The Wire Top 50 Characters

[Maynard]

#44 - Clay Davis

State Senator R. Clayton "Clay" Davis is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Isiah Whitlock, Jr. Davis is a corrupt Maryland State Senator with a reputation for pocketing bribes. However, throughout the series Davis remains protected by other ranking politicians and Police Commissioner Ervin Burrell.

Clay Davis is the face of political corruption during all 5 seasons of The Wire. There are numerous times when he is a target, but due to his political influence he is never tried for anything. Once he finally gets tried he is prosecuted by an inexperienced litigator in the newly elected States Attorney Rupert Bond who someone how lets Clays "silver tongue bullshit" get him acquitted.

Clay played Stringer Bell like a fiddle during season 3 making him come extremely close to being killed. Avon nixed Stringers plan which put a major rift between the two. But to Clays credit he took Stringer for all he was worth promising to make it rain and show him the golden egg. Clay is another example of a smaller role with a major impact over the shows 5 seasons.

Favorite Scene - Clay faced the grand jury and when all is said and done he walks out with a look on his face like someone just shot his couch. Right after he walks down the court house steps to a slew of waiting reporters and at that moment puts his game face on and with a brilliant smile goes into politician mode.

Favorite Quotes - "sheeeeee-it."

[Kuzzy Powers]

Hate to jump the gun here but the extremely low rankings of Slim Charles, and ESPECIALLY Clay Davis are quite disappointing.

[Kuzzy Powers]

Im also hard pressed to think of a worse character in the history of this show than Scott Templeton. Not sure where you're going with this Maynard, but I hope you get there fast.

[Maynard]

i am going to #1 with this.

i cant say i disagree with you about templeton, but his role was to big to overlook and his placement at 50 isnt about him making the list as much as it is about him being at the bottom of the list

[Maynard]

#43 - Clarence Royce

Clarence V. Royce is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by Glynn Turman.

Clarence V. Royce is the incumbent Mayor of Baltimore, originally elected to office in 1998 and in the process of seeking re-election at the time of the show. He is advised by Chief of Staff Coleman Parker and State Delegate Odell Watkins. Royce values loyalty and aims to reward it whenever it will not hurt his position to do so. He appoints Ervin Burrell as acting commissioner of the Baltimore Police Department following the retirement of Warren Frazier.

Mayor Royce is a great character on The Wire so placing him at #43 was tough. His role did not develop until the 3rd season when the show began to move to the political angle. Royce was a major role for seasons 3 and 4. As a 2 time mayor he felt invincible and used or abused his power by controlling Acting Commissioner Burrell like a puppet. He expected the Commissioner to juke the stats and take the hits for the high murder rate and Bunny Colvins hamsterdam. He seemed to lose focus and assumed he was untouchable as Mayor. That all changed when Tommy Carcetti decided to take a run at Royce for mayor.

Royces story arc was one of many that carried over from season to season. Mainly the tail end of season 3 and the start of season 4 with the mayoral election. It was one of the best stories on the show because it showed how Royce began the race with no doubts about winning, but the gradually he began to feel the pressure through poorly handled events and debates. Losing key supporters seemed to be the final dagger for Royce who ended up conceding the election.


Favorite Scenes -
1: Odell Watkins confronts Royce about a "people for Royce" campaign flyer in which in one district he was supporting Eunetta Perkins and in another he was supporting Watkins girl Marla Danials. It was a typical shady political move by Royce who was flat out caught for his deception. Watkins called him out and the scene was extremely powerful and showed Royce was all but defeated.

2: Royce has lost a very nasty mayoral race, but when all is said and done he meets with Carcetti in the mayors office and they discuss the election and moving forward. What made the scene great for me was Royce giving Carcetti his chair as a sort of hand shake moment.

Favorite Quotes - "What? Not me, not my chair, not in this town. If the guy came off any whiter he'd be see through. But if thats it cmon with it, please jesus."

[Maynard]

#42 - Beadie Russell

Beatrice "Beadie" Russell is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actress Amy Ryan. She was featured prominently in the second season, after she discovered thirteen corpses in a container on the Baltimore docks.

Russell is introduced into the series as a port authority officer, a work that she's been performing from two years previous. She took the job because she needed the pay to support her two young children after her husband abandoned them; before her appointment, she worked collecting tolls, though it didn't represent a decent income. Russell's parents often help her with the kids. She found the job unchallenging and spent most of her time patrolling the docks and checking shipping manifests. She developed a friendly working relationship with many of the stevedores, including Frank Sobotka, though she was kept out of the loop regarding major criminal activities within the stevedore's union because of the Port Authority's lack of manpower.

