Top 5 Characters – The Wire, Season 1

So I’ve started my second trip through “The Wire” and just completed the first season. I figure now is a good time to put together some Season 1 Top 5 Lists. We’ll start with the characters. I’m trying not to think about what happens with the characters in future seasons. [ALERT - POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD]

5. Wee-Bey

The first time I watched, I think he sort of blended in as just one of Barksdale’s guys, at least for most of the season. I really enjoyed him the second time around. Very entertaining to listen to him talk…his attitude is the same whether discussing going to the hospital for a gunshot wound or putting too much hot sauce on his sandwich.

4. Daniels

His confrontations with McNulty, Burrell, and others are terrific. And it’s great to watch Daniels make the transition from doing whatever Burrell asks to telling him basically to go f#%k himself.

3. D’Angelo

Trapped in the game by his family ties and in way over his head. “Where’s Wallace at?!?”

2. Stringer

The intellectual force behind Barksdale’s crew. Coldly calculating and all business, he steals every scene he’s in.

1. Greggs

The sequence when she goes undercover is as intense as any I’ve ever seen. And it’s because she’s so damn likable that the other characters, and the viewers, are terrified something is going to happen to her.