Episode Report Card Couch Baron: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Meeeooow! (Fffft!)
By Couch Baron | Season 3 | Episode 1 | Aired on 07.13.1999
Gym. The "corner" population of Oz is playing a rousing game of Beat The Shit Out Of The New Guy. Ah, TWoP Towers comes to mind once more. Whoops again. I have got to learn not to transcribe my inner monologue. Wangler calls a halt, pulls a bloody and battered Coyle to his feet, and embraces him, as apparently he passed the test. I'd think you'd want to wait to declare that until you're sure the guy isn't going to slice your face up like a surgeon in revenge the first chance he gets, but I'm not from the corner, so what do I know? Some of the brothers drag Coyle ostensibly to the hospital wing, but Wangler stops to tell Nappa that Coyle is "down with us." Whatever, Bricks.
Hill tells us that jailhouse confessions have to be taken with a grain of salt. Thanks for telling us something that McManus didn't already know. Hill says that it's more likely to be a half-truth, and wonders why it's never called a "half-lie." Well, I think that probably has to with with the glass being half OH MY GOD SHUT UP.
Psych ward. It's arts and crafts time, apparently, and given the dim view I have of my own arts and crafts experiences, the setting seems quite fitting. A guy who looks like the creepiest Creepy Jesus yet walks into a cell and pushes the occupant out of view. Adebisi sees this, and gets to his feet. We see that it's Schibetta's cell as Creepiest Jesus smears paint onto Schibetta's face. Schibetta yells, and Adebisi, having reason to believe that something far more sinister is going on, rushes in. He easily tosses Creepiest Jesus aside, and then gently starts pacifying a freaked, crying Schibetta. It's the only instance I've seen on this show in which Adebisi has been purely sympathetic, and it's touching enough that I'm not even going to make a "get your hands off my piece of ass" joke. Oh, would you look at that. Adebisi turns on the sink and starts dabbing away at Schibetta's face as, in voice-over, Pancamo recounts what happened in this scene. Cut to Nappa's cell, where Pancamo finishes up the story. Nappa says he's heard that Adebisi's changed, but he's still skeptical. Pancamo exposits that Adebisi may be getting out of the psych ward soon, and Nappa smiles that that could be useful. Er?
Pete's office. Wow, Adebisi looks different with hair. She tells him that she's releasing him from the ward. He asks if she thinks he's ready, and she tells him that she's been steadily reducing his dosage of Xanax (which was completely her decision, I'm sure) and he hasn't exhibited any violent behavior, so yes, she thinks he is in fact ready. Since we're going through all sorts of prescription drugs in this episode, Pete, perhaps you could find one that would make your hair a little less unfortunate. I think Dr. Eyebrows would even approve it, for general humanitarian reasons. McManus, who apparently has been there the whole time, says the question is whether Adebisi should come back to Em City, and given that he did absolutely nothing wrong in the immediate leadup to his going around the bend, I don't see why not, other than that making a big deal about it makes McManus feel self-important, and look, if you run a sentence on long enough, you can always answer your own question. Adebisi says he would like to come back, but McManus notes that plenty of the people in there have issues with him, and while I will concede that point, I don't think I buy that Adebisi would be safer anywhere else in Oz, so ultimately, I reject McManus's argument. Stop the presses. Adebisi says he'll apologize to everyone he's hurt, starting with McManus. He turns his head toward the camera and says he's sorry, and I don't think I've said enough how good an actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje is -- that look was ambiguous enough to be positively Schillingerian. McManus accepts the apology.