Sandi McCree

The BAU travels to Houston to investigate a series of murders that have occurred near construction sites and abandoned buildings.

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.

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.

With Election Day approaching, the three mayoral candidates make last-minute appeals. Carcetti wrangles for votes as he responds to a potentially devastating smear. Norris and Greggs get a lead on the Braddock case, but end up being detoured. Following through on a promising video lead, Herc finds out just how elusive Marlo can be. With De'Londa's well running dry, Namond is asked to step into his father's shoes. Omar is fingered for murder, but McNulty and Bunk suspect a frame. At school, Colvin's special class gets its first enlistees; Prez solves Dukie's wardrobe woes; and Randy is called out on a serious transgression, forcing him to confess to another one. Cutty figures out why Spider, and Michael, might have been avoiding him. On Election Day, Carcetti is miffed when he learns that State Senator Clay Davis has been double-dipping; later, he contemplates breaking some old habits for the good of his career.

To monitor the pulse on the street, Carcetti makes the rounds with members of the force. With Marimow on his case, Herc resorts to strong-arm tactics to retrieve his pinched camera, but Marlo isn't impressed. While Proposition Joe shows off his vocal range, Chris shows Snoop how to expose, and dispose of, New York infiltrators. At school, Prez struggles to fit a test-practice mandate into his curriculum, and Colvin figures out a way to involve Namond and other 'corner boys' in problem-solving. Not buying into Old Face Andre's account of a homicide, Bunk tries to convert Holley and Crutchfield to his way of thinking. A newly sober McNulty attends an Irish cop's wake--with a not-so-sober Bunk. Daniels gains the mayor's confidence, while Rawls confirms Burrell's suspicions of collusion. Randy finds himself on a short leash; Dukie learns that computer skills breed popularity; and Michael is dismayed by the unexpected return of a missing family member.