History YMMV / TheWire

* CompleteMonster: Marlo Stanfield and The Greek, though YourMileageMayVary, this being The Wire. Marlo Stanfield is probably the closest the series gets to a CompleteMonster as he has no conscience or respect for human life at all.

* MoralEventHorizon: YourMileageMayVary of course, but for Stringer: [[spoiler: arranging D'Angelo's death. Dee was one of the only completely likeable members of the Barksdale gang and was on the way up education-wise at The Cut. Then Stringer has him killed and [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident makes it look like a suicide]] just because he's afraid of Dee ratting to lower his sentence, ''and he does so without ManipulativeBastard Avon's consent''. Not to mention the fact that before and after the hit he spends a lot of the time fucking D'Angelo's girlfriend.]]

* GenreShift: There is humor throughout the show, but only the fifth season is driven by absurdist dark comedy. It was the only place left to go after the downward spiral of despair the city went through in the first four seasons. Hard to say what makes the better punchline--McNulty's FBI profile or Clay Davis's trial.

* GenreShift: There is humor throughout the show, but only the fifth season is driven by absurdist dark comedy. It was the only place left to go after the downward spiral of despair the city went through in the first four seasons.

* TearJerker: The fates of [[spoiler:Wallace, Frank Sobotka, Randy Wagstaff, Sherrod]], and many others. Omar's reaction to [[spoiler: the news of Blind Butchie's death]]. The scenes of Michael saying goodbye to his best friend Dukie and his little brother Bug. And many, many more - let's just say this show will bring on the WaterWorks from all but the most hard-hearted viewers.

* AwardSnub: ''The Wire'' didn't win a single Emmy. This despite routinely being the subject of gushing critical praise and more than once being declared the Best Show Ever.

* CommitmentAnxiety: One of the reasons why the show wasn't more successful.
* CompleteMonster: Marlo Stanfield and The Greek, though YourMileageMayVary, this being The Wire. Marlo Stanfield is probably the closest the series gets to a CompleteMonster as he has no conscience or respect for human life at all.

* HoYay:
** Herc and some gangsters are messing around with the Make-a-Face program at the station, making their ideal girl. Carver then walks out and the camera subtly highlights the similarity. Not to mention Herc and Carver reuniting in season two.

** In episode 5 when [=McNulty=] gets so excited that Prez has solved the phone number code that he grabs Prez and kisses him on the mouth.
** If it weren't for Herc and Carver, Bunk might just be the patron saint of HoYay.

* MoralEventHorizon: YourMileageMayVary of course, but for Stringer: [[spoiler: arranging D'Angelo's death. Dee was one of the only completely likeable members of the Barksdale gang and was on the way up education-wise at The Cut. Then Stringer has him killed and [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident makes it look like a suicide]] just because he's afraid of Dee ratting to lower his sentence, ''and he does so without ManipulativeBastard Avon's consent''. Not to mention the fact that before and after the hit he spends a lot of the time fucking D'Angelo's girlfriend.]]

* TheScrappy:
** Kennard, you know what he did... Probably the only [[JustifiedTrope justified]] example of one.
** Ziggy
** Templeton
* WhatAnIdiot:
** Stupid, stupid [[TheScrappy Ziggy]].
** Prez as a teacher falls for every trick in the book when he first starts out (although anybody who's had a new teacher in school knows that this is TruthInTelevision).
* BittersweetEnding: all of the seasons
* CompleteMonster: Marlo Stanfield. The man doesn't bat an eyelid as he orders the murders of anyone and everyone that gets in his way. At one point he has a man's entire family killed because he heard a rumour that he said Marlo was gay. Another time he had a security guard killed for talking back to him while he was robbing candy from the store. This puts him head and shoulders above the other death-bringers in the show, even The Greek only kills people when it genuinely helps his cause.
* DownerEnding: With the show's brutal honesty and David Simon's unwillingness to just give the audience what they want, most of the stories in TheWire are an example of this trope with a few, very rare and very happy exceptions.
* EnsembleDarkhorse:
** Omar Little. (Even BarackObama has called him his favorite character.)
** Slim Charles is also very popular for a relatively minor character.
** During a premier party for Season 5's debut, the loudest cheer for cast/character accrediting went to Michael B. Jordan/Wallace.
** Pryzbylewski, for some.
** Senator Clay Davis. In seasons 1 and 2 he's mostly a OneSceneWonder any time he appears, in seasons 3 and 4 he's much more involved in some of the series' subplots and finally in season five he's a regular cast member appearing in most episodes and even having one mostly devoted to tying up his storyline.
* ItGetsBetter: Despite The Wire's peerless quality and impeccable writing, newcomers will be overwhelmed by the [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters staggering number of characters]] and the [[InfoDump molasses slow exposition]] that unfolds during the first season. The exact point when new viewers' opinion of the show crosses over from "above-average cop drama" to "GREATEST SHOW EVAH!!!" varies - from a few episodes to the ''entire'' first season - but the end result makes the initial slog worth enduring through.
* MemeticBadass: Omar and Brother Mouzone, in-universe.
** It doesn't help that Mouzone perfectly fits the description of the suspect accused of killing NotoriousBIG.
* MemeticMutation:
** "Where's (insert name of thing here) at?"
** "Omar coming!"
** "It all in the game."
** " Sheeeeeeeeeeeit." There have been posters made parodying the famous Obama Hope poster, with Davis replacing Obama and the word SHIT replacing HOPE.
** Basically, any and all of the {{Catch Phrase}}s listed above.

