Season 3
🎬 12 Episodes 📅 2004 ⏱ 94 min
In Baltimore's unforgiving streets, two sides of the same coin collide in a brutal dance of survival and corruption. The Wire strips away the veneer of the war on drugs to reveal the human cost on every level—from corner boys to detectives trapped in a system designed to devour them. Neither side holds the moral high ground; both are prisoners to an machinery that demands bodies and results. What emerges is a portrait of a city where the pursuit of justice becomes indistinguishable from the pursuit of power.
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📊 Season Stats
12
Episodes
2004
Year
94
min / ep
18.8
Watch Hours
3/5
Season No.
⭐ 9.0
Best Episode
Ep. 11 · Middle Ground
🎬 Season Trailer
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🎬 Episodes 12 episodes
1
⭐ 7.9
Time After Time
"Don't matter how many times you get burnt, you just keep doin' the same." -- Bodie
A wave of urban reform brings down the notorious Franklin Terrace public housing towers, forcing the Barksdale drug crew to find a new home. Stringer Bell uses a new sales strategy as he awaits Avon's return. McNult…
🎬 Ed Bianchi ✍️ David Simon
2
⭐ 8.1
All Due Respect
"There's never been a paper bag." -- Colvin
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. As the wire on Proposition Joe continues to yield lit…
🎬 Steve Shill ✍️ David Simon
3
⭐ 7.7
Dead Soldiers
"The gods will not save you." -- Burrell
Colvin feels the sting of Burrell and Rawls during a Comstat assessment of his district's felony numbers; a blown wiretap forces Daniels's detail to turn to a new target; Proposition Joe cautions Stringer Bell that the police have been tapping phones. Carcet…
🎬 Rob Bailey ✍️ Dennis Lehane
4
⭐ 8.0
Amsterdam
"Why you got to go and fuck with the program?" -- Fruit
West Baltimore residents get surprising straight talk at a community meeting from Major Colvin. Bubbles finds gainful employment; Stringer lunches uptown; and Bunk dangles the promise of immunity to a group of corner boys, in exchange for help…
🎬 Ernest R. Dickerson ✍️ George Pelecanos
5
⭐ 7.9
Straight and True
"I had such fuckin' hopes for us." -- McNulty
Frustrated in his grass-roots reform efforts, Colvin arms himself with intelligence from Daniels's detail and personally delivers a message to the next level of corner management. McNulty sees Stringer Bell's legitimate business dealings as a sign that …
🎬 Dan Attias ✍️ Ed Burns
6
⭐ 8.3
Homecoming
"Just a gangster, I suppose." -- Avon Barksdale
Stringer Bell gets an education in construction management; Bunk uses shoe-leather to catch up with Omar and deliver a searing message; a frustrated Colvin unleashes the troops on the corner boys, ignoring his new edict; Avon sends Cutty and Slim Char…
🎬 Leslie Libman ✍️ David Simon
7
⭐ 8.2
Back Burners
"Conscience do cost." -- Butchie
Herc discovers a blast from the past, which he belatedly reveals to his ex-colleagues. Daniels blows a gasket over the real reason the detail was reassigned from an investigation in Pimlico to the Western District. Stringer Bell learns from Donette that she's told B…
🎬 Tim Van Patten ✍️ Joy Kecken
8
⭐ 8.5
Moral Midgetry
"Crawl, walk, and then run." -- Clay Davis
With Amsterdam running full-tilt, Carver and Truck discover there really is no honor among thieves. Prez impresses the detail with what he's found out from Bodie's cell phone, information that sends McNulty and Greggs on a road trip. Colvin sees the benefi…
🎬 Agnieszka Holland ✍️ Richard Price
9
⭐ 7.9
Slapstick
"...while you're waiting for moments that never come." -- Freamon
Responding to an officer's call for help, McNulty and Prez turn down the wrong alley, with unanticipated results. A Barksdale crew violates the unspoken Sunday truce with gunplay, increasing discontent among the New Day Co-op members…
🎬 Alex Zakrzewski ✍️ David Simon
10
⭐ 8.3
Reformation
"Call it a crisis of leadership." -- Proposition Joe
Brother Mouzone returns to Baltimore on a mission of revenge and casts a wide net in his search for Omar, who has his own plan. Colvin manages, for now, to put off a 'Sun' reporter inquiring about Amsterdam. Carver learns how much he doesn't know…
🎬 Christine Moore ✍️ Ed Burns
11
⭐ 9.0
Middle Ground
"We ain't gotta dream no more." -- Stringer Bell
The wire begins to yield information about the Barksdale organization, while Stringer and Avon reminisce on how far they have come.
🎬 Joe Chappelle ✍️ George Pelecanos
12
⭐ 8.2
Mission Accomplished
"...we fight on the lie." -- Slim Charles
In the Season Three finale, a reticent Avon readies his troops for a 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.…
🎬 Ernest R. Dickerson ✍️ David Simon