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There are nuggets of insight along with the descriptions. The descriptions are just reminders of which episode is which: they blend together sometimes. I promise that the descriptions will get shorter.

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See, the descriptions are shorter already

1.4 “Old Cases” We learn Omar is gay and he hooks up the less fortunate addicts in the community and Avon puts a mighty price on Omar’s head. Bodie literally just walks out of the juvenile facility – that seems like a place where there should be better security. Bunk and McNulty investigate an old case attributed to D’Angelo and they shine in one of the finest and profanity-laced scenes ever put to film. I screen this scene for my film class to illustrate storytelling. Freamon tells his backstory of being Homicide and getting sent to property because he did his job well. He also offers McNulty a bit of advice: when they ask you where you want to go, don’t say anything. Unfortunately for McNulty, it’s too late for that. Daniels gets the okay to move toward cloning pagers and I am heartened to learn that it takes a crap ton of work to get access to that info.

1.5 “The Pager” This episode feels so antiquated. Avon tells Wee-Bay to remove the phones from his girlfriend’s apartment. Most folks don’t have landlines anymore. Plus, Avon drives around to choose what pay phone to use. I can’t remember the last time I saw a payphone. They killed a crap ton of trees to make it happen but now the pagers are cloned. I sincerely hope that the process is electronic now. The final sequence showing how Wallace and Poot spot Omar’s boy, relay the info to D’Angelo who relays it to Stinger is fascinating. The back and forth on the police computer screen showing the hit go down was a cool way to visualize the “action” (as ancient as those visualizations look). I also think it’s interesting that D’Angelo seems to have reservations about what’s about to go down. He has two bodies on him, so I wonder is he concerned about the youngster’s involvement in wet work. Selling drugs is one thing, conspiracy to commit murder and murder for hire are in a whole other ballpark.

DWilson

As I remember it, the third season updated a lot of the processes that were established in the first season. I remember the show taught me the concept of "burner" phones.

Timber

I loved the line about not telling them where you don't want to go. It's dropped early in the season and pays off.

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1.5 “The Pager” This episode feels so antiquated. Avon tells Wee-Bay to remove the phones from his girlfriend’s apartment. Most folks don’t have landlines anymore. Plus, Avon drives around to choose what pay phone to use. I can’t remember the last time I saw a payphone. They killed a crap ton of trees to make it happen but now the pagers are cloned. I sincerely hope that the process is electronic now. The final sequence showing how Wallace and Poot spot Omar’s boy, relay the info to D’Angelo who relays it to Stinger is fascinating. The back and forth on the police computer screen showing the hit go down was a cool way to visualize the “action” (as ancient as those visualizations look). I also think it’s interesting that D’Angelo seems to have reservations about what’s about to go down. He has two bodies on him, so I wonder is he concerned about the youngster’s involvement in wet work. Selling drugs is one thing, conspiracy to commit murder and murder for hire are in a whole other ballpark.
1.6 “The Wire” I question the world we live in where you can have eight children living together in an abandoned building with no running water and bootleg electricity. I also question just how trifling the Barksdale organization is for leaving that body across the street from the hoppers’ “house.” Wallace tells D’Angelo straight-up that he can’t handle what they did. Major Rawls tries to screw the entire investigation but his stopped by Daniels and Burrell. One thing this show does extremely well is showing what a bunch of trifling, backstabbing assholes occupy all levels of law enforcement. Omar spills all the tea about Barksdale as revenge for his lover’s murder.

1.7 “One Arrest” Based on Omar’s tip, Bird is arrested for Brandon’s murder. He mouths off a wee bit too much and gets a major beatdown. Just because he can, Omar lets info on another murder slip. The police didn’t need wiretaps to get Barksdale; they just needed Omar. Poor Wallace is getting high to numb his guilt – he’s not cut out for this business. Stringer has the pawns rip out the pay phones in the pit for security reasons. That certainly puts a damper on the case. Senator Clay ‘Sheeet’ Davis makes his first appearance but we don’t get to hear his signature word pronunciation. After basically flipping off everyone in the department, McNulty is shook to learn that Rawls is after his badge. I’m shocked more folks aren’t trying to bounce him from the dept.

1.8 “Lessons” Wallace continues his descent into depression and Davis’ aide comes out of the Towers with a bag full of cash. Burrell and Internal Affairs is mad about the cash, orders Daniels to give it back, and shut everything down. Drug money goes everywhere and the brass is not here for that. McNulty lets Daniels have it which, given what Rawls is trying to do to him, doesn’t seem like a great idea Seriously, McNulty does not know how to win friends and influence people. Even Bunk tells him that he’s no good for people. The Judge intervenes and tells Burrell he’ll charge him with contempt if the wire comes down early. Stinkum throws a party to celebrate his promotion and it’s nothing but alcohol, drugs, and sexual assault. Omar takes out Stinkum and puts a slug in Wee-Bay’s leg. D’Angelo begins to question his career choices after the dead stripper situation. It also becomes clear that Stringer with his Macroeconomics class and the legit business is looking at a life after drug dealing. I like that the show gives us more than the standard drug dealer troupe.

