Episode 8 of "Oz"
s01e08 A Game of Checkers

Hill notes that wars have been started over a game of checkers. Keep this subtle hint in mind, children, it's gonna rear it's ugly head a lot over the next hour. Schillinger's recovered from a face-full of crap, and he says it's made him a changed man. Most of us are content to go to church or volunteer, but hey Vern, whatever floats your boat. He mentions his kids came to see him and they were all hepped up on goofballs and they laughed at him. Schillinger wants to make his parole in 3 months so that he has a chance at saving them. Because a few hugs and kisses will make up for 17 years of hate, I'm sure. McManus relents, and passes the news on to Beecher, who ain't too pleased 'bout the whole thing, but says he'll try to make nice. Beecher becomes O'Reily's podmate (is it just me, or could we have avoided a lot of anger if this had happened a long time ago?) and O'Reily asks him to get his back if a riot breaks out. Not that one will, mind you, just *if* it happens. Yeah, right. McManus catches Diane giving cigarettes to Ross but he doesn't fire her. I guess there are benefits to sleeping with your boss. She tries to tell Ross her contraband days are over, but Ross makes it clear that he decides when it ends. Rebadow, for the record, is still old and scared. Said organizes the Muslims for the upcoming 'jihad' but in the end, it's *gasp* a game of CHECKERS that starts the whole damn thing. Who would've thunk it? Two inmates begin arguing about who moved whose pieces and the prison goes into instantanious chaos. Just add fire. Glynn, for his part, tries to calm months of pent up anger, sexual frustration and physical abuse by yelling into a bullhorn, but it just doesn't have the effect he was hoping for. Said organizes the prisoners and O'Reily, Ross, Adebisi and Alvarez join him as the "leaders" of the prison. All access is shut out and many of the C.O.'s are beaten and taken as hostages including Wittlesey, Hunt and Mukada (guess Miguel isn't the pal you thought he was, eh Ray?). In the fray of the riots, Dobbins is badly hurt and Hill guilt-trips Vahue into taking him past the gate so that he can get medical attention. Beecher is enjoying himself for once, and he's obviously digging being crazy. He tells Schillinger that he knows Vern's trying to stay out of trouble to get paroled, but he wonders aloud what would happen if, every time Vern was up for parole, he somehow got into a fight with his old roomie. Fiddle-dee-dee, what would Verny do? He also calls him 'prag' which makes me smile. I love a good role-reversal. McManus watches his vision for the perfect prison slip through his fingers. He wants to talk to the prisoners before Gov. Devlin sends in the SORT team and turns off their water and electricity. The inmates are hungry so McManus offers to bring them sandwiches. This way, he can also see the hostages. He sees that Mineo and Armstrong are doing particularly badly. He wants them to release the two, along with Wittlesey in exchange for himself. Adebisi points out that 3 for 1 is a bad trade. Who knew Adebisi could count? In the end, McManus is traded for Mineo and Armstrong, while Wittlesey remains. McManus tries to reason with Said, proposing that together, they could build a better prison. Said says that they don't need more prisons, bigger prisons, better prisons. They need better justice. Now what can McManus do about that? Yeah, what can you do, tough guy? McManus is stymied. The prison's heroin supply is getting awfully low all of a sudden (Adebisi, I'm looking in your direction) and the prisoners are beginning to fiend. Couple this with the constant fights that are breaking out among the seperate groups and Said realizes what we already know: It's the beginning of the end. The lights go out, the hostages are lined up and everyone runs for cover as the SORT team bulldozes and teargasses its way through Em City. Hill says everyone wants a place to rest their bones, even if it is in a place called 'Oz'. Personally, I'm looking for somewhere a little less on fire.