First off, my sincere props to all the posters who have been patient as they awaited this tardy recap. I did mighty battle with the flu and lost. Oh, how I lost. Here, now, is the recap, brought to you by the nighttime-sniffling-sneezing-coughing-aching-stuffy-head-fever-so-you-can-recap-medicine.
Opening credits. Fade up on Hill, who intones from a Plexiglas cell that in Oz, the inmates pretty much know their daily routines and such, i.e., when they are going to eat, sleep, play dodge ball and exchange smack for French cigarettes or sexual favors. He then prattles about watching TV, thus, beginning the slow, agonizing pain of his blathering prologue driving the point of the episode into my skull. For those people in the world who are less fortunate, and don't even have TV, much less cable, I would like to tell you, it's okay. It really is. Thanks, Hill. Now take a nap. You're very, very tired.
Opening scene. The prisoners are watching -- yes, they are watching TV. Who knew? The entertainment in question would be a game show called Up Your Ante, in which Eartha Kitt is the "celebrity" guest. If by celebrity, I mean annoying and ancient…and I do. The first question pertains to what the growth of pubic hair-like patch on a man's upper lip and chin is called. I start to shout out, my brother! It's my brother's chin! Then I realize this isn't a real game show and I won't actually win any money. My life sucks, dude. Eartha's hint is that it can also be called a "Rob Petrie." Of course, none of the Ozlings know who Rob Petrie is, except for Tobias "I love my dead, dismembered son" Beecher, who explains to Chucky "Stop bustin' my stones" Pancamo that "goatee" is the correct answer. Van Dyke, is, indeed, correct. Poet tells them all to stow it. Okay, sidebar. Aren't they all wearing headphones? How do they watch TV, with headphones, which more than likely supply them with individual volume control, and yet they manage to carry on random conversations with each other? I ponder this, furrowing my fevered brow only to have the hacks shut off the TV, thus ending everyone's good, clean fun while Hill VOs from his cage (which is, frighteningly, very much like the semi-cubicle, desk-like thing that I sit behind five days a week while staring out of a fifth-floor window, wondering what it would be like to throw myself out of it, thus escaping corporate hell. But I figure I held out for a more apropos way of annihilating myself by attempting to recap while seeing double. And a lot of pretty colors too, now that I think about it. I'll just have another swig of Nyquil) that "TV -- keeps us busy -- keeps us happy." And we see that need for TV happiness by the raised objections from the inmates as they are torn from their game show and are then forced to find something else to do.
And we're in the office of one Leo "I think I did it a" Glynn's office. Leo is entering, followed by Ally Sheedy (whose name is Lisa, but I doubt I'll refer to her by that name. Ever) sporting her trademark short hair and an equally unflattering suit. She explains to Glynn, and those of us playing at home, that she's a segment producer, and the show is divided into four ten-minute stories. She also makes mention of one Jack Eldridge, who is the star of said show. Cut to brief black-and-white glimpse of the artist formerly known as Robin Colcord, a.k.a. Jack Eldridge ["a.k.a. Mr. Racine" -- Sars], wincing, before we cut back to Glynn stating that he "likes" Eldridge because he's a "ball-buster." Ally continues to perk that they want to film a three-part series on Oz. Glynn, who is now seated at his desk, regards her calmly and says, "No." Sheedy, flashing her best prom-girl smile, asks, "What do you have to hide?" After pondering whether he should get into the whole thing about executions, attempted assassinations, and, well, pretty much his fear about the entire reign of Querns ever peeking out from underneath the large rug of denial they both stepped over as they walked through the office, he decides against it and goes with the folded-hands-position of disapproval and how he'd "like to distance [himself] from any sort of negative publicity." It apparently has been four years since the riots in Oz. Sheedy gets all smug and tells Glynn she's already obtained permission from the commissioner. Just as Glynn reaches for the phone to call Governor Gremlin, Ally stops him in his tracks with the cold hard fact that she already got the green light from Gremlin. Glynn cleverly disguises his disgust by slamming down the phone disgustedly. Glynn: "If you already knew it was a done deal, why did you even ask me?" Ally: "To get your honest reaction."