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1.9 “Game Day” the whole city turns out for a basketball game between Avon and Prop Joe (his first appearance). Freamon and Greggs bring in Shardene, the stripper D’Angelo has been seeing. After They show her what happened to the girl from the party, Shardene bounces. Omar jacks more of Avon’s stash, gives it to Prop Joe in exchange for contact info on Avon, and Joe does unleash Omar’s predatory ass on his rival. It’s not Avon’s day but he does survive the hit at least. Freamon follows the property and the money, much to Daniels’ dismay, and it goes into politics. Bubbles goes to a family member and tries to get clean.

1.10 “The Cost” D’Angelo connects with Wallace and essentially pushes him out of the game. He tells him to go back to school and gives him some money to get himself together. McNulty finds Wallace and he snitches about the murder of Omar’s boy toy. He won’t put D’Angelo in the jackpot for the murder of the young lady. Omar leaves town after a parlay with Stringer Bell that was way too easy. Shit gets real when they use Orlando to set up Barksdale’s crew and Greggs gets shot (Orlando is killed). I remember when I first saw this I was so pissed at the thought they would kill Greggs. It’s not like this show is awash with female characters.

1.11 “The Hunt” McNulty is in shock and Rawls is actually helpful in a profanity-laced, honest sort of way. Freamon marshals the squad to get on the wire in case there is any chatter. He also has to remind someone to contact Greggs’ girlfriend. They were not ready to deal with same-sex relationships in Balto PD. The Commissioner won’t even talk to Cheryl when she is finally notified and makes it to the hospital and Daniels calls her Greggs’ roommate. I sincerely hope things are better for LGBTQ police. Bubbles tries to get in contact with Greggs because he doesn’t know what happened and he is beatdown by another detective for no damn reason and then he lies about why he beat Bubbles. McNulty threatens the Barksdale lawyer to get Savino in bracelets while Wee-Bay goes to ground and asks D’Angelo to take care of his fish. Man has a really, really nice aquarium setup. Burrell has them raid everything. Daniels realizes he has a snitch in his unit and Carver and Herc help themselves to some of the seizure money. Seriously, damn near everyone is dirty.

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1.12 “Cleaning Up” Screw David Simon and screw Ed Burns for this episode. Barksdale cleans house and so Bodie and Poot take out Wallace. I cannot overstate how much that scene breaks my heart. Avon sends D’Angelo to NY to reup since the previous episode’s seizure turned a $60K a day operation to basically nothing. McNulty and Daniels tell D’Angelo about Wallace and he doesn’t believe him. When he asks Stringer about Wallace, there’s no answer so D’Angelo tells Stringer and the lawyer to piss off. Daniels finally mans up against Burrell and Burrell brings up the FBI file because he wants the case done. I love how Daniels calls his bluff. They arrest Avon and tell Stringer they’ll see him later.

1.13 “Sentencing” Greggs is awake and she fingers one of her shooters and Bunk tries to encourage her to ID Wee-Bey. She doesn’t go for it. Barksdale relocates to a funeral home and puts the organization in the hands of Stinger and his sister. D’Angelo drops a dime on Wee-Bey’s location and puts him in for the f-bomb murder. Carver leapfrogs Herc for a Sgt posting because it turns out he’s Burrell’s snitch. Let’s be clear, Herc should never be in a position of leadership. Levy negotiates pleas for everyone and everyone gets off light except Wee-Bey who takes the wrap for everything including some bodies he didn’t even do. D’Angelo takes the weight and gets 20 years. Freamon ends up back in Homicide and McNulty is on the boat – the very place he said he didn’t want to be in the pilot episode.

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2.1 “Ebb Tide” How do the drugs get into the country? This season looks into that by focusing on the docks and how the decrease in manufacturing work strangles the working class and leads folks in some interesting directions. This season introduces my least favorite character in all of TV history: Ziggy (Connor from Angel is a close second). Frank looks the other way when questionable cargo comes through the port courtesy of The Greeks, but he gets more than he bargains for when a container has 12 dead girls in it. Barksdale’s supplier is getting squeezed by the Feds so no more supply. Things are getting tight.

2.2 “Collateral Damage” Valchek gets his underwear in a bunch over a church window so he gets Burrell to put together a squad to investigate the union. McNulty makes sure that the dead girls get assigned to Homicide (to Bunk and Freamon no less) and The Greeks find out what happened to the girls on the boat. Lot’s of setup but not much else. It is interesting that the only folks who seem to care about the girls themselves are McNulty (though after a minute or two he is more concerned about sticking it to Rawls) and poor Beadie.

