HBO's Oz is NOT What You Think It is

If you haven't watched Oz, you probably think it's this ultra realistic show about prison life...
And you'd be wrong...

[@kainlives7958]

My favorite tv-series with breaking bad. Great analysis, i love it. Have you seen the short-film “ZO”… it’s canon since Lee Tergesen, Dean Winters & Tom Fontana are involved all in it too. You’ve got a like and two follows mate 🤝

[@RevisedGames]

Great analysis and video! Would you ever consider doing an Oz Iceberg? I actually have one created with many entries!

[@DP-jt6xx]

I remember reading the synopsis of this show and searching for like 20 minutes for what the experiment of the prison was. Thank you for finally confirming that for me.

[@hyperbomb02]

I started watching Oz on its release, always loved this show. The best way i can describe it is its like prison star-trek. There is a congruent story in the background but each episode almost occurs in its own microcosm. As it goes for the speed in the show, i believe the way the story telling works is theyll stick with one character through what is probably a few weeks to months of time and then jump back to what is approximate to present time. To be fair to the showrunners, if they were trying to go for a disorienting view of time, losing track of it while inside this box for months and years, they succeeded. Also the McManus experiment was that he wanted the inmates to live in a community to represent how they would have to live on the outside. From what i remember the rest of the prison didnt need to work jobs or go to class, but in Oz you had to. This breaks down a few times in the show, but it was sort of there. McManus was also a friend with a state Senator, which is why he had considerable influence with everyone except the governor.

[@p0pimp2004]

I think u meant em city but I understand. The problem with this line of thinking is that in society, everyone has the same thing to lose which is their freedom. In em city, the old people had less to lose than the young people and the lifers had little to lose compared to the people who had parole. I always thought that lifers should be together. That way if they kill each other, so TF what. There should be a second for people who behave and there should be a sector for people who misbehave with high security and less free time. This show was good but I couldn't tell if it wanted to use prison as a pretext for the drama they wanted to portray or if it was supposed to be a commentary on the prison system. I struggled knowing when to take the show seriously and when to just sit back and enjoy lol

[@hyperbomb02]

@p0pimp2004 I agree that it's hard to tell when they are delivering a message about the justice system and when Oz was just a vehicle for the story. The purpose behind emcity was always flawed, but McManus was also an idiot who didn't understand the men he was in charge of.

[@p0pimp2004]

@@hyperbomb02 precisely and I'm also struggling to understand if this is the intended effect of McManus' character. Like was he supposed to be naive. It wasn't even just naivete, it was blatant negligence imo. Even if u buy that prisoners are running the kitchen, y would u not have a guard watching them at all times. I worked in a detention center for kids and they absolutely had zero access to certain areas, let alone access by themselves. Then why was there no cameras? I think cams were a thing in the late 90s lol. I'm ok with suspending disbelief but it's difficult to know when to do so. I watched this show as a teen and really had no idea what I was watching. I'm rewatching it now for the first time as an adult, and while I remember a lot of things, the context is completely different as an adult. This show was wilder than I remember 😅

[@hyperbomb02]

@p0pimp2004 the show is absolutely ridiculous, camera wise, i believe there were and there were cameras in the guard room at the entrance to em city. After the riots in S1 they never really showed the room again. Mcmanus was 100% supposed to be an out of touch moron. He was also essentially a sociopath with poor impulse control who constantly took advantage of people, everything he did was a quid pro quo. Basically he was a step away from being an inmate himself. This is why I say the show is prison star trek. It's not realistic, with the exception of the human elements. The people and their interactions are all extremely realistic to me, I think the drama is great and that's what makes Oz great. The prison is just a back drop and a distraction. The prisons unrealistic nature stands in stark contrast to the human element being very realistic.

[@pendafen7405]

@@p0pimp2004 yes, it sometimes was hard to tell what McManus' angle or mentality really was. The way I interpret it is blind idealism and hubris--truly believing he can change people and improve the world with a system that's already broken and filled with flawed characters. Tim is both admirable and deplorable at the same time for standing by his principles, and as we see the human cost ends up being high. I believe Tom Fontana once said in an interview that the character was originally going to share his first name, and that McManus was also inspired by the Wizard of Emerald City in the original Wizard of Oz stories (a ruler who turns out to be a powerless fraud)--food for thought

[@pendafen7405]

6:49 only reason Cyril O'Reily was in Em City and not Psych, was because Ryan cut a deal with McManus to put Cyril with Ryan

[@pendafen7405]

4:25 not Tim catching strays Honestly he and Warden Glynn had so much blood on their hands that they never took accountability for. Probably explains why Tim seemed to develop a soft spot for Ryan by the end, they were both indirectly responsible for so much death

[@cygnustsp]

So many awesome characters in this show. My favorite is O'Reilly, followed by Schillinger.

