Rob Cunningham

Baltimore's renewed police commitment brings fresh recruits to Daniels and McNulty, starting with Carver. Facing a new political challenge, Carcetti is forced to make dangerous political deals. As the Pulitzer season winds down, Haynes approaches Templeton about his sources. Bunk returns a McNulty favor; little Kenard makes a big score; Dukie finds work; Fletcher continues his interview with Bubbles; Freamon presents his latest plan to a prosecutor; Sydnor uncovers the missing piece to a puzzle; McNulty comes clean.

Ends 12/31/12. 'Unconfirmed Reports.' Although he tells Sydnor the Davis investigation could be a "career case," Freamon keeps a wary eye out for Marlo, who takes care of some unfinished business and strikes a business deal with Barksdale. Carcetti throws the police a bone by removing the cap on secondary employment, sending the detectives into fantasy-job reveries.

On the trail of missing bodies, Freamon turns to a higher authority after being rebuked by Landsman. Carcetti finds his promises of prosperity undermined by the school debt, forcing him to contemplate groveling before the Governor in Annapolis.

After flexing his muscles around the city, Carcetti faces his first dilemma when a group of ministers protests Herc's mistreatment of one of their own. Later, the mayor reverses Burrell's mass-arrest mandate, but Burrell still has some cards left to play. Michael and the boys enact an elaborate revenge plot on a mean cop, Officer Walker. Namond makes a leap of faith; Randy gets the cold shoulder at school; Dukie gets a bump; Colvin fights for the future of his class experiment. Pearlman and Daniels raise the curtain on 'a new day' in Homicide, to the detectives' delight. Rawls passes the ball to Daniels on the Herc situation, urging the new Colonel to 'do the right thing.' Later, Daniels resurrects the Major Crimes unit, and returns Freamon to the detail room with new authority and freedom. Reunited with Sherrod, the Bubbles depot rides again, but the good times don't last. An irate Prez confronts Carver for putting Randy in danger, but learns that Herc was at fault for not delivering the boy to Bunk. Omar and Reynaldo pay a menacing visit to Proposition Joe, with their own proposition. Freamon has a revelation at a crime scene that promises to blow the lid off an unsolved mystery.

After flexing his muscles around the city, Carcetti faces his first dilemma when a group protests Herc's mistreatment of one of their own. Later, the mayor reverses Burrell's mass-arrest mandate, but Burrell still has some cards to play.

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.

With his lead dwindling, Royce resorts to extreme measures to stall Carcetti's momentum. At Bodie's corner, Michael proves adept as a runner, with Bodie and Marlo taking notice. A re-up bodega is put under surveillance by Omar and Greggs.

In the Season Three finale, a reticent Avon readies his troops for a seemingly endless war against Marlo. Meanwhile, as the detail works towards the top rungs of the Barksdale organization, McNulty reassesses his pursuit of Stringer Bell and the path he's chosen for himself. While Royce continues to grapple with Amsterdam, Burrell offers a deal to minimize the fallout, even as Colvin's idea becomes public knowledge. Carcetti's ambition becomes obvious to his friend and fellow councilman Tony Gray, even as Gray has disclosed his own political plans. Cutty struggles to keep his young boxers off the corners, as he and Fruit cross paths once again. Bubbles offers his view of the world, both as it is and as it once was.

Ends 12/31/12. 'Sentencing.' (Season One finale) Every crew has weak links--including Avon Barksdale's. With the heat turned up in the high-rises, Daniels and McNulty turn to a higher authority in an effort to crack the case wide open.

McNulty's detail finally gets 'clone' pagers to track Barksdale and his gang, but nobody can crack the codes used by the callers. Meanwhile, Bell instructs D'Angelo on how to school his lookouts while simultaneously flushing out a possible snitch. Later, Carver and Herc find Bodie, but their interrogation doesn't turn up results.

When Rawls looks to make a premature arrest for three murders that are linked to D'Angelo and Avon Barksdale, McNulty and Greggs must argue for a delay in order to preserve the valuable wiretap gains they have made. Meanwhile, Wallace and D'Angelo struggle with their consciences after Avon pays them blood money.

In the projects. On the docks. In City Hall. In the schools. And now, in the media. The places and faces change, but the game remains the same. HBO presents the fifth--and final--season of this acclaimed drama series that focuses on the vagaries of crime, law enforcement, politics and the media in Baltimore, MD.