Omar managed to survive his encounter with Chris, Michael and Snoop, though not unscathed; he's hurt his leg, and has to walk around with a homemade crutch. This forces Chris and Snoop to go into hiding. Marlo, in turn, tells the rest of the co-op Omar was responsible for Proposition Joe's death, and that he's upping the bounty on him. The others aren't inclined to believe Marlo, especially when Omar starts popping up, holding people up (with a gun or whatever he has handy), calling Marlo out by name, and burning drug money. Marlo also tells the co-op he, Marlo, has taken over the drug connection with the Greeks, the price is going up, Cheese will take over Hungry Man's territory (after Slim turns it down), and there'll be no more meetings.
McNulty is sure after Scott's front-page article about the "serial killer" calling him, resources are bound to come his way so he and Lester can finally catch Marlo. However, though Carcetti ends up delivering a stirring speech at a press conference (where he says they need to do more to help the homeless), the administration still refuses to devote more resources to catching the killer. Not only that, but when McNulty and Rhonda try to get approval to wiretap Scott's phone, Phelan doesn't allow it. McNulty's especially frustrated because Lester knows there's something to the calls Marlo's receiving where there's 30-40 seconds of silence, but he doesn't know what, and it would help if he could tap any text messages. In desperation, McNulty takes a homeless man he sees while driving, and takes him to a shelter out of the city, all so he can pass him off as someone kidnapped by the serial killer. Meanwhile, the story does wonders for Scott's career; he's interviewed on national TV, Whiting and Klebanow (over Gus' objections) want him to do a series on the homeless, and Scott spends a night in their encampment and interviews Terry Hanning (Aubrey Daniels), a homeless Iraq War veteran. However, Fletcher casts doubt on a story Scott wrote about a woman dying from an allergic reaction to seafood, and while Scott explains it away, Gus isn't entirely convinced.
Elsewhere, Bunk continues to work on the case of the bodies in the vacant row houses - even trying to interview Randy again, which goes nowhere, and Michael's mother lets him know Michael now works for Marlo, and Michael knows who's responsible for his stepfather getting killed - Bond decides to try Clay's case himself, and police discover grand jury files in Proposition Joe's home, which makes Rhonda guess there's a leak.
This episode contains examples of:
- As Herself/Newscaster Cameo: CNN host Nancy Grace interviews Scott Templeton on TV.
- Berserk Button: When Kima tells Bunk that McNulty would have leaked to the press the fact Bunk can't get any crime lab work done on the bodies found in the vacant row houses, Bunk angrily responds, "I am not him."
- Blatant Lies: In addition to what Marlo tells the co-op about Omar, when Rhonda drops in on Lester while he's doing his illegal wiretap, he asks Rhonda to come back another time because Sydnor is bringing in a confidential informant, and that gets her to apologize and leave.
- Broken Bird: There's absolutely no trace left of the smiling, open-faced Randy of season 4.
- Call-Back: Bunk recalls how he held back from pressing Randy on Lex's murder out of respect for Prez.
- Carcetti, Norman and Steintorf recall what the Democratic leadership told Carcetti what to do in order to advance in his career; build something downtown with his name on it, get the crime rate down, and stay away from schools. Carcetti adds, "And keep my boyish good looks," to which Norman responds, "One out of four ain't bad." Also, when Norman and Steintorf praise Carcetti for his Rousing Speech, Carcetti admits he was tired of everything, and adds, "How many shitbowls are there?"
- Catchphrase: When Bunk sees the "serial killer" story has made the front page, and that McNulty is crowing about it, he says to McNulty, "You happy now, bitch?" Of course, since he's still pissed at McNulty, it's said with more venom than usual.
- Continuity Nod: Nick Sobotka is seen heckling Carcetti when he unveils the waterfront project that the dockworkers union fought so hard to defeat.
- Kima is able to confirm the home massacre she's investigating is on Marlo.
- When McNulty asks for more manpower, Jay reminds him he had Kima, and told her he didn't need her.
- Cowboy Cop: Lester justifies this part of him to Sydnor here.Lester: I've reached a point, detective Sydnor, where I no longer have the time or patience left to address myself to the needs of the system within which we work. I'm tired.Sydnor: You're gonna quit?Lester: Not yet. Not just yet.Sydnor: So what are you talking about?Lester: When they took us off Marlo this last time, when they said they couldn't pay for further investigation I regarded that decision as illegitimate.Sydnor: Illegitimate?Lester: And so I'm responding in kind. I'm going to press a case against Marlo Stanfield without regard to the usual rules. I'm running an illegal wiretap on Marlo Stanfield's cellphone.
- Epigraph: "If you have a problem with this, I understand completely", which Lester says to Sydnor after he reveals his illegal wiretap of Marlo.
