Carcetti tries to move against Burrell by asking for a bump in the commissioner's salary to attract someone else from outside Baltimore, but immediately runs into resistance from Naresse, who warns him the ministers won't stand for Burrell being fired, and neither would she (she also vetoes any plans for a casino built in the city). Next, Carcetti tries to get Burrell to resign, but recognizing Carcetti doesn't have the political capital to fire him, Burrell refuses to resign. Carcetti is able to promote Daniels to Colonel and head of CID - (as he promised) - and Carver, Kima and Sydnor, along with Rhonda, are there to watch the ceremony - and tells Rawls to effectively run the department without Burrell's say-so to isolate him.
Thanks to Bunk's efforts, Omar gets freed from jail, but Bunk delivers him an ultimatum - no more killing. Omar agrees, but that doesn't stop him from trying to figure out who framed him and why. He doesn't get to question Old Face Andre about it, because Old Face Andre runs to Proposition Joe, who gives him up to Chris and Snoop as part of a deal for Marlo joining the co-op. However, Omar does latch onto Marlo.
Colvin, Duquette and Parenti's class continues to make strides, though it also shows how far they have to go. The kids are split into groups and told to build models without following the instructions (which they don't get), and Colvin will take the winning team out to dinner. Darnell, Namond and Zenobia end up winning with their replica of the Eiffel Tower, and as promised, Colvin takes them to a steakhouse for dinner. However, the three of them end up feeling incredibly self-conscious and out of place (though that doesn't stop them from bragging about it the next day to their fellow classmates), and Colvin realizes just how tough it is for them to feel humiliated and alienated from a completely different world from their own. Prez, on the other hand, is finding himself alienated from the policies the school is forcing him to teach by, even when Grace explains again how he, not the students, are being evaluated by the state test. He also reluctantly allows Randy to order candy for his store of the Internet after Randy, using the math Prez taught him, wins money in a dice game.
Michael is still upset about his stepfather returning, and doesn't know what to do. He wonders first about calling Social Services (Randy points out they'll most likely split him and Bug up), and then remembers Prez offering to contact the school social worker (Randy points out she's a drunk). Dukie says Michael should talk to Dennis, but Michael doesn't trust Dennis, thinking he's "too friendly" (even when Randy tries to assure him the only ones Dennis is "friendly" with are women). In the end, despite his assertions to the contrary, Michael ends up going to Marlo for help, as he feels he has nowhere else to go.
Tired of the Fiend robbing him and using him as a punching bag, Bubbles contacts Kima, who gives him to Herc. Herc asks him to identify Little Kevin, and in return, promises to help Bubbles with the Fiend. Bubbles does, allowing Herc to arrest Little Kevin. However, Herc gets nowhere in trying to pin Lex's murder on him, and when Bubbles calls him when he spots the Fiend, Herc ignores the call as he's in the middle of the interrogation, so Bubbles gets beat up again.
Elsewhere, Poot gets out of prison, and Kima gets her first check as a Homicide detective.
This episode contains examples of:
- Actually Pretty Funny: When Darnell, Namond, and Zenobia successfully build their model of the Eiffel Tower, Duquette asks them about the extra pieces Namond put in his pocket, to which Namond replies, "What extra pieces?" Colvin and Duquette both chuckle at that.
- Ask a Stupid Question...: After Carcetti tells Rawls how he wants to isolate Burrell:Rawls: Mr. Mayor, about Ervin. If you don't mind my asking, why keep him as a puppet commissioner when you can just fire the guy?Norman: We mind you asking.
- Berserk Button: Bunk gets extremely pissed when Omar talks about how he's willing to "bear up" to find out who really did kill the delivery woman, as he assumes that means Omar's going to kill again.Bunk: (grabbing Omar) You owe me, motherfucker.Omar: I'm saying I know I do, man.Bunk: If you want to pay down this debt, you know what you gotta do for me? No more bodies. No more fucking bodies from you. No more comebacks or get-evens on this. No more killing. You owe me your word.
- Break the Haughty: Essentially, what happens to Darnell, Namond and Zenobia at the restaurant.
- Call-Back: Bodie tells Poot they're working for Marlo now.
- Proposition Joe tells Marlo about some of the cases Major Crimes worked, including bugging Avon's office and getting on Stringer's cell phone.
- When Bubbles says he'll use the hat trick to identify Little Kevin, Herc remembers and approves.