2.3 “Hot Shots” Omar is back home, has a new partner, and is up to his old tricks when he runs into a female rip-and-run duo. Daniels is going to retire now that they have him in evidence control. Prez is in charge of Valchek’s detail but, Burrell sent him humps. Valchek loses his crap and tells Burrell to come correct, complete with putting Daniels on the detail. One of the prison guards is being a total dick toward Wee-Bey so Stringer sets him up: since the guard is running drugs, they lace them with poison and drop a dime.

2.4 “Hard Cases” There are five dead in the prison and eight more in the infirmary due to the bad package. It’s time to shave some years off sentences if you want to find out what happened. Avon is an evil genius and D’Angelo wants no part of it. It’s cute that Ziggy had to Nick how digital cameras work. Daniels gets the band back together except for McNulty and Carver. Greggs’ and Daniels’ spouses are NOT happy to learn that they’re back in the field. The camera movements cutting back and forth between their dinner tables was creative.

2.5 “Undertow” Method Man beats Zippy up and jacks his ride over a package. Hey, if you owe Method Man money, you should probably pay up on time. Ziggy got nerve to blame the drug dealers for his predicament. Seriously dude? Carver comes back to the detail. Frank wants out but the Greeks triple the money and it’s hard to say no.

2.6 “All Prologue” In the second-best scene behind the f-bomb, Omar testifies against Bird. The defense attorney didn’t know what hit him. Omar may have been lying about what he saw but when he told Levy that they were basically the same, he was speaking the truth. We have another screw you David Simon and screw you Ed Burns for D’Angelo’s murder. He should have gone into witness protection but instead, Stringer set it up and made it look like suicide. Kudos for the foreshadowing using “The Great Gatsby.” It trips me out how during the union meeting everyone got bent out of shape when a black character used the term Polack (I had to look up how to spell it) but the nobody is checking the white guys for their liberal use of the n-word.

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2.7 “Backwash” Daniels takes over the murder cases and they try to get wire taps. D.A. Pearlman tells them that if their targets were selling drugs, it would be easy but since they’re selling women, no dice. Hello patriarchy. McNulty goes on an epic bender after his wife doesn’t want to reconcile. Why on earth would she take him back?

2.8 “Duck and Cover” Daniels flexes his muscle with Rawls and gets McNulty detailed with him. Ziggy buys a duck, drapes it with a diamond necklace, and takes it drinking. This guy. Frank realizes that their operation is under surveillance. You would think that if law enforcement was going to flag your account, they would also put a note saying “don’t tell the suspect that they’re account is flagged” note in there as well. Bodie and Poot take over another crew’s corner when the tower’s business dries up.

2.9 “Stray Rounds” The crew Boodie and Poot moved come back and can’t none of them aim for shit. A stray bullet kills a child in one of the apartments and we meet Colvin for the first time at the scene. He was disillusioned from jump. Turns out The Greeks have a mole inside the FBI, that’s interesting. What’s more interesting is the fact that McNulty literally has sex with two prostitutes when they’re raiding the brothel. There are no words for that level of nonsense. Brother Maouzone enters the scene and is set to screw up a sweet deal between Stringer and Prop Joe.

2.10 “Storm Warnings” Ziggy caps one of the Greeks and his assistant and doesn’t have the presence of mind to leave the scene right away. He gets busted and signs a confession. Valcheck gets impatient and goes to the feds. Since the feds have a mole, the Greeks know everything, and they switch up. Prez grows a pair and punches his father-in-law; a punch Valcheck richly deserved. Anachronism alert: someone has to explain text messages to McNulty. The squad types up warrants while the Greeks dump their phones and destroy evidence. So close.

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2.11 “Bad Dreams” The illustrious Ernest Dickerson directed this episode. Stringer Bell tries to cover his ass by blaming Brandon’s death on Brother Mouzone. Omar goes after him but after the bullets finish flying, Mouzone tells the truth so he lives. The squad rolls up what’s left of their case. All the votes for Frank’s beloved projects have walked away so all that dirt was for nothing. Frank offers to spill all the tea in return for Nick and Ziggy getting probation. He’s ready to deal now but Pearlman tells him to come back when he has a lawyer. Why on earth would you do this? Just have him call a lawyer and meet him where he is. This gives your snitch time to change their mind or time to get got. And since the feds put it out there that Frank is cooperating, the snitch knows, and Frank gets got.

2.12 “Port in the Storm” Nick takes his uncle’s place as a snitch but they just miss The Greek. The squad does turn the 14 container murders from red to black. Carver wants to move to Colvin’s district. Greggs and McNulty figure out that Prop Joe and Stringer Bell are doing dirt together and the Fed comes clean to Daniels about the mole. Gotta love the fact that the feds were willing to let the Greeks get away with all that dirt given how gung-ho they were to destroy a union that wasn’t nearly as dirty. This season was such a letdown after the first one though the underlying idea of “how do the drugs get into the US” should have been an interesting question to answer.

