wawamouse | Oz Rewatch 3: S1E04: Capital P

Originally posted to tumblr
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After a week off, we're back with episode 4!

This episode saw Jefferson Keane's execution for the murders in the gym last episode. In our watch through, Sister was also more critical of a lot of what happened, and I find myself agreeing; although I personally love Keane's journey through season 1, and I think a lot of the moments of his in this episode are very touching, when I watched the episode with Sister over my shoulder, it was easier to see how, if you don't buy into the general premise of Oz and suspend your disbelief, you might walk away with a different experience. For that reason, I think I will focus this episode's write up less on the episode itself and more on Sister's thoughts from our post-viewing discussion. It’s been about 5 years since I first watched the show myself, so I don’t remember my first impressions of the characters. Therefore, it’s been more interesting to me during this rewatch to interrogate my sister about what she thinks (even if I don’t agree).

First, though, a few miscellaneous moments:

Sister: So that’s why he’s so strange… because he was bald.

I gotta say, I just love all of Rebadow’s flashbacks, and this scene was great. Weird God-connected Bob is such a delight, and the music was a fun addition for his flashback because we so rarely get non ambient music in Oz. Also, our power surged and almost went out three times earlier this evening.

Sister: I didn’t read that story. Where was he?

Yeah, this is my 3rd time watching the show and I gotta say that my understanding of this line remains strictly vibe-based. I think it's supposed to mean something deep like "everywhere" and by extension "by his son's side" (yes, I'm very smug about how correct this absolute guess sounds, btw) but it also sounds sort of cold-blooded if you don't know the lore. Like, the same place? What, absent? In Heaven or wherever? Is that supposed to be a comfort?? Lmao.

Fun fact! The purchasing power of $100 in 1997 is $191 today. We specifically stopped the episode to look it up.

A Hater’s Perspective (No Survivors)

For the past couple episodes, I’ve been asking Sister for more of her thoughts after the credits rolled. From the very start, Nino Schibetta (alternatively “Mr. Mole”, “the Italian Mouse”, etc) has been a favorite of hers. This episode was no different, though this time she gave a more concrete reason than that he reminds her of a small creature that she would like to put in her pocket. Namely, Nino is her favorite character because he’s in charge of things and he’s running them smoothly.

“It’s less stressful for him to be the kingpin because at least you know he’s going to keep things running in an orderly fashion. If he dies, I’m going to be so stressed because there’s going to be a power vacuum and none of these guys are going to be good enough to fill it. Everyone else so far is too chaotic and too stupid.”

Funnily, I feel like Martin Querns would agree to this point, although I suspect Sister will have lots to say about his tenure once we get to it (if she sticks around that long, lol). Anyway, I asked Sister about Nino at the very end of our discussion, so keep that in mind when you hear what she has to say about some other major players this episode. She has a very Lawful Neutral view of things.

It’s On Sight With Ryan

In our discussions after previous episodes, I glimpsed the laying of a few tracks (so to speak) but after this episode, the Ryan O’Reily hate train was going full steam ahead. My sister does not like Ryan, and for reasons that tickle me to no end. Poor Ryan (“Whispers”, as he would be nicknamed this episode) bore the brunt of Sister’s criticism this episode, and was the primary reason she described her main episode takeaway as “Frustrating”. Ryan’s sins are two-fold in this episode: 1) he inexplicably blabs to Toby about the purpose of the Latinos cornering Keane, and 2) Sister disliked the plot point of his manipulation of Kenny and Adebisi.

When it comes to Ryan slipping up and telling Toby about the Jefferson Keane tapes, I agree—knowing what I know of Ryan’s later season characterisations, this slip up feels like something that he is beyond. But what’s interesting about s1-Ryan is that he’s a lot more fallible. Burrano, the prison investigator, saw through him at once. Nino doesn’t believe his lies. In season 1, people can still see through him and he seems constantly on the verge of being caught. I feel like this is one thing I actually like more about early Ryan. What makes him so interesting to watch during this phase is that he’s clearly brimming with some kind of ambition and desire to make moves in Oz, but at the same time, he seems dangerously close to shooting himself in the foot due to arrogance or carelessness—due to simply… not being as smart as he thinks he is.

When it came to Ryan manipulating the Homeboys, Sister was very unimpressed—she doesn’t like plotlines that involve one guy predictably winding up two dumb lackeys to get them to go out for revenge and drive the plot forward.