[@theplebe6342]

O'Reilly is also my favorite character.

[@K37-h1z]

Schillinger and Tobias's final duet dance is the biggest wtf did I just see moment in tv history. I rewound like 11 times. My brain could not process what I was seeing.

[@devilkid292]

IT'S SCHIL-ING-ER AFTER 6 FUCKING SEASONS YOUD THINK YOUD GET IT RIGHT

[@kainlives7958]

Tobias, Ryan, Leo, Burr, & Kareem are definitely without a doubt my top five favorite characters on in OZ

[@kainlives7958]

@@K37-h1zgreat song, characters, and obviously ofc, show

[@opaljk4835]

I feel the same exact way. I was just describing this to my girlfriend. It’s all about the characters. The actors, the relationships, and to the least extent is the overall story. It’s not a bad show, but I feels like they didn’t go In with a long term plan or something. The experiment is the show itself.

[@justis1999]

Perhaps Oz is hell 😳

[@K37-h1z]

Loved oz. I agree with you, the entire "experiencemental prison" thing confused me from the beginning. It was just prison. Either way the last duet scene with schillenger and tobias is one of the greatest things ever filmed

[@jesserivera2043]

Honestly, in my opinion this show feels like the blueprint for the geopolitical drama you would see in Game of Thrones, except most of the characters haven't matured past their elementary school playground rules mentality

[@pendafen7405]

Oz's non-linear Shakespearean surrealism, camp and soapiness is what makes it so compelling for me. I dislike most other HBO dramas that are more realistic, because they don't have that Oz magic. Except Carnivale, which is godtier (sorry, I had to)

[@Tearsoftechnologymusic]

In 89 I got locked up for weed. When I got upstate to the first prison, there was a few people I knew from the county jail and the streets. Sure its big, but got to remember its a small world.

[@devilkid292]

Jail is very different from prison. That sucks btw, the justice system screwed you over some ganja. Fuckin judge was a prag

[@dangitzcory]

Going to prison for weed is crazy 💀

[@mrpuddingpop1]

I’m glad Oz is finally getting its roses. Truly nothing can do for me what Oz is solely capable of. So ethereal and fantastic.

[@mrpuddingpop1]

My favorite part of oz’s roster of duplicate individuals is that even when they are pure poison they shin a light of humanity whether as a moving moment or a gag like two guys trying to wack a third guy whom then has a heart attack before either one can claim him.

[@michaelblaine6494]

And finally I love your delivery and the way you deconstruct things. Well done

[@theplebe6342]

Thank you!

[@michaelblaine6494]

Also at the time I think people understood it was a comic book/cartoon version of prison,or even a grind house movie version. Plus it’s hilarious that they call all drugs “tits”,they never say what drug it is

[@theplebe6342]

I'm pretty sure it's heroin.

[@michaelblaine6494]

This was the first show I got hooked on at 17,there had been nothing like it yet

[@steverambo4692]

Also I’m pretty sure this show took place in New York

[@rent6114]

Yeah they had very 90s/2000s New York slang also

[@bobertmcboberty1385]

it is NYC for the most part they just never come out and say it. they avoided using NYPD cars but you occasionally catch them in the background. majority of the series was filmed in the Chelsea Market building and a warehouse in Bayonne NJ.

[@iainmacdonald6257]

Finally someone said what I’ve been saying since I scarred myself in sixth grade by watching this whole show

[@theplebe6342]

That's a lotta dicks for an 11 year old to be looking at.

[@brianwintersdruveitismvpd4785]

Somebody please tell this host we're watching a fuckin TV show

[@pendafen7405]

Who are the handful of inmates the creator thinks deserved freedom or redemption? Am guessing maybe: Alvarez, Augustus, Poet, Said, Busmalis and Rebadow, Omar, Cyril, Fiona, and Peter Schibetta? At least Jason Cramer who seemed like a decent-ish guy walked free

[@gluehuffer6955]

Just finished Oz, i think you hit the nail on the head! Good stuff

[@pendafen7405]

8:40 Governor Devlin is a scathing parody of 1990s Rudy Giuliani, probably the first mainstream caricature of the man

[@dakotatotten5355]

I believe the show is in California... The guard gets drafted by the Sacramento kings and the miss Sally show & the game show they enjoy have also mentioned being filmed in Pasadena .... Only thing that throws me off is the snow in a few episodes. It's snows in a few places in California but idk by any prison

[@breakingdead9714]

Absolutely loved this show! Beecher was my favorite character, especially Season 2 crazy beecher

[@theplebe6342]

I love crazy Beecher.

