McNulty and Freamon, unaware that their scheme has been exposed, discover that Gary DiPasquale has leaked courthouse documents to Levy.
Pearlman and Bond are told by Steintorf to quietly settle the Stanfield case out of court to keep the illegal wiretaps from being brought to light.
Carcetti holds a press conference taking credit for both the "serial killer's" capture and the Stanfield arrests, then promotes Daniels to Police Commissioner.
However, after Steintorf once again requests that Daniels "juke the stats" to boost Carcetti's position on crime reduction, he refuses, and is forced to resign after Campbell threatens to expose his past wrongdoings.
In a closing montage: Freamon is making his miniature furniture at home; Herc is socializing at a bar with Baltimore PD members; Templeton wins a Pulitzer Prize; Slim Charles and Fat Face Rick meet with Spiros while the Greek listens in; Carcetti is elected governor while Campbell becomes mayor; Gus looks on as others happily work in the newsroom; Valchek replaces Daniels as Commissioner; Dukie uses the money he borrowed from Prez to feed his new drug addiction; Pearlman, now a judge, recuses herself from a case Daniels is arguing as a defense attorney; Chris Partlow talks to Wee-Bey in the prison yard; Carcetti makes Rawls superintendent of the Maryland State Police; Bubbles eats a meal with his sister in her kitchen; Kenard is arrested.
[4] ...the life of kings.This is seen in the lobby of the Baltimore Sun, as an excerpt from a longer Mencken quote displayed on the wall when Alma talks with Gus after she has been demoted to the Carroll County bureau.
"Body of an American" by The Pogues is heard during McNulty's staged "detective's wake", making it the third time the song was used in the course of the show's run.
Writers Ed Burns and David Simon were nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award in the category Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for their work on the finale.
"The best and most dyspeptic police drama on television would never conclude with a triumph of good over evil", she wrote after the show's final broadcast.
"Simon so forces events in the improbable newspaper story line of an invented serial killer that he does serious damage to the credibility of the police drama," he wrote.