- Failure Montage: The attempts of Marlo's crew to find Omar at the beginning; Chris goes through the rest of the building, Monk pretends to be a detective to question the neighbors, and Snoop checks the hospitals, with all of them coming up empty.
- Hypocrite: When he finds out Lester wants to bug a camera to find out what pictures Marlo is sending to his crew on their cellphones, McNulty ironically grouses Lester is "a supervisor's nightmare".
- Idiot Ball: Discussed; the reason why the lab samples on the bodies whose murders Bunk is investigating are all screwed up is because while is complaint number was written out individually when Bunk made his initial request, in subsequent requests, Bunk put just the first complaint number and added "et al", and the intern who took over in the lab didn't know what "et al" meant. Therefore, all the lab samples are sorted under one complaint number, so no one has any idea what hair samples belong to what victim.Ron (the coroner): Actually, except for this, she's been a pretty good employee.
- Ironic Echo: Carcetti gives a rousing speech about how the victims of the serial killer are written off and overlooked by society. McNulty started the whole hoax as a way to get justice for the bodies in the vacants, that are still being overlooked.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: When Omar holds Fatface Rick up, Fatface Rick doesn't like the fact Omar managed to disarm him with nothing more than a beer bottle, but he's more concerned with finding out if Omar really did kill Proposition Joe and Hungry Man.
- Last Chance to Quit: After revealing what he's doing on Marlo, Lester tells Sydnor he can walk away if he wants with no hard feelings. Sydnor chooses to stay.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Once again, McNulty gets pissy when things don't go his way - as when Phelan is hesitant about tapping a reporter's phone - and instead of trying to argue the point rationally, calls Phelan a coward. As she and McNulty walk out, Rhonda snaps at him, "How many enemies do you need?"
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Omar's Roaring Rampage of Revenge against Marlo (along with being forced to use a crutch after barely surviving his encounter with Chris, Michael and Snoop) has him doing things he never does, like burning money and calling Marlo a "bitch".
- Also, the normally unflappable Chris is so upset he missed his shot at Omar (as well as having to stay hidden because of it) that he loses his cool, even snapping at Snoop.
- Out-of-Character Moment: Scott actually taking time to interview Hanning, instead of just completely making stuff up. Lampshaded by Gus later, when he congratulates Scott for the piece, telling him it feels like "the real deal".
- Rage Against the Heavens: Though it may look like McNulty is yelling at the statue of War of 1812 hero Samuel Smith when he's complaining at how the police *still* haven't funded his "serial killer" investigation, he's really doing this.
- Rousing Speech: Carcetti at his press conference:Our homeless citizens, those who have fallen through the cracks of our society, those who command the least of our attentions and efforts, they seemingly have little to endear themselves to politicians. They don't vote, by and large. They don't contribute to campaigns. They offer little to a city's tax base, and to the extent that our government is made aware of their existence, it responds by trying to mitigate the damage done by their presence. We open a food bank here, a shelter there. We try to move them away from downtown, away from our communal areas, away from our schools, away from our homes. If you were to judge our society by the manner in which we treat those lost on our streets, we would have cause to be shamed. Well, I am, God forgive me, a politician. But I am also someone who ran for public office because I believe that there is a different way of governing. And I believe that in the end we will be judged not by the efforts we make on behalf of those who vote for us, or those who contribute to our campaigns, or those who provide for our tax base. I believe that we will be judged by what we provide to the weakest and most vulnerable. That is the test. That is my test. Somebody is killing homeless men in this city. They are taking the lives of fellow citizens who do not have the means or the strength to properly protect themselves. They will be stopped. We will do everything in our power to stop them. You have my word on this.
- Lampshaded by Norman later, who says, "In the Pentecostal church where I was given religion, it would have been said that the spirit was on you yesterday." Ultimately subverted, however, in that once again, Carcetti can't (and won't) throw any money at the problem. As Rawls explains to Daniels, "(Carcetti) wants us to solve the murders. He just doesn't want the cost."
- Shout-Out: Marlo, incredulous Omar managed to jump out of the window and survive, says, "That's some Spiderman shit right there."
- Title Drop: Whiting tells Gus he wants Scott, and the paper, to look at "the Dickensian aspect" of the homeless situation.
- It could also be a Take That! by David Simon to those who compared the show to Dickens, as well as a Take That! to the editor Whiting is based on, who used that phrase to kill a story Simon had done on a man Bubbles was partly based on.
- Tyrant Takes the Helm: Marlo unceremoniously takes over the co-op, reallocates territory unilaerally, calls off regular meetings, and raises the price.
- You Do Not Want To Know: Daniels says this exact phrase when Rhonda asks him where he got the grand jury files.