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3.3 “Dead Soldiers” Kima is doing her best McNulty impersonation and it’s not pretty. McNulty does finally figure out that D’Angelo’s death wasn’t a suicide. It’s also difficult to watch Burrell and Rawls eat their own in those COMSTAT meetings. Can we say hostile work environment boys and girls? Seriously, they’re unionized, someone should file a complaint. Omar is like a dog with a bone about the Barksdale organization and it gets one of his crew killed. Stinger goes on an epic rant about 40-degree days that I place on Facebook feed every year. Baltimore may not care about 40-degree days but in Michigan in February, we LOVE 40-degree days.

3.4 “Hamsterdam” I do love how the show handled the death of Robert Colesberry. They could have just had the character disappear since characters do that; but they wrote his death into the show and gave his character a lovely sendoff with that Irish Wake (something that we’ll see again later). Colvin continues to try in vein to get Hamsterdam off the ground. You know, the slingers have every reason to be suspicious about this proposition. I kinda wish Freamon had punched McNulty: he kinda has it coming.

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3.5 “Straight and True” Since Colvin doesn’t have luck with the hoppers so he tries to convince middle management to cooperate with his legalization program. Cutty gives lip service to the straight-and-narrow but it doesn’t take. Stringer has everyone except Marlo involved in the co-op and Marlo isn’t biting. Avon is released from jail.

3.6 “Homecoming” Omar and Bunk have a heart-to-heart which was stunning to watch. The disconnect between Stringer Bell, who wants to go legit, and Avon who wants to stay gangsta and go to war with Marlo, makes itself known. Bubbles tells Greggs about the mounting drug war and McNulty, in true fashion, goes behind Daniels’ back to Colvin. I don’t understand why Daniels didn’t bounce McNulty on his ass right then and there. Cutty finally realizes that the game isn’t in him any more and this is where his story really gets interesting IMHO. We meet Snoop and Paltrow for the first time.

3.7 “Back Burners” The Barksdale organization is the target once again which is kinda funny. McNulty burnt his last bridge because he believes Stringer is the goal. Stringer just wants to be legit without the bodies so he really shouldn’t be the target. All this shows that it’s personal for McNulty.

3.8 “Moral Midgetry” McNulty shows his ass again when talking to a county cop who he assumes he’s a racist – not knowing county cop is married to a black woman. Oops. Colvin’s squad is having problems with Hamsterdam. Now Colvin’s way of concentrating everything is probably not the way to go, but legalization would probably free them up to do more meaningful police work. The Deacon convinces Colvin to do some needle exchanges, HIV testing, etc., stuff he probably should have been doing from the beginning. I like that Melvin Williams who plays Deacon was the inspiration for Avon. He reports a 12% drop in crime overall. Stringer starts running with the political scam artists and he doesn’t know what hit him. Tisk, tisk. Carcetti gets coaching on how to be personable – it will be interesting to watch all those techniques on blast during the upcoming election season. Stringer and Avon come to blows after Avon tries to set up Marlo but ends up shot himself. It’s funny because Avon was right when he said Stringer bleeds green and Avon bleeds red. At the same time, Avon accused Stringer of being soft and Stringer came back with the D’Angelo hit. They’ve been friends for decades and Avon missed who Stringer had become.

3.9 “Slapstick” McNulty leaves his kids home alone so he can attend to a booty call. It’s rare for me to keep watching a show whose main character is such an asshole. He’s not even an anti-hero; he’s just a mess. Stringer okays a hit on Omar on Sunday morning. They put a hole in his grandmother’s crown, who the hell does that? Slim Charles lays into the shooters and Omar is rightfully livid. Cutty runs head-first into the bureaucracy while trying to open a boxing gym. McNulty and Prez respond to a shots fire call and Prez kills someone. Turns out that someone was an undercover. This is what happens with a shoot first mentality. Prez turns in his badge. Herc, upstanding police that he is, drops the dime on Hamsterdam to the press. What became really clear in the last two episodes is how much disdain some of the police have for everyone in Hamsterdam.

3.10 “Reformation” Colvin speaks the truth about the difference between soldiering and policing. Carver learns the lesson and begins his transformation. He successfully keeps the press off his back for a minute. Carcetti agrees to sell out Gray so he can ease his way into the Mayor’s seat. Gray’s gotta stay in the race to split the black vote so Carcetti can win. We do learn that Barksdale sent Omar’s grandmother a new church crown. The co-op tells Stringer that if he doesn’t bring Avon to the table, they are cut off. Colvin tells the truth at Comstat and the looks on Burrell and Rawls’ faces as it dawns on them what Colvin did, were priceless. Themayor loses his crap too. I think this storyline plays differently if it happened today. Legalization and the corresponding 14% drop in crime would be celebrated in many cities and states. Nice touch showing us that Rawls is gay- there are jerks in every community.

