Did HBO know what they had on their hands when the idea of a show in the gritty streets of Baltimore was being pitched? The Wire, with just five seasons to its name, has been labeled by some as the greatest TV show of all time. It was great because it was real.
The characters were either someone we knew, had heard of, or had seen before. They spoke to our hearts, which in turn made us fall deeper in love. The writing was so intense that we cheered for the bad guy to win and hoped the cops didn’t come out victorious. While the story being told left many speechless, it was the characters we saw every week that pulled us back in. With the show long off the air, the question still being asked is: who was the best character? Here are some of the contenders.
Michael: Michael didn’t hit The Wire until Season 4, but when he made his appearance, he took centerstage. Watching Michael come up, we can only guess it was the mirror image of what a young Omar would have been like. Michael was calculating, loyal, and at the same time, ruthless. He stayed down with his boys even when their ship was sinking. His time with Marlo, Chris, and Snoop proved to be some of the best scenes in The Wire.
The writers made sure that we felt empathy for the young pup. Despite his deeds, we wanted him to survive the game. But that wasn’t in the cards for him. Life was no celebration for Mike. If there were to ever be a spinoff to The Wire, no doubt the show would have to focus on his character.
Stringer: Say what you want about Stringer Bell and the questionable moves he made. Bell has been labeled weak and a snitch over the years and while he does deserve most of the criticism that comes his way, Bell was looking ahead while the others were stuck in the past and present. Did he have to sell Avon out? No, but he had his reasons. He wanted his partner to become legit and that’s the part of the game most dealers strive for.
Bell didn’t live like the others. He went to school, invested in real estate, and even went as far as to bring everyone together under one operation. Bell is easily the smartest character on The Wire. He may not have been built for every aspect of the game, but he was built to manipulate the game.
Marlo: Marlo Stansfield was the Lex Luthor to Avon’s Superman. Marlo wanted to be better than Avon and that was his downfall. Besides Omar, there was no one as ruthless as Marlo. While Chris and Snoop did most of the dirty work, it was Marlo who had them under his thumb. Think about it like this, Avon couldn’t get to him, and neither could Omar. Marlo was that dude on the low.
What stuck out from Marlo was that he didn’t have a code. Hell, Avon and Omar lived by a code, but Marlo, he was out for total control. He didn’t respect any rules, so much so that he turned family against family just to get his way. He saw the evil inside a person before they even knew it was there.
Avon: No matter what, The Wire was built on the shoulders of Avon Barksdale. He was the cat in charge. while partnering with Bell, it was still Avon’s operation. he was the head person in charge. But heavy is the head that wears the crown and in the end, Avon had to pay for his decisions. As smart as Stringer was, Avon was equally intelligent when it came to the streets. Unlike Marlo, Avon had the respect of his peers while Marlo controlled with fear.
If there was a knock on Avon, it was that he saw the bigger picture a bit too late. Avon just couldn’t see that he could rule from a skyscraper just as effectively as he could from a Funeral Home. Even in prison, in order for moves to be made, they still had to go through him no matter who was asking the questions.
Omar: This one has to be the easy choice, right? Omar was the one character that held everyone’s attention. No matter who the crew was, they wanted Omar dead and yet, normally alone, no one could get to him. If you wanted to see Omar, he made sure he saw you first. Name another character on any TV show who had that type of respect and pull that Omar did. He was just different.
I remember after his death on the show, there was a section on the front page of USA Today saying “Omar was killed on The Wire”. That’s the shadow he placed over the industry as a character. Omar Little was everything you wanted in a character. He was smart, determined, calculating, devious, ruthless, and funny all at the same time.