And we're in the all-purpose library/staff meeting room. Lisa/Ally schools the seated staff on what the crew will be doing and what they all can expect. They plan to start with cameras following a new prisoner around while he learns the system and absorbs the fact that he will never see the light of day again. Never smell the salty air of freedom. Never know again know a loved one's touch…you get the picture. Then, they'll grand finale it all with Jack Eldridge spending the night in a cell with one lucky prisoner. McManus looks up, repeating weakly, "Spending the night?" While he glazes over, lost in his own homoerotic fantasy, Glynn alternates putting his hands to his eyes and resting them on the table to convey displeasure and discomfort with the whole thing. LoPresti, who should have been fired a loooong time ago for banging Bellinger on death row, asks excitedly when Eldridge will arrive. He'll need to be properly gelled and coifed in order to look his best for the cameras so he can be discovered and become famous, people! Oh, hi Claire! Nice to see you still looking like a venomous toad, while carrying the weight of the world on your shock of feathered bangs. Ally drones on, explaining that their goal is not to make them all look bad (they do a fine job of that themselves), but to kick 60 Minutes in the ass. Yeah, Morley is just shaking in his orthopedics, yo.
Cut to Glynn explaining to the inmates en masse what will happen if they dish the dirt to the camera. He'll kick some imprisoned booty, is what will happen. Lights out. We see Morales nestled, all snug in his bed, while visions of contrivance rain upon us like lead. He seems to believe he mustn't let his matinee-idol good looks go to waste. Cut to Said, who tells Arif that he plans to talk to the crew about Adebisi, and the treatment they received in Oz as a result of piss-poor management. Arif pouts that they will make the Muslims look bad, because, let's face it, the world is out to get all Muslims, especially ones named Arif, and that will be the entire focus for the camera crew, Ally, and Robin Colcord, who IS…Jack Eldridge, folks. Said says he's not afraid. Said wants them to bring it on.
The O'Reily mod-pod. Ryan brushes his teeth while telling Cyril to avoid the cameras at all costs. He reminds Cyril that Eldridge fucked them over. Eh? Toledo dispatches the plot while I reheat my Hot Pocket and drain the last of the Nyquil from my beer stein.
We are introduced to the new Johnny on the cell block, Omar White, who killed a woman and a child -- murder in the first degree. Ally walks by Omar, and he checks her out while showing us all what rolled-up sleeves can do for an orange jumpsuit. Ally reminds Omar that he will be serving seventy-five years in the pokey for double homicide. He stupidly agrees with her when she says the mistake he made was killing the child too. Oh yeah, she's good. She gets the birds to sing in their cages. But, does she know why?
Officer Murphy explains to the cameras that Emerald City was started by McManus, and it allows the prisoners to have much more leeway than the average prisoner. Just then, Hoyt offers a glimpse of his goods as he shakes it for the camera, and I give thanks to whoever hired the HBO fluffer. Ally's not impressed. First up for interviews is Beecher. Ally asks him to describe what it's like to go from a prominent family to Oswald resident. He plays coy, but she cuts to the chase by reminding him that he once defecated on a prisoner's face, then asks him about the nature of his relationship with Keller. Beecher deadpans that they sing in the choir together.
up, Keller. She asks him if there are a lot of drugs in Oz. Keller pantomimes adding numbers in the air, then says, "I dunno." Sheedy: "Okay, how about sex?" Keller: "Is that an invitation?" Ally makes with the guffaw and scrunches her face. He asks innocently if by sex, she means deep-rooted love or ass-fucking. She confirms that ass-fucking is indeed what she is asking about. Keller snerks, "Shit happens." Heh. Ally doesn't even bat a squinty eye as she returns with the question of whether he has either given or received. He asks why he would tell her one way or the other; she then asks about Beecher. The expression of shutting down slides across his face when he says they just sing in the choir together. What? They rehearsed this?
