Why Omar Little Was the Heart of 'The Wire'

What else is there to say about The Wire that hasn’t been said already? The greatest TV drama ever made (not quite the greatest overall TV show, that title still goes to The Simpsons, the golden age of which will probably never be overshadowed) has inspired think pieces, books, and analysis galore. Long may it do so, for one, I never get bored of it.

I have a friend who’s watched The Wire all the way through fifteen times, and while I’m nowhere near that just yet, I totally get it. It takes the smallest prompting for me to load up that first episode and to hear the tale of Snot Boogie told on that neglected Baltimore street yet again. This time, that prompting comes in the form of a short YouTube video essay, which positions Omar Little as the heart of The Wire. It’s not exactly a controversial opinion—Michael K. Williams’ (RIP) incredible portrayal of the iconic stick up artist is iconic for a reason—but Thomas Flight’s video is nevertheless a great watch. It’s funny, because he uses almost exactly the same framing as I did in a piece I wrote a few years back in which I called Preston ‘Bodie’ Broadus the ‘scarred, beating heart of The Wire’—but then again that’s one of the things that made The Wire such a miracle of a show: It had many, many hearts.