Wallace
First appearance	"The Target"
Last appearance	"Sentencing"
Details
Gender	Male
Age	16
Year of Birth	1986
Year of Death	"Cleaning Up"
Occupation	Drug dealer

Wallace is a young drug dealer in the Barksdale crew's low rise projects organization (called The Pit) under D'Angelo Barksdale. Wallace was friends with other dealers Poot Carr and Bodie Broadus. Wallace is in fact his surname, it is never revealed what his given name is.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Behind the scenes 2.1 Appearances 3 References

BiographyEdit

Wallace showed the signs of a half finished education - he could identify famous people on currency better than the rest of his crew but sometimes struggled with the math of dealing and though eager to learn, did not know the rules of chess. He also took responsibility for his numerous younger children in the projects; he was seen packing their lunches, seeing them off to school and helping them with their homework. He betrayed his age when he was found playing with toys when he was supposed to be on lookout duty.

After Omar Little robbed the pit crew's stash of drugs, Wallace spotted his boyfriend Brandon Wright playing pinball and called this information in to D'Angelo. Wallace waited outside the arcade for Stringer Bell to arrive. Wallace pointed Brandon out to Stringer, who was then tortured to death and his body was displayed on the hood of a car, coincidentally outside of Wallace's home. Wallace received a quarter of the $2000 bounty on Brandon's head, but was sickened by the event and decided that he wanted out of "the game". He approached D'Angelo and told him he wanted to go back to school - D'Angelo gave him his blessing and some cash. Poot soon found that Wallace had spent the money on drugs and was spending most of his time at home.

Wallace was picked up by the police and agreed to cooperate with the Barksdale detail, revealing Stinger's involvement in the killing of Omar's boyfriend Brandon. In order to keep him safe until the time came to testify, the detail sent Wallace to live with his grandmother in rural Cambridge, Maryland. After detective Kima Greggs was shot in an undercover operation, the Barksdale detail became so preoccupied with her condition that Wallace was temporarily forgotten. Bored with life away from Baltimore (and having kept in telephone contact with Poot), he returned to the low-rise projects and asked to get involved in the trade again. Bodie suggested he would have to take a demotion but D'Angelo welcomed him back. Stringer Bell became suspicious of Wallace's return and questioned D'Angelo about him. D'Angelo unwittingly tried to reassure Stringer of Wallace's loyalty but Stringer was unconvinced and assigned Bodie to kill Wallace. Bodie and Poot spent the day with Wallace and took him home. Bodie revealed their intentions once they had him cornered and Wallace begged for mercy because of their friendship. Bodie eventually worked up the nerve to kill Wallace and Poot took the gun and finished him off.

D'Angelo was outraged by Wallace's death. It was one of the factors that led D'Angelo to want to leave "the game" himself, and it drove a permanent wedge between him and Stringer (as D'Angelo intuitively sensed Stringer's involvement in the boy's death).

Behind the scenesEdit

Wallace is played by Michael B. Jordan. Creator David Simon has described Wallace as an emotional centre to the show's first season and praised Jordan's performance, saying that he was sorry the character had to leave but that the story comes first. Simon sees the character as an illustration of the adage "a 14 year old drug dealer is still 14."^[1]

AppearancesEdit

Season 1 appearances
"The Target"	"The Detail"	"The Buys"	"Old Cases"	"The Pager"
"The Wire"	"One Arrest"	"Lessons"	"Game Day"	"The Cost"
"The Hunt"	"Cleaning Up"	"Sentencing"

ReferencesEdit