S2E1 · Ebb Tide

"Ain't never gonna be what it was." – Little Big Roy Jimmy McNulty is sidelined to harbor patrol. He discovers a corpse in the harbor and pays back Colonel Rawls by proving City Homicide bear responsibility for the investigation.Major Valchek feels slighted when the boss of a local stevedore union named Frank Sobotka donates a more impressive gift to a local Polish church. Sobotka meets with other union leaders and learns that a crucial pier is still in a state of disrepair. Sobotka instructs his nephew Nick to see The Greek regarding payment for a clandestine container that he is smuggling through the port. Later, Port Police Officer "Beadie" Russell stumbles across The Greek's container and discovers the bodies of over a dozen young women inside.

Plot summary and ending

Spoilers ahead. Coverage follows the scope labeled below.

Complete story — includes the ending

Epigraph: "Ain't never gonna be what it was." - Little Big Roy McNulty finds a woman's body in the Port of Baltimore, but Rawls passes the case to county police because she was found east of the Key Bridge. McNulty studies tide charts to prove she landed west, getting the case sent back to the BPD, and is asked by Bunk to find Omar to testify in Bird Hilton's upcoming murder trial. Avon turns a supplier in to the DEA for a lighter prison sentence, causing his New York contacts to cut him off. Stevedore union secretary-treasurer Frank Sobotka donates a window to a church to get a meeting with Barbara Mikulski and talk about repairing Silo Point. Stan Valchek is enraged when he donates his own window too late. A container for "the Greek", a crime boss Sobotka helps with smuggling, is dropped off. MDTA officer Beadie Russell notices its broken customs seal and finds several dead women inside.

Sources and content license

Source and revision history · Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, The Wire season 2. HTML formatting and reference markers removed. · Content license