Royce strikes back at Carcetti's bombshell about the dead witness by doing petty things to his campaign (having construction work go on outside of Carcetti's campaign office, tearing up his signs), and telling Burrell to bury the case of the dead witness until after the primary. Royce also tells Herc he's going to get him a better assignment (just as Valchek predicted), which cheers Herc up. Rawls, meanwhile, puts Lt. Charles Marrinow (Boris McGiver) in charge of the Major Case squad, and when it becomes clear to Kima and Lester that Marrinow is going to sink the squad by going back to the kind of police work they hate, they both decide to leave; Lester gets to go back to Homicide, and thanks to Daniels pulling strings, Kima ends up there as well.
Colvin is working a hotel security job when the Deacon approaches him to work with the Social Work School at Maryland University, since they see him as a hero for his Hamsterdam project. Colvin turns the Deacon down at first, but then changes his mind after his superior at the hotel overrules his decision to press charges against a guest who beat up a prostitute. Colvin ends up with Dr. David Parenti (Dan DeLuca), who wants to study repeat violent offenders, and Colvin manages to convince him they should look at the kids who are young enough they haven't become completely hardened by the system.
Omar and his new boyfriend Renaldo (Ramon Rodriguez) find that not much is going on, at least as far as he's concerned. He does get excited when he find out Old Face Andre's (Alfonso Christian Lover) store contains a drug stash (though he doesn't know it's Marlo's), and successfully robs it. Speaking of Marlo, he orders Bodie to either get off his corner or work for him from now on; Bodie doesn't like it, but eventually agrees to work for Marlo.
It's the first week of school, and as can be expected, Prez is completely overmatched by the kids in his class, both in small ways (Randy steals a bunch of hallway passes so he can sell candy to the other kids) and big ways (Chiquan (Tiffani Aisha Holland) and Laetitia (Charmaine McPhee) get into a brief skirmish one day, and the next day, Laetitia slashes Chiquan in the face with a razor blade).
This episode contains examples of:
- Berserk Button: Shawn Williams (the man Colvin and Parenti talk to in order to convince Parenti they need to start with younger kids) really does not like it when Parenti tries to write down everything he says.
- Big Brother Instinct: Played with; Colvin asks Shawn what he would do if his sister was beat up, and Shawn retorts that if it was Cherise, she had it coming, but if it was Danielle, he'd either take revenge himself, or, if he couldn't, would get someone else to do it.
- Call-Back:
- Bunk tells McNulty about Fruit's murder.
- The Deacon figures Colvin has had his fill of Carcetti.
- In talking about the Major Case squad's past work, Marimow brings up Avon Barksdale.
- When Kima asks out of the Major Case squad, Daniels reminds her he took her out of the district. Also, Rawls knows that this isn't the first time Lester pissed off the deputy ops.
- Can Always Spot a Cop: Shawn is immediately able to tell the Bunny is police (well, ex-police), and that Parenti isn't. (Not that the latter is much of a guess.)
- Character Development: Not only does McNulty seem to be very happy with Beadie, but he's cut way down on drinking.McNulty: Sometimes, it is what it is.
- Continuity Nod: The binders Beadie's kids have are, sure enough, the ones McNulty stopped Santangelo from throwing away.
- Marlo continues to think of Michael as a good prospect.
- The New Day Co-Op that Stringer set up continues.
- Omar remembers Kima, and is okay with her snooping around the stash as long as she doesn't get in his way.
- Though he acts like a dick about it, Rawls is willing to help Daniels help Kima into Homicide because of the good work Daniels has done for Rawls.
- Derailed for Details: Prez tries to give his class a Train Problem and they pester him for details that would be relevant to an actual journey (which station it's leaving from, what the purpose of this guy's trip is, etc.), but not to the basic math problem he has in mind.
- Epigraph: "I love the first day, man. Everybody all friendly an' shit", said by Namond as he and the others walk into school.
- Famed In-Story: The Deacon convinces Colvin academics like Parenti are big fans of his because of what he tried to do with Hamsterdam.