Sister: Everyone’s just watching that guy (Ryan) whispering and walking out of people’s cells and somehow they’re still like ‘ah yes, he’s trustworthy!’ …They’re so stupid. He’s a stinkbug, that’s what he is. I thought the Italian mouse was supposed to be smarter than this.
Me: A stinkbug?
Sister: He looks like he smells bad. He looks like he smells sour, like cheese or something. Is he gonna die? It’s just annoying when there’s a guy who’s got all the strings to pull but then it’s like, why is he pulling them? And why did he already slip up with Glasses Guy?? He’s whispering to everyone, weaving all these lies, but he can’t even keep track of his lies and he just seems like someone who’s going to get trapped in his own web and he’s gonna be stuck in the center like ‘ohh, how did I get here?’ and it’s like, well maybe you shouldn’t have been playing all your reindeer games. I’m just waiting for him to die so I can relax because I feel like the show is trying to make him do too much but he’s just not smart.
Me: Have you considered the fact that maybe everyone else in there is stupider than him, though?
Sister: (long-suffering sigh) Okay, but then, like, why do I gotta watch them be stupid?
Me: Do you find him interesting?
Sister: No. He does too much and it makes me tired.
Me: But aside from the fact that you wouldn’t do what he does because it makes you tired. Do you find him interesting as a character?
Sister: No! Because I don’t get why he’s doing anything he does. That makes it hard to find him interesting. Like he’s just this guy who comes in asking to be in Em City just to kill that one guy because, what? He shot your friend and shot you? Okay, but now he killed the guy and he’s still making all these moves and it’s like why? And he’s like ‘Oh because I’m Mayhem’ and it’s like ‘No, you’re too early with that branding stuff. You’re not there yet. Sit down’.

Miguel, the Real Housewife

Okay I know that sounds strange so hold on a second. As a reminder, this episode saw the death of Miguel’s son. Much like Keane’s death scene, the sequences Miguel has had this episode and last have been really good. Death of child did not spare Miguel from the flames of my Sister’s judgment, though.

Me: Any other characters of note?
Sister: The guy with the scar. He’s such a wimp. Watching him is like watching a toddler, like he’s just got no idea what he’s doing. His whole plot line is just ‘I ruined my once beautiful face all for my son—oh God, please do this for me…’ And now his son is dead, so what’s his plotline going to be next?
Me: What would you like to see from him?
Sister: His backbone.
Me: Why don’t you think he has a backbone?
Sister: Because he’s just crying about things all the time. And he got in there for cutting a dude just for scratching up his car. He’s just got no sense of responsibility. Like, he only started to grow up with his son [being born] and then he was like ‘I’ve never loved anything else in my life before’ and his baby mama’s probably like ‘thanks, dude. What were we even together for, by the way?’
Me: So when you say ‘backbone’, you mean ‘responsibility’?
Sister: More like ‘purpose’. If he doesn’t find some other purpose, he’s gonna get written off this show. Like in a permanent way. I’m actually looking out for him. I’m telling him this for his own good. This is how it is in the Biz... He’s like a Real Housewife—once your plot line ends, you better find a new one to keep it interesting or you’re gonna get written off the show. He needs another secret child or something. I don’t know what he’s going to do.
Me: So, you’re looking forward to seeing what his next plotline will be?
Sister: He’s gotta do something soon. All he’s had so far is this baby thing. I don’t know anything about him.

Tim, Walking Red Flag

The word of the day when it came to Tim was "gross", lol. Like any reasonable person, Sister has been highly critical of the lax security in Oz and the general lack of oversight by prison administration and by the hacks. This episode, we got comments like "This is just like that scene in Criminal Minds where they showed a baby being born at the same exact moment that a serial killer was getting executed" and "This bald guy doesn't do anything!"

Aside from find Tim useless for his lack of apparent follow up on any of the incidents that have happened in Em City recently, "Bald Guy" continued to sink in Sister's books due to his lack of workplace professionalism—the workplace is not the hunting ground for dates, Tim!

Sister: Red flag. The doctor lady is a red flag, too. Me: How so? Sister: I don't know. Like, when she was being all flirty with Bald Guy earlier. Like, uhh, ma'am, this is a prison jail place. This is not the place to be looking for dates. You are here for your prison job. Red flag.

Sister: Red flag, man. Asking a woman on a date after you made someone else’s execution about you. Red flag. Who looks for dates in a prison? This is weird.

The Takeaways

So, after all that, you may be wondering, as I did, whether Sister even likes the show. I asked her this very question and she was quiet for a few seconds, slumped against the wall by my bed, wearing blanket like a cape and looking exhausted.

“It’s wearing on me,” she told me, “But at the same time, if I was more invested, I would just read the wikipedia pages and get it over with”.

Translation: She will continue watching the show with me because she is just disinterested enough to not jump ahead and find out what happens.

This may sound like strange logic, but she watches everything on 2.0x and listens to podcasts on 3.0x, so watching an hour long HBO episode on normal speed sits on the miracle line of not catching her interest enough to make her speed ahead, but not being so pointless that she doesn't even care to find out what happens.

Sister’s Predictions/Final Thoughts:

More fallout/another clash between the Italians vs Homeboys
“Little Sapling” (Kenny) is going to be a troublemaker due to the ease with which he can be manipulated
"They just executed that guy after he confessed to all those murders? They didn't want to retry him for 39 confessed murders??"
“Why has no one teamed up to take out the Racist Lion (Schillinger)? Like, why is he not on anyone’s radar?? He’s just standing over there with Glasses Guys and all the cops (hacks) are watching, too… It’s like ‘Eating the Other’ (Bell Hooks)… The brown guys and the black guys should be teaming up to kill him but instead they’re fighting each other on film.”
We went on a lengthy side quest through Eric Roberts's wikipedia page. He plays L'Italien in this episode and somehow Sister recognised him from his side profile, despite not really knowing any of his filmography, and I realised I recognised the actor's wikipedia page from when I looked him up after seeing him in the Righteous Gemstones, which I had rewatched literally right before I rewatched Oz in September... but I didn't recognise him in Oz...