Tommy Carcetti and his staff learn that the "serial killer" was a hoax.
McNulty and
Freamon, unaware that their scheme has been exposed, discover that Gary DiPasquale has leaked courthouse documents to
Levy. When Freamon gives
Pearlman the identity of the mole, she reveals her knowledge of the detectives' duplicity.
Templeton calls
911, and claims there was an attempted kidnapping of an inebriated homeless man which he witnessed. When the police arrive, the man is too drunk to confirm or deny the claims, though an undercover officer at the scene confirms that Templeton made up the story. Marlo and his crew learn of
Snoop's death and agree that
Michael must be eliminated.
Cheese posts
bail and Marlo instructs him to hunt down Michael. Freamon informs McNulty that Daniels and Pearlman know about the hoax and the illegal wiretap. Levy goes through the Stanfield arrest warrants and realizes that the police used an illegal wiretap to decipher the code beforehand. McNulty,
Bunk, and
Greggs arrive at the scene of another homeless murder, and are distraught that McNulty's fictitious serial killer has inspired a
copycat. Pearlman and
Bond are told by Steintorf to quietly settle the Stanfield case out of court to keep the illegal wiretaps from being brought to light. Pearlman meets with Levy and uses a taped conversation given to her by Freamon to force him to settle. McNulty is confronted by Daniels and Rawls, who order him to quickly catch the copycat so that the press will assume he is the original killer. McNulty identifies a mentally ill homeless man as the killer and the
Baltimore Police Department charge him with two of the six "murders". Carcetti holds a press conference taking credit for both the "serial killer's" capture and the
Stanfield arrests, then promotes Daniels to
Police Commissioner. However, after Steintorf once again requests that Daniels "juke the stats" to boost Carcetti's position on crime reduction, he refuses, and is forced to resign after Campbell threatens to expose his past wrongdoings.
Sydnor vents his frustration to
Judge Phelan in a scene mirroring McNulty and Phelan's interaction in the first episode. Cheese is killed by
Slim Charles for his role in
Proposition Joe's murder. Michael becomes a stickup man and robs
Vinson in his rim shop, where Michael shoots Vinson in the knee with a shotgun to force him into surrendering his drug money, in a manner similar to
Omar. Marlo attends a high society party with Levy but leaves in frustration after Levy attempts to introduce him to developers. Out on the street he overhears two corner boys discussing legendary tales about Omar's death. Marlo provokes them into attacking him, flaunting his name, but the corner boys do not recognize him. After getting into physical confrontation, the boys flee and Marlo dominates the corner for himself, having sustained a knife wound in his arm. Marlo is shown to be unable to resist the street life, but has lost all the fear and eminence he craved. McNulty locates
Larry and drives him back to
Baltimore, stopping to look over the city on the way. In a closing montage: Freamon is making his miniature furniture at home; Herc is socializing at a bar with Baltimore PD members; Templeton wins a
Pulitzer Prize; Slim Charles and Fat Face Rick meet with Spiros while the Greek listens in; Carcetti is elected governor while Campbell becomes mayor; Gus looks on as others happily work in the newsroom;
Valchek replaces Daniels as Commissioner;
Dukie uses the money he borrowed from
Prez to feed his new drug addiction; Pearlman, now a judge,
recuses herself from a case Daniels is arguing as a defense attorney; Chris Partlow talks to Wee-Bey in the prison yard; Carcetti makes Rawls superintendent of the
Maryland State Police; Bubbles eats a meal with his sister in her kitchen;
Kenard is arrested. The montage ends with rapid cuts of various scenes from the show and people of Baltimore. McNulty gets back in his car and says to Larry, "Let's go home". They drive off while the shot remains on Interstate 83 overlooking Baltimore. ==Production==