"The bigger the lie, the more they believe."
— Bunk
Distraught over Bodie dying, McNulty has re-joined the MCU, determined to bring down Marlo, but in doing so has quickly returned to his old drinking and womanizing ways. Having turned down the offer of money from the governor of Maryland, worried about the ramifications for his own gubernatorial run, Carcetti must try to make up the $54m education deficit via cutbacks. This has led him to delay the promised increase in police pay, with newly promoted SIC Carver trying to placate the Western District troops, as they reach breaking point. Meanwhile, Burrell and Rawls explain to Carcetti that without budgetary assistance from City Hall, they cannot deliver the reductions in crime on which he campaigned. The FBI offer to help work the vacant murders investigation, but on the condition that Bond take the Clay Davis corruption case federal. When he and Carcetti refuse, the FBI withdraw their proffered support. As such, the MCU is shut down. Similar cutbacks in The Baltimore Sun newsroom make it increasingly difficult for city desk editor Gus Haynes to maintain the paper, finding staff cutbacks making efficient reporting virtually impossible. Elsewhere, Bubbles moves into his sister's basement in a concerted effort to get clean, and at a meeting of the New Day, Marlo's behavior gives Slim Charles cause for concern.
This episode contains examples of:
- Big Brother Mentor: Michael is still this for Dukie.
- Bluffing the Murderer: Two bluffs are used on a perp named DeShawn. First, Bunk makes claims that they took DeShawn's accomplice to McDonald's as a reward for cooperating (when he in fact refused to talk), and then has Detective Crutchfield escort said accomplice past the interrogation room with a bag of McDonald's food in hand, which scares DeShawn accordingly. Then Bunk and Jay Landsman trick him into thinking a photocopier is a lie detector. In reality the copier has several pages preloaded, some of which say true, and one that says false. The cops ask harmless questions until they run out of "trues", then ask about the crime, and when the kid tries to lie about it, "false" comes out.
- By "No", I Mean "Yes": When Gus is defending himself for arguing with Whiting:Gus: I'm not poking anyone here.Corbett: Dean Martin?Gus: Yeah, a little poke.
- Call-Back: Herc boasts at how well he landed on his feet even after he got in trouble for pulling over a minister for no good reason.
- The Cameo: Laura Lippman and Michael Olesker (who both wrote for the Sun in real-life) are the two columnists Gus sees in the conference room watching the fire.
- Continuity Nod:
- McNulty complains he's late on child support and needs the money for that.
- When McNulty asks Sydnor if he remembers the investigation at the docks, Sydnor reminds McNulty he wasn't involved in that.
- The feds have long had an interest in Clay Davis.
- Death Glare: An extremely pissed off McNulty finally returns to Homicide to find a new detective occupying his old desk. After looking up to to see McNulty above him sporting one of these, and an advisory look from Landsman, the detective wisely vacates the desk pronto.McNulty: That's my desk.
- Epigraph: "The bigger the lie, the more they believe", which Bunk says to Norris after they successfully bluff DeShawn into confessing.
- Foreshadowing: The continuing money problems at both the police department and the Baltimore Sun, Marlo trying to stir things up in and outside the co-op, and Bubbles' efforts to stay clean and deal with his guilt all become important later.
- Gay Bravado: Once again, McNulty and Bunk.McNulty: Hey, Bunky Bunk, come here!Bunk: Jimmy.McNulty: Come here, you virile beast!
- Graceful Loser: Michael is practically overjoyed when Bug defeats him at Connect Four.
- Hand Wave: Herc's line "I should never have left the Bronx" is the show's way of acknowledging Domenick Lombardozzi's thick Bronx accent.
- Insult Backfire:Gus: Any night a Baltimore politician calls you a son of a bitch is a good night.
- Irony: Daniels and Rhonda go to Rupert Bond to ask for help with Marlo and the bodies in the vacants, and while they're talking, Chris, the one responsible for all the vacant murders, casually walks up and asks them for directions and walks off.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: "More With Less" is the title of the premier episode of an abridged final season. The show itself has to do "more with less."
- Let Me Get This Straight...: Done a couple of times:Norman: You're saying you want us to come down on a case in which 22 people were murdered and left to rot in city houses?Daniels: So one thieving politician trumps 22 dead bodies. Good to know.
- Narrative Profanity Filter: Because her car window is closed, we can't hear Nerese Campbell's reaction to the story about her, but if you read lips, you can pretty much guess.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- Carcetti not accepting help from the U.S. Attorney will have major consequences for both the Clay Davis trial and the investigation of the murders connected to Marlo.
- Yes, Rhonda and Daniels were busy worrying about the status of their investigation, but you'd think one of them would have recognized one of the major players in that investigation.
- Political Overcorrectness: According to Whiting, anyway; when Whiting insists his friend Gene Robbins is a reliable source as to whether the University of Maryland is meeting its diversity goals, Gus asks, "He's a white guy, right?" Whiting retorts Gus should leave the "race card" out of it.
- Precision F-Strike:Carcetti: And (Bond) told your Republican ass to go fuck itself, huh? Well, let me double down on that.
- Product Placement: Bunk says they bought Monell food from McDonald's.
- Promotion to Opening Titles: Gbenga Akinnagbe (Chris), Jermaine Crawford (Dukie), Michael Kostroff (Levy), Neal Huff (Steintorf), Isiah Whitlock Jr. (Clay), and Tristan Wilds (Michael)
- Put on a Bus: This is the last we see of Lt. Asher.
- Real Song Theme Tune: Steve Earle does this season's version of "Way Down in the Hole".
- Rule of Symbolism: This season, the opening scene sets up how easy it is to lie to somebody, which becomes a major theme.
- Running Gag: Once again, when McNulty returns to Homicide at the end, Jay calls him the prodigal son.
- Self-Plagiarism: Pretending a copier was a lie detector was also done on a first-season episode of Homicide Lifeonthe Street, and is based on an incident that was mentioned in Homicide: A Year On The Killing Streets.
- Shaped Like Itself:Carver: In the real world, they pay professionals. That's why they call them pros.
- Shout-Out:
- Gus dismissively calls Whiting's friend at the University of Maryland Dean Wormer, and then Dean Martin.
- When Gus is yelling at the reporters in the newsroom near the end of the episode, he says, "There are a million stories in the naked city", referring to the movie and show The Naked City.
- Sophisticated as Hell:Snoop: We will be brief with all you motherfuckers. I think you know.
- Take That!: Klebanow and Whiting are based on the managing and executive editors who were at the Baltimore Sun when David Simon took a buyout from the paper, and whom he feels helped ruin the paper. Also, the Tribune company (which really does own the paper) comes under fire here as well.
- Tempting Fate: Gus implies Twigg has nothing to worry about regarding the layoffs because of his seniority.
- Title Drop: Klebanow tells the other editors at the budget meeting, "We simply have to do more with less".
