Contains spoilers for this episode and earlier episodes.
The Major Case Unit works through the legal steps for a wiretap on the Barksdale crew’s disposable phones. McNulty and Greggs outfit Bubbles with a wire and money so Bodie’s crew will call for a resupply. Elsewhere, Prez and McNulty hear gunfire. Prez has shot a plainclothes officer, Waggoner, after mistaking him for a suspect. Rawls recognises the racial stakes of a white officer killing a Black colleague, while the department investigates the shooting. Cutty cleans out the building he hopes to turn into a boxing gym and struggles with permits. Carcetti pursues a campaign alliance with Gray, who does not know he plans to run.
Colvin tells the Deacon he plans to retire, leaving Hamsterdam’s future to others. When a body is found in the free zone, Carver moves it elsewhere, but Herc refuses to help and alerts a newspaper reporter. Colvin gives the crew chiefs an ultimatum: identify the shooter or he will close the zone. They hand over the man responsible. Omar arrives at his grandmother’s house while Barksdale soldiers are watching it; they attack after Stringer permits it, but Omar and his grandmother survive. Stringer is frustrated by stalled development plans, while Brianna confronts Avon about D’Angelo’s death as Stringer listens in silence.