No spoilers or results here, just a request for anyone watching tonight to leave as detailed a recap as they can for us non-HBO getting Canadians (and others that don't get HBO.)
Many thanks in advance...
Matthew Good - Playing Calgary March 24th AND 25th. Be there.
What the hell, I'm trying to postpone sleep as long as possible... so spoilers ahead as if you didn't know.
Yeah thats enough. Ok, so...
No guest narrators, just Hill surrounded by the inmates.
Warden Glynn is officially deceased. Stanton (one of the fall guys O'Reilly set up for the murder of Dr Nathan's rapist) told McManus who the inmate that killed Glynn was (they gave a name but I missed it, apparently he was bragging about that and helping kill the Mayor) and McManus threatened him with starvation in the Hole so he rolled over on the guard who had set things up, the guard was arrested and when he wouldn't say why he set it up until he got his plea bargain McManus punched him in the face as he was being taken out. He apparently got his bargain ed as McManus and his ex-wife confronted the Governor and his flunky as they were preparing for a press conference to name an educational program in the prison after Glynn, and the two cancelled the conference and split after McManus made it clear that they knew they had had the Mayor, Glynn, and the Mayor's killer killed by the bragging inmate.
Querns was appointed new Warden. The Governor wanted him to fire McManus, which Querns did, but he told McManus that he had a months notice and that the Governor would probably be in jail by then so McManus would not actually get fired.
Querns gave a speech to the inmates introduced a restraining chair to be put in the hole. Yes, he finished his speech with "Don't fuck with Querns."
Rebadow and his librarian agreed that they loved each other, but for her it's just as friends; he then helped her bribe a guard so she could read to the Hispanic kid that was thrown in the hole.
Busmalis wanted to artifically inseminate his wife; when he got turned down he attacked the commisionar and was put in the hole.
Howell is pregnant, apparently by one of the Latinos (probably Martinez, he was the last guy they showed her screwing).
Torquemada (hispanic gay club owner with the freaky eye)struck a deal with Pancamo to sell his drugs, apparently Pancamo's nephew is a silent partner in Torquemadas clubs. Guerra took the drugs and went from dancing like a maniac and stripping to ripping his own throat out in front of Alvarez.
Alvarez was beaten by the Aryans when they found out what was up with him and Cutler's wife, but he got a nice punch in on Schillinger first. Schillinger made it clear that she was being spoken to so that relationship is kaput. Alvarez then tried to apoligize to the parole board guy but had it made clear that he would never be paroled because he felt Alvarez was a disgrace to Latinos so Miguel started using Torquemada's drugs and apparently is mentally the guys bitch? I didnt quite get this part cuz Torquemada got himself put in to Alvarez's pod and there was all this stuff about how he was a virgin and he just wanted to "be" Alavrez? It was weird.
Arif turned himself and Redding in over the printing press fire. Redding was thrown into Solitary and the Muslims beat Arif and cast himout for lying to them; McManus then put Arif in the cage for his role in the cover up.
Mukada found Hoyt's parents, they turned out to be adopted parents, he found Hoyt's real mother. Out of gratitude Hoyt told Mukada where to find the Rev Cloutier (the bikers took him from the hospital ward and resealed him in the wall). Timmy Kirk's mother had been working in the psych ward to try and deal with Hoyt's killing of her son but she was failing. She was also continuing to flirt with Mukada; when he finally told her no she went off on him and said her son had been right about him, then she watched from the doorway one of the bikers killed Hoyt for telling Mukada what they did to Cloutier.
Idsik was put on death row for killing Omar. McManus had Sister Pete examine him because he felt he had a mistrial and she heard his whole end of the world thing (which apparently was brought on by a brief conversation with a pre-muslim Said, which is why he killed him) and Idsik's death sentence was commuted to life, to his chagrin.