3.11 “Middle Ground” Brother Mouzone and Omar meet to discuss their mutual enemy. Levy educates Stringer on the con Davis just ran on him. Say what you want about Avon, and there is a lot to say, but when Cutty came to him and asked for help with the gym, he was there for it. Stringer snitches to Colvin which, from a money and peace standpoint, was the right thing to do. Mouzone goes to Avon and the latter sells out Stringer. From a reputation and peace standpoint, that was the right thing to do. In their last meeting, Stringer and Avon both know that the other has set them up. Gotta love the fact that the feds lied to a judge to get up on Stringer’s phone. In the end, Omar and Mouzone get Stringer; damn you David Simon.

3.12 “Mission Accomplished” McNulty is depressed that he didn’t get to put bracelets on Stringer Bell and my life is poorer for the fact that I don’t get to look at Idris Elba anymore. One of my favorite moments in the entire series is when Bunk and McNulty search Stringer’s house and McNulty asks: “who the fuck was I chasing?” They had no idea. Though Rawls has spent two episodes trying to figure out what to do about Hamsterdam, the press gets ahold of it thanks to Burrell snitching to Carcetti. This is what happens when you have a hostile work environment: folks don’t hesitate to snitch. Burrell makes a deal with the mayor that ensures he’ll be the permanent commissioner in exchange for taking the heat. Props to Burrell for having a plan but wouldn’t it be nice if politics wasn’t so cutthroat? They slam Colvin’s new job on the way out, bust him to Lt which takes part of his pension just to be spiteful, and threatens everyone under his command. Thankfully, Brodie walks since it’s basically entrapment. McNulty leaves the squad and seeks out Beadie. Daniels gets promoted and Burrell has the nerve to say that not everything is political. Wasn’t that part of the point of this season, that everything is political?

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4.1 “Boys of Summer” I love the opening scene with the Home Depot guy discussing nail guns with Snoop. She learned and tipped well. It’s a hilarious scene in a scary sort of way. Reg E. Cathey joins the cast and he’s great. Freamon is flummoxed by the fact that Marlo’s crew isn’t making bodies. Goodness gracious they are going to be shocked come mid-season. Can’t say I was sad to see Fruit get got. Prez becomes a teacher which follows Ed Burns’ personal journey. This season breaks my heart more than any other. We see where Namond, Michael, Randy, and Dookie begin in this episode and where they end up just sucks.

4.2 “Soft Eyes” Herc has moved to the mayor’s detail and catches Glynn Turman in a compromising position. Freamon gets Pearlman to hand out subpoenas right before the Primary-she’s not amused. We get our first Clay Davis Sheeet moment when Sydnor serves him. The rant he unleashes in the mayor’s office is epically hilarious. Marlo bribes every kid in town with back to school money which is a good way to ensure loyalty. Michael’s the only one that’s not scared or impressed and unfortunately, Marlo respects that. It’s nice to see Carver took Colvin’s advice to heart and is taking an interest in the community he’s policing.

4.3 “Home Rooms” Gotta love Omar strolling the block in his green pajamas and slippers, in search of Honey Nut Cheerios and the drugs literally drop at his feet without him even asking. Colvin’s working hotel security and it’s clear you can’t take the cop out of the man especially when someone else commits a crime. Major Crimes gets a new commander and he’s there to reign them in after the subpoenas dropped. Freamon thought he saw all the angles on the subpoena front but Rawls came up with a move he didn’t see coming. Prez does not have the hang of teaching. Cutty’s ex keep bailing him out. My one beef is that characterization of the academic Colvin works with. Not all of us speak only in jargon and we most certainly have enough common sense to know not to provoke a hostile corner boy whether he’s cuffed for not.

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4.4 “Refugees” Greggs and Freamon join homicide. Poor Greggs is only there five minutes when she gets screwed: she’s assigned the case of a murdered witness. Poor Brodie is under Marlo’s thumb and that organization is mad disrespectful toward everyone. We see the financial disfunction of the school system: kids only need to show up once per month so the schools keep their federal funding. The students know the game so they get their day and move on. Colvin and our wayward academic get permission to operate in the middle school. Cutty works with Michael and it is painfully clear that he has been sexually abused. Cutty doesn’t have the training to recognize what’s going on and the audience isn’t told yet but the signs are neon blinking lights.

4.5 “Alliances” Prez continues to be the worst teacher and Greggs’ case hits the media forcing her to be publicly humiliated twice for some crap she had no control over. You have to hand it to Prop Joe: he finally figured out a way to get Marlo to join the co-op and all he had to do is put Omar in his crosshairs. Yikes. In the same vein as Barksdale, Marlo retaliates against by taking out an innocent bystander. Folks might diss Omar but as he said on the stand; he never put his gun on a citizen. That makes me wonder why Bunk believed the shop owner to put Omar in the jackpot for killing a security guard.