Sweet Beatrice Russell is a port cop who was featured mainly in season 2 but also throughout season 4 and 5. She played a major role in the port investigation as she was the police who discovered the 13 dead girls in the can. With no experience, she was left in charge of an investigation nobody else wanted. But thanks to McNulty needing to fuck over Rawls, the murders were placed on homicide and she was detailed to assist in the investigation with Bunk and Lester. Danials unit eventually took over the investigation and she worked closely with his unit looking hard at the dock workers.

She was green when they started, but by the end of the investigation she was a seasoned police. Unfortunately for her, once the detail was over, she went back to patrolling the docks. She later became McNultys girlfriend and saved him from himself in a diminished role. but her role as part of the season 2 dock investigation was strong and earned her a spot on this list.


Favorite Scenes
1: When she goes to the IBS hall to try and convince Frank to come in and talk to the detail. She was very emotional and showed that she cared for these guys despite the criminal activity they were a part of. She was willing to overlook their wrong doings and protect them if it meant getting to the greek and his people.

Favorite Quotes
"You said you were with the marine unit? What does the marine unit have to do with a bunch of dead girls in a can?"

[Tailback U]

I like this. It's your list, do whatever you want with it. 50 characters is not easy.

The quotes are my favorite part so far. Some really forgotten quotes from that series.

[Pitty]

Davis at #44?

[Maynard]

#41 - Kenard

Kenard is a fictional young drug dealer on the HBO drama season, The Wire, portrayed by Thuliso Dingwall. Kenard is a younger member of Namond Brice's circle of friends (also known as the Fayette Street Mafia). He is first seen in season three, where, following a prolonged gunfight at a Barksdale stashhouse, Kenard argues with his friends over which one gets to pretend to be Omar Little while playing in the area and re-enacting the gunfight.

Kenard is a young 12 or 13 year old kid that makes his first appearance in season 4. He is a badass little kid who you know will grow up to be a career criminal and might even be a kingpin. He has a hard nose attitude and has no fear. At his young age he looks to make himself known as a lieutenant for Namond Brice, but ends up stealing the package. He made this list because he had one of the biggest impacts on the show by murdering Omar. How can you not include the kid who killed Omar.


Favorite Scenes
The murder of Omar Little. This was such a great scene because you never saw this coming. You expected someone from Marlows crew to kill him in a gun fight if anything. But if you were like me you just assumed Omar would never be killed. It was a bitter sweet moment in TV history and perhaps the greatest scene from the greatest show ever.

Favorite Quotes
"package up my ass gump!"

[Maynard]

#40 - Randy Wagstaff

Randy Wagstaff is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by Maestro Harrell. Randy is an enterprising student who is dependent on social services. During season 4, he was an 8th grade pupil at Edward Tilghman Middle School and is friends with Namond Brice, Michael Lee and Duquan "Dukie" Weems. He had been living with a foster mother, Miss Anna, who instilled some discipline in his life, until her house was firebombed, forcing Randy into a group home. He is well known amongst his peers for his imagination and ideas. Randy runs a small business selling snacks and drinks to his peers and neighborhood drug dealers. He shares his last name with drug lieutenant Cheese Wagstaff. Though the relationship was never established on the show, creator David Simon revealed Cheese to be Randy's biological father -- which would also make Proposition Joe Randy's great uncle.

Randy Wagstaff is introduced in Season 4 as part of the school angle. Randy is a smart, good kid who would proabably have a very successful life if brought up under better circumstances. He may have ended up that way anyways if the streets didnt change him for the worse as he got older. But he is a typical 8th grader who is naive and gullible. He lives with his strict foster mom and ends up ratting on someone for tagging lockers in school to save his own ass. A very weak move on his part, and he ultimately pays the price when he is asked to have Lex meet up with a girl behind a playground. This ends up haunting him for the remainder of the series.

Randy is yet another in a long list of smaller roles that played a big part on the show. He made a few appearances during season 5 and in the latter episodes showed how the streets eventually changed him into a street tough kid. Its a sad character because he is naive in thinking a simple request would end up killing (we assume) his foster mother and getting him his ass kicked on a daily basis for being a snitch. An otherwise good kid who made some bad choices. To me he is the ultimate irony in a show full of ironic characters.

