Episode Report Card Aaron: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, he is free at last!
By Aaron | Season 6 | Episode 3 | Aired on 01.18.2003
Redding's final meeting of the week comes in the common area, where he finds Poet reciting a new masterpiece that actually rhymes "tomorrow" with "Mt. Kilimanjaro." Heh. ["You can be a king or a street sweeper, but everyone dances with the Grim Reaper." -- Robert Alton Harris (gas chamber, April 21, 1992)] In spite (or perhaps because) of the fact that he's wearing a denim shirt and leather suspenders, no one really seems all that excited about the news that they'll be starting their new careers as phone reps at 9:00 AM the next morning. There is a pudding pop mention, however, and that's good enough for me.
My old pal the Ironic Segue Fairy suddenly finds himself in Oz (Prisoner # 03F-2273. Assault with a deadly anvil. Sentence: Five episodes. Up for parole in three), where he immediately decides to compare and contrast leadership styles by cutting us from Crackhead Cosby to a nattily-dressed and well-mannered Kareem Said, discussing the publications of Augustus Hill's gratuitous merchandising opportunity with a couple of random businessmen. In a twist that no one even remotely familiar with AOL Time Warner's marketing department could ever actually believe, these guys are claiming that there are too many legal obstacles to be overcome before the book can be published, and therefore they've decided to pass. Said cranks the Glare-o-Meter up to level seven (which roughly approximates "simmering disdain for 'The Man'") as he angrily rejects their refusals, and promises to make publishing the book worth their while by lowering their printing costs.
Dammit! So close. We were so. Fucking. Close. Fifty-seven minutes with no McManus, and then they've got to go and spoil it with only two scenes to go. Now that's just rude. At least he only gets three lines. And one of them is even a slam on AOL Time Warner! I guess I can live with that. Said has gone to Warden Leo and asked for permission to set up a printing press right there in Oz, so that he can start his own company to publish Augustus's cheap promotional tie-in. He offers to pay all the start-up costs out of his own pocket, and even promises to pay his workers minimum wage so as not to emulate those capitalist bourgeois running-dog lackeys who manage all the call centers. Leo likes the idea enough to sign off on it right away, and McManus then adds, "You know, if we keep developing our own industries, Oz is gonna end up on the cover of 'Fortune 500.'" Hee! They can't even get the name of the magazine right, and it's published by their very own corporate masters! Was that just a slip, or are the writers as annoyed with the forced product placement as I am?