Do we like them?

Do we like Jimmy McNulty?

A character from The Wire (2002-2008)

Our score: 5 out of 10. Great at catching bad guys and a disaster to everyone close to him. We'd back his instincts, but not his methods or his life choices.

Jimmy McNulty is a Baltimore homicide detective in HBO's The Wire. He's sharp and charming, and he's convinced he's smarter than his bosses. The show opens with him pushing a drug case that the police hierarchy would prefer to ignore.

His strength is also his flaw. He's good police, driven by a knack for solving cases and a real disgust at the city's bureaucracy and politics. But critics and fans note that his crusades are often as much about proving himself and defying authority as about the victims. His drinking and infidelity damage his family and his career, and he is disliked by many peers and commanders.

He pays for his insubordination early on with a punishing transfer to the marine unit. He then works his way back to major cases. Later he cools off on the drink for a while. In the final season he invents a serial killer, which is widely read as the low point of his hubris and his belief that the ends justify the means.

We score him a 5. He's an irresistible anti-hero who gets results, but he hurts the people closest to him and often puts his own ego first.