I rewatched The Wire and Omar’s death still hurts me

Every few years I re-watch The Wire, a five-season series set in Baltimore that is commonly considered among the finest TV series ever made. The Wire within the title refers back to the wiretaps arrange by the Baltimore Police Department against various drug organizations in West Baltimore in hopes of taking down major drug players, and within the second season, against a union leader who happens to run afoul of a significant within the Baltimore Police Department.

The Wire gave us legendary characters like Stringer Bell (Idris Elba), Avon Barksdale (Wood Harris), Det. Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West), Bubbles (Andre Royo), Det. Kima Greggs (Sonja Sohn), Chris Partlow (Gbenga Akinnagbe) and Snoop (Felicia “Snoop” Pearson), amongst a litany of others. Really, the show had a ton of characters. You could say probably the most legendary and iconic is Omar Little (Michael K. Williams), a gay man who didn’t swear unless absolutely vital, who robbed drug dealers and only drug dealers, whose legend in Baltimore was so big that youngsters on the drug corner would run away in fear on the sound of his name. Even those that hated Omar — and there have been many who hated him — respected him.

Despite the number of people that wanted Omar dead and the incredibly dangerous industry he selected for himself, Omar managed to survive all seasons of the show. At the top of the fourth season, he retired from “the game” and moved to Puerto Rico, but was pulled out of retirement when Chris and Snoop — the driving force behind Marlo Stanfield’s (Jamie Hector) West Baltimore drug organization — tortured Omar’s friend and confidante, Blind Butchie (S. Robert Morgan), to get him out of hiding for robbing Marlo during a poker game. Of course, it worked. The plot of the fifth season, which follows Omar, is attempting to get to Marlo, Chris, and Snoop as they struggle to get to him.

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In one absolutely crazy scene, after being ambushed by Chris, Snoop, and their intern, Michael (Mack Wilds), Omar jumps off (I think) the seventh-story balcony of an apartment constructing and disappears into the night. Marlo finds it hard to consider that Chris and Snoop lost him to some superhero shenanigans, but we learn that Omar one way or the other got into the storage unit and has a broken (or cracked) leg. Omar then makes his way around West Baltimore, calling Marlo by name, referring to him as anything but a toddler of God, attempting to get him out. As he does so, he runs into the boys on the corner, and on one corner, Michael, is stuck with a makeshift crutch. A young boy on the corner named Kennard (Thuliso Dingwall) sees this and, in any case the stories he’s heard about Omar, seems lower than impressed with this broken man who’s so feared on the streets of Baltimore. Kennard eventually follows Omar to a corner store and shoots him, putting an end to Omar’s legend.

When the episode where Omar dies (Season 5, Episode 8, titled “Explanations”) aired, I remember talking about it; a few of us thought it was too anticlimactic for such a vital character; others thought it actually showed how anticlimactic it may well be to die on the road, even for a legendary character. A child killed Omar, and for no reason in any respect, simply because he had Omar in his sights. It was just… like that. I was furious. I do not know why I thought he was going to die, but it surely was definitely greater than being shot in a corner store by a child who had absolutely no dog within the fight.

I wanted it to be a shootout where Omar goes out on his own terms. Omar wasn’t purported to live long—when he died at 34, he lived for much longer than most individuals expected, including everyone within the police department who knew him. I was waiting for an epic showdown between him and Chris. As was Chris, who was almost as dissatisfied to listen to Omar’s death as I was when I saw it on screen. Chris had an opponent he needed to kill, but for whom he had some sort of crazy respect, given their work together. Chris (who ended up in prison for all times) and Omar were just like the two biggest killers in a video game, destined to satisfy to find out the very best player. Omar’s death by the hands of Kennard seemed unfair. It seemed fallacious.

That’s exactly how I felt watching The Wire again. Every time I watch the show, I get to that time and I get indignant. Within the context of the show, in fact, it worked. The writers, creators, and actors of The Wire made it work so effortlessly. But that is Omar. Little Omar. Omar was not only a fan favorite, but probably the most complex character on the show for thus many reasons. Omar was an element of virtually every other storyline. And watching him get shot in such an off-the-cuff (for The Wire world) way, just one other day, Baltimore-style, at all times gets me. But that is okay. The Wire is among the finest shows for a reason; plus, his death created ANOTHER reason to speak in regards to the show, even 16 years later.