scoring shows they've made progress. Prez is embarrassed at his naivete, but Grace assures him he's doing fine. In his class, he welcomes Zenobia, Albert and Namond back and when the returning Albert starts the day with a wisecrack, Zenobia and Namond ignore him, and Prez - with a look that no first-year teacher can manage - shames Albert into better behavior. Clearly, Prez is becoming a teacher.

At the gym, the body count is up to twenty two. Daniels and Freamon update Pearlman: there are no ballistics matches to link the weapons seized from Chris' truck to the murders, no prints on the weapons. They're in for the long haul, says Freamon, already worrying about how they can get back up on a wiretap or some other proactive means of investigating the Stanfield crew. Freamon asks Daniels why he chose to stage the body recovery operation out of the Lemel Middle School gym and Daniels replied that he knew the school was in the area and not being used, having been closed earlier. Daniels remarks that he went to school here. "Got a pretty good education, now that I think on it." He and Pearlman exit, leaving Freamon amid the bodies and a case that he will likely need months to bring home.

Having finally heard the news about Bubbles, Greggs brings Walon, Bubs' one-time N.A. sponsor, to Bayview Hospital to visit. He hasn't spoken to Bubs in a couple of years - since he was last on the wagon. "But if he's up in D-Ward, he's clean as a motherf**k right now," he notes. They head inside, but Greggs isn't up for a one-on-one visit. She watches through the window as Walon enters the ward and Bubbles, ashamed and in pain, collapses in tears in his sponsor's arms.

Over drinks with Coleman Parker, Wilson confides he can't believe Carcetti's political ambition wouldn't allow him to take the state money for the sake of the schools and the kids. Parker chastises him for being so naive: "They always disappoint," he says of politicians, before discussing what campaign he might sign up with next.

Walking up to a crowded drug corner, Michael takes down his first slinger with a gunshot straight to the forehead as Chris and Monk watch from the SUV. When he jumps in the car and they pull off, Chris knowingly tells him, "You can look 'em in the eye now. No matter who he is or what he done - you look 'em in the eye."

As Paul Weller's version of Dr. John's classic "Walk On Gilded Splinters" plays, the coming days and weeks and months play out. Wee Bey says goodbye to Namond in the visiting room and hands him off to Colvin. McNulty returns to Major Crimes and goes to the board to contemplate the photograph of Marlo Stanfield. Herc stoically attends his I.I.D. hearing and listens to the charges arrayed against him. Marlo and Chris stake out Vondas and Proposition Joe, beginning to learn whatever they can about the source of Baltimore's best heroin and cocaine. A weary and disgusted Colvin leaves Professor Parenti's well-attended research presentation early. Saddled with nearly two dozen open murders, Bunk reviews evidence with Det. Michael Crutchfield and Norris while Landsman observes the growing list of red names on the board. Ever closer to the seat of power, Pearlman and Daniels lunch with Carcetti as State Sen. Clayton "Clay" Davis and Burrell - now ever more the political outsiders - look on. Prez sits in his car, watching Dukie working a corner with Poot, as Michael - now the man in charge - drives off in an SUV. Prez himself is forced to drive away when he is offered drugs by Kenard - now also working the corner for Michael, and no doubt unlikely to cheat Michael as he did Namond, given the beating he received. At the group home, Randy returns to his room to find graffiti marking him as a snitch on his bunk, as well as the binding of his textbook ripped open, the money gone. The older boys stalk in and glare at him and Randy resolves to get in at least one good punch before being beaten. Cutty, on crutches, is back to coaching at his boxing gym - with the hospital nurse now fully charmed and by his side. Carcetti wearies of budget meetings, where - without the state bailout - the dollars do not add up. Carver lectures ever younger kids outside the abandoned factory hangout before running them off, then spots the graffiti on the wall as he leaves: Namond, Michael, Randy, Dukie, Donut, Kenard and others, with the mockingly false phrase: "Fayette Mafia Crew 4evah." In his new crib, Michael works on homework with Bug in a quiet, placid moment as, suddenly, we return to Michael being awakened from this dream-like reverie in the back of Chris's SUV - time to dump the gun. He hands if off to Monk, who opens the door and drops it into a storm drain before they drive off into night.

Early morning, on the Colvins' porch, Namond finishes both his breakfast and his homework assignment before school as Mrs. Colvin warns him he's going to be late. He goes inside and is told to go back out and retrieve his plate. As he does, an SUV rolls by, music blaring as the driver slows. Namond nods at Donut, who nods back before accelerating down the street, nearly getting broadsided as he runs a stop sign. Namond watches the SUV roll away, leaving behind a quiet Baltimore neighorhood that is his new home, in a new life.

tvnutz

Just after looking at Sky Guide and the Wire is on TG4 in 10 minutues, 12am. By the description it seems to be the first episod eof season 4 for those who havn't seen it,or for those you want to rewatch what I reckon is probably the best season of the show!

godtabh

tvnutz wrote: »

Just after looking at Sky Guide and the Wire is on TG4 in 10 minutues, 12am. By the description it seems to be the first episod eof season 4 for those who havn't seen it,or for those you want to rewatch what I reckon is probably the best season of the show!

I love the amount of advance warning! Seriously how can a show like this not get more publicity?

tvnutz

I gave people a whole 10 minutes! I just flicked onto it and saw it there. Sadly this show will always be treated like that and I have made it my mission to get as many people as possible to watch it by lending them the dvds!

godtabh

tvnutz wrote: »

I gave people a whole 10 minutes! I just flicked onto it and saw it there. Sadly this show will always be treated like that and I have made it my mission to get as many people as possible to watch it by lending them the dvds!

I might start sticky on this

Johnnio13

Missed the start of this season (S4) on TG4. Would anyone have a box set they are selling/lending.

I is honest.....:)

I will return it once watched. Dublin area.

tvnutz

Johnnio13 wrote: »

Missed the start of this season (S4) on TG4. Would anyone have a box set they are selling/lending.

I is honest.....:)

I will return it once watched. Dublin area.

4th season not out until March on dvd,I would say Xtra-Vision will get it into rent then.

godtabh

tvnutz wrote: »

4th season not out until March on dvd,I would say Xtra-Vision will get it into rent then.

Eh you have to pay boards for advertising ya big shil!

Johnnio13

thanks TVNUtz

tvnutz

kearnsr wrote: »

Eh you have to pay boards for advertising ya big shil!

lol...definatly not my intention,I work there,but doesn't mean I like working there! Far too lazy to get another job

godtabh

tvnutz wrote: »

lol...definatly not my intention,I work there,but doesn't mean I like working there! Far too lazy to get another job

Ah only taking the piss