"Call it a crisis of leadership". - Proposition Joe
Brother Mouzone returns to Baltimore on a mission of revenge and casts a wide net in his search for Omar, who has his own plan for vengeance. Colvin manages, for now, to put off a Sun reporter inquiring about Hamsterdam, while Burrell delivers news to City Hall, and the reaction is surprisingly mixed. Carver learns how much he doesn't know about good policing, while Pearlman and Daniels plead their case for a new kind of wiretap to Judge Daniel Phelan. Carcetti is about to launch his campaign, but struggles with its effect on his friendship with Council colleague Tony Gray. Stringer falls out of the loop with Avon and is given an ultimatum by Prop Joe and New Day Co-op crews. Cutty's initial approach to teaching boxing ends up alienating the corner boys, while Marlo raises the stakes against the Barksdale gang. Bubbles provides entree to Freamon in an undercover cell-phone hustle.
In chronicling a multi-generational family business dealing illegal drugs and the efforts of the Baltimore police to curb their trade, this series draws parallels between these organizations and the men and women on either side of the battle.
The words of Gary W. Potter, Professor of Criminal Justice and Police Studies at Eastern Kentucky University, in writing about the savings and loan scandals of the 1980s, can also be used to illuminate some of the central premises of the show.