We cut to Busmalis and Rebadow as Busmalis admits he's nervous in front of the cameras. Enter Ally, who launches into questions about Beecher and Schillinger. Busmalis flips out and tells her to get the fuck out of his face. Rebadow smirks.
Beecher lies in his cot as Keller enters and threatens him about talking to the cameras about their relationship. Keller reaches out to stroke his arm, and Beecher tells him to get the fuck out. See the theme here? Everyone is telling everyone else to get the fuck out. There's your story, Lois Lane. Write it up. We hear the call for shakedown. We see the shakedown. They shake someone down.
We cut to "group." Keller says he takes drugs because he knows they're destructive. Beecher accuses him of being a poser for the cameras. O'Reily tells Beecher he's ruining it for everyone. They quarrel. Beecher insinuates to Ryan that he and Keller are only friends since Adebisi's death. More quarreling. Sister Pete tells the cameraman to turn the camera off, because it wouldn't be right if they didn't either cover the cameras with their hands or yell for them to shut down. Ally clutches her clipboard to her chest.
Sister Pete's interview. She offers her sage wisdom to Ally as they deconstruct the dysfunction that is Beecher and Keller. Ally asks Pete if she's ever been harassed or sexually threatened by an inmate. Sister gulps and swallows a few times around the word "no" before finally choking it out with no credibility at. All.
Laundry room. Ryan and Keller. I enter in a lacy…oh. Hi. So, Ryan and Keller are in the laundry room. Ryan saunters in with a purpose. "What are we going to do about Beecher?" Keller smarms, "Do?" "That fucker's gonna go public about us killing Shemin and Brown." Keller reassures Ryan that it's just Beecher's way of letting Keller know that he still loves him. Ryan: "You know…the two of you are so fucked up, man." Um. Word. Ryan starts to leave in a huff; Keller grabs his arm to stop him and pauses for dramatic, bad-ass impact. "Don't you hurt Beecher, man. You hurt him, I'll hurt you." Ryan looks at him and twitches, "Don't make threats, K-man…might put me in a bad fuckin' mood." You go, Ryan. And grab his arm all you want, you magnificent bastard (tm Djb).
Unit B. Schillinger and his cellmate (who's name I just. Can't. Retain.) discuss the "virtues" of women, and how Ally possesses said "virtue." And I can't help thinking of Sars's latest Tomato Nation entry, where she speaks of this very virtue and how men have no problem demeaning women for it. I'll not climb upon my soapbox, though, because it's Schillinger, and it's HBO -- but y'all should go read it when you get a chance. It's damn good. ["Hey, thanks." -- Sars] Okay, where was I? Oh yes, interview with Schillinger. After establishing that he is, indeed, a white supremacist, he oils that he's no monster. He's a widower, he's a father (not anymore, Vernie) who has lost a son (two, actually), and going to be a grandpa. Does that sound evil? Well, no, but your voice does. Ally asks him about his son Hank being accused of kidnapping Beecher's two children and then killing Beecher's son and how daddy dearest orchestrated the whole crime. She then poses the question of whether Vern finds that to be evil. Vern pauses, tilts his head, then covers the camera so all we see is, well, nothing. We do hear, "Lady, you don't wanna be having opinions about things you don't understand." She shoots, "If I didn't know you were such a fine, upstanding citizen, I'd think that was a threat." Now, didn't he just warn her about having thoughts and opinions? Sheesh! Schillinger gets heckled by a black inmate, fling flah fladda doo whap.