* {{Villain Decay}}: The [[spoiler: Barksdale Crew]] suffers from this in a major way. The first season has them [[spoiler:ruling the drug trade of West Baltimore with an iron fist; but they're dealt a major blow at the end of the season when a many key players (including Avon Barksdale himself) are arrested.]], the second season [[spoiler: already shows occasional disputes over territory between The Barskdale Crew and other gangs, as well as an increasing difficulty in finding a good supplier of 'product'.]] and the third season [[spoiler: has the Barksdale crew under fire from Marlo Stanfield, a ruthless new player in the Baltimore drug game. On top of that there are conflicts of interest between Stringer and Avon that eventually causes a rift between the two of them, culminating in the two of them selling one another out behind their backs. The end result is that Stringer Bell is murdered and Avon is put in jail. Effectively ending the reign of the Barksdales]]

* ViewerGenderConfusion: Unless you know that Felicia Pearson is Snoop (the credits don't connect characters to actors), it can take viewers a long time to realize that Snoop is a girl.
** Well, there's also a brief shot where you see her picture on the unit's case board. It lists her full name as Felicia Pearson.
* TheWoobie: Poor, poor Bubbles. Wallace, Randy, and Dukie, [[spoiler: none of whom get the rare happy ending afforded to Bubbles.]] Ziggy and Frank Sobotka also have Woobie qualities.

* DesignatedProtagonistSyndrome: McNulty gets this from a number of fans. In the titles of every season Dominic West is listed ahead of all other actors who are then listed alphabetically. However, it can be argued that only three of five seasons really focus on him as a main character (he spends most of season 2 off the main case trying to get back at Rawls with Sobatka arguably being the main character and season 4 has McNulty miss several episodes and off the main case entirely which means from a credits standpoint he definitely is this trope in season 4). Also, in the seasons where he is a central character he frequently shares focus with other characters that are considered more interesting or sometimes have more compelling arcs. That said though, unlike most examples of this trope fans don't really resent the character, he's just not as well liked as some other characters.

* HypeBacklash: Given its endless praise as the best show ever, this reaction is inevitable for some.

* DesignatedProtagonistSyndrome: McNulty gets this from a number of fans. In the titles of every season Dominic West is listed ahead of all other actors who are then listed alphabetically. However, it can be argued that only three of five seasons really focus on him as a main character (he spends most of season 2 off the main case trying to get back at Rawls with Sobatka arguably being the main character and season 4 has McNulty miss several episodes and off the main case entirely which means from a credits standpoint he definitely is this trope in season 4). Also, in the seasons where he is a central character he frequently shares focus with other characters that are considered more interesting or sometimes have more compelling arcs. That said though, unlike most examples of this trope fans don't really resent the character, he's just not as well liked as some other characters.

** LawfulGood: Cedric Daniels, Shakima Greggs, Bunk Moreland, Rhonda Pearlman, Howard Colvin ([[spoiler:becomes NeutralGood over the course of season 3]]), Gus Haynes, Roland Pryzbylewski (despite a rocky start).
** NeutralGood: Ellis Carver, Bubbles (more "neutral" than "good", but still good), [[spoiler:Howard Colvin]].
** ChaoticGood: Lester Freamon.
** LawfulNeutral: Bill Rawls, Jay Landsman.
** ChaoticNeutral: Jimmy [=McNulty=], Omar Little, Herc.
** LawfulEvil: Maurice Levy, Clay Davis, Scott Templeton. Stringer Bell aspires to this.
** NeutralEvil: The Greek.
** ChaoticEvil: Marlo Stanfield, Snoop, Bird.

* CharacterAlignment: The cast, [[Main/{{LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters}} being as huge as it is]], has many characters that can be aligned in this way. Some characters may change alignment depending on how they develop over the course of the story. It should also be noted that [[Main/{{GreyAndGrayMorality}}the series' complex and morally ambiguous nature]] makes it difficult (or even impossible) for some characters to really be filed under any one alignment, so YourMileageMayVary.

* HypeBacklash: Given its endless praise as the best show ever,this reaction is Inevitable for some

* ViewerGenderConfusion: Unless you know that Felicia Pearson is Snoop (the credits don't connect characters to actors), it can take viewers a long time to realize that Snoop is a girl.

** Even [=McNulty=] crosses it when he [[spoiler: kidnaps a mentally handicapped homeless man and stashes him out of state to build his increasingly dubious fake serial killer case.]]

** Prez as a teacher falls for every trick in the book when he first starts out (although anybody who's had a new teacher in school knows that this is TruthInTelevision).