Season 5

Complete listed story — includes the ending

S5E1 · More with Less

Epigraph: "The bigger the lie, the more they believe." - Bunk Chris gets Serge Malatov's picture from courthouse files. Dukie fails to get respect from a crew Michael gives him, who asks him to focus on watching Bug Manigault. As the Baltimore Sun faces budget cuts, Bubbles, sober and living in Rae's basement again, works as a distributor for it. Carcetti refuses the Republican U.S. attorney's offer to assist with an investigation into Davis. His attempts to fund the school system causes budget issues in the BPD, shutting down the major crimes unit and the investigation of the vacant murders. Freamon and Sydnor are given the Davis detail, while McNulty falls back into infidelity and alcoholism.

S5E2 · Unconfirmed Reports

Epigraph: "This ain't Aruba, bitch." -Bunk Bubbles regularly attends NA meetings but is unable to talk about Sherrod's death. Sun reporter Scott Templeton cuts corners on a piece, but the lead editor is impressed regardless and ignores city editor Gus Haynes's concerns. Carcetti commits to running for governor, unable to fix Baltimore 's problems without asking for help from the current one. Avon refuses to let Marlo see Serge until he gives money to Brianna Barksdale. After doing so, Marlo convinces Serge to put him in contact with Vondas. He has a rumor-spreading dealer killed in his home by Chris and Snoop Pearson. Michael is disturbed and lets a child escape the scene, while Greggs finds a second child, Devonne, hiding in a closet. Unable to get federal backing for the Stanfield investigation, McNulty manipulates the scene of an overdose, plotting to fabricate a serial killer that preys on the homeless to get funding sent to the BPD.

S5E3 · Not for Attribution

Epigraph: "They're dead where it doesn't count." - Fletcher McNulty contacts Sun reporter Alma Gutierrez, but the story is only given a small piece. Bunk tries to get Freamon to talk sense into McNulty, but he instead agrees with the idea. He and Sydnor discover that Davis committed a federal crime by lying on a mortgage application. Burrell shows Carcetti crime stats that Stan Valchek reveals are doctored, giving Carcetti cause to fire him. He plans to replace him with Daniels, which a disillusioned Wilson leaks to his friend Haynes. Templeton spitefully publishes a quote that frames Daniels as betraying Burrell when another reporter is given the story. Damien Price testifies against Davis before a grand jury. Dukie persuades a depressed Michael to go to Six Flags America with him and Bug, but he is berated by Monk Metcalf for leaving when he returns. Vondas tells Marlo to clean his money if they do business, so Joe Stewart points him to the Antilles for laundering. Cheese Wagstaff gives up Butchie, who Chris tortures and kills to lure out Omar.

S5E4 · Transitions

Epigraph: "Buyer's market out there." - Templeton A BPD officer assaults a civilian after being humiliated by Kenard and Carver decides to charge him when he expresses no regret. The state's attorney decides to charge Davis locally. Burrell uses his knowledge on Daniels's FBI file to get a lucrative job, smugly revealing he had forgotten much of the contents as Rawls is temporarily promoted in his stead. McNulty and Russell fight, interrupted when Freamon's old partner calls him to report a dead homeless man, who McNulty and Freamon bite with dentures to invent a sexual deviance angle. After watching an unsuccessful interview with a traumatized Devonne, Greggs spends time and eventually bonds with Elijah. Marlo gives Cheese his New Day Co-Op rival to kill. Joe tells Slim Charles that he suspects Cheese gave Butchie up. Vondas insists on primarily doing business with Joe, so Cheese gives him to Marlo and he is killed.

S5E5 · React Quotes

Epigraph: "Just cause they're in the street doesn't mean that they lack opinions." - Haynes Vondas gives Marlo a phone as he takes over for Joe. He gives the number to his attorney Levy, and Herc, working as Levy's investigator, jots it down. Omar breaks into Monk's apartment but is ambushed by Stanfield men, jumping from a balcony to escape. Bubbles is upset when he tests negative for HIV, feeling he deserves worse. Davis begins a campaign to frame his charges as racially motivated. McNulty tells Gutierrez about the bites and her story draws more attention to the case. He and Freamon fake a phone call from the killer, and the story makes the front page when Templeton fakes his own call. Carver receives Marlo's number and passes it to Freamon, who obtains a wiretap on the killer and uses it on Marlo instead when Daniels refuses to pursue him.

S5E6 · The Dickensian Aspect

Epigraph: "If you have a problem with this, I understand completely." - Freamon Omar sets his broken leg and burns one of Marlo's money stashes. Marlo disbands the Co-Op and gives Cheese his rival's territory. Trying to get Marlo on a murder, Bunk interviews Michael's mother, who tells him that Chris was involved in Devar Manigualt's death. Stolen indictments turn up in Joe's shop. Carcetti publicly pledges to help the homeless, which Wilson and Steintorf suggest he could run for governor on. Templeton's article is a national success, so he interviews homeless veteran Terry Hanning for a follow-up. Finding it difficult to stage bodies with increased police activity, McNulty accosts a homeless man named Larry Butler, photographs him, and plots a narrative where the killer sends photos of his victims to the press and hides the bodies. He sends Larry to a shelter in Richmond to fake his death.

