Analyzing Evil: Stringer Bell From The Wire 

How ironic that Stringer’s obsession with talking behind closed doors foreshadows his downfall when he is trapped in a building full of closed doors

Here's hoping Marlo also gets an Analyzing Evil episode. That guy deserves a spot on this channel.

Stringer was too hood to make it to the mainstream business side of things but too clean cut to get the truest respect of the street. Such a fantastic character and glad he’s getting attention with his own video here. 👏🏼

The Wire is the only TV show that literally any character, however minor, deserves an essay written about them.

And to think that, in the end, Marlo managed to reach the level of acceptance, wealth and (possible) influence that Stringer so dreamed of, but that's the difference between the two characters: Stringer's dream was Marlo's nightmare (who lived and "breathed" the "game" of the streets).

My father used to tell me: "a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing." To me, that's Stringer all over. He was usually the smartest man in the room, so he assumed he'd be the smartest man in any room. Levi and Clay used him. And Omar and Brother outwitted him. Four very different types of criminal, and they were all smarter than Stringer.

Even being the horrible and manipulative person that he was, you still want to empathize with him. He tried to get out of the game even when everybody he came in contact with played him. A smart person born in the wrong place and in the wrong time. But then again, he was completely responsible for his acts and that was the cause of his downfall

Stringer is one the more fully developed antagonist. Even when he was underhanded you never fully rooted against him. He let his guard down thinking he was step ahead from everyone & that was kinda of his Achilles heel

Stringer getting absolutely played all of season 3 was beautiful to watch. Avon is just as smart as Stringer, maybe even smarter because he was able to immediately sniff out the game Clay Davis and the others were running and tried to warn Stringer, but he would not believe that Clay would be so brazen to play him like he did.

Stringer is a great villain because he is so understandable. He wants to better his life; this on its own is not a bad motive. He takes the methods of a refined, logical CEO and applies it to the drug trade. The product is just that to Stringer, a business product. He has customers, employees, market competitors, product breakage, etc. He was a genuinely gifted man, cunning, and it is interesting to imagine what he would have been like if he wasn't immersed in the drug trade.

I would say there are multiple characters you could deeply analyse from this series in regards to their moral compass; obviously Stringer Bell and Marlo, but you can’t overlook Avon, Omar, Brother Mouzone, Slim Charles, Michael. And we can’t forget Chris. So many characters who dance along the cross line of morality, depending on their specific circumstances.

Stringer was book smart. He had an advantage over his peers because most of them were high school dropouts while he went to the university. But when he tried getting into the legitimate word, he got played like a beginner by Clay Davis.

I was fortunate to watch The Wire early on, when Idris Elba was a virtual unknown. It was the very scene you highlighted-when Stringer told D how to spot the snitch-that I knew I was watching a great actor and a star in the making. His portrayal of Stinger made him such a fascinating character, a man who yearned for power and credibility beyond the streets. The sad moral of The Wire is that the game chews up those who f with the system. While It’s too trite to say that Stinger’s pride did him in, it did. String knew Baltimore wouldn’t allow gangsters like him to go legit, but he thought he was smarter and better than anyone who’d already tried. He thought he was that unicorn and paid the price. Also, in a way, he went out on his own terms; not by a street kid or a McNulty, but he did it while trying to attain his lofty goals. Thank you for this analysis, Vile Eye.

I would anticipate a Marlo or overall episode on The Wire, but analyzing evil is an elastic product.

Whoa, literally just finished watching this show a couple days ago. Insane how good it is. Thinking about all the ways Stringer was kidding himself while getting played by all sides to the end all the time. Real bastard.

"I look at you these days, String, you know what I see? I see a man without a country. Not hard enough for this right here and maybe, just maybe, not smart enough for them out there."

I appreciate you doing characters that fly under the radar.

My dad’s favorite show is The Wire and I remember asking him who his favorite character was. I for sure thought he was gonna say Wee Bey, Slim or McNulty. But he said it was Stringer. I asked him why and he told me he’s never saw the story of the aspiring black man in America done so well. Shoutout to Idris Elba for a iconic performance, he will never not be String to me in any other form of media lol.

