As he previously threatened, when Carver catches Namond on a corner, he brings him to the police station, but when Namond is completely terrified at the prospect of going to baby booking, Carver first lets him spend the night at the precinct (De'Londa is in New York City), and then calls Colvin, who takes him home. When she gets home, De'Londa is furious at Colvin for taking Namond for a night, and at Namond for being too "soft" for jail. For Colvin, this isn't the only bad news; Donnelly tells him he's now required to teach the statewide test same as everyone else. She says he, Duquette and Parenti can try talking to the school board official who approved the plan, as well as her colleagues; unfortunately, they aren't receptive to the class, especially when an in-class demonstration goes wrong.
Though Burrell has refused to resign, he knows the writing is on the wall. Clay suggests he make himself look useful, while he in turn pretends to help Carcetti in getting the pay raise he wants for Burrell's replacement. To the disgust of many of the officers (at least in the western), Burrell's idea of making himself look useful is to increase arrests of "quality-of-life" violations, which basically means playing the stats game, which upsets Daniels when he hears about it. Only McNulty manages to get around this, with the help of Officer Baker (Derek Horton), by going after the people responsible for a string of church burglaries.
Herc apologizes to Bubbles for not being there when Bubbles was getting beaten up by the Fiend again, and promises to do right by him next time, even giving him a cellphone. Unfortunately, Herc also decides to finally confess to Marimow - sort of - about losing the camera, but Bubbles calls while he's doing it, and so naturally, Bubbles gets robbed once more. To get revenge, Bubbles calls Herc while near a minister's car, and claims to Herc he's found the camera Herc's looking for; naturally, Herc is gung-ho about making an arrest, only to be made a fool of once again. Speaking of Herc, Little Kevin returns from being interrogated by Herc, and Bodie tells Little Kevin he should tell Marlo about being pulled in by the police, just to be on the safe side. Unfortunately for Little Kevin, Marlo's response is to have Chris and Snoop take Little Kevin for a ride, and put out the word that Randy's a snitch. Speaking of Chris, he agrees unquestioningly to take care of Michael's stepfather, and ends up delivering a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown of him. Also, speaking of Marlo, Omar continues to follow him.
This episode contains examples of:
- Asshole Victim: No one will feel bad for Michael's step-dad, even though his death scene is gruesome.
- Bad Boss: Marlo doesn’t flinch to have Little Kevin killed, even though he stayed loyal when being interrogated by the police.
- Call-Back: Clay tells Carcetti and Norman he wants to clear the air over what happened during the primary.
- When they hear they're being asked to arrest, or write tickets for, people carrying open containers, McNulty and Santangelo point out carrying them in a paper bag used to mean you didn't get arrested.
- When Dozerman tries to convince Herc to identify Bubbles as "Fuzzy Dunlop", Sydnor points out Bubbles' been registered as an informant ever since working with Kima. Also, when Herc finally goes into Marimow's office, Marimow is bitching about Lester's subpoenas, which become important later.
- When Carver tells Colvin how highly Namond speaks of him, Colvin mentions Namond cussing him out.
- Daniels reminds Carcetti that he gave Daniels his word there would be no more stat games for the police.
- When Bodie gets upset at Marlo having Little Kevin killed, Poot points out it's no different from them having to kill Wallace.
- Character Development: McNulty’s maturing to responsible parent is remarked upon In-Universe by Elena.
- Continuity Nod: Though Prez dutifully teaches the exam questions, he also continues to do the dice games, to the delight of the kids.
- Burrell once again brings up Daniels' supposedly shady past, this time to Clay and Naresse.
- Elena is still seeing Dennis, though she says they're up and down.
- Cool Teacher: If Prez wasn’t already this before, he’s cemented his role as this by defying the teach-to-the-test mandate much to the delight of the students.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Namond finds Colvin’s nickname of “Bunny” naturally hilarious.
- Enforced Method Acting: In-Universe: when Duquette has Chandra and Zenobia role-play a woman trying to get her DSS card (Chandra) and a government employee (Zenobia), the latter acts cold and unfeeling (which Chandra predictably gets angry at) because she's "just trying to be realistic" (Darnell pipes up that she is).
- Epigraph: "World going one way, people another", said by Poot to Bodie. He's contrasting global warming with people getting colder.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Chris may be a cold-blooded killer (albeit an Affably Evil one), but he's so disgusted by Michael's stepfather that instead of a quick and clean kill, Chris beats him to death.
- Foreshadowing: Namond and the others eventually do more than just talk about getting revenge on Walker. Also, Herc arresting a church minister, Colvin and Namond bonding, Chris beating Michael's stepfather to death, and Bodie being upset over what happened to Little Kevin all become important later.
- Freudian Excuse:
Word of God confirmed Chris was also molested when he was a child, and this is why he not only unhesitatingly agrees to kill Michael's stepfather for Michael, but why he also gives him a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown instead of his usual quick and clean kill. - Layman's Terms: Namond doesn't know what having cobbler a la mode means; when he learns it means "with ice cream", he enthusiastically accepts.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Bodie freaks out when he hears that Marlo offed Little Kevin after Kevin went to Marlo about being caught by police on Bodie’s advice.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Chris' beatdown of Michael's stepdad leaves his victim dead with a face almost unrecognizable as something human.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: The school board officials Colvin and Parenti try to pitch their class to.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Chris foregoing his normal clean hit to beat a man to death is so unexpected that even Snoop (another cold-blooded killer) is shocked.
- Pædo Hunt: Thanks to his own past, a pedophile (Michael's stepdad) is apparently the only one of Chris' victims to make him disregard his normal professionalism and just beat the guy to death.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Chris beating someone to death instead of his normal "quick and clean" raises the bar on the brutality he's capable of, but no one's going to cry for the pedophile endangering Michael's home life.
- Pet the Dog: Carver letting Namond sleep on the bench in the station and Colvin taking him in the next night rather than send him to baby booking.
- Phrase Catcher: Norman imitates Clay's classic "Sheeeit".
- Police Brutality: When Officer Walker catches up to Donut after he steals a car, and Walker gets into a wreck while chasing him, Walker ends up breaking four of Donut's fingers.
- Playing Both Sides: Clay tries to work both Carcetti and Burrell.
- Shout-Out: Bubbles likens the Fiend to the Terminator.
- According to Namond, De'Londa has gone to see the stage version of The Color Purple. Also, when Colvin's wife compliments Namond's manners, Colvin says Namond is just putting on his Eddie Haskell act. Namond, of course, has no idea what Colvin's talking about.
- Tempting Fate: When Davis says Rawls will never become police commissioner, Burrell points out Carcetti wasn't supposed to win either.
- They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: When Colvin's wife calls him Bunny in Namond's presence, Colvin tells Namond in no uncertain terms that only his friends do this, and if Namond even thinks about revealing this to anyone, he'll cut Namond's balls off and serve them to Donnelly in a jar.
- Will Not Tell a Lie: Colvin, at least not to the kids in his class; "We can't lie. Not to them."
- Would Hurt a Child: Officer Walker breaks Donut's fingers when catching up to him after a car chase.
- You Have Failed Me: Marlo thinks this of Little Kevin.
