Oz, Season Two
Feb. 1st, 2003 12:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shannon_aTonight Kimberly and I finished watching Season Two of Oz. Most of the seasons of Oz are only 8 hours long, so it wasn't a huge investment in time. And, even though Season Two wasn't as good as Season One (I don't think any other season could be), it was still one of the best shows on television.
The Popularity of Oz
Early on while watching Season Two, I commented to K. that I was amazed that The Sopranos had been HBO's break-out show, not Oz, though Oz had started years earlier. And, when, in my opinion, Oz is a much better show--more vivid, realistic and important.
K. pointed out, quite correctly, that there are many people who just won't want to see Oz's story. I mean, it's about life in a maximum security prison. And, it's a very harsh, unhappy portrait of that life. And, it points our that our entire prison system is probably unfair, and definitely unduly harsh.
Do people really want to see a show that includes murder and rape? Male homosexuality? That makes you care about those people in prison, rather than demonizing them?
Since Oz is five seasons in now, so the answer is clearly, "yes", but I can also understand why it's not the smash hit that The Sopranos is.
The Sopranos, in sharp contrast to Oz, paints its violence and cruelty with a very civilized facade; in Oz that facade is torn away and we're only left with brutal, brutal life.
Personal Stories
As I said, I didn't think that Oz Season Two was as good as Oz Season One. And, I think that was mainly due to the scale.
Season One was epic. It was a story of two men--Ryan O'Reilly and Saueed--and how they single-handedly brought a society to the brink of destruction, Ryan through selfishness and Saueed through selflessness.
The entirity of Season One read like a piano score, crescendoing in the last episode in a riot that was inevitable from the moment the two entered the doors of Oswald maximum security prison, in episode one.
Season One was also full of many personal stories, from Kenny's corruption to Miguel's missed opportunity for redemption to, most meaningfully, Beacher's fall from sanity and into power ... but inevitably they were all part of the main story that was being moved by Ryan and Saueed.
Season Two, on the other hand, was about personal stories. They were much more disconnected and disjointed than Season One. And, even though they were at different times frightening, horrifying, and often moving, they didn't have the same coherency as Season One did.
It's interesting that the different focus of Season Two also caused a very different storytelling style. The individual episodes are less self-contained, and you're much more likely to just get a minute or five of a story that's been going on for a couple of episodes. For many of the characters you can plot out a single plotline that starts off in episode one (or two, after the results of the riot peter out), and runs through to eight.
In some ways, it felt less effective, but still, I watched the episodes as fast as K. could stand it.
It's About Power
It's been long enough since I watched Season One of Oz that's I'm no longer sure of what theme it carried. Perhaps it was about trying to do the right thing. Perhaps about sacrifice, perhaps the dichotomy that I set out earlier about selflessness v. selfishness. I'll have to watch it again sometime and see what I think.
Season Two, however, seemed quite clearly to be about power. I'd place two arcs as central this time: Saueed's and Shillinger's.
After the riot that he had instigated in Season One, Saueed is lost. His riot didn't nbring about the reforms that he had hoped, and so he begins to drift. He comes, by pretty early in the season, to study the law, and decides he's going to set the prisoners free one at a time via appeals. He actually succeeds in the case of Poet, only to have the man incarcerated once more for new crimes committed after his release. Only in the end does Saueed rediscover his power, when he refuses the governor's grant of clemency. A scene near the end, where all of Oz is chanting Saueed's name is chilling, because it's a clear reflection of a similar scene at the end of Season One.
At the end of Season One Shillinger's power was destroyed by the manman Beacher. In Season Two we have the story of that balance slowly shifting back, as Shillinger, deciding he has nothing to lose, begins to fight back. By the end of the season Beacher is broken, mentally and physically, and Shillinger has recovered his power.
We have other issues of power throughout the entire season: as the Italians and the Blacks battle; as the power of Oz reaches out to Beacher's wife and Gloria's husband. Much of the story is also about the abuse of power: Ryan abuses his power over his brother; and almost every member of the staff abuses their power at some point. We see shades of gray and understand why such things might be required.