THANK YOU so much for covering one of the greatest villains of all time, love the channel and your incredible content

I believe Stringer and his copy shop front strongly influenced the character of Gus Fring and his fast food joint. Not just the business front idea, but more so that they worked it as their legit day job cover, and ran it to a high standard.

Thank you Vile eye. I think Levy deserves an episode as well.

The wire is slept on because a lot of people think it’s nothing but a inner city gangsta show. Plus it was overshadowed by the sopranos during its run.

To me Stringer was the most complex character in the show: ruthless gangster, who killed many people including a child, and yet a visionary who wanted to make game civilized, less violent and strictly business. Intelligent and reasonable (at least when compared to hot-headed Barksdale) and yet Clay Davis hurt his ego so much that he wanted to kill a freaking state senator. He really loved Avon like a brother, but in the end betrayed him in the name of his vision. Ambicious man who studied economy and dreamed about leaving ghetto and entering upper class of Baltimore. He was truly a man of contrasts and, in the end, Idris Elba did just splendid job with him, so it was a pleasure seeing him on screen.

You should do The Vile Eye - The Wire Edition - so many rich characters to choose from to analyze!

Stringer tried to "play the away game". His conniving ways caught up with him. Excellent video. Thx

One thing my father taught me young is you never wanna be the smartest person in the room. You learn increasingly less, your ego grows, and you get sloppy. You start underestimating the other people and thats when you get caught slipping. So, once you feel the knowledge you can glean from start to wane, you gotta find better rooms. Sure, you drop down on the totem pole a bit, but the climb back up is where you gain the most anyways. Stringer wanted to be worthy of smarter rooms, but he didn’t embrace that drop on the totem pole. He tried to bring that inflated ego he gained in the rooms he came from with him to the next level, which made it impossible for him to learn from and adapt to people like Clay Davis and not even consider consulting with Levy until he was already floundering. And in the end, he’s shot to death by two unadulterated killers who are entirely unconcerned with that sort of social elevation, in a stalled construction site. That’s pure poetry.

What I love so much about Stringer's character is that while he's clearly very intelligent, his number one weakness is that he was never as smart as he thought he was. And whenever he had to come face-to-face with this fact, rather than accept it and try to learn from it, his ego would force him into acting rashly.What an awesome character, and a stellar performance by Idris Elba.

Man I screamed out loud when I saw this on my page, stringer is one of my favorite characters from the wire due to how despicable and snakelike he is. I'm glad you covered this.

String had his good points. He did not like heat loss and poor insulation, he carefully and regularly reminded his staff to shut the door.

This couldn’t have been released at a better time. Stringer is one of the greatest TV villains of all time.

I been waiting for this one. I really feel like he’s been naive the whole time. As if he could run the hood like a business would work. He thought he could escape where he came from but you can never run away from ‘the game’.

Y'all are giving me too many 40 degree days. Glad to see Stringer on here. I'd love to see Omar Little or Brother Muzone!

I think a scene you could've talked about is when he finds out about clay davis' scam and immediately tries to get someone to kill davis. Its a perfect illustration of how stringer is clean until it personally affects him and his habit of making others just do it for him. I think avon said it best "When I see you I see a man without a country, not hard enough for the street life and not smart enough for the politicians"

I like how his school grade describes his character. A- Smart, but not smart enough.

I never noticed stringers clothes and how they change based on who he is talking to. Sweats for the street, suits for the lawyers and business people. Even at the coop he dresses gangster. He is in more suits in s3 around gangsters showing how he is losing any relevance and connection in his mind to the game.

YESSSSS its about time we get a Stringer Bell analyzes!! He has been a character who made my blood run cold since the very first time i saw him. This show is my favorite TV Crime drama of all time, period. its the best of the best. i actually just bought the dvd box set recently to always have read when i wanna walk down memory lane. Law and Order has nothing on this show.

