Keep Hoping Machine Running (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thefourthvine) wrote2004-09-20 04:45 pm
thefourthvine) wrote2004-09-20 04:45 pm
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Fandoms I Have Loved 8: Oz
I'll be the first to admit that when it comes to Oz, I know nothing. But when has that ever stopped me before? Roll on with the FIHL, and if I get it wrong, hey, just tell me so.
Oz is a TV show. About a maximum-security prison. That did its damnedest to show prison life the way it really is. And it was written by Tom Fontana. This is all the warning any sane person should require; translated, it says "do not watch Oz or read Oz FF." I've managed to avoid watching the show, but I've succumbed to the fic, albeit in a horror-show, hands-over-the-eyes, reading-between-my-fingers kind of way.
I don't do TV. The thought of prison life makes me woozy. And I hate Tom Fontana because he is the greatest living practitioner of character assassination (literal and figurative) and fan betrayal. See, the thing is, Fontana creates fantastic characters, characters it's easy to like or love or at least stare at (or read about) in endless fascination. And then, when he's got you, when you can't look away, he rapes them.
In Homicide, the rape was figurative. In Oz, it's literal.
Rape of any kind makes me seriously, seriously sick.
But I read this fandom anyway. Why? Well, when you take the props of civilization and sanity away from men, you get Oz. And when you take the props of civilization and sanity away from FF writers, you get some superlative fic.
Oz writers are the disadvantaged youths of the fannish world; their options are limited and their opportunities are few. Their guys can't date. Can't spend time together when they want and can't get away from each other when they need to. Can't ever be safe or secure or simply in love. These men are observed 24/7 by psychopaths and killers and sick, twisted fucks, and I'll leave you to guess which of those are the guards and which are the inmates. The characters live in a place with glass walls and fluorescent lights and cameras everywhere. They can't do the usual kind of kink, because they don't have access to sex toys or (private use) handcuffs or fetish gear, but every sexual encounter is BDSM anyway. Even lube is a problem for Oz writers. So Oz fic is written inside a strange auctorial prison, and the way good FF works around that prison is a wonder to behold. Seriously, it's worth seeing what such major limitations can do to great writers, even if the universe and pretty much everyone in it squicks you.
-The Characters-
There are a lot of characters in this show. A lot. But for the sake of space and sanity, I'm going to restrict this list, and the fics that follow, to the major characters involved in the show's most popular – and canon – pairing. But please do keep in mind that each show consisted of many plot lines that involved none of these people. And also keep in mind that Beecher/Keller is simply the beginner's pairing in this fandom; there's lots of other great fic, including gen and het, which last one is particularly impressive when you consider how few women there were in this show.
TOBIAS BEECHER was an alcoholic, a lawyer, a slightly fucked-up but eminently normal man. He drove drunk, struck and killed a little girl named Kathy (or Cathy) Rockwell, and got sentenced to 15 years in Oz. I guess you could say that was the start of his downward spiral. Yes, things get substantially worse for him than merely killing a kid. I mean, he gets raped, he gets a swastika burned onto his ass, he gets humiliated, his wife commits suicide, his kids get abducted, one of his kids is murdered – are you starting to grasp the nature of Fontana's madness now? It should be no surprise at all that, before long, Beecher shares the madness; among his other Notable Prison Achievements, he bites off part of someone's penis, shits on someone's face, and, alongside Keller, wins, hands-down, the Drama Queen of All Time Award, competing in the doubles category.
VERN SCHILLINGER is the man who proved to Tobias Beecher that committing accidental manslaughter is really, in the scheme of things, not all that bad, at least compared to the things that can happen to you after that. He's a white supremacist; he heads up the Aryan Brotherhood in Oz. He's responsible for more than half the bad things that happen to Beecher: the rapes, for example, and the kidnapping and murder of his son. He's also responsible for one of the good things that happened to Beecher. If, in fact, you can consider Chris Keller a good thing.
