wawamouse | Oz Rewatch 3: S1E07: Plan B

Originally posted to tumblr
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Another short recap today, I think [Edit: It was not, in fact, going to be a short recap]. A lot happened in this episode as we geared up for the season finale.

Bouncing back from his heart attack, Said exiled Mershah from the Muslims, leading to a desperate spiral that eventually ends in Mershah apparently dying by suicide. What I always find strange about this plotline is the way that Said is later willing to use Mershah's death, counting it as a death that is the fault of Oz when it might actually be the one death that is not the direct result of staff negligence or corruption.

I mean, I guess you could argue that no one being able to catch Mershah in time to prevent his death is an act of negligence, but... Eh. I don't this Said, when he's not blinded by his own emotional investments, would actually consider that to be the case. It's hard to tell if he really is just too close to the situation or if he's intentionally obfuscating the matter to use it further his agenda. It feels a little uncharacteristic of the Said we've come to know, but then again, Said in season 1 carries a lot of pride as well as anger with him from the get go. It's sort of interesting to rewatch these early episodes and remember that the angry Said we get post-s4 was there all along.

Fic Rec: Cmk418 on Dreamwidth has a great fic set in this episode that offers a pretty credible explanation for Said's words in this scene.

Final thoughts here: I did really enjoy the actor (Roger Guenveur Smith) who played Mershah, though. The nervous, sometimes childish way he expresses himself, plus the soft, high pitch of his voice make him a great weasel of a character. I think Smith did a great job of portraying a guy who, at his core, is something of a wimp just trying to fit in (but failing, because he's too willing to kick others down on his scramble to higher ground).

Next in the episode is Groves' arc.

Timeline tidbit: According to "Oz: Behind These Walls: The Journal of Augustus Hill", the fictional journal of Augustus that was published in 2003, 1x01 takes place around April of 1997. That means everything in these 7 episodes so far occurred in the span of 4 months.

I have mixed feelings about Groves's plotline in this episode. Even if I ignore the way time/legal shit gets rushed in this show, there are parts about Groves's storyline here which make it feel sloppy, or at least unfocused. I think my main gripe is that this execution storyline isn't even really about Groves. It's about how "the other side" deals with an execution. Whereas Keane's death felt personal to his story and character arc, this feels random. Groves isn't really a character—never was—he's just a means to an end. Here, it's so the show can investigate the anger and grief of the victim's family and friends.

The other hacks take out their anger on the inmates. This, we know, is adding fuel to the fire that will lead to the riot next episode. But there's this subplot with a hack named Eddie, too, who wants to be on the firing squad for Groves's execution.

Sister: He should be first on the list of guys NOT allowed on the firing squad.

Eddie and Smith's (the officer killed by Groves in his attempt on Glynn's life) mom are made two central parts of the events surrounding Groves's execution. The scene between Groves and Smith's mom was nice, but... why? Her speech to Groves is personal and speaks a lot to her personal beliefs/faith, but we don't know her and we didn't know Smith. We don't even know Groves, really. Was it meant to be impactful for a mother to talk to Groves and forgive him for what he did because he landed in prison for killing his own?

(chasing Tom Fontana down a street) Hey! What does it mean? HEY YO!! WHAT DOES IT MEAN?!

I do like the sequences leading up to Grove's execution though—him leaning out of the window to feel the sun on his face one last time is one of my favorite moments in the show, for real. I don't know, it just really resonates with me personally. And then the whole bit with Mukada not managing to get Groves's last words in time is also a nice touch. Like, so long, Groves! We never really knew you...

After Grove's execution is another bit that I sort of feel mixed about. I think the main thing is that I find all the hacks in the show repugnant, which I think is what you're supposed to feel, by design. Gearing up to the riot, maybe the point during this arc was to get the viewers to feel less on the "side" of the hacks by driving home once more what pieces of shit they all are. So, Eddie sadly drinking his (probably supposed to be) celebratory wine after the execution didn't earn any sympathy from me. But, it was kind of funny to see him realise whoops! Maybe he wasn't as down for murder as he thought!

(Flash forward to Howell getting away with murder but ultimately receiving woman's greatest punishment of all for being a hoe... Unwanted Pregnancy™) (Season 1: When COs had more of a conscience...?)

Then again, I think Eddie is pretty much how most people IRL who talk a big talk about vengeance and "an eye for an eye" would react if they actually had to directly participate in the capital punishment they are so in favor of. So maybe that's that.

Next Up: Cello Boy! Don't care.

Me and Sister spent a lot of this storyline roasting the audio editing. The guy who plays Dobbins, Zuill Bailey, is an actual fucking Grammy-award winning cellist. So WHYYYYYYY did they barely even show him playing the cello in real time, HMM??? Why was there always music that didn't match up being played over his shots?

Quick Thoughts on the rest:

Sister can't get over the fact that the walls of Em City are all clear and yet people keep barging in on each other or trying to have secret meetings anyway. She has a point.

I can't tell if Schillinger is self-aware or not but it'd be interesting if he was. I feel like maybe there's a level of self-awareness to it but he also thinks that his way is the right way (*Augustus Hill voice* the White way) so that sort of plows over everything else.

IRL I feel like Beecher would definitely have gotten moved to another prison lol.

Stray/Final Thoughts:

Sister is finally starting to remember names. She remembered "Tobias Beecher". She did not remember "Kareem Said" (she thought his name was something else but also couldn't remember what it would've been). We had a classmate named Said growing up so I think she keeps forgetting that Said is his last name and the other name she is remembering is just "Kareem".
Sister: "This episode was like a Choose Your Own Adventure where everyone chose the worst option."
What were Schibetta and Said talking about? I can't even remember. The riot? Said's new gun? Hmm... wouldn't it have been interesting if Schibetta was still around during the riot? Wouldn't it have been... Schibetter?
Things I miss from early seasons: Poet's slam poetry
"Narrator acknowledging that he is Augustus Hill in some shape or form" count: 2
Sister was not as sad about Nino dying as I thought she'd be. Perhaps she hasn't realised that he basically dies off screen yet. I don't think she realised Ricardo Alvarez also died off screen. She remembered his storyline when we were discussing last week during opening credits, so I think she still expects that to go somewhere. On a related note, she appears to be warming up to Miguel. She said "That guy with the anti-depressants seems like he'll be a solid side character".
Rebadow got referred to by Sister as "the science teacher" this episode
I told Sister the Italians were called "Wiseguys" and she, with a perfect Bugs Bunny impression, replied, "A wiseguy, eh?"