History Headscratchers / Oz

*** Schillinger's kind of a hypocrite (See: Robert Sippel in [[tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/OzS2E8EscapeFromOz S02E08]]), but my read was that Schillinger just saw a timid, out-of-his-element newbie and went for the easy prey. He used the same page of the playbook with Cyril in Season 2 before Ryan got him transferred to Em City.

*** Schillinger's kind of a hypocrite (See: Robert Sipple in S02E08), but my read was that Schillinger just saw a timid, out-of-his-element newbie and went for the easy prey. He used the same page of the playbook with Cyril in Season 2 before Ryan got him transferred to Em City.

* Supreme Allah is killed wiyh an allergic reaction when the kitchen staff put eggs in his food. However, they remark that his food was prepared differenly - surely the COs must have mentioned what they had to NOT put in his food, even via cross-contamination, so why did Hill need to get his medical records? Moreover, even if the COs didn't disclose the extent of his allergy to the staff, shouldn't they have had an Epi Pen nearby in the one place he'd most likely need it? The inmates don't know, after all, but the COs/other staff should, right?

* Supreme Allah is killed wiyh an allergic reaction when the kitchen staff put eggs in his food. However, they remark that his food was prepared differenly - surely the COs must have mentioned what they had to NOT put in his food, even via cross-contaminatiij, so why did Hill need to get his medical records? Moreover, even if the COs didn't disclose the extent of his allergy to the staff, shouldn't they have had an Epi Pen nearby in the one place he'd most likely need it?

** Except Schillinger willingly had a child murdered.

* How could Nino not feel the glass, no matter how finely ground, at some point like between his teeth or when he swallows? And I get that he had to get in bed with O'Reilly and Adebisi after his Italian thugs got transferred out of EmCity, but why would he ever trust those two with his food? Why not keep himself safe by eating the same food as everyone else? And I get that "Nino was smart, Nino was watching", but he couldn't keep his eyes on them the whole time they were in the kitchen? Why not just poison him during a moment he isn't looking?

** [[TheSimpsons A wizard did it]]

** Might be why Schillinger singled Beecher out the way he did, instead of somebody like Shupe.

** It's people who ''intentionally'' hurt children that draw the ire in prisons. Beecher was drunk, but killing the girl was still an accident.

** McManus mentions at some point in the first season that he likes to have "lifers" (like Adebisi, Hernandez, or Ortolani) in Em City to try and get them to find some purpose in their incarceration.

** Most of the characters were doing "hard time," and some even had no possibility of parole. McManus was trying to give the characters purpose while in prison, to create an example from the program that might be applied to other prisoners. A lot of funding for programs is based on being able to show funders some "success." Of course, the success rate in Oz varied.

* Kinda curious how Bradford Winters was a major writer/producer on the show, and his real-life brother Dean played ManipulativeBastard Ryan O'Reilly, who almost never failed to twist everyone to his will, and even got the girl in the end, and other brother Scott played Cyril, who while retarded, was able to fight off and even ''kill'' men far bigger and stronger than he was (Hamid Khan, Jia Kenmin). Plus, the two of them got some of the beefiest acting parts in the series, in addition to getting tons of screen-time. They were good in their roles (Dean ''nails'' the role of Ryan dealing with Cyril's impending execution), and O'Reilly ''did'' end up screwing his brother in the end, but it really came across as nepotism.

* The Padraig Connelly plot. Just what the hell?. It might've *just* worked in the early seasons, but it really doesn't fit in 2001. Connelly and O'Reilly talk about The Troubles as if it's still ongoing, when the Good Friday agreement in 1998 put an end to it, and even before then hostilities had gradually wound down for the majority. And building the bomb in Emerald City? Just what was it supposed to accomplish? I DON'T UNDERSTAND!
** Northern Ireland's status wasn't settled for everyone by the Good Friday agreement. The bomb was probably introduced as something crazy enough for even O'Reilly to say "let's take it down a notch" and look halfway reasonable (see Bradford Winters headscratcher above).

* Why wasn't Beecher killed on sight for killing a child? Admittedly, he did it by accident, and it wasn't a sexual crime, but my understanding of the Aryan Brotherhood in US jails is that child killers are marked for immediate murder as soon as they go into jail?

* Why was Miguel Alvarez up for parole? He killed two people, blinded a guy, and escaped from prison. In real life, parole wouldn't even be a consideration after only five years.

* Why, in the name of Adebisi's gravity defying hat, are there no security cameras in the popular murder spots? The gym and the kitchen for example. People keep getting killed and otherwise assaulted in there, having cameras in place would at least narrow the suspects down. Or how about the showers in Emerald city? Violence, sex and violent sex goes on there all the time too. And sex between prisoners is supposed to be a big no-no in EM city, so why not actually supervise the prisoners properly? It can't be because of prisoner privacy, they are already forced to change clothes and take shits in glass pods where the COs can plainly see them.
** In-universe explanation is most likely because they have no money. But Oz seems to be a magical place (pun intended) where all sorts of things happen yet are rarely commented on (Luke Perry's very high profile prisoner is walled up and no one seems to care, Beecher kills a guard with his fingernails and the other COs act like he just never showed up to work, visitors are shanked, people are set on fire and so many other things that would have sent the place on permanent lockdown).

* Why are the prisoners, in most cases dangerous criminals, allowed access to lighters? Shouldn't they be contraband? Or is this a 90s thing where that was allowed and the rules are different now? Although I still don't see why they would be allowed access to fire.

** Female prisons rarely have the facilities for Death Row (women have been less than 1% of all executions since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976).

** McManus mentions at some point in the first season that he likes to have "lifers" (like Adibisi, Hernandez, or Ortolani) in Em City to try and get them to find some purpose in their incarceration.

* It's sort of handwaved in the series, but seriously, Shirley Bellinger? Why was she in Oz at all, when she should have been in a women's prison, death row or not?

* Why, in the name of Adebisi's gravity defying hat, are there no security cameras in the popular murder spots? The gym and the kitchen for example. People keep getting killed and otherwise assaulted in there, having cameras in place would at least narrow the suspects down. Or how about the showers in Emerald city? Violence, sex and violent sex goes on there all the time too. And sex between prisoners is supposed to be a big no-no in EM city, so why not actually supervise the prisoners properly? It can't be because of prisoner privacy, they are already forced to change clothes and take shits in glass pods where the COs can plainly see them.