Character’s Role: Bodie (legally Preston Broadus) is a dealer in HBO’s The Wire who starts out in Avon Barksdale’s drug organization. Bodie was the number two man in the low-rises under D Barksdale and later goes independent. Bodie was brought up by his grandmother and entered the game as a young hopper at 13 years old when he began dealing for Barksdale’s people. He lives his life strictly by the code of a dealer in the drug game and that is where he gets his sense of honor. He follows commands from Stringer and Avon (even the tough ones that are targeted at his friends), he does not snitch, and he is a hard worker trying to slowly climb up the ranks. He’s clever (managing to claim entrapment to avoid time in prison at the end of season 1) and he has plenty of pride and spirit (refusing to leave his territory even as Chris Partlow and Snoop, the coldest murderers in the series, are baring down on him). Just as Jimmy McNulty tells him, he’s a “true soldier.”
Played By: J.D. Williams
Which Seasons: In seasons 1 – 4.
Favorite Scene: In season 1, Wallace and Bodie are playing checkers with pieces from a chess set and D teaches them how to actually play chess. He describes the various pieces of the set as players in the game, and Bodie, appearing to grasp how the game works, says to D, “So if I make it to the other end, I win.”, referencing the potential for a pawn to become a queen (or for Bodie to become a Stringer). It’s obvious that Bodie is very driven, but regrettably for him, the drug game is far more similar to how D’Angelo paints it, “the pawns, man, in the game, they get capped quick.”
Favorite Line: “I feel old. I’ve been out there since I was 13. I’ve never f****** up a count, never stole off a package, never did some *expletive* that I wasn’t told to do. But what comes back? – This game is rigged man – it’s like them little *expletive* on the chess board.” Here is Bodie. He is a true soldier, loyal to his people, and willing to do what it takes; but sadly, it is as D’Angelo says – the soldiers don’t make it very far without getting capped.
Best Foil or Rival: Bodie’s friend Wallace. Bodie’s colder personality, his age (… you could even call it his maturity), and his ready to do what is necessary mindset are countered by Wallace’s youth, his young face, his moral dilemmas with the repercussions of his actions, and his lack of devotion to the drug game.
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