[@GordGonzola]

Avon Barksdale started the Riot......

[@pendafen7405]

3:44 it is batshit and beyond unfair that Shirley Bellinger got the chair while Adebisi did not

[@kainlives7958]

Yes, absolutely… Adebisi murdered a cop with no remorse or guilt and is a literal RXPIST too

[@maxpowell3275]

Do you plan on making another movies I hate that everyone else loves video, maybe a disney one?

[@theplebe6342]

I'm sure I will at some point. A Disney version is a good idea.

[@theplebe6342]

Just gotta find enough worth talking about to make a whole video.

[@lizzydakid]

Dude the show is based in New York, in a world where the death penalty is legal here. How tf did you miss that? It’s integral to the whole show.

[@theplebe6342]

@@lizzydakid Yeah how could I miss that haha

[@jasonjenkins8910]

HBO needs to bring it back

[@juniorsoprano7013]

Oz is in NY

[@pendafen7405]

2:40 one of the few persistent points I dislike about Oz is the focus on the Ryan O'Reily character, whom I care about less on every rewatch. Don't get me wrong, Dean Winters is a capable actor and the character Ryan is interesting, but an unremitting sociopath who never gets a single significant comeuppance becomes tiresome to watch and root for after a while. I end up with compassion fatigue watching his arcs, by the final seasons I just want someone to take him out.

[@StVinny1]

Very underrated show

[@DonSeriously-is9lb]

Actually OZ was better show and to me slightly more realistic in the 1st -3 seasons. Then it got wacky in my opinion. Now there might have been a story arc here or there that’s was watchable then I was done when sopranos, wire , etc. oz was done for me…

[@LouieOcean.]

It was a really entertaining show and had some great characters and storylines but also so many stupid story plots like the aging pill and the whole last 2 seasons

[@tmasst07]

Fun trivia. How much banana happened in the show

[@theplebe6342]

Schillinger alone is a got damn banana tree.

[@tmasst07]

@@theplebe6342 no bull! He was handing out bananas like dietician

[@theplebe6342]

@@tmasst07 And he was only doing 8 years for beating up a drug dealer.

[@TwoPaw-Shapurr]

There is so much you have wrong about this show. For starters....... I did 7 years in state prison two and a half of them in a level 6 super Max. The show is extremely realistic. The only thing unrealistic about it...... Is that all the stuff happens all the time. But believe me when I tell you that oz is extremely realistic...... They just cram five years worth the prison, politics and happenings into a shorter period of time. State prison, especially a level 6 supermax, all of that stuff happens. You might have a couple weeks where nothing happens at all...... But every now and then somebody does get banana. Somebody does get killed, people do plot power. Programs do get abused, And yes you do see people you know from the street including your family. Each date has several state prisons...... But more often than not, the populations are only divided by classification of inmate or convict. In Massachusetts, you go to the medium security prison in the area you're from. If you are a high risk, do you go to a higher level prison. There is only one level six in the entire state. Concord State prison is just a classification prison. You only go there while they determine where you're going to go, how much of a threat to you owes, and the nature of your crime. If you are a sex offender or have mental issues, there are really only two state prisons in Massachusetts that you will end up. If you are a gang member, there is only a couple STG status prisons. So yes you are wrong. And that is just one example

[@theplebe6342]

I don't say this very often, but I stand corrected.

[@TwoPaw-Shapurr]

@@theplebe6342 it's all subjective anyways buddy. I love the video..... I have been a fan of Oz since it was on the air. I pride myself in being one of the few people like you who believe Oz was actually the first "epic" show.... Everybody else gives sopranos that title. But we know better 🍻

[@theplebe6342]

Thank you!

[@brianwintersdruveitismvpd4785]

Don't over think it

[@HammondGruyere]

Stop talking so much please

[@dollsteak020]

it’s a video essay talking about a show of course he’s gonna talk dipfuck

[@hoodcollector]

oz is a great show ... in moderation ive seen it back in the day and tried recently to binge watch it like back to back aaaand it just depressed the shit out of me 🤣...😥

[@pendafen7405]

Definitely a pain show, something to watch for catharsis when you're already going through something or depressed