CHRISTOPHER KELLER is a killer, a con-man, and a sociopath. Or he's a con-man and a killer with carefully constructed armor who found that the single chink in that armor was named Tobias Beecher. The fic goes both ways on this - and, in fact, in a lot more ways than just those two. I, myself, view him as manipulative, deceitful, and slick, but honestly in love with Beecher despite his own wishes and his own best interests. I also see him as just one of the many characters Tom Fontana has destroyed with his "twistiest twist that ever twisted" approach to plotting. I figure if Fontana can create 11 million versions of each of his characters purely for effect, I'm entitled to choose the edition I like the best, and I like my Keller fucked up but not beyond redemption.
-The Plot-
I'll be honest. I have no fucking clue. It's six seasons of Tom Fontana's neuroses on display, is what it is, and people get raped and stabbed and fucked and fucked over and broken and healed and then broken again. And there's a hell of a lot of nudity (for a TV show) and not nearly enough consensual gay sex. I know that much, but I actually don't know anything, because take just Keller and Beecher. These guys go through every possible plot development FF writers could think of in the canon except maybe marriage and MPreg. (Actually, one of the things I love about this fandom is that the fic doesn't pull shit like that as often as in other fandoms, even if that's all the virgin territory Tom Fontana left for fic writers.)
-Where to Start If You Don't Know the Canon-
Well, the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
crack_van Fandom Summary is always good. But if you actually want to unravel any part of the plot, you'll need way more than that. Luckily, there is way more than that.
TV Tome's Oz Guide is very thorough; you can get anything from an overview to character details to episode guides here. The episode guides are particularly good.
Shank You Very Much is a fan-oriented site that's especially useful for the transcripts. But don't go looking for a transcript until you're damn sure that you can't find out what you need to know from a summary; the summaries are more coherent and easier to follow without having seen the show.
-Where to Start with Oz Fan Fiction-
First, know that you read at your own risk. Fic in this fandom doesn't pull any punches. Even fluff, Oz-style, still features more brutality per square inch than everything I've ever rec'd in due South, and schmoop, Oz-style, is something that lasts for four minutes during a marathon lockdown and that happens in between blows to the face. Caveat lectrix, sweeties.
And here's a warning in the opposite direction. Oz fic can truly be absolutely brutal. But I'm already seriously out of my comfort zone with this fandom, so I tend to avoid pieces that are enthusiastically described as "just like being shanked in the shoulder by someone you love!" or "even Fontana never went here" or "after you read this, you'll know how the Schillinger treatment feels – firsthand." So I tend to go for the stories that have – well, not happy endings, per se, because this is Oz, after all. It's just that I try to stay away from the eternal midnight end of the darkfic spectrum. So be aware that there are some great, great stories out there in this fandom that you'll never see me rec.
"I Didn't Want to Fuck You, but You're Pretty When You Cry": A Beecher/Keller Primer: Vid: Pretty When You Cry, by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lierdumoa. I've never recommended a vid before, and there's a reason for that; this is one of only two vids that I've ever considered worth keeping on my hard drive. And oh how worth it this one is. If you're planning to spend any time at all reading in this fandom, you need this vid; it's five seasons of Beecher/Keller craziness packed into four minutes. Here you'll see the good (the laundry room kiss), the bad (most of the rest of the relationship, although I think the arm-breaking wrestling scene probably has to rank high on the "bad" list), and the ugly (Toby's OMG so scary save me save me save me facial hair, if you can even call that hair). The song choice is perfect. Hell, the entire vid is pretty much perfect. And after you've seen this, you'll know almost everything you need to know to read B/K. So watch it. (And be a good little vid watcher and save the file on your computer; don't watch it on her bandwidth. Apart from anything else, you'll want this one saved. Truly you will.)
Blasphemy and Buttsex Make a Delightful Combination: A Beecher/Keller Sex Scene: Zipless, byrowanfairchild. What's the first thing anyone wants to read in a new fandom? Well, if that person is a reader of this LJ, probably porn. Preferably cheerful porn that doesn't require a lot of detailed knowledge of the four seasons that precede the action. So I give you this, Rowan Fairchild's mildly blasphemous but otherwise absolutely buoyant Oz porn. I have in my notes on this one "light-hearted and cheerful," which is because they have sex, they're glad, and the last line actually made me laugh. I mean, if it wasn't for the guards, the nun, and the unfortunate behavior of some of the inmates toward the copy machine, you wouldn't even know it was prison. (Because Tobias Beecher types get fucked by Chris Keller types all the time. Right?)