- Carcetti brings up the fact Burrell said he respected the chain of command when he asks Burrell to resign. He also tells Rawls he's elevating Valchek - even though he knows Valchek's a hack - because he owes Valchek.
- Daniels remembers how Marla once told him, "You can not lose if you do not play."
- When Dennis tells Carver who Namond's father is, Carver remembers arresting Wee-Bey, and Dennis tells him how he and Wee-Bey were in prison together.
- When Omar sees Marlo, he recognizes him from the poker game.
Omar: No wonder he don't like me. - Continuity Nod: Marlo thinks Chris and Snoop have done a good enough job on dropping the New York boys they can consider it finished.
- Kima is paying child support to Cheryl for their son Elijah. Also, unlike Kima, Cheryl's new girlfriend actually did pass the bar.
- Deal with the Devil: Michael asks Marlo for Chris' help (which basically means joining Marlo's crew) in order to get rid of his stepdad.
- Description Cut: Ms. Thiessen, one of Prez's colleagues, says she thinks her car was stolen. Sure enough, the very next scene shows Donut driving it.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: In-Universe; the school system's reliance on test scores sounds all too familiar to Prez:Prez: I don't get it. All this so we score higher on the state tests? If we're teaching the kids the test questions, what is it assessing in them?Grace: Nothing. It assesses us. The test scores go up, They can say the schools are improving. The scores stay down, they can't.Prez: Juking the stats.Grace: Excuse me?Prez: Making robberies into larcenies. Making rapes disappear. You juke the stats, and Majors become Colonels. I've been here before.
- Played for Laughs earlier; when Randy tries to convince Prez to order candy online and let him pay Prez back later with the profits, Prez replies, "Points on the package, huh?"
- Epigraph: "Might as well dump 'em, get another", said by Proposition Joe to Old Face Andre about the antique clocks in his shop, though it also qualifies as Rule of Symbolism.
- Exact Words: Omar did promise not to kill anyone again. He said nothing about threaten, as he explains to Renaldo later.
- False Reassurance / From a Certain Point of View:Old Face Andre: Prop Joe said you was my escort out.Slim: In a matter of speaking that be true.
- Foreshadowing: Again, the schools running at a deficit becomes very important later, as does Carcetti's gubernatorial ambitions, Herc completely blowing the interrogation of Little Kevin, and Carver's ultimatum to Namond.
- Gang of Hats: Chris and Snoop dropping New York dealers has rung out on the streets to the extent that even Baltimore dealers won't risk wearing Yankees hats.
- I Never Said It Was Poison: In trying to implicate Little Kevin in Lex's murder, Herc screws up by mentioning things only Randy would have known, so Little Kevin knows who informed on him. This also has major consequences later.
- Ironic Echo Cut: When Omar refuses to leave Baltimore, and tells Bunk, "Man gotta live where he know, right?", we cut immediately to Carcetti at a meeting saying, "You're absolutely right."
- Just a Kid: When Renaldo sees Michael meeting with Marlo, he asks Omar about him, and Omar characterizes Michael as this.
- Oh, Crap!: Old Face Andre when he finds out Chris and Snoop are his "escort" out of Baltimore.
- Passed-Over Promotion: Naresse is upset at Carcetti for jumping ahead of her for mayor (Gray too) when Royce had promised she'd be next in line and he'd back her.
- Precision F-Strike: Michael's "Man, fuck you" to his stepfather.
- Really Gets Around: Poot. Little Kevin even knows him as a "pussy hound", and Poot jokes that he's just out of prison and already has to visit the "clinic".
- Shout-Out: Little Kevin and some of the others on Bodie's corner tell him about Spongebob Squarepants.
- Colvin plays Billie Holiday in the car when driving the others to the restaurant.
- Zenobia tells Darnell to take his napkin off of his collar, and adds he looks like Fred Flintstone.
- Tempting Fate: Daniels and Rhonda both think with Carcetti in charge, the city will work better for a change.
- Too Dumb to Live: Played with; Old Face Andre knows enough not to tell his girlfriend where he's fled to (when Chris and Snoop confront her, she said he told him if he did tell her, she'd have to tell Chris), but not to go further than going to east Baltimore. Lampshaded by Proposition Joe, who grumbles, "Why is it that every Baltimore nigga think that running the fuck away means crossing downtown?"
