Fandoms I Have Loved 8: Oz
I'll be the first to admit that when it comes to Oz, I know nothing. But when has that ever stopped me before? Roll on with the FIHL, and if I get it wrong, hey, just tell me so.
Oz is a TV show. About a maximum-security prison. That did its damnedest to show prison life the way it really is. And it was written by Tom Fontana. This is all ( Read more... )
Oz is a TV show. About a maximum-security prison. That did its damnedest to show prison life the way it really is. And it was written by Tom Fontana. This is all ( Read more... )
I could gush about other characters, but are we just supposed to keep it to Beecher and Keller here?
No, you're welcome to bring up any characters you want.
I kept the FIHL to B/K because:
1. I am a pervert.
2. I assume, given my recs and all, that most folks who read my LJ are also perverts.
3. They will therefore be most comfortable with porny goodness.
4. And I want them to be comfortable, because the point of a FIHL is to suck in new - meat sounds wrong, and fellow-sufferers is a little too honest, so I'll go with fans. To suck new fans into the fandom in question. Basically, I try to keep things super, super simple, to start people off easy.
So the *FIHL* is limited to just B/K.
But the comments section exists for you to tell me how wrong I am - how I totally misunderstand Beecher, how I fail to appreciate the beauty of a given unmentioned character - Alvarez and O'Reily being two I myself would like to see mentioned - how there's this really excellent story that I inexplicably failed to rec, thus proving I don't know Keller's ass from ff.net, whatever. In other words, the comments section is for other people to say everything I edited out of the FIHL or didn't know in the first place.
So get your gush on, girl. I will read with great pleasure.
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As we know, Fontana can write amazing characters (bastard!).
My favorite regular Oz characters (as regular as Oz characters can be... so people who lasted more than one season, let's say):
Beecher, Keller, and Schillinger: the triangle of neverending pain and suffering has already been covered.
Ryan O'Reily: The craftiest of them all, the lord of the fucking dance. Watching O'Reily plot is like watching a chess master. His strategy is basically, why get my hands dirty when I can have someone else do it (and thus take the heat if it doesn't work out)? He pits people against each other, sits back, and watches as things play out.
In other news, O'Reily's approach to love isn't much better than Keller's. Ryan gets cancer and falls in love with Dr. Gloria Nathan for seeing him through it. He is so in love, he divorces his wife and then has his own brother, Cyril, murder Dr. Nathan's husband, which lands Cyril in Oz for life. She naturally, hates him. But when she is raped and Ryan murders her rapist (one of the few, maybe only? murders he does with his own hands)... she gets confused about what she feels. Oh the angst! And all the while, he has to protect Cyril, who is braindamaged and very childlike, but is not above using Cyril. Watching Ryan scheme is lots o' fun (in a sick way, of course).
Miguel Alvarez: Broke my heart more than any other character. As much as I love Beecher, at some point I stopped holding out much hope for him, Miguel I always had hope for. The thing is, he genuinely tries to better himself and just when you think he has succeeded, it all comes crashing down. He is not as clever as many of the other characters so I think that puts him at a disadvantage. The very last episode of Oz, you can just see Miguel utterly giving up (as he gives himself to another character, Alonzo Torquemada, who got introduced very late in the show and who I would have killed to see more of). Ahhhh, so bleak. *sniffles* *points at icon* *mad Miguel love!*
Kareem Said: I loves me some Said. The actor who plays him is just so INTENSE, you love listening to everything he says. Said is a devout Muslim and political activist who waltzes into Oz intent in overturning the system (this great scheme leads to the riot). Interestingly, in the fourth season, the system does get turned upside down, but it is completely fucked up because Simon Adebisi (Teh Scary! Like Schillinger, Adebisi is one that you love to hate) basically gets to run amok with drugs and sex so long as there is no violence. So Said is not at ALL happy about that and in one of the shockingest things ever on Oz, he kills Adebisi (totally unexpected, Said does not believe in violence, I was so surprised when this happened). I also love Said's interactions with Beecher because no matter how much he disapproves of Beecher's actions, they still have a very strong connection. I think it is the unlikeliest friendship in Oz, but one of the few geniune ones. SAID's FATE IN SEASON 6 IS THE REASON TOM FONTANA IS GOING TO HELL*.
The end.
* He may also be going for what he did to The Box in season 7 Homicide.
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And Miguel Alvarez I've always kind of liked, at least in fic -again, no personal experience - but I always hoped that his downfall was all fic and not canon. I take it is?
Finally, I don't know what happened to Said in Season 6 (or to The Box in Homicide 7). Tell, please? I'll never watch either show, so you're not spoiling me.
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His story lines are complete roller coasters. Up, up, up to nearly achieved redemption and hope then ahhhhhhhhhhhh, all the way back down again. The series ended on a down note for him, but had the show continued, I'm sure eventually he would have followed the old pattern. I like that he really does try to improve himself (and succeeds for moments in time, but nothing is sustained... again with the roller coaster)
Finally, I don't know what happened to Said in Season 6 (or to The Box in Homicide 7). Tell, please? I'll never watch either show, so you're not spoiling me.
Homicide: After the shootout at the end of season 6, they painted the squad room blue and The Box got painted like gray and was not really The Box anymore. I think it might have been split into two interrogation rooms and was dimly lit. It... it just wasn't the same.
Said gets shot and killed in season 6 of Oz for no good reason (and even though Fontana can pull off 'no good reason' murders, this one was crap). It was too stupid a way to kill off such a great character. The guy who killed him was annoying and boring and argh. Why kill Said??!! I took that character death the hardest of all (I already knew going into S6 that Keller was gonna buy it, but I didn't know about Said). I think I'm going to cry. *sniffles*
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As far as I know, it is a mystery that has never been solved.
It used to make me nuts wanting to know!
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