Contains spoilers for this episode and earlier episodes.
McNulty gets a letter from one of the dead women translated, but it yields little beyond her name and country. Bunk and Freamon tell Rawls they need to understand cargo movement to solve the container case. Rawls blames them for letting the ship leave Philadelphia and warns they will take the fall if the inquiry fails. Beadie brings them to the stevedores’ bar, where they question Horseface and Frank. Frank is alarmed to learn the women were murdered.
Daniels agrees to lead Valchek’s detail but insists on choosing his people and securing the unit’s future if it produces results. Rawls refuses to release McNulty from the marine unit. Bunk and Lester pursue the Jane Doe case while McNulty separately tries to identify the woman he found. Avon arranges to frame Tilghman with a drug package. D’Angelo questions his family’s business and resists Avon’s plan to improve his prison situation. Nick moves further into the dockside operation.
The prison deaths prompt Avon to trade information for an earlier parole hearing. Levy points investigators toward Tilghman, who is arrested after a planted package is found in his car. D’Angelo refuses Avon’s scheme and says he wants nothing more to do with the drug business. Frank confronts Nick over the stolen cameras, and Glekas asks the cousins to obtain chemicals; Nick tells Aimee the money he brought home is back pay.