Favorite Scenes
1: The scene with Prez ordering his candy. Randy has a proud smile on his face where you know he is going to make something of his life.
2: The scene in school where Prez has all the kids partner up and Randy asks Kareem to partner up and Kareem refuses. The confused buy aware look on Randys face showed he knew he was in for trouble.

Favorite Quotes
"Ya'll better get this cop out my face before I bank his ass"

[Maynard]

Favorite Seasons
#4 - Season 1 - The Detail

The first season of the television series The Wire commenced airing in the United States on June 2, 2002, concluded on September 8, 2002, and contained 13 episodes. It introduces the drug-dealing Barksdale organization and the police detail that is investigating them.

Season 1 was the season that kept me from ever watching The Wire. i tried 3 different times to watch this show based on all the great reviews the show had. But everytime I tried to watch it I got bogged down by what I thought was a terrible show. I was bored out of my mind by the show. It just seemed to talk and talk and blah fucking blah every show. I just couldnt get into it and could not for the life of me figure out what the big deal was. But people just wouldnt shut the fuck up about how great it was. Then during my 4th try and about 6 shows I was about to give up for the last time when vsn's Sethmode posted a comment about how I need to keep going because the next show was about to make the show great. I listened to him and he was right. Except it wasnt until episode 10 when Griggs got shot. After that, I went on to watch the series 6 or 7 times in a row and I was hooked. I am still hooked as I completed a cycle then immediately started another cycle where I am on season 4. I digress.

At one time season 1 was my clear cut choice for 4th favorite. But now its really tied for 2nd with 3 other seasons. But for my purposes I put it at 4th. This season is all about the developing the characters who make up the foundation for the series. There are events from season 1 that carry over all the way through to season 5. But while it may take its time setting up the show, it does it such a masterful way that I have the most respect for this season and its the one I look forward to watching more than any other. I love seeing how the detail is created and how the police characters come together to form bonds and partnerships that would last the entire series. The Bunk and Jimmy McNulty. Rawls giving him the double fingers. Jay Landsmans ass kissing ways. Seeing Lester Freamon go from being on the self for 13 years and 4 months into a respected natural police. Herc and Culver taking direction from Kima and of course, Lt Danials.

Not only do we get police developed, but we also get the street developed through Barksdales organization with Wee Bey, Stinkum, Stringer Bell and D'Angelo Barksdale. We get to see how the real world drug scene plays out in the West Baltimore with Bubbles and Johnny, and we meet Bodie and Poot and see how they began their careers as drug dealers. We get to see why and how Bubbles becomes a CI for the series and his famous red hat.

Then we get blindsided by a guy and his crew who robs drug dealerz. Omar Little who patiently stakes out the drug dealers he intends to rob and carries out his work with a shotgun all around Baltimore. He is a likable character from the start because its just so bizarre to see a character like this in a show. But then he throws you a curve ball because he is also a homosexual. Such an infamous role that really develops into a great character over this season.

The story within season one is well told, albeit very slow and deliberately, it does warm up during the 7-9 shows, then just lights up from episode 10 on. This is truly a remarkable season that might be difficult for some to get through at first, but if you plug away and keep watching, you realize you just watched something really special. After you finish the series you will find yourself wanting to come back to it over and over again.

[dave]

Great concept for a thread. Kinda disagree with the low rankings for Clay Davis (he was hilarious) and Nick Sobotka, but this will be an interesting thread to read, nonetheless.
During season 1 (first time watching), I had to turn on the subtitles to have a clue what the fuck most people were saying. That helped a lot.

[Warner2BruceTD]

During season 1 (first time watching), I had to turn on the subtitles to have a clue what the fuck most people were saying. That helped a lot.

jesus dave, i'm the whitest guy on earth and even I think this is pathetic.

[Tailback U]

Great concept for a thread. Kinda disagree with the low rankings for Clay Davis (he was hilarious) and Nick Sobotka, but this will be an interesting thread to read, nonetheless.
During season 1 (first time watching), I had to turn on the subtitles to have a clue what the fuck most people were saying. That helped a lot.

Where's the emoticon for that sound you make when you laugh out of your nose with your mouth closed when you need it!

[Glenbino]

Wow a lot of big names in the bottom 10.

I don't know why so many people kill season two.. I really liked it.

Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk 2