Cut to establishing scene, where we see that Omar White is not only going to Em City, but is the lucky winner of one camera crew following him while he seeks out his new digs. He goes into Hill's pod. Poor Hill. He always gets the weird ones. White introduces Hill to his ignorance right away by asking him if he's "cripple or something?" Then he asks him if he has any drugs. White's gonna go crazy without drugs. Hill doesn't have any drugs. Lights out.
We see Glynn and McManus, drinking. Hey! Great! I'll join you! Sure, I've got a head start since I've been drinking Nyquil since the beginning of this recapping odyssey, but I've got some week-old Merlot. Bottoms up! Murphy enters to report, "We have minor upset in Em City and a big fight in Unit B." He tells them that the camera crew is focusing on Schillinger.
Hill. Something about TV and channel surfing. I think he's trying to convey how the media manipulates? I can't be sure. The anvil really hurt when it landed on my face, and I'm a little dizzy. Let me just take another sip of Merlot.
Okay. It's time for count. Everyone exits their cell. Ryan comes out, zipping his pants, and focuses on White, who is just below him. Cut to White begging any Tom, Dick, or Harry for tits. Ryan, of course skulking nearby, emerges and feigns sympathy while cooing about how the hacks are keeping the drugs out of Oz. White starts to whine and moan. Ryan gives him a tit to calm him. See what he did there? He created the urgency? And supplied? He'll make a fine salesman in ten to fourteen years. White establishes that he won't give Ryan head. Nice to see an inmate with standards. Ryan says he just wants White to do some business for him. When the time is right, of course.
Poet in the hole, naked, rhyming about Adebisi. It starts off with Hypocrisy. Hip-hop-crasy. I can't help but think of Mike Myers in So, I Married an Axe Murderer and the scene where he does the spoken-word poem, "Woman! Whoa Man! Whoooooooooa MAN!" Poet: "They've took my rights and self-respect. They the ones a thousand times that let Adebisi run wild." Ally surmises that he's saying it's a cover-up. Poet hands Ally a cookie and goes on to confirm that, yes, the warden knew, and Murphy interrupts to tell Poet to stow it. Ha! See what I did there? I rhymed? Poet? Poet…tells…poems? [crickets chirping] Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit amphetamines. Anyway, Murphy says, "That's enough!" Poet: "Ya see? Ya see?" Ally asks if there is evidence to prove this alleged cover-up. Poet tells her about the videotape of Adebisi, starring in his home version of When Hairy Met Sally. Murphy ushers Sheedy out of the hole while the camera moves up to show us Poet's ass. Cut to Ally on the phone: "Jack, I found our story, I'm not sure about the details but there's something screwy surrounding the death of an inmate. [pause] The sooner you get here, the better." She hangs up and turns to Murphy, saying that she'd like to go back and interview some of the prisoners…without him present. He says no way, not gonna happen. She just perks, "Don't worry! I'll get permission."
we see Ally with Ryan while Glynn and McManus stand outside, wringing their hands and wondering why oh why Lois Lane just won't let it go. Glynn tells McManus that Murphy told him he thinks it has to do with Adebisi's death. Wow, good work, Scoob! McManus, confused: "But, O'Reily wasn't involved with that." Which sends us to…
The O'Reily pod. Ryan's doing push-ups while Cyril sits on the floor, legs splayed in front of him, and five-year-olds that he misses his mama. Cyril is doing that nervous/anxious foot-shaking thing that conveys, if the note my cat just handed is me correct, that he's on the verge of some kind of breakdown or fit of rage. Ryan says he misses her too. Cyril asks why she had to die. Ryan: "I've told you a thousand times, Cyril. The cancer ate her up." Way to be a soother, Ryan. It's okay, though; I still love you. Passionately. Ryan spies with his beautiful eyes White, lurking outside the pod. He tells Cyril to go watch Miss Sally. Cyril follows Ryan's gaze and sees White lurking outside. He looks sort of disappointed, but agrees and gets up. I know I tend to make fun of Cyril because I usually don't buy the baby-talk way Scott Winters plays the role, but that was a good scene. I felt for him. Now if I can just avoid Djb's calls so he can't disown me. I'm NOT a sell-out!
