Episode Report Card Couch Baron: A+ | 1 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT Depression On A DVD, Part Two
By Couch Baron | Season 1 | Episode 4 | Aired on 07.27.1997
Cut to McManus's office, where Beecher is begging to be put in protective custody. It warms my heart that even Groves, an introverted psycho, is aware of how easy it is to hoodwink McManus. Yeah, the inmates respect you, Timbo. Timbo tells Beecher that protective custody is only for extreme situations. "Next time you ask for protection, I may say no." Just make sure he's had his Midol and you'll be fine, Beecher.
Beecher gets escorted into his new cell, which of course is right next to Keane's, and calls his name through a vent. I haven't seen Season Two yet, so I don't know exactly when they set up a separate death row here. Keane asks who it is, and Beecher identifies himself. He says he read the trial transcript, and asks why he didn't come forward about being set up. Keane says that if he had been released back into Oz, the Wise Guys would have killed him, and then one of his boys would have avenged him, and the cycle of killings would go on and on. "My death can put an end to that." Life is a mystery. Everyone must stand alone. Keane says he's also afraid if he went back to Em City, he could lose his faith and his soul. "I'm at peace right now, Beecher. Please don't take that from me." I feel you call my name, and it feels like home. Beecher says he's on the side of justice, and he doesn't need Keane's permission to file an appeal on his behalf. You don't need his permission to SHUT UP AND MIND YOUR OWN FUCKING BUSINESS, EITHER. I mean, obviously it's difficult to watch someone make this kind of decision, but Keane doesn't strike me as particularly impulsive, and he's had a lot of time to think this through. Moreover, I think he's right about this being the only way in his power to break the cycle of murders. Of course, there'll probably be another such cycle next week, but they'll be someone else's problem, natch.
But Toby's on his little mission to bring his own life some meaning, and, in the library, he tells Rebadow they have to find the tape of the set-up fight. He orders Rebadow to see if he can get any help from above. Schillinger enters and asks why Beecher went into PC. Beecher says he needed some time alone. That's one's going to fly about as well as a waterlogged chicken. Schillinger asks what he's doing, and Beecher tries to sell that he's working on Ryan's appeal. Schillinger doesn't believe him, and tells the attendant, who looks like he couldn't last a round in a flyweight competition with the Pernicious Peewee, to leave. Schillinger rips out a page and notes that it's about a stay of execution, and I hope Beecher read that one carefully, as he could use one right about now. Schillinger makes him eat the page. Well, I knew he'd be forced to eat those words to Keane, but as usual, the show manages to find ways to literalize everything. "Tom, I think we should try to convey that Alvarez is feeling like shit." "Have I got a scene for you!"