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. The theme of urban education is explored through four new characters - Michael Lee, Namond Brice, Randy Wagstaff and Dukie Weems as they traverse adolescence in the stunted, drug-saturated streets of West Baltimore. The world that awaits these boys and the American commitment to equal opportunity are depicted brilliantly in the edgy, all too realistic Season 4 of The Wire. ( (6**))