The Wire: The Show's 10 Best Storylines Of All Time, Ranked - Screen Rant

susilangs.blogspot.com

Labeled as one of the best shows ever, The Wire took real-life situations and turned them into storylines that captivated the world during its five-year run. HBO gave viewers an inside look into a world of drugs and organized crime with The Wire and The Sopranos. For many, the characters were able to hold their weight but it was the creative process of the writers and the storylines that also keep viewers tuned in each week.

Was it Omar roaming the city? Avon and Stringer's bond? Or was it another storyline that kept fans captivated? Whatever it was, The Wire provided viewers intense moments which has lasted well beyond the show's curtain call. Obviously, major spoilers ahead.

10 Everything About Hamsterdam

Major Howard Colvin was under immense pressure to clean up the streets of Baltimore during an election year. The main issue was that Baltimore was a hot zone for crime and drugs, and cleaning was easier said than done. As much as they tried, Colvin and his team could not do what was needed. Colvin thought outside the box and came up with Hamsterdam.

Hamsterdam was a stretch of the community where drugs were allowed to be sold. While it was a solid idea, the consequences were just too much. The streets of Baltimore were mostly crime-free, at the expense of Hamsterdam. While crime did decrease in a broad sense, violence and death still took hold of Hamsterdam. This decision proved to be one of the biggest moral quandaries that defined The Wire, and it was certainly not the last.

9 Marlo Looks To Connect With The Greek

Marlo and Avon Barksdale were in a bloody battle for control of Baltimore. While not often seen in the same scene, each still managed to make their presence felt without the other. With Avon in jail, Marlo was in need of a new connection and sought out a meeting with The Greek.

For that to go down, Marlo found himself face-to-face with his enemy, Avon. Both sides handled it well, and their storyline was small but powerful. Even behind bars, it was clear that Avon still held all the cards.

8 Bubbles Beat The Odds

While most of the storylines focused on the dealers, cops, and politicians of Baltimore, there was one character whose progression often goes overlooked: Bubbles, a heroin addict. Despite not having a major part in the ongoing war, Bubbles was affected the most by what was going on. The drugs had to be sold and it was Bubbles who was caught in the middle of the clash between the cops, dealers, and his addiction.

Since he was friends with one of the best cops in town, Kima, Bubbles was the first Confidential Informant of The Wire. Often strung out, viewers wondered if he would ever get himself together. Thankfully, he's one of the few characters to make it through five seasons. Not only that but he also got a rare happy ending!

7 Omar & Brother Mouzone Join Forces

If The Wire didn't give viewers anything to hang their hat on content-wise, they sure knew how to build a characte. Omar Little and Brother Mouzone were two-of-a-kind. Omar roamed the streets of Baltimore with no equal until brother Mouzone paid a visit from New York. The two killers were then forced to go head-to-head in a gun battle.

What made their storyline so interesting is that they were meant to kill one another due to lies and misinformation from outside sources. After nearly killing each other, Omar and Brother Mouzone instead came together in one of The Wire's best scenes, where they bury their hatchets and decide to take out Stringer Bell.

6 What's Best For Namomd Brice?

Although not a main character, Namond was destined for street life. His father is the infamous Wee-Bey so with that legacy hanging over his head, Namond didn't have any other choice but to take on that mantle. However, the issue was that Namond was almost the complete opposite of his father, meaning he still had a way out of the hard life that got his father in trouble.

While he was the first to see this issue, it was Major Colvin who decided to do something about it. Colvin went to Wee-Bey in prison and asked Bey if he could take Namond in. Bey wasn't with it at first but he understood what Colvin was talking about. After all, it was what was best for his son. Wee-Bey didn't want Namond following his footsteps, spending the rest of his life in prison or worse, six feet in the ground.

5 The Public School System

The Wire didn't hold back on any subject matter. In Season 4, the writers hit on a subject that most shows ran away from: education. The Baltimore Public School System was a different approach from what was going on in the streets and gave viewers insight into how the students were being neglected in what should be their safe space.

With not enough funding for books or computers at school, The Wire addressed how these kids and teachers dealt with the issues that were attacking them from outside and inside the system.

4 Baltimore vs Omar Little

Omar Little walked the streets of Baltimore as if he had no fear or equal. Either with a gun in hand or hidden under a trenchcoat, Omar was the enemy his enemies didn't want to see coming. But he was just one man, right? Robbing dealers was his motto and getting away was his superpower.

He was eventually caught off guard and even still to this day, fans are arguing if Omar deserved to die or not. He may not have been in the whole show, but his presence on The Wire is the stuff of TV legends.

3 The Misjudgement of Michael

From the beginning, Michael Lee was misunderstood. The classic scene of him and Marlo at their first standoff set the tone for his character moving forward, while the murder of his stepfather set him on the path of darkness. And yet, Michael was the one character that viewers understood but the one the other characters could not figure out.

Loyalty was his motto, either to his friends and family. In the end, he got the jump on one of the deadliest characters ever on The Wire. He even managed to escape death while coming face-to-face with Omar.

2 The Many Tests Of Loyalty

The saying goes that you can love the streets but the streets won't love you back. During The Wire's run, those words held true. But for the characters, their loyalty was tested over and over. Friends became enemies and enemies became friends. You can be loved one minute and catch a bullet to the back of the head in the next episode.

There were characters who stayed with their crew till the end and others like Slim Charles who switched sides with no remorse. A guy like Michael held true to his friends even when they were wrong. Showing loyalty is tough and The Wire did a great job showing the rewards and consequences of both sides.

1 The End Of Avon & Stringer's Bond

From friends to business partners to brothers, Avon Barksdale and Stringer Bell been through it all together. In fact, it's their relationship that sets the tone on The Wire. As the first criminal enterprise that the cops tried to take down, they were the centerpiece of The Wire for three seasons. But, as an old saying goes, all good things must come to an end.

Stringer crossed Avon too many times to continue on even though he may have had good reason to do so. In the end, it was Barksdale's refusal to leave the game that was the straw that broke the camel's back in this once rocksteady relationship.

Next: The Wire: Top 10 Criminals In The Series, Ranked By Intelligence

Next Shameless: 10 Questions About Debbie Gallagher, Answered

Related Topics

About The Author

Mark Wilson (117 Articles Published)

Mark Wilson has his favorites TV Shows. We're talking The Blacklist, The Chi, all the Chicago One dramas and many more. He spends his spare time writing, watching, and traveling to events as a credentialed member of the media.