Enter Sniffy McNosecandy to acquire more tits from Ryan. Ryan basically tells him that tits don't grow on trees, and since the array of possible jokes is just endless here, I'll keep the recap moving and let you kids amuse yourselves at home. Ryan starts with the set-up du jour and winces that before White got there, they had tits "coming out of [their] fucking asses." Ryan says when Adebisi ran the operation, the well never ran dry. White: "What happened?" "He got shanked, but that's not the point." Ryan tells him that the brothers, i.e. the African-American population of Em City, need a leader since Poet is doing a half-assed job. White considers this while thoughtfully munching the carrot he plucked out of the thin air above his head when all of a sudden, a light bulb, dim as it may be, goes on: "Hey, I used to run my block." Ryan reaches under his roll of toilet paper for some smack and hands it to his newfound friend. As Sniffy inhales, Ryan lowers the boom: "To get attention around this joint, you gotta do something large…Adebisi was large and in charge, feared by one and all." White offers eagerly, "I want that. I want them to fear me." Ryan tells White he's gotta kill somebody, but not just anybody -- somebody famous.
Cue the entrance of Jack Eldridge, who enters the lobby of Oswald, only to be stopped by the metal detector and the moron guard who has no idea who he is. As Eldridge de-metals, Lisa/Sheedy, who's standing there but hasn't been paying attention, comes to and asks Murphy to get Eldridge in. The guard is all, "Why didn't you say so? I'm a big fan." Heh. Cut to Ally bringing Ryan into the basketball area. They've set up tables and chairs for the interviews, and she introduces Ryan to Jack. Ryan coolly tells Jack that they've met. Eldridge is drawing a blank. Ryan helps: "About twenty years ago?" Still nothing. Eldridge asks what the circumstances were. Ryan just says, "It's not important." Ally asks if Ryan is comfortable, and they begin. JE: "Where were you when Adebisi died?" RO: "In the common room." JE: "Any clue as to what was going to happen to him?" RO: "Nah, as far as I could see, Adebisi and Said were getting along just fine." JE: "Let me get this straight, you were in the common room doing nothing and…" RO: "I heard this noise from Adebisi's pod, he had these white curtains and they just went red, blood was everywhere. Adebisi falls out and down on the ground dead, and Said comes out with the shank still in his hand." JE: "Any idea what lead to the fight?" RO: "No." JE: "You tell me there were curtains in Adebisi's pod? Is that unusual?" RO: "Yes." JE: "Was Adebisi privileged? Was he allowed to get away with things the rest of you weren't?" Ryan pauses and tells him to hold on a sec, then turns to Ally and wants her to kill the cameras. She leans down and asks, "What's the problem?" He doesn't want to answer the question because the warden will get his ass. Naturally, he's looking for compensation. Jack tells him to get the fuck out. Ryan gets up with a sinister "nice to see you again," and saunters out. Eldridge whips around on a poor production assistant and yells, "Find out where the fuck I know him from!" He figures twenty years ago he must have done a story. Good sleuthing there, Robin.
And we're with Said and Jack. Eldridge starts with the empty kiss-ass comments about admiring Said. He slips when he says, "I've read both your books." Said smiles and corrects him, "Actually, there were three." Ally, who wants to smack her forehead for not reminding Eldridge to read the bio on Said, tells them to begin the interview. Jack does the thing he's done so far before every interview, which is to clear his throat. Noisily. It really grosses me out. These interviews are a pain in the ass to transcribe verbatim, so I'm going to give you the gist on this one. Jack basically says that Said murdered Adebisi, which Said denies, stating that he befriended Adebisi and was attacked. Then Said tries to talk about the conditions in Oz, but Jack won't let it go, asking if the attack Adebisi made on Said was unprovoked. Said admits that he did motivate it, but he is Muslim and didn't agree with his conduct. The whole interview becomes heated on Said's part and dogged on Jack's. Jack finally asks the big question of why Said moved in with Adebisi if he hated him. Said says he did not hate Adebisi; he wanted to help him. What about the video? Said attempts to change the subject, to no avail. Said gets up to leave. Ally perks that they're only trying to get the facts. Said says, "That part is over. Adebisi is irrelevant!" Jack tells him, "Nothing about death is irrelevant. You want to talk to us, fine, but you have to tell us what we need to hear first." Said: "And which part will you air?"
