Stupid Moves Thus Far

Up Through: Episode 54

With Prop Joe's end justly taking the air out of the room as far as commentary goes, (Slate discussion here, another good post here) I wanted to note a few mistakes that seem to set up a few more major falls.

Levy

What is he thinking, letting Herc stay in the room as Marlo and Joe pop by? Even if he hadn't vetted Herc's prior police investigations, it's a dumb move to have your freshly exed-cop acting as a pseudo-receptionist for such a specialized clientele. Levy knows that Herc still keeps up with his old friends - this one blows my mind for stupidity.
Prediction: Herc steals files and breaks Levy after Marlo baits him once more.

Marlo

Too much too fast. I think that the po-po detail coming off let Marlo's id and ambition explode outward, heedless of timing and strategy. Marlo's big mistake is combining his takeover of the co-op package with baiting Omar to come a-callin'. Those are two wars that didn't have to coincide. He could have sat on the Butchie tip for a while, or waited until the takeover was done before trying to smoke out Ay-yo. Marlo sees the throne and has no patience for putting anything on the back burner. He can't find peace as the king without eliminating anyone who's ever crossed him. That said, I love this storyline, and the line "I wasn't meant to play the son" should've been Shakespeare's.

Prediction: Omar wreaks substantially more havoc (bye-bye Snoop in ep 55 or 56) on Marlo's crew with information passed along by Marlo's former co-op partners, especially Mr. "Got mo' fierce" himself, Slim Charles.

McNulty

You might view this whole season as one big mistake by 'ol Bushytop, but if we take his dubious mission as gospel, he's going about it in a highly-traceable way. For a man that's about to launch a sadistic serial killer into the minds of the city and its public servants, McNulty is being needlessly careless, acting in ways that one might remember as "hey, wasn't that kinda funny?" once McNulty is on the front page scaring the crap out of Bawlmore. No smoking guns of course, and Bunk, Lester and Lester's old partner are each positioned to bring the axe down were they to decide to do so, so McNulty might not be brought low by such sloppiness. Still, he's in full rapscallion mode, where perhaps a stealthy and tight-lipped approach might serve him better in his new serial-killer-inventing and corpse-defiling hobby.
Prediction: I think McNulty gets put-in by a busted Templeton (who will presumably jump on the serial killer story - the irony of a fabricating reporter writing sensational real news about a fabricated killer is delicious), but prior to getting locked up, he drunkenly sidles up to Marlo late at night and talks trash. Night, Jimmy.

Am I wrong in thinking there were a higher number of ill-advised moves by savvy characters this episode?