From Wallace getting whacked to Michael becoming the new Omar, some of character in The Wire met a tragic fate. They’re few and far between, but some of the show’s characters got happy endings. Bubbles reconciled with his sister. Kima reconnected with Cheryl and her son Elijah. Lester retired to a peaceful existence full of dollhouse miniatures. Bunny Colvin adopted Namond and got him off the streets. Daniels and Pearlman became a power couple in the Baltimore legal system so they could combat the corruption they’d both become disillusioned with.
But most of The Wire’s characters met a shocking death (or something even worse). Usually, they sealed their own fate. Stringer Bell put the final nail in his coffin when he tried to play two dangerous criminals off each other and unwittingly led them into an unlikely alliance against him. Omar Little spent the whole series sticking up the deadliest crooks in the city, so it was only a matter of time before he got a taste of his own medicine. But some of the show’s most redeemable characters got a heartbreaking ending they didn’t deserve.
5 Randy Loses His Childlike Innocence In A Group Home
When The Wire explored the public school system in its fourth season, it introduced audiences to a handful of kids who would become victims of circumstance in a crooked institution where the odds are stacked against them. Randy Wagstaff was one of those kids. He was kind, happy-go-lucky, and a good friend, he had a strong relationship with his foster mother, and he ran a small, victimless business selling snack foods to his classmates. And then, a chance encounter with a drug hit ruined his life. After unwittingly leading a local dealer to his death, Randy was questioned by police.
As soon as he spoke to the cops, Randy was labeled a snitch, and the cops broke their promise to keep him safe. His foster mother was horrifically burned when Molotovs were thrown at the house, leaving Randy without a guardian or a place to live. Ellis Carver did his best to rectify his mistakes and find Randy another foster parent — including offering his own services — but Randy ended up in the hostile environment of a group home. In season 5, when Bunk stops by to see Randy, we see that he’s toughened up and his childlike innocence is gone.
4 Sherrod Unwittingly Takes Bubbles' Poison
Throughout season 4, Bubbles is tormented by a bully who mercilessly beats him, trashes his belongings, and steals his drugs. In an effort to fight back, Bubbles gets a hold of some sodium cyanide and replaces the drugs in some of his vials. His hope is that his tormentor will attack him, steal the vials, take the sodium cyanide, and die. But sadly, that’s not how it goes. Bubbles doesn’t run into his tormentor that night, and when he gets home, he finds that his young ward, Sherrod, has unwittingly taken some of the sodium cyanide, mistaking it for drugs.
Sherrod is an at-risk youth that Bubbles took under his wing. He tried to get Sherrod back into school, but Sherrod couldn’t stick with it. He tried to sway Sherrod away from a life of crime, but Sherrod couldn’t figure out what else to do. Eventually, all Bubbles could do for Sherrod was give him a place to stay. The way Sherrod dies makes his death doubly heart-wrenching — not only is a troubled kid killed long before his time; Bubbles is devastated by the loss and wracked with guilt over his indirect involvement in it.
3 Michael Becomes The New Omar
Michael came so close to avoiding a life of crime and getting on a more wayward path. When he started training as a boxer under Cutty’s tutelage, he proved to have a natural talent for the art of fighting. If he’d stuck with Cutty and worked his way up the boxing circuit, he could’ve done something productive and legal with his violent tendencies. But instead of following the mentorship of Cutty and becoming a boxer, he followed the mentorship of Chris and Snoop and became a hitman carrying out the orders of drug dealers.
When Snoop called Michael out for some “serious business,” he sensed foul play, got the drop on her, and killed her before she could kill him. After that, Michael ducked out of the drug trade and used his newfound skills as a killer to become a stickup artist like Omar. Michael essentially becomes the new Omar; the guy who wanders around the city with a shotgun, striking fear into everyone in his path and stealing drug funds a la Robin Hood. He could’ve been the next Muhammad Ali, but instead, he became the next Omar Little.
2 Wallace Is Killed For Speaking To The Police
The earliest character to meet a tragic fate in The Wire was 16-year-old drug dealer Wallace. Although he’d gotten mixed in with a bad crowd, Wallace was a good kid. He had to sell drugs to get by, but he was much more interested in hanging out with his friends and playing with his action figures than chasing down customers who owed his bosses money. When his intel unwittingly got Omar’s boyfriend killed, Wallace had a crisis of conscience and decided he needed to get out of the drug trade, so he spoke to the police.
While it was the right thing to do, it also sealed his fate. Once you’re in the game, there’s only one way out. As soon as Stringer learned of Wallace’s betrayal, he coldly ordered Wallace’s closest friends, Bodie and Poot, to kill him. Just the fact that such a young kid with such a good heart was killed off would be enough to make Wallace’s death one of The Wire’s saddest character endings. But the way he pleads with his friends, and the way they hesitate before pulling the trigger, really hammers home that these are just children.
1 Duquan Becomes A Homeless Drug Addict
This one stung the hardest. Duquan Weems never did anything wrong; he was a sweet, harmless, good-natured, hard-working kid, and under any other circumstances, he would’ve had a bright future. But he came from neglectful parents who refused to even feed and clothe him, and the only friend who embraced him became one of Baltimore’s most notorious hitmen. The surrogate father-son relationship that Duquan developed with Prezbo was one of the most heartwarming storylines in The Wire (a show with very few heartwarming storylines). But even Prezbo’s mentorship wasn’t enough to save Duquan from a dark fate.
After leaving school, Duquan set up a good arrangement with Michael. Michael would look after him and give him a place to stay as long as he looked after his little brother. But when Michael killed Snoop and had to go into hiding, he and Duquan had to split up. In the penultimate episode of the series, Michael leaves Duquan at a squalid shanty town. In the series finale, Duquan tells a cock-and-bull story about higher education to borrow money from a skeptical Prez. But the closing montage reveals that Duquan used the money to feed his newfound drug addiction.
The Wire gave a lot of its characters heartbreaking endings. It was devastating to see Bubbles weep over Sherrod’s body. It was devastating to see Randy lose his sense of fun and childlike wonder and become another heartless aggressor. But the saddest character ending to see was Duquan, homeless and alone, shooting up drugs with his father figure’s money.
The Wire, debuting in 2002, is a series that explores the complex world of Baltimore's narcotics scene, presenting perspectives from both law enforcement and their targets. It delves into how the war on drugs has evolved into a self-perpetuating institution, blurring moral boundaries between right and wrong.
- Seasons
- 5
- Streaming Service(s)
- MAX
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