4.6 “Margin of Error” There is nothing more awkward than white politicians in black churches during election season. In what is one of my biggest WTF moments for this show, we get Namond’s mom telling him to man up and sell drugs to support them. It’s clear Namond is not cut out for this and I get that she’s in a jacked-up position with Wee-Bey in jail but damn. On the other hand, it is the family business. If Namond’s head was in it, he would end up like D’Angelo. After being named as a co-conspirator to a sexual assault, Randy lets info about a murder slip. Prez shows loyalty to his student by keeping Randy’s name out of the system as long as he could. The things we do for our students. Omar gets locked up and thankfully, McNulty doesn’t believe this is Omar’s handy work so he lets Omar call Butchie and arrange protection. Carcetti wins the primary and because it’s Baltimore, that means he is the next mayor.

4.7 “Unto Others” You know, the comedy of screwups that led to Randy getting screwed is tragic on so many levels. Herc is so busy trying to get his camera back that he baggers the kid. The homicide detective is so in his feelings about Bunk thinking Omar is innocent that he throws away a phone message for Bunk. Incompetence I can forgive, petty and spiteful I cannot. Cutty finds out the hard way that he can’t go messing around with his students’ moms and he rejects the catch and release position at the school. I do admire the fact that he stepped up and apologized to his students. Prez has finally gotten the teaching thing on lock. It took a while, as it usually does, but he got there.

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4.8 “Corner Boys” The corner boys class finally figures out that if you talk about things the kids already know and things that are relevant to them then they’ll learn and will act out less. What a concept. Prez learns the lesson of teaching to the test, not teaching to learn. Michael’s step-father returns home and Michael is clearly not happy. Me thinks this is our pedophile. Carcetti does his ride alongs and realizes how futile the war on drugs truly is. He invites Daniels to come tell tales, but he doesn’t even though Rawls tells Carcetti all sorts of bald-faced lies. What is it about mediocre white dudes who blame everything on affirmative action? Daniels does walk away with a promotion though.

4.9 “Know Your Place” After being bullied by the local smoke hounds and the police, Bubbles reaches out to Greggs. Bunk gets Omar released from jail and his price: no more bodies. Burrell makes it clear that he won’t quit and Carcetti knows he can’t fire Burrell. Ain’t politics fun? Herc screws the pooch and leaves Bubbles to get his ass kicked. To add insult to injury, Herc manages to put Randy in the jackpot at the same time. Herc has no concept of promises, gratitude, or loyalty. Michael goes to the only person he can think of to help him with his step-father: Marlo. Michael sells his soul to protect his younger brother. That’s loyalty.

4.10 “Misgivings” We start the episode with a dirty cop torturing a child. Really, breaking the fingers of a child for stealing cars? Carver arrests Namond and Wee-Bey’s youngin’ just isn’t cut out for baby booking. Namond convinces Carver to call Colvin because mom is out of town. And so it begins. Kudos to Namond for having the good sense to be mad respectful toward Colvin’s wife. He also has the good sense to not pass along Colvin’s nickname. Chris and Snoop take care of Michael’s problem and Chris figures out why Michael wants dude gone. Chris takes it very personally. That scene always makes me uncomfortable until I remember why dude is getting his ass beat. Herc screws Bubbles over again and he really is trying to get poor Bubbles killed. Bubbles finally gets hip and sets Herc up. While I question the wisdom of putting a preacher in the jackpot, the fact that said preacher barely acknowledged Bubbles’ presence tells me that the charity portion of the Bible might be lost on the preacher. Burrell starts a broken windows policy to juke the stats in an effort to keep his job.

4.11 “A New Day” Bodie and McNulty have a heart-to-heart after the cops go wild on everybody. Walker got his comeuppance for torturing Donut and he lies about what happens to his fellow officers. Daniels turns Major Crimes over to Freamon and Herc gets a tongue lashing from Bunk about what happened to Randy. Omar makes Prop Joe an offer he couldn’t refuse. Freamon figures out where all the bodies are buried. The look on Bunk’s face when he figures it out is classic.

4.12 “That’s Got His Own” Bubbles tries to solve his bully problem but ends up accidently killing his charge instead. Internal Affairs comes for Herc (finally) and he make sure not to take anyone else with him. Omar has turned into inspector gadget for the last few episodes and now it’s time to suit up against the co-op stash. Namond finally realizes he wants out and he pushed Michael into a corner. Cutty tries to reach out to Michael but damn near gets himself killed in the process. It’s too late for Michael. Another one of those heartbreaking moments: Randy’s home is fire-bombed and his foster mom is critically injured. Carver goes to visit but it’s too late for him too. Randy saying “you’re going to look out for me” while Carver walks away is too much. There wasn’t much that could be done to avoid Michael’s situation but Randy’s, that’s all the police’s fault.