When You Play with Keller, You'd Better Know You're Playing to Lose: Beecher and Keller and a Little Game: Two Truths and a Lie, by Adastrafictionbya. Another story that gets you to the heart of Beecher/Keller, or at least as near as you can get to the heart of the relationship at this particular moment in the canon. There are things Keller can't say without having an out. A lot of things. Keller doesn't like being pinned down, can't stand being totally honest. And there are things Beecher needs to hear absolutely, no outs, no take-backs, no lies. This story is a lovely piece of B/K interaction. Beecher pushes. Keller twists. No one wins. But no one exactly loses, either, which is what makes this one of those stories I can read and even rec, instead of one of those stories that leaves Beecher maimed and despairing and Keller dying and despairing and me baking comfort food and despairing.
Oz is a TV show. About a maximum-security prison. That did its damnedest to show prison life the way it really is. And it was written by Tom Fontana. This is all the warning any sane person should require; translated, it says "do not watch Oz or read Oz FF." I've managed to avoid watching the show, but I've succumbed to the fic, albeit in a horror-show, hands-over-the-eyes, reading-between-my-fingers kind of way.
I don't do TV. The thought of prison life makes me woozy. And I hate Tom Fontana because he is the greatest living practitioner of character assassination (literal and figurative) and fan betrayal. See, the thing is, Fontana creates fantastic characters, characters it's easy to like or love or at least stare at (or read about) in endless fascination. And then, when he's got you, when you can't look away, he rapes them.
In Homicide, the rape was figurative. In Oz, it's literal.
Rape of any kind makes me seriously, seriously sick.
But I read this fandom anyway. Why? Well, when you take the props of civilization and sanity away from men, you get Oz. And when you take the props of civilization and sanity away from FF writers, you get some superlative fic.
Oz writers are the disadvantaged youths of the fannish world; their options are limited and their opportunities are few. Their guys can't date. Can't spend time together when they want and can't get away from each other when they need to. Can't ever be safe or secure or simply in love. These men are observed 24/7 by psychopaths and killers and sick, twisted fucks, and I'll leave you to guess which of those are the guards and which are the inmates. The characters live in a place with glass walls and fluorescent lights and cameras everywhere. They can't do the usual kind of kink, because they don't have access to sex toys or (private use) handcuffs or fetish gear, but every sexual encounter is BDSM anyway. Even lube is a problem for Oz writers. So Oz fic is written inside a strange auctorial prison, and the way good FF works around that prison is a wonder to behold. Seriously, it's worth seeing what such major limitations can do to great writers, even if the universe and pretty much everyone in it squicks you.
-The Characters-
There are a lot of characters in this show. A lot. But for the sake of space and sanity, I'm going to restrict this list, and the fics that follow, to the major characters involved in the show's most popular – and canon – pairing. But please do keep in mind that each show consisted of many plot lines that involved none of these people. And also keep in mind that Beecher/Keller is simply the beginner's pairing in this fandom; there's lots of other great fic, including gen and het, which last one is particularly impressive when you consider how few women there were in this show.
TOBIAS BEECHER was an alcoholic, a lawyer, a slightly fucked-up but eminently normal man. He drove drunk, struck and killed a little girl named Kathy (or Cathy) Rockwell, and got sentenced to 15 years in Oz. I guess you could say that was the start of his downward spiral. Yes, things get substantially worse for him than merely killing a kid. I mean, he gets raped, he gets a swastika burned onto his ass, he gets humiliated, his wife commits suicide, his kids get abducted, one of his kids is murdered – are you starting to grasp the nature of Fontana's madness now? It should be no surprise at all that, before long, Beecher shares the madness; among his other Notable Prison Achievements, he bites off part of someone's penis, shits on someone's face, and, alongside Keller, wins, hands-down, the Drama Queen of All Time Award, competing in the doubles category.