McManus's office. McManus, Glynn, and Murphy discuss how the focus seems to be on the Adebisi tape, and how they should handle it. Nobody wants Eldridge to uncover the goings-on before the tape, which is the very direction the show is beginning to take. McManus says maybe they should pull the plug. Glynn says they can't, because Governor Gremlin thinks it will only make them look worse, and since he never told the governor about the videotapes, he sure as hell can't tell him about them now. McManus is all, "Well, you may have to, Leo, the truth might have to come out." Gah! We know, McManus. The truth shall set us free. Oh, and shut. Up.
McManus, waiting in a stairwell. Lisa Sheedy joins him: "So, you got info for me?" "I can't go on camera and say what needs to be said." Why? Because Leo will lose his job and the Governor will have enough ammo to close Em City, which would leave Tim out on the street with no one to fix. McManus tells her that the guy she needs to seek out is Martin Querns. Yay! Ally confirms that he's the one who ran Em City after Leo fired his ass. McManus acknowledges this piece of unfortunate news by nodding mournfully. She tries to get him to talk about the tape, but Tim ain't talking. He just tells her to go after Querns.
Cut to the unmistakable strains of smooth jazz as the man himself enters Leo's office. He cats into the room in a bad-ass huff. "What the fuck is going on? I get a call asking me if I'm willing to be interviewed by Jack fucking Eldridge? Leo's like, "Well they found out what went on when you were in charge…they heard about the tapes." Querns: "Fuck!" He sucks up with all his might: "When you asked me to resign you said no one would ever know, so no one would get hurt!" Leo's response: "Refuse to do the interview, that's what I did." Querns considers this tidbit: "Fine, where are the tapes?" Glynn tells him they're in a safe place, to which Querns snarls at him for keeping the damn things in the first place: "Destroy them, destroy the muthafuckin' tapes, NOW!" And he swoops out of the room. Then we see Glynn over a metal-grinder thing, destroying said tapes to a bag of potatoes. Then he trudges to the men's room, because all that Watergate stuff can make a man's bladder seek release. Now, who do you think is in there but Jack Eldridge. Eldridge greets him: "Heard you cancelled the interview, may I ask why? Between two guys holding their dicks?" (You can see why I do not encourage my mom to read my recaps, can't you?) Glynn gives a bullshit answer, which Eldridge calls him on. He then asks Leo how many years he's run Oz. Answer? Too many. Eldridge continues, "Yet, it would bother you to leave, to be forced out because some mishandling of the job was exposed on TV." Well, duh! Leo zips up and turns to Jack. I feel a deep answer coming. "I've spent my life punishing people. Lives have been lost and I wonder if I could have stopped the carnage." Jack: "Simon Adebisi…could you have prevented his death?" Leo washes his hands and turns to Jack: "Yes. Balls-out truth, I should be fired, but I'm afraid what they would bring in to replace me would be worse. Terrible thing to reach this point and realize your life has been a sham." Jack does his best Highway to Heaven with, "Except for a man whose job was meant to punish others, you also must be punishing yourself even more." Leo: "Off the record?" "Yes." "No comment." Awww. Warm fuzzy, people! Hard-core reporter has a heart! Details at eleven!
