Mayor Tommy Carcetti's plan to rejuvenate the
Baltimore Police Department has been halted by funding cuts necessitated by the city's education deficit. Carcetti and
Council President Nerese Campbell meet with a
Republican U.S. Attorney who promises to lend a dozen
FBI agents to the BPD in exchange for the city allowing the investigation into the corrupt
State Senator Clay Davis to be made a federal case. Carcetti fears that the U.S. Attorney will use the case to discredit the
Democrats, while Campbell sees
State's Attorney Rupert Bond's case against Davis as a means of eventually running for mayor. Carcetti's cuts cause the Major Crimes Unit (MCU) to shut down, effectively ending the investigation into the
vacant murders. Detectives
Lester Freamon and
Leander Sydnor take over the Davis investigation. Colonel
Cedric Daniels is outraged that
City Hall is prioritizing Davis over 22 murders. Detective
Jimmy McNulty, having already fallen back into his old habits of
alcoholism and infidelity while working in the MCU, is despondent upon his return to Homicide. In the
Western District, Sergeant
Ellis Carver struggles to keep up morale following pay cuts.
Herc is now working as an investigator for defense attorney
Maurice Levy.
Marlo Stanfield intimidates other drug dealers into buying his product and causes unrest in the
New Day Co-Op. He gets
Chris Partlow to find
Sergei Malatov as a connection to the Co-Ops' suppliers. Partlow visits the courthouse, where he unwittingly approaches Daniels, Bond, and
Rhonda Pearlman to ask for directions.
Michael Lee is acting as an enforcer under Partlow, while his friend and cohabitant
Duquan "Dukie" Weems runs their drug dealing crew. Dukie has not gained the respect of the crew, and Michael suggests paying him for looking after his younger brother
Bug instead.
The Baltimore Sun also faces budget cuts, but editor
Augustus "Gus" Haynes remains principled and efficient. The
Sun breaks a story about Campbell's relocation of drug dealer
Ricardo "Fat-Face Rick" Hendrix's
strip club out of a redeveloping neighborhood at a considerable cost to the city budget, linking the plan to campaign contributions from Hendrix and Campbell's associates. Ambitious reporter
Scott Templeton remains dissatisfied while his colleague
Alma Gutierrez, who got a choice quote from Hendrix for the story, is happy with her work.
Bubbles lives in his sister's basement and no longer uses drugs, but leaves each evening that his sister is assigned to night shift, as she does not trust him enough to leave him alone in her house. He works as a
rush hour distributor for the
Sun to commuters. He sells a copy to Campbell, who is outraged by the Hendrix story. ==Production==