The Wire - All Seasons

In West Baltimore, the narcotics and homicide divisions begrudgingly launch a sprawling investigation at the insistence of a frustrated judge. Led by Lt. Daniels, the half-hearted detail focuses on Avon Barksdale and his partner, Stringer Bell, the two men behind a drug operation that reigns in the high-rises. Barksdale and Bell are also responsible for a string of murders – raps they always manage to beat. Despite resistance from up high, the Barksdale investigation will culminate in a complex series of dangerous wiretaps and surveillance.

Barksdale's in jail, but the team is no better off. McNulty has been demoted to harbor patrol, Daniels is in the police archive dungeon, Prez is chafing in the suburbs and Greggs is stuck behind a desk. Meanwhile, on the docks of the Baltimore harbor, the rank and file scrounge for work and the union bosses take illegitimate measures to reinvigorate business. But the discovery of 13 dead bodies in a shipping container is about to blow the whole port inside out.

Everyone is feeling the heat in Baltimore. As Stringer Bell looks to diversify and Omar looks for revenge, the drug war is a losing campaign. Bodies are piling up and a desperate mayor demands to see some victories before Election Day. But the police are running out of ammunition – wiretaps aren't working, and neither are stakeouts or street busts.
Can one senior officer's radical reform really make a difference?

With the fall of Barksdale and the ascent of young Marlo Stanfield as West Baltimore's drug king, the detail continues to "follow the money" up the political ladder in the midst of a mayoral election that pits the black incumbent, Clarence Royce against an ambitious white councilman, Tommy Carcetti.

As Season 5 begins we are introduced to The Baltimore Sun (recreated in painstaking detail), chronicling the efforts of the harried city editor to squeeze out stories in the face of downsizing by the paper's profit-motivated parent company. As we'll see, the Sun's cuts echo those facing Carcetti and the police department, which must make hard choices involving overtime, equipment and personnel - including members of the detail assigned to monitor Marlo and his ruthless crew.