O'Reilly's dad tried to pay Schillinger (who he kept calling Skillinger) to kill the black guy who had dated Ryan's mom; he failed and tried to do it himself and ended up stabbed and in the hospital ward (the black guy was thrown in the hole). Dr Nathan told Ryan that hwo he is with Cyril makes her want to forgive him for all the bad things he's done but he has to forgive his father for her to be able to. Cyril was executed (Querns puked and the inmates pounded the walls again) as Ryan and Dr Nathan embarced and finally kissed in the gym. The next day Ryan's dad told him he wanted to see Cyril and when he found out he had already been executed he begged Ryan to forgive him for everything he's done, which Ryan did.
Robson took responsibility for his AIDS, saying that it was because of all the people he fucked in OZ. He thanked the rape counciling group for their support and for getting to meet them, but that he'd no longer be coming to the meetings as he's going to the AIDS unit.
Schillingers sister came and told him their dad was dying of lung cancer. I missed where this scene went though.
The FBI agent offered to get Beecher released if he lied and said that Keller had confessed to killing all those men. Beecher got all morally offended and the FBI agent just happened to open the blinds just long enough for Keller to walk by and see them talking in order to scare Beecher into doing what he wanted.
Keller told Schillinger he was going to switch the prop shiv with a real shiv for the performance of Macbeth so Schillinger could kill Beecher in front of everyone and get away with it. Alvarez was stage managing high as a kite and Schillinger offered Beecher a good luck and a handshake before curtain. Before the play started Mrs. O'Reilly read a list of cast changes brought on by deaths and solitary confinements and dedicated the performance to Glynn and Cyril. The play was all clips; we got to see Poet, Reggie (his skinny pal), and Stanton as the 3 witches, the gay guy in drag as Lady MacBeth, and a fight scene between Schillinger and Poet's muscled pal. Keller tries to talk to Beecher backstage but Beecher tells him to just give him his prop so he shoves a shiv into his hand. Beecher and Schillinger start their MacBeth/MacDuff fight and Schillinger whispers to Beecher that he's dead, only it turns out that its Beechers shiv that is real and Schillinger dies calling Keller a cock sucker as Beecher yells for Dr Nathan.
Querns, McManus, et al find Schillingers death to be accidental and Beecher goes back to Oz, where he finds Keller as his pod mate again. Keller tells him everything he did he did for love and that the Aryans will never bother him again, but Beecher still rejects him, so Keller commits suicide by throwing himself off the balcony as Beecher shoves him away from an attempted kiss, making it look like Beecher murdered him.
Beecher tells Sister Pete that he knows Keller really did love him, and that he really did love Keller. McManus tells Beecher he's going to unit J for protection from the Aryans, but it turns out that Keller had sent a package of white powder to one of the Aryans, and when he opens it in the mailroom white dust goes everywhere and all the Aryans are killed. Oz is evacuated and everyone is put onto buses and we finally see the outside of Oz as the buses pull away.
The bio-chemical suits are spraying all the areas of Oz down, and when they turn the lights out Hill is in his box and delivers a final monologue the show ends with a "Peace" and a peace sign kiss to the camera.
EDIT: Oh I forgot, Jackson Vahue came to Oz to speak to inmates about not wasting their time so that they can amount to something when they get out of prison. Officer Brass asked for his autograph and tried to get in the lockeroom, and then asked if Vahue ever worried about who was watching the games. Later Brass made peace with Murphy for the Morales confession and told him that he had started playing basketball because he wanted to be a somebody, and that he was quitting so that he could start over and not be a nobody. The inmates are watching t.v. and a news report comes on saying that Brass tried to shoot Vahue during Lakers practice.
(edited by CxMorgado on 24.2.03 0615) Can't hear your voice Back in the crowd Move up front And shout out loud...
Good recap. That was a pretty decent show for the send off of OZ. I hope they play all the seasons over again like they're doing with the Sopranos, as I missed the first 3 seasons entirely.
THat whole thing with Alvarez and the tall guy was Really strange. I guess it's one of those leave it up to your imagination kind of things.
Somehow, even in death, Keller manages to kill mass amounts of people. What a bastard.
Speaking of not seeing alot of the early shows. I did not know Beecher was a lawyer. What did he do to get in OZ anyway?