Other classic TV villains you need to cover are: T-Bag - Prison Break Bob - Twin Peaks J. R. Ewing - Dallas Trevor Goodchild - Æon Flux The Governor - The Walking Dead The Hood - Thunderbirds Khan - Star Trek Ben Linus - Lost Arthur Mitchell aka the Trinity Killer - Dexter Nina Myers - 24 Red John - The Mentalist The Smoking Man - The X-Files The Swede - Hell on Wheels Sylar - Heroes

Judge Doom from "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" remains my top pick for future villain to review. Scared the absolute hell out of me when I was a child seeing the movie in theaters especially at the movie's climax. Another would be the Ghostface Killers from Scream if you felt like covering them all as their motives vary(or maybe the original two from the first). Love your work and takes on so many memorable evil-doers!

Hubris is what did Stringer in. So confident in his street skills he couldn't envision himself being played by people he thought were lesser men.

Thank you for making an episode on a character from this show. The Wire loved to implicitly tell you little tidbits about characters and what they represent for Baltimore as a whole and as a result most of a characters strengths and weaknesses are often overlooked by most on first watch. It’s great to see somebody appreciate characters like this that mostly go under the radar

We’ve been waiting on these!!!! All the wire content you can bring Vile Eye Lets gooo!!!! 💯🤠

Analyzing omar, marlo, Chris partlow, Snoop, Avon... the wire is a gold mine for the channel

You could do this type of video for almost every single big character on the 'street' side, which is yet another reason why The Wire is one of the best shows ever made!

The problem that plagued Stringer was that he was “ a idiots genius or a Jail house philosopher” I think the best example I can give is him meeting his match against brother Mouzone. When he went to go visit him in the hospital after manipulating Omar into shooting him, he showed his cards even Avon expressed how stupid that was and honestly, I believe Avon is more intelligent than Stringer.

The Wire had incredibly complex characters, and Stringer is one of the most interesting, intelligent, charismatic, but a bit too cocky and that in the end got him killed. Imho he was not cut for that world. Omar coming!!!(next pretty please)

Just recently finished the series and it's good to see the depth of the writing still being recognized. Characters like Stringer have so many subtle weaknesses (doors) that are never outright emphasized by the show but feel perfect when analyzed in retrospect

You GOTTA do Marlo. His combo of strategic thinking, knowing his limitations, and COMPLETE disregard for (and often enjoyment of) taking human life makes him the scariest (in a realistic way) character I've ever seen in TV/Movie history...

YES!!! I've been waiting for you to analyze villains from The Wire. It's such a great series.

Yes! More incredible content! Been binging your videos man!

I've been a follower of yours for a long time and The Wire is one of my all-time favorite shows and you actually hitting on stringer is so clutch!! Can't wait for Marlo!

Amazing video! Can't express how long I waited for this.

Ohhhh man, this is something I didn’t even know I needed. I recently finished the wire for the first time and Stringer was def my favorite character

I imagine we'll have a thorough Playlist eventually from The Wire.

There are quite a few memorable characters in The Wire. Stringer was definitely one of them. There's just something about Omar. I've never seen a character be both so mythical and so human at the same time

Thank you for covering the Wire. By far one of my all time favorite shows EVER!

Brilliant video, one of the most complex and well written characters on television

One of the best Shows ever, so glad you covered Stringer

Probably your best video yet! Great job!

Your voice is so satisfying to hear its like a anxiety medication I swear

Never have I clicked a notification so fast. Thank you Vile.

Yes! One I love! Can next be Ramses from The Prince of Egypt?

easily one of the best written stories of all time... thank you for this, vile eye!!!

Finally! The one I’ve been waiting for! Thank you

You have to cover Omar too. He isn't pure evil, but certainly does evil work and suffering. His code makes him far more complex than stringer or Marlo too IMO. Let's be real too, Chris Partlow would be a short video as just the most evil mfer on the planet.😅

Stringer Bell was one of the best ever. I would like to see a future vid on Clay from Sons Of Anarchy, Franklin from Snowfall

Dude! Keep up the good content, you’re a solid channel through and through

What great timing, I've been binging The Wire for the first time and just concluded Stringer's arc. Fantastic character

My excitement when seeing this is immeasurable

This has amazing analysis on a brilliant character. What’s amazing about the word is that it makes you think that the criminals could be amazing human being if they grew up outside the game. Marko and stringer could be very successful business people. Stringers two sides of the game is fascinating.

Love your content, Especially the Analyzing Evil episodes, Great job keep up the great work.

