Episode Report Card Couch Baron: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Blood And Guts
By Couch Baron | Season 1 | Episode 7 | Aired on 08.17.1997
Schibetta and Ryan are playing pinochle when Ryan tells him to check his nose. We see Schibetta's face, and blood is pouring out of his nostrils. He stands in horror, and blood starts streaming out of his ears as well. Soon, there's blood everywhere. And here I was, thinking I wouldn't vomit while watching this episode. Once again: Thanks, Tom!
Adebisi and Ryan go see Said in the library and ask if he heard about Schibetta. Said says that he was hemorrhaging throughout his body, and sneers that he wonders what caused it. Something called "Rydebisitis," I'm guessing. Said asks if he'll recover, and Ryan says Gloria thinks it's possible, but for now they're in charge of his operation, so if Said has any business...the "wink-wink" couldn't be more audible if the Foley guys had dubbed it in. Adebisi takes off Said's watch, which I'm taking as a shout-out to my powers of observation, as Said denies having any business with Schibetta. After some threats back and forth, Said leaves. Ryan teases Adebisi, and the two skip out of the room arm-in-arm. Well, that's how I thought it was going to play, anyway.
Ryan takes Schibetta, whose throat is bandaged and who appears unable to talk, his food in the infirmary. Ryan pets Schibetta's hair and asks him if he remembers calling him a stupid mick bastard. "I ain't so stupid now, am I?" He shovels food into Schibetta's mouth, which is grosser than all the blood and spit. Can I get through the last five minutes without my stomach turning?
Hill talks about "big bad events" and the effect they have on people, as we see several flashbacks around him, the most notable being a huge projection of Beecher's ass as he got branded. I hope Lee Tergesen got ass royalties for this show. We get a blue-tinted full-screen flashback to Beecher taking out Schillinger's eye, and then to his violent PCP trip in the hole. Then, in the present, Beecher takes his piss pail and smashes his glasses with it. Finally!
Schillinger, sporting an eye patch, tells McManus that Beecher turned him into Jolly Roger, only he's not feeling too jolly. McManus says he's told there's still a chance Schillinger's eye can be saved. He goes on that Beecher will get out of the Hole soon, and he can't have them both in Em City. Schillinger suggests Beecher go to Gen Pop, what with Beecher having given him a new form of "glass eye," but McManus isn't so easily swayed. Schillinger sneers that McManus and Beecher are the same guy. Schillinger, I know you hate Beecher, but let's not get carried away here. He goes on that seeing with one eye has given him a new perspective. "You eggheads think the world really is the way you see it. And then when you finally figure out that it's not, that you weren't even close, you get a little bitter. You get mean." Hee. McManus, unimpressed, sends Schillinger to Gen Pop. Dude, if there's one thing we've learned this season, it's that questioning McManus's worldview leads to a loss of privileges. I guess you could say he just banned Schillinger.