"No one wins. One side just loses more slowly." - Prez
Freamon and Greggs move to Homicide, while Herc and Dozerman join Marimow in the lackluster Major Crimes Unit. Cutty gets a "custodial" job at Tilghman School picking up truants, but struggles to make progress while trying to mentor Michael. Bubbles works to get Sherrod back in school as an 8th grader. Burrell finds a way to sabotage the state-witness murder investigation before the election, impacting Greggs. Prez's struggles as a teacher continue while Bodie finds himself working for a new "company". Meanwhile, Colvin pitches his pilot program to the middle school and Carcetti meets with a constituency when he knows that they won't support him regardless of what he says. Randy is faced with a dilemma after being busted for his candy scam and Proposition Joe plays Marlo in a high-stakes heist.
Role: Raymond Foerster
The Wire - Mission Accomplished
"...we fight on the lie." -- Slim Charles
In the Season Three finale, a reticent Avon readies his troops for a war against Marlo. Meanwhile, as the detail works towards the top rungs of the Barksdale organization, McNulty reassesses his pursuit of Stringer Bell and the path he's chosen for himself. While Royce continues to grapple with Amsterdam, Burrell offers a deal to minimize the fallout.
Role: Raymond Foerster
"...while you're waiting for moments that never come." -- Freamon
Responding to an officer's call for help, McNulty and Prez turn down the wrong alley, with unanticipated results. A Barksdale crew violates the unspoken Sunday truce with gunplay, increasing discontent among the New Day Co-op members. Stymied in his effort to open a gym, Cutty is surprised to find help from within Baltimore's power structure.
Role: Raymond Foerster
"Just a gangster, I suppose." -- Avon Barksdale
Stringer Bell gets an education in construction management; Bunk uses shoe-leather to catch up with Omar and deliver a searing message; a frustrated Colvin unleashes the troops on the corner boys, ignoring his new edict; Avon sends Cutty and Slim Charles against Marlo; Bubbles refocuses the picture for Greggs.
Role: Raymond Foerster
The Wire - Straight and True
"I had such fuckin' hopes for us." -- McNulty
Frustrated in his grass-roots reform efforts, Colvin arms himself with intelligence from Daniels's detail and personally delivers a message to the next level of corner management. McNulty sees Stringer Bell's legitimate business dealings as a sign that he is now unreachable as a drug target. Bubbles shakes the tree for Johnny one more time.
Role: Raymond Foerster
"The gods will not save you." -- Burrell
Colvin feels the sting of Burrell and Rawls during a Comstat assessment of his district's felony numbers; a blown wiretap forces Daniels's detail to turn to a new target; Proposition Joe cautions Stringer Bell that the police have been tapping phones. Carcetti continues to curry favor in Mayor Royce's inner circle.
Role: Raymond Foerster
The Wire - All Due Respect
"There's never been a paper bag." -- Colvin
Omar continues his bold strikes on Barksdale stash houses, now heavily guarded. Under orders from Stringer Bell, Bodie faces a critical test against Marlo, a fierce young dealer with lucrative corners. As the wire on Proposition Joe continues to yield little, McNulty launches his own reinvestigation of last year's prison suicide of D'Angelo Barksdale.
Role: Raymond Foerster
"Dope on the damn table." - Daniels.
The police turn up the heat on tracking down Savino, Wee-Bey and Little Man. Burrell orders Daniels to hit drug dealers for results that will impress the press. Barksdale sees his ranks thinning after the hit on Orlando. Bubbles tries to stay sober while scoping out the projects for McNulty; and Freamon determines there's a rat in the detail.
Role: Raymond Foerster
"And then he dropped the bracelets..." - Greggs.
With Wallace in custody, McNulty and Daniels try to figure out what to do with him in the months before he testifies. Sydnor and Carver track down one of Barksdale's stash houses, and Prez shows off his 'gift for the paper trail.' McNulty's estranged wife Elena takes desperate measures after learning that he had their kids follow Stringer Bell.
Role: Raymond Foerster
"..and all the pieces matter." - Freamon.
When Rawls looks to make a premature arrest for three murders that are linked to D'Angelo and Avon Barksdale, McNulty and Greggs must argue for a delay in order to preserve the valuable wiretap gains they have made. Meanwhile, Wallace and D'Angelo struggle with their consciences after Avon pays them blood money.
Role: Raymond Foerster
"The king stay the king." - D'Angelo.
The early-morning 'field interviews' by Herc, Carver and Prez result in a minor riot, a boy losing an eye and some bad publicity for the department. On the other side of the law, D'Angelo teaches Wallace and Bodie how to play the game (chess) and later impresses Bell with his 'take' from the low-rises.
Role: Raymond Foerster
'You cannot lose if you do not play.' - Marla Daniels.
McNulty feels the heat when a witness who testified against D'Angelo is found murdered. Meanwhile, Greggs is given the lay of the land regarding Avon Barksdale's key players, and Herc, Carver and Prez find big-time trouble at the towers.
Role: Raymond Foerster
'... when it's not your turn.' - McNulty.
Baltimore homicide detective Jimmy McNulty gets into hot water and winds up assigned to a detail of narcotics outcasts charged with investigating drug lord Avon Barksdale and his powerful operation in Franklin Terrace. Meanwhile, Avon's nephew D'Angelo is fresh off beating a murder rap, but he finds himself demoted upon his return to the gang.
Role: Raymond Foerster