S5E7 · Took

Epigraph: "They don't teach it in law school." - Pearlman McNulty calls Templeton through the wire and sells the new narrative while posing as the killer. Freamon pulls messages from Marlo's phone and finds images of clock faces sent with a number. Davis charms the jury into an acquittal despite more damning testimony from Price. Haynes sends reporter Mike Fletcher to canvas the homeless, where he meets Bubbles. Omar robs a stash house and kills Savino Bratton, who is out of jail and working for Marlo. He approaches Marlo's younger dealers, amongst them Kenard, and warns them that he will keep killing Stanfields until Marlo meets him in person. Greggs, having taken Elijah for the night, tenderly reads to him when he cannot sleep.

S5E8 · Clarifications

Epigraph: "A lie ain't a side of a story. It's just a lie." -Terry Hanning McNulty travels to Quantico for FBI assistance in the case and is unsettled by their profile of the killer mirroring him. He admits the truth to Greggs and Russell. Bunk runs the DNA on Devar's body and matches it to Chris. Sydnor realizes that the page numbers of a street atlas match the message numbers and the clock hands are Cartesian coordinates that mark a meeting's location. Carcetti gives half of Baltimore's federal funding to Prince George's County for support in the gubernatorial primary. Terry confronts Haynes and Templeton on inaccuracies in the latter's story. Haynes tries to cut the lead paragraph in Templeton's new story, but is stopped by the managing editor. He is impressed with Fletcher's report on Bubbles and tells him to talk to him again. Dukie looks for a job but can only find work helping a junk collector. Kenard notices Omar disrupting Marlo's corners and kills him when his back is turned.

S5E9 · Late Editions

Epigraph: "Deserve got nuthin' to do with it." - Snoop The Stanfields are arrested after Monk is caught at a deal, while Chris is arrested for Devar's murder. Marlo suspects Michael's involvement due to his recent hesitance and orders him killed. Carcetti approaches Colvin at a student debate where he is proudly watching Namond Brice speak, and is ignored when he tries to apologize about not supporting the free zone project. Freamon blackmails Davis with the mortgage into giving up a courthouse worker that sells information to Levy. Herc intuits while talking to Carver that Marlo was arrested using a wire, which he relays to Levy. Haynes grows suspicious when Daniels refuses to talk to Gutierrez due to Templeton's quoting. He visits WRAMC and confirms with Terry's friend that Templeton lied in his story. Fletcher accompanies Bubbles to NA for his anniversary of sobriety where he finally tells Sherrod's story, though he leaves out his culpability in his death. Greggs reports McNulty's scheme to Daniels after a homeless man turns up murdered. He visits the evidence room and finds the killer's phone is actually Marlo's. Snoop tries to lure Michael to his death, but he ambushes and kills her. He gives Bug money and sends him to his aunt, then drops Dukie off with the junk man for his safety. Dukie asks if he remembers their water balloon escapade, to which he responds "I don't" before leaving.

S5E10 · -30-

Epigraph: "...the life of kings." - H.L. Mencken Another man is murdered and McNulty catches the perpetrator—another homeless man—who is framed as the killer. He and Freamon are fired, though the latter identifies the leak and points Pearlman to Levy. Levy gets Marlo freed because of the wire, but on the condition that the rest stay in jail and he stays out of the drug game. An enraged Sydnor breaks chain of command by going to Daniel Phelan. Marlo gets in a fight with dealers rather than let Levy introduce him to developers. Carcetti becomes governor and Rawls is promoted, leaving Daniels to become commissioner under new mayor Nerese Campbell. He refuses to doctor stats and is served his FBI file, so he resigns after promoting Carver to major crimes lieutenant and becomes an attorney while Pearlman becomes a judge. Valchek takes his place. Templeton fakes a story and wins a Pulitzer Prize, while Gutierrez is transferred. Haynes is demoted but is happy to see Fletcher in his place for his moving story on Bubbles, who is invited upstairs to eat with Rae. Dukie asks Prez for money to enroll in a GED program, who warns him their friendship is over if he is lying. He later sees Dukie giving it to the junk man, who he starts using heroin with. Michael robs Marlo's advisor and Kenard is arrested for Omar's murder. Charles kills Cheese for his role in Joe's murder and starts business with Vondas. Having healed his relationship with Russell, McNulty takes Larry back to Baltimore, stopping and contemplating the city as a montage reveals the characters' fates. After a moment, he tells Larry "let's go home" before driving off. The episode is dedicated to Robert F. Colesberry, the show's co-creator and Ray Cole's actor, who died between the second and third season.