4.13 “Final Grades” Bubbles goes to the police about his crime and then tries to kill himself. Landsman does the right thing and cuts Bubbles loose. After snatching the co-op stash, Omar sells it back to Prop Joe. Damn that’s smart and, as Cheddar said, “it’s some shameless shit.” Bodie speaks loudly out of pocket when his boy’s body is discovered in a row house. His monologue about the disrespect in the game is poignant. “Just don’t ask me to live on my fucking knees.” Yep. He’s a soldier, doing his job, and it got him killed. The very next scene is Colvin and Wee-Bey talking about Namond. What’s great about that scene is how similar Colvin and Wee-Bey are – millimeters separate how they ended up. Instead of taking the political hit to get money for the schools, Carcetti sets his sights to run for governor five minutes after becoming mayor. Now the Republican governor was wrong for making Carcetti beg for it; however, Carcetti’s first priority is to Baltimore, not to his political ambitions. McNulty comes back home. To be honest, one of the reason this season is the best is because McNulty and his shenanigans went away.

lisadoris

5.1 “More With Less” The title of this episode is a phrase I’ve been hearing for years at my job. I hate it. The feds continue to pee on Baltimore’s head and telling them it’s rain. They want Clay Davis so screw the democrats and they won’t help with the murders without it. The budget cuts hit Major Crimes. McNulty and Greggs head back to Homicide and even though he hasn’t been there in two years, McNulty pushes a guy off of “his” desk. My aren’t we privileged. It was clear that McNulty was already back to drinking and whoring so I don’t understand why he didn’t go back to the Western at this point. Marlo is making a play for Prop Joe’s connect. We meet our newspaper crew.

5.2 “Unconfirmed Reports” Bubbles has 15 months of sobriety though he still won’t talk about Sherrod’s death. Marlo’s muscle sets up on a family and takes everyone out. A kid runs out of the back and Michael, thankfully, doesn’t shoot. He still has some of his soul left. He even has the smarts to question what they guy did to deserve a bullet. This episode is notable for McNulty’s bright idea: make a natural death look like the work for a serial killer so the bosses will open the purse strings. Good lord. Bunk rightfully doesn’t want any part of this.

5.3 “Not for Attribution” Freamon jumps onboard with McNulty’s plan and they make the would-be killer bigger and brighter. Our wayward reporter, Templeton, shows his butt for the second episode in a row. This time he’s pissed that an older reporter, who actually knows about Daniels, gets the story about his possible promotion. He then makes up quotes that end up putting Daniels in the jackpot. Oh the mediocrity. Marlo continues his play for Prop Joe’s connect to the Greeks. On the one hand, I appreciate the initiative. On the other hand, the whole thing feels so ungrateful. Omar is still living rent free in Marlo’s head and even though Prop Joe won’t stir that hornet’s nest, Cheese gives up Butchie for $50K. That was a dick move.

5.4 “Transitions” I am so proud of how far Carver has come. Short-tempered jerk detective tries to arrest some kids for nothing and beats up a civilian. Carver is actually ready to support him, but dumbass detective doesn’t think he didn’t anything wrong. Sarge does the right thing and writes him up for excessive force. Good. He tells Herc that everything they do, or don’t do, matters. Burrell is out, Rawls is in, temporarily, and Daniels is waiting in the wings. McNulty steps up his serial killer. Cheese sets up Prop Joe and Chris does the deed. Once again, a dick move. I forgot how much I hated Cheese.

lisadoris

5.5 “React Quotes” Templeton continues his bs campaign by saying the serial killer called him on his cell phone. This is news to McNulty, but our wayward detective builds on the bs so they can get a wiretap on Marlo. Bubbles learns he is HIV- and he is disappointed by this news. Guilt is a powerful emotion. Omar takes his shot at Marlo but he ends up doing a Superman out of a third-floor window and disappearing into the night. Just FYI, the phone number of Marlo’s cell phone still offers a recorded message from Marlo. It’s pretty cool.

5.6 “The Dickensian Aspect” The port guys make a cameo appearance to crap all over Carcetti’s yuppie port project. I gotta hand it to Omar, he stayed in the basement of the building he jumped out of. That shows piss poor search work by Marlo’s people. Now that Prop Joe caught a bullet, the Grand Jury info he had makes its way back to the police. There’s a leak. Marlo takes over the co-op, gives Prop Joe’s territory to Cheese, increases the price, and doubles the bounty on Omar’s head after pinning Joe’s murder on him. No one in the co-op was fooled – they knew Marlo did it. Clark Johnson’s character gets the first inkling that Templeton is not on the up and up. Isn’t Templeton the name of the rat in Charlotte’s Web? After spending an evening among the homeless population, Templeton trips into a real story about a former Marine with PTS. McNulty changes the story and kidnaps a homeless man. Good grief.

