Oz Rewatch 3: S1E06: To Your Health

[wawamouse]

Originally posted to tumblr
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Sister and I started the night by watching the first few minutes of Episode 7 before we realised that we were watching the wrong episode. A bit of a disappointment, to be honest—I had told her before we started watching that "a lot of stuff is gonna happen this episode"... but we'll have to wait till next week to see her reaction on all that.

The actual episode we were scheduled to watch, "To Your Health", centers around themes of the physical and mental well-being of prisoners at Oz. One of the concepts brought up is the notion of the aging inmates in prison, including Rebadow, who starts the episode getting jumped by some younger prisoners for a box of brownies. At a staff meeting, the staff discusses a seniors-only unit:

Sister: Wow, they're actually making sense for once! It's not happening.

Keeping in with the theme of senior-inmate health, Ricardo Alvarez's Alzheimer's plotline also emerges in this episode. I had a moment where the hacks were calling out for "Alvarez" in Solitary where I thought to myself "Huh, I totally forgot that Miguel was already in Solitary during season 1". Ope.

But I have to say, the actor who played Ricardo (Tomas Milian) did a really good job portraying the enfedbled version of the character. My yeye (maternal grandfather) had Parkinson's and a bit of dementia later on and Milian's performance always feels so heartwrenching because of how familiar it is. Sister also later said that Ricardo's storyline in this episode was her favorite because she found it most compelling.

In a later scene, Rebadow and Groves are talking in the bed over from the Alvarezes. I noticed Gloria and McManus are also in the background, but they didn't end up having a scene in the hospital during this episode. I assume an exchange of some sort was filmed and then cut, though I haven't seen any season 1 deleted scenes that show what they talked about.

Sister: The only thing that will stop him from escaping at this point would be if people were doing it on the stairs. There is no security in this place... (Rebadow tumbles down the stairs) Oh no, that's realistic, too...

Later in the episode, we see Beecher being forced to do drag and sing at the variety show. I know this is TV, but once again, Sister Pete's random psychology got a lot of snark from me and Sister; "I don't know," Sister said. "I feel like if I was in prison and someone was like 'I know what will make them behave! I'll remind them what a piece of shit they are!' ... That wouldn't work on me. I think I would get worse."

Just like in Episode 3, thought, Sister Pete putting wild faith in Beecher's ability to come to the conclusions she wants him to pays off. By some miracle, getting reminded that he's a convicted child killer (vehicular manslaughterererer) actually brings him to his senses.

Sister: But if he decides not to let him treat him like dirt anymore, wouldn't that mean he doesn't think he deserves to be punished anymore because he did nothing wrong? And wouldn't that be NOT what the prison people want?

The way our brains are just naturally unsuited for Sister Pete's style of therapy in this show is truly amazing...

The midpoint of this episode sees Beecher somehow shatter the single panel of glass in the entire unit—yes, that is my headcanon. That the panel he broke was the only glass panel because they ran out of the plexiglass or whatever the used for the rest of the place... Note that Jackson Vahue chucked a bucket at a different window later in the episode to absolutely no effect. LOL. But Beecher going off on PCP is a good scene, anyway.

Later, Sister Pete continues her psych evals by doing Ryan's. I have to say that while I liked the scene, it did read as the somewhat pointless sort that probably would've ended up getting cut for anyone else in later seasons. It's an interesting scene that sort of fleshes out O'Reily in terms of the stray tidbit about him wanting to travel when he gets out, but what do we really learn? That he's a liar, that he'll try to manipulate if he can, and that at this point in time, he wants nothing more than to do what he can to survive and get out of Oz? Oookay, but this is nothing new.

So, the inclusion of this scene feels/has always felt a little random to me in this episode. Maybe they needed to pad out the O'Reily-Adebisi-Schibetta scenes. The end part of the episode saw the arrival of Jackson Vahue and Huseni Mershah. Neither Sister nor I had much to say about those parts. There was a lot of reading Rick Fox's wikipedia page, haha.

I really loved Hill's ending monologue, though. I feel like the theme of this episode was really strong throughout and it all tied in together very nicely.

All those little aches and pains, eventually they add up to something. Body, mind, body mind, they gotta work together or they don't work at all. You gotta take care of your body. You gotta take care of your mind. You gotta love your body. Most people don't. Most people hate their bodies. You gotta get your mind to love your body. Even if you're fat around the middle, or even if things don't work like they're supposed to, you gotta love your body. 'Cause it's all you got to hold on to. It's all you got. I'll make a deal with you. I'll love your body if you love mine.

Stray Thoughts:

• Tim starts the season wearing a bowtie and suit and looking like a dweeb and then spends pretty much the rest of the season and the rest of the show dressed as a deadbeat dad. I kind of wish we'd gotten more of dweeby McManus. I feel like he lost the twinkle in his eye so fast, lol. Another thing is: in this episode, Tim tells Glynn something to the effect of "You know, this is the first time you've ever called me Tim". Later in the show, I could swear that Tim mentions that he and Glynn have known each other for over a decade. I feel like the show flipflops between the idea that McManus is new at Oz and the idea that he's been working there for years already as just a regular unit manager (without having been a hack first, somehow).
• Sister said her takeaway is "take your blood pressure medication"
• Sister still can't remember the names of the characters. I have tried to remind her a couple times. This episode, Said obtained the nickname "Doctor.... Reginald.... Saunders" because she finds the cadence of his speech to be very dramatic.
• I love how passive-aggressively Arif reads aloud during meal time
• WHY is Schillinger spending so much effort on smuggling in hair dye for Beecher? First the silver then the black. Surely there are better things to smuggle in. No? Maybe the barbershop has hair dye?