Directed By: Nick Gomez
Written By: Tom Fontana
List of tropes applying to this episode:
- Alone with the Psycho: Alvah Case interviews Beecher while he's in "the hole" after biting off the tip of Robson's penis; continuing on from the last episodes of the previous season, Beecher has lost his marbles completely and the entire conversation between the two is the most unsettling in the entire episode.
- The Comically Serious: Half the fun of the episode is watching the dignified Case bounce off the profane and gleefully corrupt residents of Oz.
- Creepy Good: Beecher helps Case's investigation in the creepiest way possible.
- Genre Refugee: Alvah Case is a classic gentleman detective caught up in the gritty, deranged world of Oz.
- Groin Attack: Beecher bites off the tip of Robson's penis after he tries to rape him.
- Never My Fault: Saïd refuses to acknowledge how he indirectly caused the deaths during the riot.
- Out-of-Genre Experience: Oz usually follows a select group of inmates across each episode, switching back and forth between their stories. "The Tip", on the other hand, follows Alvah Case as the singular POV character in a whodunit-style plot.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: O'Reily is disgusted by the insinuation that he and Ross were lovers, though he seems more disgusted by the fact that it's Ross than anything else.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Adebisi is one of the few "main" prisoners who doesn't get interviewed by Alvah Case - because Adebisi, out of his mind and going through withdrawal, asked Case point blank if he wanted to lick Adebisi's balls before he was asked any questions. Understandably, Case avoids him entirely.
- Sincerity Mode: In the strangest possible way; Adebisi genuinely asks Alvah Case if he wants to lick Adebisi's balls, because Adebisi is delirious and out of his mind going through withdrawal.
- Who Murdered the Asshole: Case investigates the murder of Ross, who was loathed by pretty much the entire prison.
