OZ: UNNATURAL DISASTERS (TV)
Summary
One in this series of dramas set in the Oswald Maximum Security Penitentiary, nicknamed "Oz."
In this episode, Hill ponders the Plagues of Egypt and God's fickle attitudes toward the Israelites as Schillinger, learning that his son Andrew has arrived at Em City, begs Glynn to move him into his own block, with no success. Andrew, a drug addict, soon ends up in solitary, and Schillinger asks Sister Reimondo to accept him into her rehab program. Once there, Beecher intentionally befriends him and arranges for him to take Keller's place as his cellmate. Elsewhere, Claire Howell is reinstated after accusing McManus of sexual harassment, and Said's sister is disgusted to realize that he and Tricia Ross have fallen in love. Keller taunts Reimondo, suggesting that "her patients don't get better," and Reimondo offers Alvarez a deal: he will be released from solitary and sent back to Em City if he meets with C.O. Rivera to accept responsibility for blinding him — and tells Glynn the truth about the attack on his daughter. Rivera's wife Tina is outraged, feeling that Alvarez should be on Death Row; Rivera, wanting to know why Alvarez committed such an act, agrees.
El Cid, suspicious of Alvarez's release from solitary, urges him to stop taking his medications in order to be a better, "crazier" boxer. Pancamo demands a 25 percent cut when Ryan bets that new prisoner Jason Cramer will defeat Alvarez in the ring — which he does, when Ryan again interferes and drugs Alvarez's water. Glynn admits that Hughes is the only son of a former guard killed in Oz when McManus complains about Hughes' behavior; when Hughes produces an illegal stun gun, Glynn is forced to take aggressive action. Richie Hanlon's murder conviction is overturned when he takes Bellinger's advice and points the finger at Schillinger, though when he moves back into Em City, he is quickly killed by Stanislofsky as revenge for his friend Vogel.
Father Mukada is surprised when Nappa, facing a slow death from HIV, asks to confess "everything" that he's ever done. Adebisi tries to ally himself with both Pancamo and El Cid, claiming that he feels no loyalty toward the black American inmates. Bricks turns 18 and learns that his wife is cheating on him with Ronnie Smith, who is possibly also abusing his infant son. Enraged, Bricks arranges with Pierce for both Ronnie and his wife to be murdered — but is then approached by a malevolent Adebisi.
Details
- NETWORK: HBO
- DATE: 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:58:27
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:60895
- GENRE: Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: LGBTQ+ Collection - Drama; African-American Collection - Drama; Drama; Prisons
- SERIES RUN: HBO - TV series, 1997-2003
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Jim Finnerty … Executive Producer
- Barry Levinson … Executive Producer
- Tom Fontana … Executive Producer, Created by, Writer
- Bridget Potter … Supervising Producer
- Mark A. Baker … Associate Producer
- Irene Burns … Associate Producer
- Chazz Palminteri … Director
- Bradford Winters … Writer
- David Darlington … Music by
- Stephen Rosen … Music by
- Kirk Acevedo … Cast, Miguel Alvarez
- Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje … Cast, Simon Adebisi
- Ernie Hudson … Cast, Warden Leo Glynn
- Terry Kinney … Cast, Tim McManus
- Rita Moreno … Cast, Sister Peter Marie Reimondo
- Harold Perrineau … Cast, Augustus Hill
- J.K. Simmons … Cast, Vern Schillinger
- Lee Tergesen … Cast, Tobias Beecher
- Eamonn Walker … Cast, Kareem Said
- Dean Winters … Cast, Ryan O'Reilly
- Kathryn Erbe … Cast, Shirley Bellinger
- Luis Guzman … Cast, Raoul 'El Cid' Hernandez
- Mark Margolis … Cast, Antonio Nappa
- Christopher Meloni … Cast, Chris Keller
- George Morfogen … Cast, Robert Rebadow
- Granville Adams … Cast, Zahir Arif
- Arija Bareikis … Cast, Tricia Ross
- Lauren Velez … Cast, Dr. Gloria Nathan
- Philip Casnoff … Cast, Nikolai Stanislofsky
- Robert Clohessy … Cast, Sean Murphy
- Seth Gilliam … Cast, Clayton Hughes
- Ona Faida Lampley … Cast, Reverend Truman
- Tom Mardirosian … Cast, Agamemnon Busmalis
- Kristin Rohde … Cast, Officer Claire Howell
- muMs (see also: Craig Grant) … Cast, Arnold "Poet" Jackson
- BD Wong … Cast, Father Ray Mukada
- J.D. Williams … Cast, Kenny 'Bricks' Wangler
- Scott William Winters … Cast, Cyril O'Reily
- Malé Baby Alexander (see also: Lexington Alexander) … Cast, Junior Pierce
- Robert Bogue … Cast, Jason Cramer
- Will Cote … Cast, William Cudney
- Carl DiMaggio … Cast, Len Lopresti
- Ernie Hudson Jr. … Cast, Hamid Khan
- Fred Koehler … Cast, Andrew Schillinger
- Jordan Lage … Cast, Richie Hanlon
- Otto Sanchez … Cast, Chico Guerra
- Philip V. Scozzarella … Cast, Joseph Mineo
- Chuck Zito … Cast, Chucky Pancamo
- Kevin Geer … Cast, Axelrod
- Ray Iannicelli … Cast, Roger Brese
- Bruce MacVittie … Cast, Strauch
- Judy Reyes … Cast, Tina Rivera
- Nelson Vasquez … Cast, Eugene Rivera
- Sybil Walker … Cast, Rosetta
- Enid Graham … Cast, Wangler's Mother