5.7 “Took” McNulty calls Templeton pretending to be the serial killer and the investigation purse strings open up. McNulty screws the pooch again by not warning Greggs about the fun and excitement of IKEA furniture. I do admire the fact that she’s gotten this far in her life without having to assemble anything from IKEA. Omar continues to flush Omar’s stash and screw with his crew. Senator Davis takes the stand and his monologue is glorious. The state’s attorney laid out all this evidence of fraud and Davis made himself into Robin Hood. Shameless and dishonest yet glorious. Case should’ve gone federal. The cool thing about this episode is Fletcher bonding with Bubbles. The difference between how Templeton interacted with the folks at the soup kitchen and how Fletcher interacted with them is night-and-day. Fletcher respected the person he was talking to; Templeton seemed more annoyed at them. Nice cameo from Munch and a lovely inner-city Good Night Moon story from Greggs (who obviously didn’t assemble the bed).

5.8 “Clarifications” We see Poot working at a shoe store and doing okay for himself. Bunk finally gives in and has McNulty sign off on analysis from the pedophile’s murder. The Marine from Templeton’s story comes back and is pissed about the lies in the story. Templeton sits there and lies to the man’s face and lies to Gus too. The FBI’s serial killer profile is spot on for McNulty. He comes clean with Greggs and Beatty about the investigation. Sydnor cracks the clock code. RIP Omar who got taken out by a toddler who didn’t have the good sense to wipe his prints off the murder weapon.

lisadoris

5.9 “Late Editions” Freamon and co get up on the wholesale supply and damn near everybody goes down. Templeton’s lies come back and bite Alma in the butt when she talks to Daniels. Templeton’s bs story is sent up for a Pulitzer while Fletcher is out there doing real journalism. Namond is kicking all sort of butt at a debate contest while Colvin and his wife look on with pride in their eyes. Who would have thunk that he’d be the one to break the cycle. Freamon blackmail’s Davis for info and gets a whole lot of dirt on Levy. Davis had the nerve to call Freamn a shakedown artist. Pot, meet kettle. Marlo thinks Michael is the snitch and sends Snoop to set him up. Thankfully, Chris taught Michael well and he gets the drop on Snoop. She did the tell truth though: Michael was never one of them and was never going to be. Her hair did look good before Michael put a cap in her. Michael sends Bug to their aunt’s house with a crap ton of money. Dukie ends up with the junk peddlers and there’s no doubt how that story’s going to end. Greggs tells Daniels everything. Bubbles’ confession at the NA meeting was everything. How did no actors from this shoe get an Emmy nomination?

5.10 “30” The expressions on Carcetti’s face when he was told the truth. Beautiful way to begin the episode. Here’s what I don’t understand. McNulty & Freamon did all this work to get Marlo. What did they think was going ot happen when people found out? All the material on the warrants and wire taps was fraudulent so Levy could get that thrown out. Once it comes out it screws everyone. Now I know they don’t care about Carcetti or Rawls but Daniels and Pearlman go down too, did they not think about this? Not to mention the fact that they should be in jail themselves. When Freamon explains all this, McNulty is completely shocked; he never thought about any of this. Speaking of shameful shit, Cheese used Prop Joe’s house to make bail. Are you kidding me? Templeton tries to engineer a kidnapping and it doesn’t go well – undercover sees the whole thing and calls bs. Doesn’t matter, he gets his Pulitzer anyway and Alma gets bounced. Gus goes to the bosses about Templeton’s lies A copycat complicates things but McNulty closes that case quickly after receiving a tongue lashing from Rawls. Freamon and McNulty retire, Carcetti becomes governor, Valceck is Commissioner (dear God), Pearlman is a judge and Daniels is a lawyer. Slim Charles avenges Prop Joe by tapping Cheese and it doesn’t look like Marlo is cut out for the straight and narrow. It’s not a pretty ending but it feels realistic.

Rob V

I decided to watch The Wire after my brother told me how awesome it was... I know it's also one of the most highly rated shows ever. I am on S4 E13 and plan to wrap that up today / tomorrow and get thru S5. Here's to hoping S5 is everything everybody claims The Wire to be because it hasn't exactly knocked my socks off. It has its moments for sure but it's so outdated now and some of the dialogue is cringe-worthy (looking at you, Bunk). I do appreciate the narrative and hard facts that the cycle is broken, politics is broken, education is broken and no matter who you swap out as the drug lord, mayor, police chief, etc, it's never goign to change. I was hoping for more depth of key characters and less spreading the story over soooo many characters you don't get more than 15 second snippets at a time. Perhaps, in 2023, the stories are so much more evolved that The Wire pales in comparison but overall, I couldn't call this a top 10 show that I've ever seen.... which makes me wonder if I were to watch Sopranos again, if I'd feel like it's an amazing show. I am re-watching Breaking Bad with my son and gotta say, it still holds up. Maybe better the second time thru.

Timber

Season 5 is widely considered to be the worst season so if you're not feeling it that season won't make the difference for you I don't think.

That said The Wire improves on every viewing to me. It's such a dense complicated show that I pick up new things each time.

Gunde

Yeah, can't agree with that criticism at all. The Wire is a #1 show for me, but then again Breaking Bad is not in my Top 10