This can't be serious. If I had read this thread before watching the show, the entire experience would've been ruined. Spoilers all over the goddamn place.
He quoted
me saying I should ban
myself for spoilers. Regardless of what other people have been saying, he singled me out and I pointed out I've posted no spoilers.
But really, spoilers for a show that premiered over fifteen years ago and that wrapped ten years ago? After initial recommendations, once the thread turned into a discussion of the show, I would think people who wanted to avoid spoilers would be smart enough to just go watch the show.
To Bullitt68-I'll be checking out Sarah Connor Chronicals now. I have always liked the general storyline and just didn't check it out because I figured it would suck. I'm taking your word on this one.
It's inconceivable how fans of the first two Terminator movies could dislike the show, and to be honest, I also find it inconceivable how anyone who appreciates good storytelling could dislike it. I don't expect everyone to love it as much as I do, but I'd like to think anybody who watches it can recognize the skill and intelligence of those involved and respect its ambition and its quality.
It's just such an incredible product, and I actually just finished rewatching it (for like the twentieth time) last week, so everything is fresh in my mind and I stand by every single piece of praise I have ever given it and would only add that I believe in it even stronger every time I revisit it.
Behind
Seinfeld, it's the greatest thing on TV I've ever seen.
Someone with mental retardation like Cyril ending up in Oz gen pop as opposed to a mental facility? I mean... really?
Cyril's condition was the result of a blow to the head, not a mental condition, so that could've potentially played a factor during his sentencing. And in any case, if that cannibal whack job could end up in Em City, why not Cyril? Hell, Cyril was more normal than that guy :icon_lol:
The Doctor whose husband is killed forgiving and ultimately cozing up to the one who planned the killing? Oh, sure.
It was mentioned several times that she was having marital problems, she even has an affair with McManus, added to which, she'd been raped and O'Reily killed the guy who did it. There was a ton of fucked up shit going on, both in her head and in the prison, which is essentially a microcosm of aberrant psychosexual inclinations/behaviors, so that bizarre relationship is far from a stretch and actually follows quite logically.
Or how about my personal favorite - the pill that artificially ages inmates so they can be released early, haha.
And it's a bust, which makes sense. Still not seeing the problem.
Look, Oz isn't the worst show I've ever seen but it's far from highbrowed in any sense; and while the first couple seasons did have their share of ridiculous plots, you can't possibly say with a straight face the writers didn't ramp up the absurdity in the final two or three seasons.
I'm not saying every season is exactly the same, but I
am saying that everything that happened was a logical extension of the themes and stylistics of preceding seasons. There was a consistent ethical, psychological, philosophical, narrative, and aesthetic vision that went from beginning to end.
Well, I suppose you could say as much, but you can bet I'd facepalm pretty damn hard.
Maybe if I make you face palm hard enough it'll knock some sense into you :wink:
The show is always over the top even in the first few seasons, but thats because its supposed to be by its very nature.
Thank you! That's my point.
However, theres a big difference in the seriousness and gritty tone in the first few seasons, and the last season where you can tell the writers ran out of ideas and just started introducing all this goofy zhit due to lack of creativity.
Ran out of ideas? Season 6 was great with the production of
Macbeth, an apt choice for the overtly Shakespearean goings-on in
Oz; Redding trying to make amends; Beecher and Keller; Ryan trying to come to terms with Cyril's fate and his role in it; Keller's final tragically misguided attempt at heroism; and that phenomenal ending with McManus on a bus with all of his failures, both a sense of moving on physically but never being able to move on psychologically/emotionally, ending with Augustus in the prison as the camera tracks through the whole place as sounds from past seasons echo.
Oz was inspired to the very end.
No Said is the stereotypical hero, other than the fact that he is a Black muslim. He is deeply religious, virtuous, has a sense of honor the other prisoners dont, and is always fighting for justice, and trying to help other prisoners out. Those qualities are found in the traditional hero. Beecher, OTOH, is a familiar anti-hero. He has alot of vices: alcoholism, sex, violence, revenge, yet deep down inside he is still a basically decent guy with a still intact moral compass.
Said has problems with rage, he is selfish and egotistical, he is hypocritical, he lived a life of sin prior to finding Allah but even after still struggles violently with his demons. There's nothing "traditional" or "pure" about his heroism, and the fact that his pre-prison life was so much different than Beecher's, a majority of whose vices were first introduced
in prison, not prior to, makes him a better candidate.
Beecher is a wholesome family man with a wife, loving parents, and a good job. He has
one vice and it gets him in trouble, and everything else that happens has him equal parts victim and offender, and it's his struggle to rise above the filth into which he has been dumped that is more traditionally heroic.
His words also indicate he believes Oz to be the second greatest dramatic series ever produced.
I can't change the truth, I can only preach it.
As-salamu alaykum, my brother
