Omar-“I got the shotgun. You got the briefcase.” It rings true for me. Tens of thousands of dollars for lawyers doesn’t come out of thin air. The “War on Drugs” brought the town of West Chester PA from college town to wealthy town.

 

Season 2, Episode 6

‘I got the shotgun. You got the briefcase.’

“Among the many reasons Omar (played by Michael K. Williams, who died in September) became a fan favorite was his penchant for straight talk. He robbed drug dealers for a living; he couldn’t afford to mince words. After his lover is tortured and murdered by the Barksdale crew, he agrees to testify against one of its enforcers. With a stunning lack of self-awareness, the crew’s sleazy lawyer, Maurice Levy (Michael Kostroff), accuses him of “feeding off the violence and despair of the drug trade.” Omar sets him straight; the judge can only shrug.

MICHAEL KOSTROFF I’ve always said that one of my favorite things about “The Wire” is that it’s hard to identify the good guys and the bad guys — in most of the characters, we see both redeemable and irredeemable qualities.

But I played one of the few characters that we never saw the good side of. I got to show the ugliness of being completely unscrupulous.

There was something very satisfying in this scene about getting to play Maury as he gets a little bit of comeuppance. And there’s something about the outlaw nature of Omar — not only as a criminal, but also as somebody who just doesn’t follow any of the rules — that’s just so gratifying as a viewer to see. And also the fact that the character was gay … he just was Robin Hood. He lived by his own code.

That included not being afraid to call out hypocrisy. As he basically says: “We’re both getting rich off the drug trade. I’ve got the shotgun and you’ve got the briefcase, but it’s all the same game.” Fans always tell me that scene is their favorite, and I think it’s because somebody finally unmasked Levy for a second."

“The Wire” Baltimore scenes looked like my home town Coatesville PA. 

I can walk down the street and find places that look like scenes from “The Wire.” 

When I drive or walk around Coatesville I see memories. Most are warm pleasant memories. A few are  horrifying memories of murders. 

There were "have you seen this boy" signs up in Coatesville. I asked a man standing beside one of the signs near Bookman's Barber Shop about the boy. He replied with a look of grief and horror. 

I saw Aaron Turner on Lincoln Highway. He was about 14 and looked angry. My son had that angry look when he was 14. 

Aaron's bones are in a landfill. 

Aaron Turner was chopped up and fed to dogs. Those dogs were chopped up, put into bags what went to a landfill. 

I sometimes need to drive by the house where Aaron & the dogs were killed and chopped up.

“The Wire” was real, not just for me.  

The kids in Coatesville watched it, they saw themselves in the characters. 

"Season 4, often called the show’s finest, followed four middle school friends on divergent paths, most of them heartbreaking. In one of the most wrenching scenes, Randy (Maestro Harrell) waits in the hospital after his foster mother has been badly burned in a firebombing resulting from Randy’s being branded a snitch. In mocking an earlier pledge by Carver (Seth Gilliam) — “We’re gonna look out for you on this” — Randy vocalizes how profoundly the children’s support systems have failed them."

Maybe the most heartbreaking scene:

READ THE REST AND WATCH THE OTHER 3 VIDEOS:

New York Times

‘The Wire’ in Five Scenes

Cast members look back at some of the HBO drama’s most pivotal moments 20 years after its premiere.

By Jeremy Egner and Austin Considine 

June 10, 2022, 5:00 a.m. ET