VERN SCHILLINGER is the man who proved to Tobias Beecher that committing accidental manslaughter is really, in the scheme of things, not all that bad, at least compared to the things that can happen to you after that. He's a white supremacist; he heads up the Aryan Brotherhood in Oz. He's responsible for more than half the bad things that happen to Beecher: the rapes, for example, and the kidnapping and murder of his son. He's also responsible for one of the good things that happened to Beecher. If, in fact, you can consider Chris Keller a good thing.
CHRISTOPHER KELLER is a killer, a con-man, and a sociopath. Or he's a con-man and a killer with carefully constructed armor who found that the single chink in that armor was named Tobias Beecher. The fic goes both ways on this - and, in fact, in a lot more ways than just those two. I, myself, view him as manipulative, deceitful, and slick, but honestly in love with Beecher despite his own wishes and his own best interests. I also see him as just one of the many characters Tom Fontana has destroyed with his "twistiest twist that ever twisted" approach to plotting. I figure if Fontana can create 11 million versions of each of his characters purely for effect, I'm entitled to choose the edition I like the best, and I like my Keller fucked up but not beyond redemption.
-The Plot-
I'll be honest. I have no fucking clue. It's six seasons of Tom Fontana's neuroses on display, is what it is, and people get raped and stabbed and fucked and fucked over and broken and healed and then broken again. And there's a hell of a lot of nudity (for a TV show) and not nearly enough consensual gay sex. I know that much, but I actually don't know anything, because take just Keller and Beecher. These guys go through every possible plot development FF writers could think of in the canon except maybe marriage and MPreg. (Actually, one of the things I love about this fandom is that the fic doesn't pull shit like that as often as in other fandoms, even if that's all the virgin territory Tom Fontana left for fic writers.)
Helpful Information for the Oz Newbie
-Where to Start If You Don't Know the Canon-
Well, the
crack_van Fandom Summary is always good. But if you actually want to unravel any part of the plot, you'll need way more than that. Luckily, there is way more than that.TV Tome's Oz Guide is very thorough; you can get anything from an overview to character details to episode guides here. The episode guides are particularly good.
Shank You Very Much is a fan-oriented site that's especially useful for the transcripts. But don't go looking for a transcript until you're damn sure that you can't find out what you need to know from a summary; the summaries are more coherent and easier to follow without having seen the show.
-Where to Start with Oz Fan Fiction-
First, know that you read at your own risk. Fic in this fandom doesn't pull any punches. Even fluff, Oz-style, still features more brutality per square inch than everything I've ever rec'd in due South, and schmoop, Oz-style, is something that lasts for four minutes during a marathon lockdown and that happens in between blows to the face. Caveat lectrix, sweeties.
And here's a warning in the opposite direction. Oz fic can truly be absolutely brutal. But I'm already seriously out of my comfort zone with this fandom, so I tend to avoid pieces that are enthusiastically described as "just like being shanked in the shoulder by someone you love!" or "even Fontana never went here" or "after you read this, you'll know how the Schillinger treatment feels – firsthand." So I tend to go for the stories that have – well, not happy endings, per se, because this is Oz, after all. It's just that I try to stay away from the eternal midnight end of the darkfic spectrum. So be aware that there are some great, great stories out there in this fandom that you'll never see me rec.