Jack goes to tell Ally that Adebisi story is a dead end and she won't be getting the Pulitzer. Lisa's all about the story and gets pissed. He's firm and stands his ground with, "Leo Glynn isn't perfect, but he's not incompetent." She still wants to expose him for the fuck-up she believes him to be. He just tells her to rest up. Big day tomorrow. She yells after him that letting the story go is a huge mistake. He acknowledges this. Actually, he flem flahs about newsmen having a heart blah blah beautiful-moment-in-men's-room-cakes.
Hill. Journalists, supposed to be impartial, yadda yadda, Walter Cronkite, he had him a poker face. That old gray mare, she ain't what she used to be.
Kitchen. White annoyingly sing-songs to Ryan how grateful he is about getting hooked up with the cafeteria job. Ryan says, "No problem! C'mere, pssst! I got a little somethin' somethin' for ya." Lured by promise of pretty bunnies, White takes the joint Ryan offers and smokes it RIGHT IN PLAIN SIGHT! Jeez! Is anyone guarding this place? ["I get the impression that the kitchen is practically untouchable unless a fight breaks out. Don't ask me why." -- Sars] Ryan cuts to the chase by mentioning oh-so-nonchalantly that Omar is the one who will be spending the night in the pod with Jack. White inhales and does the talk-whilst-in-mid-inhale. It's okay, though, because I do speak Pot. He says he's gonna be famous like ah ah…Bart Simpson. And he seems pleased with himself. That's all I could make out. Ryan says he hopes Jack doesn't disrespect him, since Ryan heard he (Jack) called Omar a faggot. This is the ultimate insult to White, who objects that he ain't no MF'in faggot! Ryan calms him: "I know, I know, but they do this on TV for ratings." Ryan continues to enrage Omar until Pancamo breaks up the fun by telling Ryan the eggs won't fry themselves. Ryan leaves Omar with one last thought: "If I were you, tonight, when I was alone with that cocksucker, I'd teach him a thing or two."
Cut to Jack with Ally in the lobby. She's frosty. They discuss with a random assistant what he found out about Ryan. Turns out that Jack once did a piece on gangs when Ryan and Cyril were around sixteen years old, and he interviewed both Ryan and Cyril. Lisa asks irritably if Jack made them look bad; the guy says yes, indeed he did. Jack wants to see the tape.
Switch to Murphy walking Jack through the nightly routine. Five o'clock is lockdown, nine o'clock lights out. Ryan walks into the common room with Omar; Omar sees Jack and starts wigging out. As Omar advances towards Jack, Ryan feebly tried to stop him but fails. Omar walks up the stairs to confront Jack while Ryan panics. Ryan stops at the bottom of the stairs, looking pained. The guards drag Omar away after he yells for a bit and pulls a shank, which he uses on a guard's hand. Murphy calls for lockdown. Ryan covers his face and wonders at the bad luck of it all.
Later, Murphy, Glynn, and McManus meet with Ally and Jack regarding their safety. Now they have to reassign Jack to another inmate. He chooses Cyril. You guys see where this is going? No? Me neither. Oh wait, a telegram just came…it's from Toledo. Oh…okay. I'll just move on.
Cut to Ryan in McManus's office, protesting the madness of it all. He does not want his brother in a cell with Jack. McManus tells him they don't have a choice in the matter and to "just pray for the best." Ryan says, "You fucking pray, say a whole fucking rosary." He slams out of the office.