- Foreshadowing: The New York drug dealers muscling in on co-op business become important later. When Omar robs Old Face Andre, we see Adre quickly take off his prized ring that will exchange hands many times during the season.
- In-Series Nickname: The kids call Prez "Mr. Prezbo", or just Prezbo.
- Last-Name Basis: Beadie's kids call him McNulty, thank you very much, not "Uncle Jimmy" or "Jimmy" or "Dad".
- Layman's Terms: Played for Laughs when the Deacon is telling Colvin about Dr. Parenti's project:Parenti: With this grant, the mandate is not only to rethink the way we utilize institutions, but to help us start getting past having to rely on jail and drug rehab as our only responses. We're looking for a specific target group to inoculate, epidemiologically speaking-Colvin: (interrupting) Doctor, pardon me, I'm not an academic, not by a long shot. But, what exactly are you - are you saying here?Deacon: He's sayin' he's got a lot of money to come up with some way to go at those boys out there bangin' on the corners.Parenti: That's what I mean, yes.Colvin: So where do I come in?Parenti: Well, if the salary arrangements are suitable, your duties would be to perform as a field researcher, A liaison operating in the, urban environment.Deacon: You go out in the 'hood and get him some corner boys to mess with.Parenti: See? This is why I need somebody like you to be paired up with me. I go out there on my own...Colvin: And they sell your tenured ass for parts.Parenti: In so many words.
- Mood Whiplash: A minor one; as Prez is attempting to clean up after class, he notices one kid managed to solve the problem he posed to the class, and he smiles...until he sees "Fuck Prezbo" written on one of the desks.
- Morality Pet: Michael's younger brother Bug (Keenon Brice) is this to Michael, which also becomes important later.
- Nostalgia Filter: Averted by Slim, when Bodie gets upset about having to have Marlo as his supplier:Bodie: Yo, if this was the old days?Slim: Yeah, now, well, the thing about the old days? They the old days.
- Prayer Pose: Donnelly crosses herself right before the kids come into school for the first day.
- Real Men Wear Pink: When Omar goes to get more cereal (see Serious Business below), he goes out in blue silk pajamas, without his gun. People are still afraid of him, and when he ends up back at his place, someone drops a bag of drugs by him. And he wasn't even looking for this to happen.Omar: I don't even want this, dog.Renaldo: Why not?
- Refuge in Audacity: Omar not only robs the drug stash from Old Face Andre, but buys a pack of cigarettes from him, and asks for his correct change.
- Rule of Symbolism: The co-op compare the "New York boys" to Walmart coming in and taking over.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: The reason why the guest ultimately gets away with beating the prostitute is because he's a "friend of the hotel"; Colvin is disgusted enough that he quits his job.
- Serious Business: Omar likes his Honey Nut Cheerios, and is upset not only by the fact Renaldo hasn't bought a new box, but that the store doesn't have any.
- Shout-Out: Bodie claims he feels like an asshole holding his Charles Dickens.
- Prez tries to do a math problem for the kids concerning someone traveling from Baltimore to Philadelphia, which leads to a discussion about Allen Iverson.
- Signature Move: Omar's "I'm my own trademark" way of robbing a stash house.
- Some Call Me "Tim": In an attempt to lighten things up in his first class, Pres. introduces himself; "My name is Mr. Pryzbylewski. But you can call me Mr. Pryzbylewski." Naturally, no one laughs.
- Take That!: Lt. Marrinow is named after the man who became managing editor of the Baltimore Sun when David Simon was still writing there and who, according to Simon, was more interested in chasing prizes than in good journalism.
- Trojan Horse: Lt. Marrinow. Lampshaded by Rawls, who calls Marrinow this.
- Twofer Token Minority: Kima. Lampshaded by Old Face Andre (though he is a little unclear on different parts of Asia, asking if he is “half-soul, half-Chinese from Vietnam”. Sonja Sohn is neither, her mother is Korean.)
