wawamouse | Oz Rewatch 3: S2E06: Strange Bedfellows

Originally posted to Tumblr
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Happy Chinese New Year/Lunar New Year! Haha, Sister and I watched a movie and ate hotpot and then for “dessert”, watched Oz. There was a lot of action in this episode. In the words of Sister, “Two guys got dethroned, another guy learned that boys can love boys, and LL Cool J was there too for some reason”. I don't really have too much to say about this episode. All things considered, it's an fun watch! Well, "fun" probably isn't the right word to use, but I didn't feel that much frustration with anything that happens here. There were less short story beats this episode and more longer stories, which is nice when the stories are actually intriguing (GILES...).

Storylines

Said continues to help Schillinger with his case; Diane and McManus are deposed by Said, during which they both lie. Afterwards, Said steps off the case
Mini: Adebisi and Bellinger communicate through notes
Peter Schibetta recovers from his poisoning and tries to get revenge, failing notably
El Norte starts to waver under Miguel’s hesitance to go to war; El Cid arrives
Jiggy Walker arrives at Em City, spinning tall tales; having abandoned Schillinger, Said adopts his fourth project for season 2 (which also ends in failure lol)
Giles -_- (he gets some toothpaste, and we can finally say we’ve seen the last of him for a bit)
Cyril O’Reily is caught for the murder of Preston Nathan
Beecher realises he’s in love with Keller; they kiss; Beecher’s alcoholism relapses

Sister: She’s been hanging out with the Sopranos too much!
Me: ???
Sister: [shrugging] I saw a clip...

Sister: And that’s your favorite? The guy who gets punched and wants to go to war with everyone and looks like the chihuahua from Lady and the Tramp?
Me: 😭 He's funny...

Sister: Shannon!!! [proceeds to talk for 5 minutes about how O'Reily doesn't deserve Shannon]

Sister: Hmm… what would you change a swastika into? A cross with a little box around it?
Me: Like a window?

Sister: I’m surprised he’s such an educated guy and yet doesn’t know the ways of the Greek…? I thought lawyer people loved the Classics… Has he never read The Symposium?

Me: Is that what you were thinking about?!
Sister: I MEAN... I was thinking something a little more decorative… Maybe like a little windmill or something.

Sister: EEEE! What did he say?!
Me: He said it’s so cute.
Sister: What did he say?!
Me: He said it’s so cute.

Sister: Hm. He shaved off his face-defining facial hair. Hm.

Stray Thoughts:

Sister (once again failing to realize a Schibetta is basically out of the picture): … Maybe Little Nino and Miguel work together now that they’ve both been dethroned?
Peter asking Burrano not to tell Nino about his rape is always so sad to me. It's interesting, though, that Nino's influence continues on for so long in the show. I seem to recall in later seasons when Pancamo is in the hospital, he also apologises to Nino in his delirium, presumably for failing to protect Peter in Oz.
It’s so disappointing that Jiggy Walker turns out to be lying lol… you want to see Devlin go down soooo bad, and then he doesn’t.
Giles time weirdness: they make it seem like Giles has been insane in solitary for years, but then it turns out he had the cell next to Augustus Hill’s in Unit B before Emerald City opened, which means Giles has been in Solitary for at most 3 years. Or maybe I'm misremembering something.
Dr Prestopnik is so funny. I wish we got more of him throughout the show.

I really like the floating bunk bed set pieces from Hill's monologues this episode
They do an interesting "freeze frame" kind of thing with the crime flashbacks this episode where the actors freeze and the camera moves through the scene. I feel like this is new and that they don't really do it again in later episodes, but I'll have to pay attention in the future and see. There are also not really "crime flashbacks" in this episode so much as there are "crime intros".
Sister: They keep throwing moral lessons at Said like he’s in a children’s show…. This episode it was “Oh, don’t trust gossip without proof; you’ll get egg on your face!”, and before that, it was “sometimes you’re going to help someone and they’re still going to do drugs” and before that, “some battles you just can’t win; you gotta know the law to use the law”. And then before that it was “sometimes you just gotta take your blood pressure medication”....

Final Thoughts:

Sister: Oh NO… They (Beecher and Keller) still have to do their Liar Reveal scene!!! [rolls around in despair]

Me: Any thoughts on Miguel this episode?
Sister: -_-
Me: ...What could he have done to avoid this fate?
Sister: [cackling] Well, the first mistake he made was that he didn’t have a plan. He should’ve given the other guys an outline for his criteria on what a worthy cause for going to war was, because his problem is basically that he isn’t really explaining why he won’t go to war, and that's hurting the other guy's (Chico's) feelings. So he needs to get a bullet point list or something to hand out and make sure they’re all on the same page. And then he needs to get a spray tan.
Me: ???
Sister: Because that guy said he was too white.