Ernest Waddell

Bunk and Freamon chase their crime scene, a container ship, to Philly, where none of the crew finds it useful to speak English. Lt. Cedric Daniels--disgusted with his exile to the evidence control unit--lets it be known he's going to leave the department. On orders from Barksdale, Bell finds a way to set up the correctional officer, Tilghman, who's been harassing Wee-Bey. McNulty pursues the identity of the Jane Doe found floating in the harbor. A pair of young longshoremen--Frank Sobotka's son Ziggy and his nephew Nick--heist a container of digital cameras and sell them to men working for The Greek. After an ominous visit from his uncle, Avon Barksdale, D'Angelo agrees to stop getting high in prison, a wise move in more ways than one.

Omar continues his bold strikes on Barksdale stash houses, now heavily guarded. Under orders from Stringer Bell, Bodie faces a critical test against Marlo, a fierce young dealer with lucrative corners near the now-toppled Franklin Terrace towers. As the wire on East Baltimore's Proposition Joe continues to yield little, a restless McNulty launches his own reinvestigation of last year's prison suicide of D'Angelo Barksdale. Greggs is also restless at work, but on the home front, she's chafing at the domesticity that a partner and infant demand. On the street, bodies continue to drop, prompting Burrell and Rawls to jack up the heat on their district commanders. Burrell himself is feeling heat from Councilman Carcetti and reaches an uneasy peace with the legislator. The street violence also presents Daniels with the difficult decision of whether to help end a drug war in the Eastern--at the cost of giving up a months-long wiretap. Cheese loses more than a little on his bet at a bloody dogfight and later is hauled downtown for questioning as a murder suspect by Bunk and McNulty. A beleaguered Cutty, once a fierce power in the life, attempts to get on track, seeking employment outside the drug world. Carver, Herc and the Western drug unit take to the street undercover, but a hand-to-hand drug buy goes sour, prompting Major 'Bunny' Colvin, the district commander, to question his thirty years on the force and the legacy of his career.

Frustrated in his grass-roots reform efforts, Colvin arms himself with intelligence from Daniels's detail and personally delivers a message to the next level of corner management. McNulty sees Stringer Bell's legitimate business dealings as a sign that he is now unreachable as a drug target. Bubbles shakes the tree for Johnny one more time; Carcetti quietly seeks to fix the program for protecting state's witnesses after another one is killed; Omar struggles with dissention in the ranks; Stringer hard-sells his new business model to an underwhelmed Marlo. Greggs's surveillance gives McNulty reason to smile, and then he takes an interest in politics. Cutty flexes his muscle and continues to slide back into the life; and Avon returns from prison.

With Amsterdam running full-tilt, Carver and Truck discover there really is no honor among thieves. Prez impresses the detail with what he's found out from Bodie's cell phone, information that sends McNulty and Greggs on a road trip. Colvin sees the benefits of his plan working, but has overlooked the human toll, until the Deacon points out the deficiencies. Stringer Bell fumes over the cost of being a developer, as state Senator Clay Davis attempts to cool him off with some easy money, and then delivers on his promise of a federal housing connect. Carcetti confronts a hurdle he must clear if he wants to run for higher office, while Marlo appears to take the bait set by the Barksdale crew. Cutty is shown the possibilities for the future with a tour of a working gym, while the Western District cops toss back a few and weigh the merits of Amsterdam and their loyalty to their commander. Brianna and McNulty sit down for a heart-to-heart, while Avon dispatches the troops to track Omar and wrestles with a revelation by Stringer.

Stringer Bell gets an education in construction management; Bunk uses shoe-leather to catch up with Omar and deliver a searing message; a frustrated Colvin unleashes the troops on the corner boys, ignoring his new edict; Avon sends Cutty and Slim Charles against Marlo; Bubbles refocuses the picture for Greggs; Donette receives Brianna's blessing of her hookup with Stringer and lets slip that McNulty visited about Dee. Daniels keeps up the front of marriage to Marla as she pursues a new career at City Hall; McNulty backdoors Daniels with a visit to Colvin; and Burrell hears from the mayor that he should take Baltimore's rising body count very personally.