Now allowed to interview the jailhouse snitch who might help them finally solve the murder of the dead witness, Kima and Norris discover the murder had absolutely nothing to do with him being a witness (the man on trial claimed he loved the witness like a brother). Kima decides to investigate on her own, and discovers the "witness" was a victim of an accidental shooting by someone who was doing target practice.
Newly elected mayor-to-be Carcetti accompanies uniformed cops on patrol, as well as attending a Comstat meeting. Carcetti wants to fire Burrell, but Norman and Watkins point out it wouldn't look good for a white mayor to fire a black police commissioner, plus there's no replacement, though Carcetti becomes a fan of Daniels after listening to him at the Comstat meeting. Meanwhile, Rhonda, to her surprise and delight, discovers Rupert Bond (Dion Graham), the new state's attorney, wants to promote her to chief of the Violent Crimes unit.
Still in jail, Omar, after surviving an attempt on his life, contacts Bunk to try and plead his innocence. Bunk is unimpressed at first, but when Omar points out the real killer is still out there, Bunk relents. He's unable to convince Crutchfield (the primary) to investigate further, but he is able to get Omar moved out of county jail.
While watching the kids in his class playing cards during lunch, Prez discovers he can teach the class math by disguising it with having them play games, specifically dice (also, while going to the storage room to collect games with dice, Prez discovers newer textbooks than he's been assigned, as well as computers, one of which he takes for Dukie to use). Colvin and Parenti's class, on the other hand, is getting off to a slow start, despite the efforts of Ms. Duquette (Stacie Davis), a specialist who's helping them out. Namond in particular seems to act out even more.
Elsewhere, to try and figure out who tried to have him arrested, Marlo steals the surveillance camera, which throws Herc into a panic, and Carver letting him interview Randy to gain leverage on Marlo doesn't help, since Herc doesn't know the right things to ask. Also, Bubbles has second thoughts about letting Sherrod go, especially when the Fiend returns to beat him up. Finally, Dennis realizes seeing the mothers of the kids he's training is having a negative effect on them, and apologizes for this; he also decides not to be a truant officer anymore.
This episode contains examples of:
- An Aesop: When meeting with Tony, Carcetti asks why he never ran for another term as mayor; Tony tells him how he was, figuratively speaking, forced to eat a bowl of shit from everyone, and decided being a lawyer was a better life for him and his family.
- Ass Shove: Omar does this with a shiv to his would be assassin to send a strong message to the rest of the inmates.
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: When Bond tells Rhonda she's wasted in Narcotics, Rhonda is afraid he's going to let her go; instead, he offers her the job as head of the Violent Crimes Unit, and she's stunned.
- Call-Back: Omar calls Bunk because of the promise Nathan made to him (in the form of a "Get Out of Jail Free" Card). He also tells Bunk, "A man got to have a code." Bunk, in turn, reminds Omar not only of Tosha getting killed, but also Stringer.
- When Carcetti visits Royce after the win, they both have a laugh about Carcetti bringing up the dead witness in the debate and the flier smearing Carcetti.
- Bond brings up the subpoenas Rhonda sent out.
- Donnelly tells Prez Tiff is backpedaling on the rape charge.
- Herc claims losing the camera is an even worse screw-up than what happened to the bug.
- Watkins admits he's long wanted to get rid of Burrell, but Royce was afraid of pissing off the ministers.
- When Dennis sees Grace in the halls after he quits the truant job, they're still friendly to each other, and he even says to her as a goodbye, "Be well."
- Continuity Nod: Lester still has his sideline of his toy furniture, even while in Homicide; Jay is especially impressed when he hears how much Lester can make with one of his pieces ($300).Jay: Fuck me, I need a hobby.
- Corrupt Cop: Once again, Officer Walker, who, instead of helping Bubbles after his encounter with the Fiend, proceeds to rob Bubbles of merchandise because Bubbles is selling it without a license.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Once again, a cop (this time, Kima) is able to look over a crime scene and determine what happened without any Expo Speak.
- Epigraph: "Aw, yeah, that Golden Rule", said by Bunk to Omar when Omar ruminates that had he known he'd be in prison with so many of the people he robbed, he might not have robbed them all.
- Foreshadowing: Bubbles' continued problems with the Fiend, Bunk's attempts to prove Omar didn't kill the delivery woman, Herc screwing up the interview with Randy (and Crutchfield not passing along the message to Bunk), Herc's continued problems with Marlo, and Namond once again showing his bark is worse than his bite all become important later.
- For Want Of A Nail: Carcetti won his election partly riding on the murdered witness angle, which we now learn was just a target shooting accident.
- Framing the Guilty Party: When Omar protests he didn't kill the delivery woman, Bunk says it almost doesn't matter, since he deserves to go to jail anyway because of the bodies he has on him. Indeed, when Bunk does try to prove Omar is innocent of this crime, Crutchfield points this out to him.
- Got Me Doing It: Karim (Jeffrey Lorenzo) tells Michael a flush beats three nines. Michael turns to Prez and asks, "It do?", and Prez answers, "It do," before correcting himself, "It does."
- Improvised Armour: Omar's friends tape a bunch of books around his torso to block shivs.
- Ironic Echo: After Kima solves the murder, she says to Norris, "Soft eyes."
- Let Me Get This Straight...: When Norris hears how the witness was really murdered:Norris: So our guy's dead because a bullet misses a bleach bottle, and this fuck Carcetti gets to be the mayor behind this stupidity. I fucking love this town.
- Lie Detector: Kima sits a suspect down for a polygraph. The technician later tells he can just say the results are positive or inconclusive whichever way she wants to play it.Kima: No wonder this shit is inadmissable.
- Oh, Crap!: Omar when he realize just how close he came to getting stabbed for real, despite having heavy magazines and books tapes around his torso.
- Reckless Gun Usage: the unnamed and unseen "smokehound" who shot at empty bottles down the alley ended up killing a bystander.
- Servile Snarker: As usual, Norman; when Carcetti asks (rhetorically) why someone who's talented and black would want to be in Baltimore, Norman deadpans, "I have often asked myself that very question on a number of occasions."
- Sophisticated as Hell: Namond's "Mr. Colvin, sir? Fuck you."
- Thicker Than Water: The dead witness and the prime suspect were distant cousins who grew up together, and the man resents the accusation that he'd kill a blood relative over a relatively short jail sentence.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Naturally, while on line at the prison cafeteria, Omar asks if they have Honey Nut Cheerios.
- Undercover Cop Reveal: Hilarious subverted; Bubbles runs into Prez outside Donnelly's office (for the second time), assumes he's setting himself up for this trope, and promises he won't spill the beans.
Prez, of course has no idea what he's talking about. - Verbal Backspace: While taking the polygraph, Wardell gets asked if he's a woman; this pushes his Berserk Button at first, until he remember he's supposed to answer any question with a yes, so he stops and says, "Yeah, I'm a bitch."
- Waxing Lyrical: Namond teases Chandra by talking about how "diamonds are a girl's best friend."
- What the Hell, Hero?: Crutchfield is pissed at Bunk for interfering with his investigation.
