Julito McCullum

In the Season Four premiere, four boys from West Baltimore--Michael, Namond, Randy and Dukie--play out their summer vacation in the streets as the fall school semester approaches. Having failed to capture a potentially valuable homing pigeon, the boys are stirred to action when Dukie is beaten up, and Randy concocts a retaliation plan against the rival gang. The action is slower at Bodie's corner, giving young Namond an excuse to take off early from his "summer job" as a runner. Meanwhile, Marlo has solved the problem that baffled Stringer Bell: how to maintain discipline--read: murders--without getting police attention. At the detail's office, Freamon and Sydnor press Pearlman to issue City Hall subpoenas, while Daniels's replacement, James Asher, surveys the blueprints to his dream house. With the mayoral race heading into its final weeks, Mayor Royce and his primary challenger, Tommy Carcetti, hit decidedly different campaign trails. Carcetti's deputy campaign manager, Norman Wilson, and his campaign guru, Theresa D'Agostino, try to keep their candidate focused, despite the odds. Prez preps for a new career in higher education, while McNulty turns down a promotion.

Herc's soft-duty job with the mayor takes an unexpectedly hard turn. Despite the potential damage to her career, Pearlman provides Freamon and Sydnor with subpoena ammunition for their 'grizzly bear' hunt in City Hall. Carcetti concentrates on games he can win; Namond gets some grooming advice from his father, Wee-Bey; Marlo plays Robin Hood with the neighborhood kids, though Michael isn't taking; Bubbles brings an apprentice into his mobile-emporium business; Cutty juggles his landscaping job with a volunteer gig as a boxing mentor, eyeing Michael as a pupil; Prez braces for his first day as a schoolteacher. At the televised mayoral debate, Carcetti drops a bombshell on the mayor.

With his lead dwindling in the polls, Royce resorts to extreme measures to stall Carcetti's momentum. At Bodie's corner, Michael proves adept as a runner, with both Bodie and Marlo taking notice. A re-up bodega is put under surveillance by Omar and Greggs, for different reasons. Rawls replaces Asher with a 'company man,' Charles Marimow, who pushes a new agenda on the detail, to Freamon and Greggs's dismay. A domesticated McNulty invites Bunk over for dinner, which ends with the two remembering the good old days at a familiar spot. Randy enjoys a productive first day at school, though Prez, the new teacher, isn't so fortunate. Herc reaps an unexpected benefit, courtesy of the mayor. Colvin contemplates trading his new job in the private sector for one that gets him back on the streets.

With Freamon and Greggs moved to Homicide, Herc and Dozerman join Marimow in the stripped-down Major Crimes Unit. Cutty gets a 'custodial' job at Tilghman School mopping up truants, but can't make headway in his efforts to mentor Michael. Bubbles gives Sherrod an ultimatum in an effort to get him back in school as a 'socially promoted' eighth-grader. Burrell finds a way to sabotage the state-witness murder investigation before the election, a plan that directly impacts Greggs. Prez's struggles in class continue; Bodie finds himself working for a new 'company'; Colvin pitches his pilot program to the school; Carcetti meets with a constituency he knows won't support him; Randy faces a dilemma after being busted for his candy scam; Marlo is schooled in poker; Royce antes up in a game he can't lose; and Proposition Joe plays Marlo in a high-stakes heist.

Valchek leaks details of the Braddock case to Carcetti, who contemplates how to best leak it to the press. The ensuing negative attention turns Royce against Burrell, who takes the heat while Rawls comes to the rescue. At school, Prez's reward/punishment program meets with mixed results, and Colvin looks to restore order by separating disruptive 'corner' kids from more attentive 'stoop' ones. His poster boy for the former: Namond. Chris tries to enlist Michael into Marlo's ranks, spooking Randy along the way. At the detail, Marimow sets up a series of street-level 'rips' targeted at Marlo, but his subordinates--and Pearlman and Daniels--are skeptical. Later, Herc and Sydnor plant a hidden camera at Marlo's meeting place, with unexpected results. Burned by Omar, Marlo gets Chris and Old Face Andre to frame his nemesis. Bubbles's efforts to keep Sherrod in school only get him humiliated. Angered by Royce's double-dealing, State Delegate Watkins decides to sit out the campaign, sending Carcetti and Wilson rushing to make their pitch. Although Bunk and Freamon come up empty in their body-hunting search, Dukie knows where the 'special dead' might be hiding.