I don’t get HBO at home, so I have to rely on my video rental store and a one-year offset to watch their outstanding dramatic series, such as The Sopranos, and my recent discovery, Oz.
Oz is a prison drama, set in an American prison in California, I think, where the warden of one wing decides to try some new methods to reform the prisoners in his care. He’s tired of the old system, which seems to turn petty criminals into hardened ones, and does nothing to build the human spirit required for true rehabilitation. I watched the first three episodes Sunday night on DVD, and I’m happy to report that the show is long on story and character and short on didactic reform talk.
It’s really well written, with very good character development, compelling situations, and full-frontal nudity. We get to know each character through flashbacks that show us their crimes. In an interesting twist on the standard omniscient narration device, they give us a wheelchair-bound prisoner who does his narration in a sort of Jamaican jive rap while rotating in a glass box that seems to be floating overhead. There is no explanation for this device, and when he’s not rotating in the glass box and narrating into the camera, he rarely appears and his role is minor. Oddly, this is not disturbing, as his narrations occur only once or twice per episode, and only when we need some context for the action that is about to take place.
The characters are fascinating and well considered. Brutal things happen, but it is not wall-to-wall violence. Three episodes in, we’ve seen three in-house murders, and a number of betrayals. But again, it’s all about character and situation.
The show is also rather funny, in a black humour way. For example, there’s a character who looks a bit like Charles Manson, but with a very pleasant, even naïve disposition. He’s in prison for murder and cannibalism. In one episode we see him speaking with a guard after he was caught trying to sneak into the morgue. Keep in mind the cannibal’s calm and non-sinister demeanor:
[Guard] You killed your parents and ate them, right?
[Cannibal] I only ate my Mom. I was saving my Dad for Thanksgiving.
[Guard] (Nodding) That’s festive.
In a later episode, the cannibal has again been caught sneaking into the morgue. He’s been sent to solitary confinement (“the hole”) as punishment. He has asked to see the priest even though he isn’t Catholic. A request for confession grants one a ten minute break from “the hole”.
[Priest] You can’t become a Catholic just to get out of the hole.
[Cannibal] No wait, I’ve been reading a lot about different faiths, and yours is pretty nifty.
[Priest] Catholicism is “nifty”?
[Cannibal] Yeah, you have that whole mystical transubstantiation bit going.
[Priest] That’s right. The eucharist becomes the body of Christ.
[Cannibal] So you’re actually eating his flesh and drinking his blood.
[Priest] That’s right.
[Cannibal] Now how can I not get behind a religion like that?