I thought it was an interesting, but flawed, finale. Some things are just gonna end up left unsaid with a cast that big and as much stuff going on as goes on in a normal-sized episode of OZ.
They'd sorta painted themselves into a corner as to what they could do for a blowout finale--they'd done the prison riot and blown up Em City already. It was, however, pretty appropriate that Beecher was right in the end--Keller was death. Only instead of offing the odd Aryan or prag he ended up being death for the entire prison, almost. Certainly death for Beecher, even if he did get out his life is for sure now totaled top to bottom and had OZ ran another season he'd end up just as shattered as Alvarez.
But it ended well enough for me. Everyone got out, but didn't go free.
I thought it was pretty good. I love Querns. The Beecher/Shillinger/Keller blowoff was done well (and I'm glad that got blown off). O'Reilly got resolved nicely too. I'm somewhat pissed they didn't go whole hog with the Devlin storyline. I'm tempted just to assume he gets thrown in jail, and McManus stays on under Querns, but I would have appreciated actually seeing it.
Other storyarchs or characters from season one:
Alvarez - while I didn't quite get it either, I though it was a nice (if depressing) resolution for my favorite character. Essentially, he just gave up.
Drug trade - of course you can't expect this one to really get totally resolved, but since season one the Italians have been fighting off (and making deals with) the other groups to keep control of the drug trade. It looks like they've finally met their match.
That's all I can think of for now.
It seems that I am - in no particular order - Zack Morris, John Adams, a Siren, Janeane Garofalo, Cheer Bear, Aphrodite, a Chihuahua, Data, Cletus the Slack Jawed Yokel, Amy-Wynn Pastor, Hydrogen, Bjork, Spider-Man, Boston, and a Chaotic Good Elvin Bard-Mage.
With some of the loose ends left, and the comment at the end that 'Someday we'll return to OZ,' I think they're leaving themselves open for the possibility of occassional HBO once a year movies. Cyril getting the chair was a Dusty Finish, but Querns puking made it worthwhile. No answer on how the Arian brotherhood reacted to Robson having AIDS. Would assume they would question why he was moving to the AIDS unit. If Keller could have had someone on the outside send chemical weapons packages into OZ, why did he wait so long to do it? Weak reasoning for the Idsik/Said storyline. At least if Idsid somehow was impacted by the building Said blew up, it would have made sense. But a pre-Muslim Said and a Jewish Idsik meeting in Instanbul (in a Muslim country), is quite a stretch.
The only military skill provided by the French is demonstrating the methods of surrendering.
Lots of people go to Istanbul to visit. It's not like going to Tehran. It's an open and modern city in a (relatively) open and modern country.
I think they were trying to give us one of those deep cosmic message with the whole Idsik thing, and it just went over our heads. Or at least mine.
It seems that I am - in no particular order - Zack Morris, John Adams, a Siren, Janeane Garofalo, Cheer Bear, Aphrodite, a Chihuahua, Data, Cletus the Slack Jawed Yokel, Amy-Wynn Pastor, Hydrogen, Bjork, Spider-Man, Boston, and a Chaotic Good Elvin Bard-Mage.
I thought not having the Governer go to Oz was a mistake. But Officer Howell getting pregnant was a neat touch. At the end, I thought all of the prisoners were going to run out of there free because some nervous guard forgot to cuff them.
- No matter how hard Alveraz tries trouble seems to find him. In the end he was finally broken.
- Keller/Beecher/Schillinger story ended in a pretty good way. Keller throwing himself off the balcony was surprising. I think all three could be seen as tragic characters.
- Cyril O'Reily gets the chair. This was alright although I would have rather seen him get it the first time with the phone ringing to late.
- Robson finally getting what he deserves and in a way changing.
- Said getting killed for nothing more than a conversation was interesting. He broke down a man's world into hopelessness.
- Cloutier finally found.
What I didn't like:
- Ryan O'Reily going soft and then embracing his father. The death of his brother should have ruined what faith he had. Ryan won't last long in Oz with his new approach. I would have liked him to either break down like Alvarez or blow a gasket like the old Ryan.
- Arif and the Muslims story didn't end well with me either. I'm not sure why.
