SEASON 2
Season 2 continued many of Season 1's stories while opening up a new front: the stevedores' union at the Baltimore docks, where union boss Frank Sobotka, his nephew Nick, and his son Ziggy have been misdirecting shipping containers to smugglers. When one of the cans turns up with 13 suffocated Eastern European prostitutes inside, the law comes crashing down on Sobotka and his union. Daniels, looking to work his way back up from the evidence room he was exiled to after challenging his higher-ups in the Barksdale case, reassembles his investigative team, including a desperate-for-dry-land McNulty.

Their wiretaps reveal a connection between the union and an international smuggling ring led by a mysterious figure named "The Greek" -- the same ring responsible for bringing in most of the dope distributed to the East Side, Proposition Joe's territory. But this isn't just graft for profit on the part of the dockworkers; Frank Sobotka is using the money he earns from his dirty deeds for campaign contributions and consultants in a last-ditch attempt to revitalize the Baltimore docks. But he overplays his hand with The Greek, and faces a tragic end. And due once again to institutional foolishness, the case ends in frustration for Daniels' unit; they determine that the man responsible for the "dead girls in the can" has been killed by higher-ups, who have then skipped town, tipped off by the FBI that the investigation is closing in.

Meanwhile, on the West Side, Stringer Bell finds his methods at odds with the wishes of his boss in the slammer, and goes behind Avon's back to have D'Angelo killed -- making it look convincingly like a suicide. Stringer also, unknown to Avon, allows Prop Joe's West Siders to make inroads on Barksdale territory in exchange for much-needed product.

The season ends with the granary pier, so coveted by Sobotka for the ships it could bring to a revitalized port, converted to condominiums; Daniels allowed to make his investigative unit a permanent fixture; Avon upset with his right-hand man; and Proposition Joe's East Side dealers encroaching on Barksdale territory.

SEASON 3
At the opening of Season 3, the project towers come down, shaking up business in Baltimore. Stringer Bell uses his business school training to bring "Robert's Rules of Order" to Barksdale meetings; Omar is still sticking up the Barksdale crew; and Daniels' investigative team is focusing on Prop Joe, hoping to get at him through one of his dealers, Cheese. Meanwhile, a young City Councilman, Tommy Carcetti, is stirring up trouble in the corridors of power, and some legendary muscle, Cutty, has just returned from the joint.

Hey, who the hell are all those people?
Good question. Those synopses should give you enough background to jump into Season 3. But there'll come a time when you want to know more detail about these characters -- especially because "The Wire" isn't big on exposition. Here's a character-by-character breakdown of "The Wire," getting you up to speed on who's who to help you make the connections as you start on Season 3. You can read the list straight through, or use it as a reference when someone new shows up on your TV screen.

This character list doesn't include some of the characters from Season 2, because it's become clear in interviews with Simon and others involved in the show that the events on the docks were a standalone story, and few of those characters will make return visits. It's a shame to lose those great characters; the Sobotkas, The Greek, and especially Beatrice "Beadie" Russell (Amy Ryan), the soft-spoken port officer who, against all her expectations, learned how to be "real police." But their reappearance anytime soon is unlikely, and so I'm leaving them out.

Likewise, corpses don't make the list. The deaths of Wallace and D'Angelo will likely affect "The Wire" for some time to come, but on a show whose creator has disavowed flashbacks ever since HBO pushed him to include one in the pilot, it's unlikely you're ever going to need to know what they looked like.

The character intros below are helpfully divided into five groups: Police, the West Side, the East Side, the Free Agents, and the Pols.

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