Method Man

In the Season Three premiere, a wave of urban reform brings down the notorious Franklin Terrace public housing towers, forcing the Barksdale drug crew to find a new home on the streets of West Baltimore. Stringer Bell sets up shop using a new sales strategy for Bodie, Poot, Puddin and the rest of the gang, as he awaits the return of Avon from prison. McNulty, Greggs and the Detail look to make a case against Stringer with a wiretap on a drug ring run by his ally, Proposition Joe. Assigned to the Western District drug unit, Carver and Herc notch up the pressure on street dealers. Burrell is caught in a power play by First District Councilman Tommy Carcetti, an ambitious young man with roots deep in the ethnic politics of Baltimore. Mayor Clarence Royce, facing re-election next year, puts Burrell on notice that crime stats, and murders in particular, must come down, whatever it takes. The order from on high has put police commanders in the hot seat during the new Comstat meetings, where they are held up to aggressive criticism by Rawls and others before their peers. Daniels, too, is confronted by the reach of City Hall, as his promotion to major appears to be derailed because of his estranged wife's political ambitions. A rash of murders cuts short Bunk's day at the ballpark, as Bubbles and Johnny lose big in their latest caper for cash. On the eve of his parole, Cutty Wise is offered a new start on the outside by Avon, but after being released, he finds the drug life has changed.

Ziggy loses his prized Camaro to drug dealers who aren't buying his alibis about not paying up. Unable to dump the homicide investigation on other police agencies, Col. Rawls measures Bunk for the blame, if the cases go unsolved. Weak product in the pit has Bodie getting heat from fiends and slingers alike. Homicide detectives hand out grand jury summonses to stevedores involved in the homicide case, and port police officer Beadie Russell works the lingering affections of an old boyfriend--also a stevedore--to find out how cargo disappears from the docks. Inside the detail, there is clamoring to have the ongoing homicide investigation folded into the investigation of Frank Sobotka and his band of union brothers.

Omar continues his bold strikes on Barksdale stash houses, now heavily guarded. Under orders from Stringer Bell, Bodie faces a critical test against Marlo, a fierce young dealer with lucrative corners near the now-toppled Franklin Terrace towers. As the wire on East Baltimore's Proposition Joe continues to yield little, a restless McNulty launches his own reinvestigation of last year's prison suicide of D'Angelo Barksdale. Greggs is also restless at work, but on the home front, she's chafing at the domesticity that a partner and infant demand. On the street, bodies continue to drop, prompting Burrell and Rawls to jack up the heat on their district commanders. Burrell himself is feeling heat from Councilman Carcetti and reaches an uneasy peace with the legislator. The street violence also presents Daniels with the difficult decision of whether to help end a drug war in the Eastern--at the cost of giving up a months-long wiretap. Cheese loses more than a little on his bet at a bloody dogfight and later is hauled downtown for questioning as a murder suspect by Bunk and McNulty. A beleaguered Cutty, once a fierce power in the life, attempts to get on track, seeking employment outside the drug world. Carver, Herc and the Western drug unit take to the street undercover, but a hand-to-hand drug buy goes sour, prompting Major 'Bunny' Colvin, the district commander, to question his thirty years on the force and the legacy of his career.

The Detail uses satellite technology to its advantage. Bodie is unhappy that Proposition Joe's people are slinging on his turf, but business flows--until a new face from New York arrives. Stringer Bell looks to an unlikely solution to the problem. A frustrated Valcheck visits the FBI in an attempt to get real results on the docks. Ziggy's deal with Double-G goes bad in a big way. Nick lies to Aimee, Greggs considers the idea of motherhood, and Prez makes a major blunder. The Detail prepares for an action that they hope will give them the man on top.

When a polygamist's wife is killed, the Nigerian national fears his testifying in a separate crime may have led to his wife's murder. Detectives Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) investigate only to find a website exposing potential witnesses to the other crime leading the SVU to believe that his cultural tradition may be the root cause of his wife's murder. Also starring: Adam Beach, Dann Florek, Ice-T, Diane Neal, Tamara Tunie, Richard Belzer, and B.D. Wong.