"I Didn't Want to Fuck You, but You're Pretty When You Cry": A Beecher/Keller Primer: Vid: Pretty When You Cry, by
lierdumoa. I've never recommended a vid before, and there's a reason for that; this is one of only two vids that I've ever considered worth keeping on my hard drive. And oh how worth it this one is. If you're planning to spend any time at all reading in this fandom, you need this vid; it's five seasons of Beecher/Keller craziness packed into four minutes. Here you'll see the good (the laundry room kiss), the bad (most of the rest of the relationship, although I think the arm-breaking wrestling scene probably has to rank high on the "bad" list), and the ugly (Toby's OMG so scary save me save me save me facial hair, if you can even call that hair). The song choice is perfect. Hell, the entire vid is pretty much perfect. And after you've seen this, you'll know almost everything you need to know to read B/K. So watch it. (And be a good little vid watcher and save the file on your computer; don't watch it on her bandwidth. Apart from anything else, you'll want this one saved. Truly you will.) Blasphemy and Buttsex Make a Delightful Combination: A Beecher/Keller Sex Scene: Zipless, by
rowanfairchild. What's the first thing anyone wants to read in a new fandom? Well, if that person is a reader of this LJ, probably porn. Preferably cheerful porn that doesn't require a lot of detailed knowledge of the four seasons that precede the action. So I give you this, Rowan Fairchild's mildly blasphemous but otherwise absolutely buoyant Oz porn. I have in my notes on this one "light-hearted and cheerful," which is because they have sex, they're glad, and the last line actually made me laugh. I mean, if it wasn't for the guards, the nun, and the unfortunate behavior of some of the inmates toward the copy machine, you wouldn't even know it was prison. (Because Tobias Beecher types get fucked by Chris Keller types all the time. Right?)When You Play with Keller, You'd Better Know You're Playing to Lose: Beecher and Keller and a Little Game: Two Truths and a Lie, by Adastra
fictionbya. Another story that gets you to the heart of Beecher/Keller, or at least as near as you can get to the heart of the relationship at this particular moment in the canon. There are things Keller can't say without having an out. A lot of things. Keller doesn't like being pinned down, can't stand being totally honest. And there are things Beecher needs to hear absolutely, no outs, no take-backs, no lies. This story is a lovely piece of B/K interaction. Beecher pushes. Keller twists. No one wins. But no one exactly loses, either, which is what makes this one of those stories I can read and even rec, instead of one of those stories that leaves Beecher maimed and despairing and Keller dying and despairing and me baking comfort food and despairing.
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Hey, I wrote a Fandoms I Have Loved about it, and I've only ever watched that vid. (And, thank you, that's quite enough; I don't need to, you know, see the rape scene and the branding scene and the myriad death scenes and whatever scene explains that godawful thing - that roadkill fungus creature, or whatever it is - that Beecher has on his face sometimes.) So, hell yeah - weigh in with the commentary. This is fandom. It's not like you need to pass comps to have an opinion here.
Am I allowed to blame you for this?
No. I am a fellow-sufferer, and it is wrong to blame the victim.
All right, as soon as I return from darkest Africa after consulting many venerable witch doctors I shall announce the cure for the Oz curse publically.
Good. Just don't try the thing with the pentagram and the iron filings and the giant cauldron of stinking muck, because I did that last week and I don't feel my addiction decreasing at all. Oh, and the overexposure, read-everything-and-then-I'm-over-it cure? Doesn't work. Has never worked. Just so you know.
Also, Ethan Frome was the bane of my existence last summer, thanks to that freaking English AP reading list. It looked so innocent! DAMN YOU EDITH WHARTON.
Ethan Frome (and I need to say here that I do know how to spell it, even if I don't, apparently, know how to remember to proofread) is likely responsible for our nation's skyrocketing increase in antidepressant prescriptions. And illegal drug use. And gnawing existential despair. And making high school students read it? Hey, yeah, that's a great idea; they aren't miserable enough, so let's expose them to Edith "Wretchedness" Wharton's apparent conviction that, really, death is the best you can hope for, and it's all downhill from there. Literally. (Although, best town name ever: Starkfield. Because, yes, it so is.)
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Rape I cannot handle. At all, ever. American History X proved that very nicely, and at least the protagonists in that one had some semblance of redemption or morals. Things were bad, but they weren't Fontana bad. From what I've heard of Oz, rape seems to be an almost weekly occurence, which is the main reason why I will likely never watch it or, if I do watch, will cause my eventual mental breakdown.