Overall very good. Although it's strange how they dropped the guest star narrarator with two shows left. They could have at least had Said do one. I can't say that it ended well for anyone, but then again why should it.
I figured I'd make my thoughts on the episode seperate from the recap, so here goes...
Beecher/Schillinger/Keller (you're right Loco, they are tragic characters, thats why they used a Shakesperian tragedy to bring about the ending of their story arc) and Ryan had the most complete and satisfactory endings out of the whole show, though faking us out on Cyril's execution ruined the emotional impact of it when it actually went through. Dr Nathan kissing Ryan more than made up for it though, along with Querns puking and Cyril making chipmunk cheeks until the headgear went on. Seamus' sudden repentance seemed a little forced, but it's still acceptable as it allowed for at least one happy ending.
Glad they finally showed where Cloutier went, but it seemed weird to me that no one thought to check behind the wall again after he dissapeared a second time... but maybe since he was found after the explosion they never knew he was in there to begin with.
I thought Idsik's explanation made sense, even if it was a little metaphysical for me; the fact that he lost his desired death sentence in favor of life was a fitting punishment.
I don't know what to think about the endings for Busmalis and Alvarez. Howell, Robson, & Brass all had fitting ends. I'm "eh" on the Mukada/Mrs Kirk thing, I think Timmy was FAR more interesting than his mom and Hoyt getting killed while she did nothing came as no big surprise.
I for one am not upset that they didn't show Devlin ending up in OZ. For that to have happened would require a LARGE jump in time during the course of the episode... I mean he's the Governor, wouldn't you think the trial would be a long drawn out OJ style media disaster? Plus they made it clear enough that he was 90% on the way there anyways, even if McManus had his doubts...
The Muslims have been on cruise control since Said died, and sad to say I haven't cared one iota about what they've been up to pretty much all season, except when it had to do with Redding. I'm also annoyed nothing happened with Poet, Reggie, that other gangsta, and the Italians all episode, minus what amounted to cameos.
Seeing the outside of Oz for the first time ever was a VERY nice touch. And I also want to know what was up with dumping the guest narrator for the last two shows? If it was just the last episode I could understand...
So it was pretty much a mixed bag I guess, leaning more towards the good side. I knew a lot of the characters I liked would end up with the short end of the stick, so I wasn't TOO bummed about things like Alvarez sinking into complete depression, but DAMN, did they have to end EVERYONE on a down note? Rebadow and O'Reilly are the only two who I saw any future optimism for...
I hope they do that occaisional once a year movie idea redsoxnation had. That'd be rad.
Can't hear your voice Back in the crowd Move up front And shout out loud...
I was disappointed in the semi face turns by Robson and Howell...
Brass cracked me up when he was waving at the camera after his arrest.
I mark out every time I hear "Don't fuck with Querns!"
I never really saw seasons 1 or 2. But, what happened at Beecher's trial? All he did was kill someone in a DD accident, right? How many freakin' years was he sentenced too? Normally if that happens, and you have a clean record you only get a few months. I liked the way his story played out, though. Initially, after he got sent back to Oz, I was really hoping for his death when he said he got fucked in the ass as usual and refused to take any personal responsibility, I was ready for Dr. Vern Skoda to off him.
Nice to see Jackson Vehue back. If I could be any man other than myself, Rick Fox would be on my Top 5 list. Stud.
One thing though: how did Querns' punishment chair work? Were you in it 24/7? How did you go to the bathroom or eat? Or were COs supposed to go into the cells of these already unstable inmates (who would go even more insane with this contraption) and strap/unstrap them several times a day.
There's an old saying in Tennessee -- I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee -- that says, fool me once, shame on -- shame on you. Fool me -- you can't get fooled again.
Originally posted by Iron Mike Sharpe I never really saw seasons 1 or 2. But, what happened at Beecher's trial? All he did was kill someone in a DD accident, right? How many freakin' years was he sentenced too?
15 years, eligible for parole in 4, according to the first episode. And Beecher even said in the first season that he was being made an example of by being sent to Oz, rather than a minimum security prison.