vanillalime

This was a GREAT episode, aided significantly by the heavy emphasis on Beecher, who finally decides he's fucking had enough. Woot! My only quibble was the overall flow of the episode—it seemed disjointed, and the tone of the first half seemed different than that of the second half. It's hard to explain, but it was almost like I'd watched two separate episodes. (Still, two really GREAT episodes.)

— OMG, Kenny punched Rebadow! Reason # 824 to hate him.

— Proposing a senior citizen cell block? I don't remember that. That's... actually kind of a good idea. (Note that Tim McManus is NOT the one who came up with it.)

— Gee, Tim, do you know why Gloria might think you're an asshole? I do.

— Although... I kind of like seeing Tim losing control here, getting all physical with Kenny. Something tells me that Tim could really use a visit from his best friend from Attica right now.

— Look at Kenny's boots. They look brand new to me. Look how clean their soles are! I guess he wears them down pretty quick, as that unfortunate French guy will come to find out.

— Whoa, Ernie Hudson is looking kind of hot in this scene. Mmm-hmm.

— So of course the senior citizen cell block idea gets shot down. Of course.

— Aww, Groves is all worried about his good buddy Rebadow.

— Father Mukada *wants* to be the one to deliver the bad news to Miguel about his grandfather? Interesting. Sounds to me like he's just looking for an excuse to spend more time with him. :D

— Ooof, a quick shot of drag!Toby walking through the commons. I don't remember this. At least his hair is back to its normal coloring here.

— Ughhhh, this balloon trick in the Talent Show is so gross. Is that guy really doing that, or is it special effects? Forget it, I don't want to know.

— Annnnnd here we are with Torch Song Toby. I don't think I want to talk about this scene, except to relay one of my OzFunFacts: Lee was originally supposed to sing "Over the Rainbow" here, but Fontana couldn't get the rights to the song. So they ended up using "I've Got It Bad" instead. (I learned this during an interview JK Simmons gave a few years ago.)

— Also: I'd like to point out that although Toby's singing sounds awful, we all know Lee can sing (see: the Variety episode). I wonder how difficult it is for a good singer to intentionally sing badly.

— Also: it's interesting to watch specific reactions from certain inmates here. It's noteworthy how Ryan looks away and doesn't watch Toby's performance, out of sympathy/second-hand embarrassment. Groves is absolutely enthralled. And Sister Pete acts all confused and surprised, like this is her first clue that Toby's life is a living hell. Vern is hard to read here, it's almost like he's thinking, "Maybe I've gone too far," although I don't think that's right. Mabye he's as disgusted as everyone else? Maybe he's disappointed that Toby is high/not suffering enough? I don't know, I can't quite figure it out.

— Okay, I guess I needed to talk about that scene after all.

— And now it's time for my Sister Pete rant: It is OBVIOUS that Toby is not equipped with the survival skills necessary for life in Oz. It is OBVIOUS to everyone at this point that Toby is in an extremely abusive relationship with Vern—sexually, physically, emotionally, you name it. It is OBVIOUS that his drug problem is connected to this and OBVIOUSLY the guilt trip that he was supposed to get from his mother didn't work, and in fact made his drug problem WORSE. So what is Sister Pete's proposed solution? THAT TOBY NEEDS TO FEEL WORSE THAN HE ALREADY DOES. Specifically, he needs to FEEL GUILTIER than he already does. So she drags poor Kathy Rockwell's mother to Oz to have her confront Toby, reminding him what an AWFUL PERSON he is for KILLING her daughter and being an ALCHOHOLIC who's LOST HIS WIFE and HIS KIDS. How in the FUCK is that supposed to make Toby want to stop taking drugs? What a horrible, terrible idea this is! Psychologist, my ass! Where'd she graduate from, a correspondence school?* I liked Sister Pete back when she was kicking pro-death penalty marchers in the balls, but my view of her was forever tainted by this STUPID, STUPID plan of hers.
(*shout-out to Mircle on 34th Street)

— *deep breath*

— This reflective/split screen between Toby and Kathy Rockwell's mother is really well done and very effective.

— Interesting to get some insight on what Toby was like before the accident—how he hated himself so he drank, then he hated himself even more because he drank, etc. It's nice to get background information like that to use to try and understand him better, especially for fic-writing purposes.

— "I don't want to hate me anymore." :((((

— "Hmm, maybe having him meet Kathy Rockwell's mother wasn't such a great idea." YOU WOULD BE RIGHT

oz 1.6 rebadow bricks.png

— Vern considers Scott Ross to be the "new kid in town"? I always wondered about this—was Vern planning on turning Ross into his next prag? Ross seemed like Vern's established equal to me, so that never really made sense.

— Toby goes to O'Reily for help ('cos they're buds!), and Ryan suggests taking PCP? That is The Great O'Reily's solution to the problem? "Sorry dude, I can't prevent them from killing you, but take this and it won't hurt so much"? Pffft.

— Fly away Toby, FLY!

— LOVE how the inmates start chanting, "Bee-cher! Bee-cher!" Hee! Who's the bitch now, Vern, huh?

— The stuff of Keller's BDSM fantasies. Or maybe mine.

— Oh, NOW Tim says he'll put Toby in protective custody? Really? Too little, too late, dontcha think?

— I kind of like Nino and Ryan together. I wish their partnership had been genuine.

— Yum, ground glass. It's what's for dinner.

— Love this casual, easy flirtation between Ryan and Sister Pete. I wonder how things would've been different for Pete if she'd developed a crush on him instead of Keller.

— Jackson Vahue. His story. Boring. Sorry.

— Poet! Where in the world of Oz have you been?

— Huseni Mershah's given name was James Monroe Madison? I like that! I guess his parents were American history buffs.

— I can't believe Mershah didn't have the foresight to realize that leaving Said to die might possibly not work out so well in the long run. *eyeroll*

In Conclusion:
Episode Rating: 9/10 (lots of awesome Toby-ness, but the pacing was a little odd)
Lee Rating: 10/10
Lee's Hair Rating: 5/10 (don't worry, it gets better)