Contains spoilers for this episode and earlier episodes.
Colvin faces residents who are tired of open dealing and violence. He admits conventional policing has failed, but his candour does not satisfy their demand for action. When officers cannot persuade dealers to move into his designated free zones, he uses school buses to bring them to an assembly and explain the rules. The audience remains hostile. Away from the Western, Carcetti approaches Theresa D’Agostino about managing his planned mayoral campaign. She questions his chances as a white candidate in a majority-Black city. Cutty, meanwhile, learns that his landscaping colleagues are former prisoners and approaches Slim Charles for better-paid work.
Avon receives parole despite Pearlman’s objections. Stringer reassures Donette that D’Angelo could not have been murdered in the same prison as Avon, while McNulty follows Stringer’s meetings with developers and politicians. Bubbles helps Greggs map the changed territories and identifies Marlo from his car. The detectives learn that dealers are using disposable phones, making familiar wiretap methods harder to apply. Property records expose Stringer’s ambitions to become a legitimate developer. Freamon urges McNulty to stop pursuing the case independently and return to Daniels’s unit. McNulty eventually meets Daniels for an uncomfortable drink that includes a discussion of Daniels’s relationship with Pearlman.