GRcade

Stringer getting killed Omar and the New Yorker made their move so suddenly it was a real shock to see Stringer's man fall. I didn't actually expect them to get Stringer when I saw the two of them a few moment prior to this scene watching Stinger go into the construction site; when they had Stringer cornered I was still shocked when they blasted him. The white guy Stringer was meeting as he cowered from Omar

As shocking as it was to see Stringer fall, my mouth was left wide open when the little kid put a bullet through Omar's head at the back end of season 5. As Omar made his raid on Marlo's corner prior to his death I thought that he would eventually hunt Marlo down, leaving McNullty and Freamon to take care of Chris, Snoop and the others.

While those two deaths were shocking, seeing Bodie meet his fate left me with a heavy heart. Even in season 1 he was my favourite of all of the drug dealers; seeing him move from a runner to a Lieutenant emphasised his character and I hoped to see more of him as he would work with the police to take down Marlo. Unfortunately it didn't work out that way but it was fitting to see him fall defending his corner, especially after his outburst against Marlo as he saw the police excavation at the vacants.

Another sad moment came when Sherrod took the tainted vial intended for Bubbles' bully. While I had a feeling that this tragic mix-up would happen once Bubble's left the vial in his jacket, it was still sad to see it happen. Seeing him try to hang himself in the interrogation room really added sincerity to what had happened and showed you how terrible Bubbles truly felt. I'm glad that Bubbles managed to shape up and dine with his sister and niece in the final montage.

It's a shame that Duquan became the new Bubbles instead of going to High School but this is what make The Wire so great: the stories are all wrapped up, but not necessarily in a 'happy ending' kind of way.

Keeping with the schools, I was glad to see Namond go on to win a debating competition under the parental guidance of Colvin and his wife.

Quick edit: My favourite Homicide detective is without a doubt Freamon; seeing his work with the wiretaps was amazing. The way that he was calm for most of the show in everything he did, and even kept up his side hobby of creating doll house minitures, added to the interest in his character.

As far as season go, I have to say that 2 was the weakest while my favourite is tied between 3 and 4; I loved seeing Hamsterdam unfold, but the work in the schools really showed another side to the drug trade. Honourable mention to the opening scene in season 5: 'The bigger the lie, the more they believe.'