The Wire/Tear Jerker
< The Wire
Tear Jerkers in The Wire include:
- Wallace crying and begging for his life when his best friends Bodie and Poot murder him.
- "Where's Wallace, String?...Where's Wallace?!? WHERE'S WALLACE!?!?"
- Ziggy genuinely seemed to care about his duck, and his reaction to its death was sad.
- Ziggy snaps and commits murder, breaking down afterwards. He says that he did it because he got tired of being the punchline to every joke.
- Nick Sabotka's teary, drunken lament to Ziggy, who lost his temper for the last time and committed a murder. Frank (Ziggy's father) has to go State's Witness just to get him transferred to a distant prison where Ziggy won't be killed, and as a result Frank is murdered. The last shot of Nick in Season 2 is him looking through a rusty chain-link fence at the deserted Baltimore docks.
- Frank Sobotka's tearful speech on the death of American industry as he sees his plans to revitalize Baltimore's stevedores come to nothing: "You know what the trouble is, Brucie? We used to make shit in this country, build shit. Now we just put our hand in the next guy's pocket."
- That scene was where he cemented his status as a truly sympathetic Anti-Villain.
- "Your way... It won't work."
- Officer Russell learns the final fate of Frank Sobotka while at the harbour.
- Bubbles discovering that he accidentally poisoned Sherrod, and then confronting his demons with his sponsor.
- Bodie's final blaze of glory.
- All of season 4.
- The saga of Randy Wagstaff in the final stretch of season four, from the scene in the hospital after his house has been burned down and his foster mother is in critical condition to his ending up in the foster home, and Carver's emotional breakdown in the car after dropping him off there. All of this is only made worse by what's become of Randy by the time we see him for the last time in season five.
- Bubbles constantly getting beaten and robbed by another street junkie in season 4. Even worse that his attempts to stop it lead to Sherrod's death.
- In the episode "Corrections": in the scene before Omar dies, he robs a Stanfield stash house, with not nearly the same ease or effectiveness that he did in the first and second seasons. After taking the stash, Omar stands at the now-deserted corner and yells, "Marlo Stanfield is NOT A MAN FOR THIS TOWN!" and there's complete silence. He stands there, looking like he's about to break down in the futility of his words. Finally, he goes to the store to buy a pack of "Newpo'ts", only to be shot and killed instantly. The real tearjerking moment is the final shot of the episode, when a coroner zips up Omar's body bag for the last time.
- Snoop's last words. "How's my hair look Mike?" "You look good, girl."
- Michael's little brother Bug was his Living MacGuffin right from the start of his plot line, and protecting him was the reason he got into the drug trade in the first place. After killing Snoop, they part.
- Dukie, at the end of the series, is implied to be heading down the road of drug addiction that Bubbles has just escaped.
- Dukie's last scene with Presbo, where Dukie pretends to be borrowing money for schoolbooks. Both know it is a total lie, but they keep pretending.
- Very heavily implied, infact, as Dukie is wearing a shirt with bubbles on it.
- Dukie's last scene with Presbo, where Dukie pretends to be borrowing money for schoolbooks. Both know it is a total lie, but they keep pretending.
- Michael and Dukie's final conversation: "You remember that day, one summer past..."
- The final flash-forward montage in each season. Special mentions for seasons 3, for its Crowning Music Of Heartwarming, and 5, for structuring itself as a long farewell to the series.
- "Let's go home" and the lingering, final shot of Baltimore itself.
- Season one, episode 11. Kima has just been shot, McNulty is falling apart, and... just him uttering his catch-phrase of the show ("...the fuck did I do?"), only this time it's devastating, not kinda funny.
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