Cut to a pod, where Jack readies himself for the night. Bottle of water, suspenders in place, he's ready, he wants it to be a typical night. All around, pod people stare as the silly newsman goes up the stairs to the pod. Cue the tension-building music. Ryan, in another pod a few doors down, looks like a caged tiger. His nose is literally pressed against the glass. He stares across to a pod guy, whose name I don't know and who seems to be the designated lookout. Back in danger-pod, Jack puts his things away and introduces himself to Cyril. Cyril politely says hello and wastes no time having a childhood flashback, containing Jack himself doing something with his microphone. We switch to a camera-view of Jack's head. Lisa tells him to move so they can see Cyril. Jack begins his intro: "It's five PM, and already the inmates are in lockdown. The room is about the size of an American bathroom…and smells like one as well." Nice. Dude! A little courtesy for Cyril? Speaking of, Cyril sits up and appears to be listening. He asks who Jack's talking to, which leads to yet another blurry flashback. Scott Winters does the confused blink of remembrance. Jack turns to Cyril: "What do you do before lights out?" Cyril answers, "Wait." For what? For the lights to go out. Like, derrr! Then what? "I say my prayers, and sleep." Jack: "What do you pray for?" "I pray to Jesus that Ryan will be safe, that my daddy will smile and to take care of my mother in heaven." D'oh! Jack: "Your mother died?" Cyril: "Years ago in a hospital, I hate hospitals. I hate the smell…of hospitals. The medicine tastes bad. [Oh, man.] Ryan tells me to take my medicine but…I don't sometimes…like today." We see Ryan, pacing back and forth; he looks over to nameless guy for an update. He asks for thumbs up or down. Dude uses the universal sign for "hang on a sec," and then gives the thumbs-up.
Back at the ranch house, Murphy closes his eyes; he's either pained or drifting off to sleep. Cue the tension-building music again. Shit's gonna hit da fan, yo. Back to danger-pod. Jack asks Cyril if, before the accident, he remembers anything? Cyril: "Yeah, there are flashes…once in a while, like now. I see you and I think maybe I know you." Cue the flashback to chain-link fence, with the two youths leaning against it -- presumably Ryan and Cyril at a tender age. Then we see their weeping mother in front of the television as the two enter their living room. Back to Jack speaking: "We met. Many years ago, you were fifteen at the time." Cut back to their mom rising from the chair and smacking the shit out of Ryan and running off down the hall. Jack VOs that he talked to them about their lives in the gang as we viewers at home see young Cyril picking up a chair and smashing the television. Cue the present-day rage: "You made mama sad! You made mama cry…you gave my mama cancer!!!" Cyril hauls off and uppercuts Jack. Ally's like, holy shit! The no-name-dude starts banging on the Plexiglas to alert Ryan. Ryan loses it and starts screaming Cyril's name and banging on the wall. Everyone's panicking while Cyril whales on Jack. He looks like he's really hitting him, too. The whole attack is pretty realistic. Cut back to Ryan beating on glass some more, and then we go back to Cyril, who pauses in mid-beat, hair all wild, and repeats, "You gave my mama cancer!!!" SWAT comes, and we alternately hear Ryan screaming Cyril's name and Cyril screaming mama-got-the-cancer. As they carry Cyril away, I get a lump in my throat when Cyril switches from screaming "Mama!" to screaming for Ryan. It's actually very sad.
Lisa rushes in to check on Jack, who is still alive and turns to the camera to show us his already-swollen, mangled face. She says his name over and over, which really annoys me, and Jack mumbles through his pain, "Did you…?" Lisa: "Did you…did I what?" "Get it all on tape?" Lisa looks ill.
And we're back to Hill. "Television has the power to enlighten, to inform, to lay the bad truth in front of the eyes of the public. Hill then gets up and walks over to the camera, leaning his head on the glass (he's still in his cube-thing): "But do we use the gift wisely? Have we ever?"
Cut to the common room, where everyone is watching the news report on the Jack show, and generic news-guy says they're calling it the ratings stunt that backfired. Ryan is watching the program while Cyril quietly walks behind him and up the stairs to their pod in his creepy, blood-stained shirt. Ryan then removes the headphones and soberly walks up the stairs as well. Back to generic news-guy, who drones on to say that, despite the objections of Lisa Logan, the producer, they won't be airing the show. Ally resigned in protest.
week -- Luke Perry! He steals! He heals! It's a regular religion-fest.