We live in something of a golden age of television as far as most modern audiences are concerned, but nothing that’s come out in recent years can quite compare to the sheer quality and substance of a show like The Wire. Spanning five densely packed & tightly written seasons, The Wire essentially redefined what great television meant.
To this day, modern dramas exist in the shadows of The Wire. While television greats like Mad Men have gone on to almost rival the show in quality, The Wire’s attention to detail has ensured that it remains a story one viewers can go back to often, always able to pick up new information. One of The Wire’s main allures is how much detail is hidden in the background.
McNulty’s British “Accent”
Jimmy McNulty may be natural police, but Dominic West is not a Baltimore native. An English actor, West even auditioned for The Wire via tape. Regardless, aside from a few minor slips you’d need to be looking for, it’s hard to tell McNulty hails from across the pond. Funnily enough, the writers poke fun at this during season 2.
During a sting operation, McNulty has to put on a “fake” British accent. Here we have a British actor playing an American police officer pretending to be a British gentleman. Beyond the hilarious out of universe layers at play, it’s just one of McNulty’s funnier scenes in The Wire’s run.
Prez Is The Only Cop To Fire A Gun On-Screen
The Wire is not a particularly action-packed show, but it is one that does feature action. What you may not have realized, however, is that all of The Wire’s action happens on a street level with street players. Cops never get involved in any major action scenes, and all instances of an officer firing a gun are relegated to one character: Prez.
Not just that, all three times Prez fires his gun on-screen, it happens in settings where a gun shouldn’t be drawn and there are consequences to his actions. It seems minor, but this grounds The Wire in a firmer reality than most cop procedurals.
Kima Was Supposed To Die At The End Of Season 1
While Kima is perhaps the least important “main” character in the show, it’s not as if her presence is insignificant across seasons 2 through 5. Most pressingly, she grows into an important foil for McNulty by the end of the series. That said, the reason she’s seldom, if ever, involved with the main plot after season 1 likely stems from the fact she was never supposed to make it out of that season alive.
In actuality, Kima was to be killed, but Sonja Sohn fought to have her character stick around. It’s debatable whether or not Kima’s death would have given The Wire’s first season just that extra layer of drama, but how it’s handled as is stands out as both fresh and original for the genre.
The Greek Doesn’t Have A Greek Accent
The Greek isn’t even Greek, but fans familiar with the Greek language (or who are from near Greece) likely caught on immediately that Spiros, a man who does not speak with a Greek accent by any stretch of the imagination, is not Greek. Of course, if you don’t know Greek, this will fly over your head as intended.
Even if you do, it might just seem like typical Hollywood casting. Just get the guy who sounds ethnic, right? The Wire is smarter and more nuanced than that, though. Spiros hides in plain sight because, yeah, the average American citizen isn’t even going to have a frame of reference for European accents.
Cheese Is Randy’s Father
One of The Wire’s greatest strengths is the mere fact it never tries to coddle its audience. The Wire not only respects you as a viewer, it expects you to pay attention. Missed a throwaway line? It wasn’t a throwaway line, put away your phone, bozo. “All the pieces matter,” and a show like The Wire uses its dialogue very carefully.
This is a detail that exists solely in the background with no characters in-universe making the connection: Randy Wagstaff is Cheese Wagstaff’s biological son. It makes sense given the setting and even Randy’s arc & story over the last two seasons.
Dukie Becomes The New Bubbles
If thematic or narrative parallels go right over your head, these next few entries are for you. Introduced in the fourth season alongside Randy and a few other boys, Dukie represents Baltimore’s blossoming next generation. This being The Wire, however, that’s not exactly a good thing. Despite how bright he comes off, Dukie becomes a victim of the system and the game.
By the series finale, Dukie is firmly an addict, using Prezbo’s help to finance his drug addiction. He ends -30- exactly how Bubbles began, ready to fill in a niche the streets of Baltimore have left open for him, Dukie’s even wearing a t-shirt with bubbles to just really force that point home.
Michael Becomes The New Omar
Dukie’s best friend, Michael (alongside Dukie) is one of two of season 4’s introduced students to actually remain a main character at the end of the series. Just like Dukie, Michael’s arc very slowly shifts him into fulfilling a niche that Baltimore’s streets end up leaving open come the series finale, -30-.
Notably, Michael fully dives into a life of vigilante-esque crime ala Omar. By his final season, Michael is basically operating exactly like Omar once did, perpetuating the notion that Baltimore’s problems are far too systematically ingrained to change with something simple. While not as overtly sad as Dukie’s ending, this isn’t exactly an ideal conclusion for Michael’s arc.
Kenard Unintentionally Foreshadows Killing Omar
Kenard is one of the more interesting characters in The Wire, not because he has some profound arc, but specifically because of his apparent lack of story. Kenard exists primarily in the background, but even a background player in a show like The Wire can make huge waves throughout Baltimore’s landscape.
Kenard does this by killing Omar in the final season, but his introduction actually follows a gunfight Omar was involved with and focuses on Kenard – among his friends – arguing over who gets to “be” Omar while playing pretend. Considering the role Omar fills in Baltimore (and with the context of Michael coming to fulfill that role,) this can be seen as some nice, unintentional foreshadowing towards Omar’s death.
Sydnor Becomes The New McNulty
Sydnor never quite develops into a full-on main character like other members of the Baltimore Police Department, but it’s worth pointing out that he’s the only one to be introduced as a supporting character who gets to comfortably remain as such for the whole series (sans season 2 where he’s conspicuously absent.)
This also doesn’t make him any less likable or charming. From what we do see of Sydnor, he comes off like a more put together McNulty – which makes his transition into the new McNulty all the more fitting come the series finale. Sydnor doesn’t have the same established demons that McNulty has, but The Wire stresses that history is cyclical.
Daniels’ History Is Never Revealed
It’s important to understand that just because a story poses a question, doesn’t mean it entitles you to the answer. Sometimes a question just exists to drive an arc along, or to define why a character is the way they are. Not just that, mystery helps add to the allure of not only a character, but a series.
Daniels’ shady background is something that lingers over his arc for the entirety of the show, but it’s never made light exactly what he did. At the same time, that isn’t the point. The point is that Daniels, a straight and narrow officer who plays by the rules, has a dirty past. One we never get to see because Daniels has genuinely changed his life.
