People are allowed to their own opinions of course. But I genuinely think that if you dislike Miguel because of how often he screwed himself over you not only don’t understand the significance of his character, you dont understand the significance of Oz at all.
The entire premise of the show is to display the faults of the US penitentiary system. Of which is meant to lock people up and keep them there. It is not to rehabilitate. Leaving people in harsh conditions and trying to force them to better themselves by stripping them of their rights, their sense of self, their humanity has never worked and it never will. You genuinely see most of these characters do things to try and better themselves they all go through some sort of path of redemption which always fails, it always fails. Why does it fail? Because you can lead a horse to water but you will never be able to make it drink.
The entire point of the US prison system is to instill fear in every individual in there. There is no trust and even if there is it is not strong. The only people in all of Oz that most of the prisoners considered trust worthy were Mukada and Peter Marie, why? Because they have an oath of confidentiality to uphold, and they are almost never working against any of the prisoners at least not both of them at the same time and not for good reason. Shit even Gloria is far more trusted than any guard in that whole prison. However they can only do so much, the real failure comes in when we talk about McManus. He is the biggest fucking failure (pardon my french) that I have ever seen. I could write several novels about why I hate McManus and I always will. I hate Glynn aswell but never EVER as much as I hate McAnus.
But he is a prime example of just how the system can instill this false hope/sense of rehabilitation into the incarcerated. I use Omar and Miguel alot as examples because I genuinely want to rip my head off when I think about their stories but anyways. For example they both had their issues but time and time again you see them both try their absolute hardest to do better at managing their own violent tendencies (arguably they worked harder at that than any person in there). Both of which had done really good at it but nobody was able to recognize it when it mattered most.
The parole board did not give a single shit about all of Miguels efforts to make amends with Rivera. But Beecher was no different , he too was an extremely violent person who, too, tried to make amends with all the people he’d wronged. But the difference between him and Miguel was, he was able to get mounds of help on the outside. He had his family still, and he had the money. Same thing with Omar, we see him actively try to better himself, not just to please McManus but because the violence is actively messing with him. Each time he accidentally harms someone beyond his control we see remorse, but McManus doesn’t see this because no matter what Omar does he cannot understand that violence is one of the only ways to survive inside of EmCity aside from being a prag but nobody wants that really. McManus and Glynn want to crack down on the violence issue but they can’t understand that the way to do it is not to take away personal effects, not a cage in the middle of the cell block, not solitary confinement. Its proper rehabilitation.
everytime I rewatch Oz im so surprised by how much stuff happens in the first episode alone?? Like I thought Saïd didnt show up until like the 5th episode but then again by the 5th episode the riots planned out. But then again it makes sense considering the fact that the episodes are like an hour.
I also didnt realize how quickly Groves gets executed like 😭 I coulda swore he made it to like season 2 but thats literally not true.
Now this is a very Dark romance ❤. Chris Keller is not a nice man but rather an extremely beautiful dangerous man who fell in love with a repentant man, Toby Beecher. This dark romance had a sad end but while it lasted it was a mesmerising Love story ( and somehow a bit scary).👀
Chris Keller oozes charm and irresistible charisma and Toby is an adorable idiot blinded by Love and chagrin.💔💘😢
Chris Meloni ,who played Keller, had (and still has without a doubt), the most radiant smile on television. Lee Tergesen is adorable as the long suffering beloved one.
The characters are from the now classic HBO series OZ, about a high-security prison life.