As an investigation of themes, Season Two of Oz is excellent.
Overall, great show. And now I'm wondering, when is Season Three going to be out?
The Popularity of Oz
Early on while watching Season Two, I commented to K. that I was amazed that The Sopranos had been HBO's break-out show, not Oz, though Oz had started years earlier. And, when, in my opinion, Oz is a much better show--more vivid, realistic and important.
K. pointed out, quite correctly, that there are many people who just won't want to see Oz's story. I mean, it's about life in a maximum security prison. And, it's a very harsh, unhappy portrait of that life. And, it points our that our entire prison system is probably unfair, and definitely unduly harsh.
Do people really want to see a show that includes murder and rape? Male homosexuality? That makes you care about those people in prison, rather than demonizing them?
Since Oz is five seasons in now, so the answer is clearly, "yes", but I can also understand why it's not the smash hit that The Sopranos is.
The Sopranos, in sharp contrast to Oz, paints its violence and cruelty with a very civilized facade; in Oz that facade is torn away and we're only left with brutal, brutal life.
Personal Stories
As I said, I didn't think that Oz Season Two was as good as Oz Season One. And, I think that was mainly due to the scale.
Season One was epic. It was a story of two men--Ryan O'Reilly and Saueed--and how they single-handedly brought a society to the brink of destruction, Ryan through selfishness and Saueed through selflessness.
The entirity of Season One read like a piano score, crescendoing in the last episode in a riot that was inevitable from the moment the two entered the doors of Oswald maximum security prison, in episode one.
Season One was also full of many personal stories, from Kenny's corruption to Miguel's missed opportunity for redemption to, most meaningfully, Beacher's fall from sanity and into power ... but inevitably they were all part of the main story that was being moved by Ryan and Saueed.
Season Two, on the other hand, was about personal stories. They were much more disconnected and disjointed than Season One. And, even though they were at different times frightening, horrifying, and often moving, they didn't have the same coherency as Season One did.
It's interesting that the different focus of Season Two also caused a very different storytelling style. The individual episodes are less self-contained, and you're much more likely to just get a minute or five of a story that's been going on for a couple of episodes. For many of the characters you can plot out a single plotline that starts off in episode one (or two, after the results of the riot peter out), and runs through to eight.
In some ways, it felt less effective, but still, I watched the episodes as fast as K. could stand it.
It's About Power
It's been long enough since I watched Season One of Oz that's I'm no longer sure of what theme it carried. Perhaps it was about trying to do the right thing. Perhaps about sacrifice, perhaps the dichotomy that I set out earlier about selflessness v. selfishness. I'll have to watch it again sometime and see what I think.
Season Two, however, seemed quite clearly to be about power. I'd place two arcs as central this time: Saueed's and Shillinger's.
After the riot that he had instigated in Season One, Saueed is lost. His riot didn't nbring about the reforms that he had hoped, and so he begins to drift. He comes, by pretty early in the season, to study the law, and decides he's going to set the prisoners free one at a time via appeals. He actually succeeds in the case of Poet, only to have the man incarcerated once more for new crimes committed after his release. Only in the end does Saueed rediscover his power, when he refuses the governor's grant of clemency. A scene near the end, where all of Oz is chanting Saueed's name is chilling, because it's a clear reflection of a similar scene at the end of Season One.
At the end of Season One Shillinger's power was destroyed by the manman Beacher. In Season Two we have the story of that balance slowly shifting back, as Shillinger, deciding he has nothing to lose, begins to fight back. By the end of the season Beacher is broken, mentally and physically, and Shillinger has recovered his power.
We have other issues of power throughout the entire season: as the Italians and the Blacks battle; as the power of Oz reaches out to Beacher's wife and Gloria's husband. Much of the story is also about the abuse of power: Ryan abuses his power over his brother; and almost every member of the staff abuses their power at some point. We see shades of gray and understand why such things might be required.
As an investigation of themes, Season Two of Oz is excellent.
Overall, great show. And now I'm wondering, when is Season Three going to be out?
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Date: 2003-02-02 12:19 am (UTC)