Line #32 Recap/TheWireS03E12MissionAccomplished


1	[=McNulty=] is devastated by the death of Stringer, believing himself to have been deprived the pleasure of arresting him. As Avon's people urge retaliation against Marlo, thinking he killed Stringer, a remorseful Avon reveals the truth to Slim Charles. Carcetti wrestles with what to do about the drug tolerant zones, and Royce continues to try to turn them into something more palpable for the media. However, when the press descend on Hamsterdam, he realizes his delay in shutting them down was a huge mistake. When he tries to shift blame to Burrell, he is shocked to learn Burrell more than ready to fight back. As Marla officially announces her candidacy for city council, Prez makes a decision about his future. Meanwhile, the MCU continues to listen in on their wires, hearing a great deal of talk about the war with Marlo, but getting nothing useful to use against Avon. However, when Colvin reveals the information given him by Stringer, the unit gets an unexpected opportunity.
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3	!!This episode contains examples of:
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5	* AntagonistInMourning: [=McNulty=].
6	-->'''Lester:''' How'd he take it?
7	-->'''Kima:''' Like Stringer was kin.
8	* BittersweetEnding: Avon's crew has been demolished, Daniels gets his promotion (and gets back with Rhonda), Dennis' gym seems to be flourishing, and [=McNulty=] seems ready to put aside his CowboyCop antics for good. However, Carcetti, despite his best intentions, [[AmbitionIsEvil lets his ambitions get the best of him]], Colvin is kicked out of the police force, Hamsterdam, an imperfect but provocative way of dealing with drugs has been scuttled forever, so it's back to business as usual, and Marlo is poised to take over as an even more dangerous foe than Avon was.
9	* CallBack: In addition to those listed above; when Vinson warned Marlo about the challenges he'd get if he tried to be the number one drug dealer in Baltimore, Marlo tells him it sounds like one of those good problems. Chris says the same thing to Marlo when Vinson says Avon will come back at them over Stringer's death.
10	** [=McNulty=] covers for Kima cheating on Cheryl [[Recap/TheWireS03E08MoralMidgetry the same way he described being covered]] when he was cheating on Elena.
11	** [[Recap/TheWireS03E06Homecoming Fruit is spooked seeing Dennis for the first time since he had him at gunpoint]]
12	* ContinuityNod: Omar figures that the abandoned Baltimore docks would be the ideal site to dispose of his and Brother Mouzone's weapons; the area's been untouched for so long since the stevedore's union was shut down at the end of Season 2 that posters for Frank Sobotka's re-election as union treasurer are still posted nearby.
13	* CharacterDeath / DiesWideOpen: Johnny Weeks is found this way in a Hamsterdam abandoned house.
14	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Once again, Creator/DavidSimon has admitted all the parallels to UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror (down to the title of the episode) are purely intentional.
15	* {{Epigraph}}: "Then we fight on that lie", which Slim says to Avon [[MotivationalLie as part of his speech to convince him to fight against Marlo]].
16	* TheGhost: Averted in this episode; Eunetta Perkins, who's been missing all year, shows up in the final subcommittee meeting, and Carcetti even greets her by saying, "Been a while."
17	* HistoryRepeats: Sherrod is a younger version of Johnny.
18	* IronicEcho: Colvin's final words as a police officer (that we see), when Rawls tries to goad him before he's relieved of duty), are "[[Recap/TheWireS03E11MiddleGround Get on with it, motherfuck-]]", [[CurseCutShort before Rawls interrupts him by asking, "Excuse me?"]]
19	* {{Malaproper}}: As [=McNulty=] and Rhonda are interrogating Bodie:
20	-->'''Bodie:''' This must be one of them contrapment things.
21	-->'''Rhonda:''' You mean entrapment.
22	-->'''[=McNulty=]:''' Kid's got a point.
23	* KilledOffForReal: Johnny Weeks.
24	* MrFanservice: Daniels is completely naked during his sex scene with Rhonda.
25	* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Colvin's reward for creating Hamsterdam - a flawed but innovative way to deal with the drug game, and which resulted in bringing down crime stats in his district - was to be busted down in rank, fired, and vilified in public as incompetent. On top of that, he also loses the job he had lined up once he retired from the force.
26	* OhCrap: Fruit's silent reaction to seeing Dennis talking to his corner boys.
27	* RayOfHopeEnding: Carver realizes that Dennis' gym is what he should have been protecting instead of Hamsterdam.
28	* RunningGag: [[Recap/TheWireS01E12CleaningUp Once again]], [[Recap/TheWireS02E09StrayRounds a trigger-happy response team]] wants to bust down the door of the perp being arrested, and cooler heads prevail.
29	-->'''Herc:''' I can't believe he wants us to knock.
30	-->'''Kima:''' Well, you can't flush guns, now, can you?
31	-->'''Herc:''' Well, fuck that. What if they open up on us?
32	-->'''[=McNulty=]:''' These guys are at war with another crew. We go charging in there, chances are we will get lit up.
33	* ScaryBlackMan: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded by Bunk and Holley]]; when Krawczyk can only identify the shooter as a tall black man with a gun, they call it another case of BNBG - [[FunWithAcronyms Big Negro Big Gun]].
34	* SeriesFauxnale: No one knew if the show would be picked up again, so there's closure on a lot of storylines (though [[{{Foreshadowing}} there's indications the mayoral race and Bubbles and Sherrod's relationship will become important later]]).
35	* WasItReallyWorthIt: Bubbles the drug addict is the only one grateful for Hamsterdam. No ordinary person ever thanks Colvin.
36	* WhatNowEnding: Stringer is dead, Avon Barksdale along with the rest of his crew other than Bodie and Slim Charles are in prison, [=McNulty=] decides to quit Major Case Squad and become a beat cop, Colvin is forced to retire and Hamsterdam is torn down.

Context Recap / TheWireS03E12MissionAccomplished