Yessssssss!!! Thank you vile! Been waiting for this one

One of your best videos! Idris Elba became one of my favorite actors after the first season. Stringer Bell's intelligence and ruthlessness as a business man would have made him a billionaire if he would have had a better start to life.

"You throw the guns, into the water. Splash." -- Stringer Bell. Thanks, Vile Eye. Stringer's such a good villain that I never perceived him as one. A selfish and treacherous piece of shit that did everything he did out of completely human motivations and emotions.

Thank You for your Fascinating analyzation! Your mention at the end about Stringer trying to bring others to the surface reminded me of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave showcasing the effect of education and the lack of it on our nature🤔 Stringer tried to share his new view with the others but inevitably will always be betrayed by ignorance afraid of its own shadow😢

I waited so long for you to analyze Stringer! One of the greatest villains in television history

Yes! More from The Wire please!

Been waiting on this one! Loving the content Vile Eye! It’s only right that you do Marlo or Omar next!

Thank You Vile Eye for evaluating characters from The Wire. I can’t wait till you evaluate Marlo as well.

The Snowfall series is now over I can't wait to hear your (The Vile Eye/Analyzing Evil) analysis of Franklin Saint and everyone else from the show

He who doesn't respect the "The Sunday Truce" is evil.

Amazing TV series. One of the absolute best.

Nice. Thank you. There was something about this characters energy that intrigued me.

I loved how they did stringer ... I understand what he tried to do, but doing it his way , you put it so well "using oily rag to clean". He got what he deserved in the end

Best television drama ever made and couldn’t be made today.

So many people from this show deserve videos. Marlo, Levy, Clay Davis, the Greeks, Snoop and Chris, even Omar to a certain extent

You’re really the goat for this .Arguably one of the greatest shows ever created 🎯

Was waiting for this!

I like how Stringer mirrors Bunny Colvin in Season 3. The theme of the season is basically people trying to reform the system and failing. Both Stringer and Colvin had ambitious goals, but in the end, they were each "killed" in pursuit of those goals. Even their last words are the same: "Get on with it motherfucker".

The ONLY knock I have about the show’s writing involving Stringer is, it feels more like String was brought in to maintain things than him actually growing up with Avon. He seemed like a stranger to the city at times. Avon had to explain too many things to him that he would’ve known growing up there. The main example is the “ Sunday Truce”. I understand why it was written that way. The wanted a way to to explain the different situations to the unfamiliar audience. But for them to have been together So long and made it So far, I feel like they would’ve understood each other to the point of not having to speak about the basic rules of Baltimore. Like Marlo and Chris. Avon had to check Stringer on a Few basic rules like he was from out of town. They kinda felt like strangers and it felt a little unnatural calling them childhood boys. But I’m splitting hairs, the writing is amazing and they had to do it this way for the audience’s sake. This is the greatest show to get lost in and everything I’ve said is all just my opinion. Thank you for reading.

Incredible Video as usual, can't wait for the Marlo one.

so glad you’ve done a “the wire” character and who better to start off with - hopefully you do some more. also, would you ever consider doing more anime antagonists such as sosuke aizen, doflamingo or pain?

With Snowfall now over I would love an Analyzing Evil of Franklin Saint. Snowfall was definitely inspired by the wire.

Please do Bishop from Juice

YES I WAS WAITING FOR THIS FOR SO LONG

The next episode should be for Omar. Omar is able to significantly impact Barksdale's day-to-day operations on numerous occasions. Omar is even seen as a hero to the kids throughout the hood.

Could you please do Porky Minch from Earthbound and Mother 3. They are just sprite art games but he has one of the most tragic fates I’ve ever seen. He’s just an interesting villain on top of that.

This dude is a pretty terrifying villain.

the eventual conclusion to the entire stringer bell story line was so satisfying to watch. what an amazing show

Outstanding presentation, and I’m sure you’ve already got Marlo in mind next.

A cool villain I'd like to see you cover eventually is Mr. Gone from The Maxx comics and MTV cartoon based on the comic. He's a smooth talker, knowledgeable, a mystic master, sage, spirit guide, misogynist, serial rapist. It's like if Obi-wan Kenobi and Darth Vader were the same person.