I don't think anything, really, can explain Beecher's beard. Or so I'm told that's what it is. Personally I think that's taking a lot on faith. Keller has almost a beard thing going on in parts of that video, and it is PROPER AND SOMEWHAT SEXY [and then really, that's the beginning of the reasons why i shouldn't watch Oz. Serial killing sociopaths should not be that attractive.]
Um, so, the very pale guy that Keller has his arm around...while Beecher's in the headlock? Who is he? He looks like some freakish combination of every nightmare I've ever had, and the albino from The Princess Bride. "Tough luck, Beecher. TAKE HIM TO THE PIT OF DESPAIR!"
As for myriad death count...doesn't pretty much every character die? I mean, anyone who sleeps with Beecher, as I understand it, because Keller is protective like that. "You! Off my man! Only I may break his arms and legs in that special way!" And then gruesome killage and/or sex occurs. Sometimes both? I really hate this fandom.
And yet it has its sweaty manhands all over me -- and that analogy stops right there.
No. I am a fellow-sufferer, and it is wrong to blame the victim.
Well, you do have a tendency to make things sound really fascinating when I would otherwise have no interest in them. As long as you're suffering too. Hee. I just noticed that. "OZ: The Fandom I Don't Want To Love (That Is Apparently Going to Make Me Its Bitch Anyway.)" I love you. That is exactly how I feel about it.
Oh, and the overexposure, read-everything-and-then-I'm-over-it cure? Doesn't work. Has never worked. Just so you know.
As evidenced by the seven or so times I've watched that vid, and yet every time I pause in what I'm doing the song is in my head? I mean, I usually try to not overdo it with fic I really love and so on, so it still has that 'new and exciting' feel. DOES. NOT. WORK. With Oz, anyway. *weeps* I'm all for dysfunction, but, okay this is just ridiculously beyond what I'm all for.
And you may have already answered this once, thanks to the last shot of the vid but...Keller dies? Excuse me? Porquoi?
so let's expose them to Edith "Wretchedness" Wharton's apparent conviction that, really, death is the best you can hope for, and it's all downhill from there. Literally.
Oh my god, it's so horribly true. I'm willing to blame Ethan Frome [I wasn't sure about spelling either] for the majority of suicides among honours students. Love! Oh, wait...no...death. Marriage! Nope...wait, she's dying too. Young hot cousin! Well..you get the picture.
*mopes* This is a ridiculously long comment and yet I still have things to say. Bugger.
[I've heard that skinning a rabbit and walking twelve times around a pear tree counterclockwise is supposed to work, but I have to wait until the next full moon. Life is hard.]
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This is sort of the blind leading the blind, but, yup. Most characters die. I mean, OK, nearly everyone. And definitely anyone who has sex with Beecher (who goes through a whole "I'll fuck anyone who's interested and everyone I can, just to fuck with your head" thing that really increases the body count) bites it, 'cause Keller is, as you said, protective like that. I read a fic once where O'Reily tries to warn off a new guy who is flirting with Keller (who is, of course, on the outs with Beecher) by saying, "Those two aren't known for playing well with others. I wouldn't get between 'em if I was you." Aaaaaand the Understatement of the Year Award goes to - Ryan O'Reily!
Um, so, the very pale guy that Keller has his arm around...while Beecher's in the headlock? Who is he? He looks like some freakish combination of every nightmare I've ever had, and the albino from The Princess Bride. "Tough luck, Beecher. TAKE HIM TO THE PIT OF DESPAIR!"
Pretty sure that's Vern Schillinger, though I'd appreciate some confirmation from someone who a) has watched at least one episode of the series and b) can recognize faces. But if I'm right, excellent call on that nightmare-albino-Pit of Despair thing.
And you may have already answered this once, thanks to the last shot of the vid but...Keller dies? Excuse me? Porquoi?
'Fraid so, but it happens in the last season, also known as "the season I refuse to acknowledge as canon because it has all the hallmarks of really bad fic, and I've already got plenty of that in my life, thanks." So you can decide for yourself whether or not to buy this chain of events (and, again, I don't know this for sure, and in fact the last time I tried to explain this,
Beecher gets paroled. Keller deliberately fucks it up, and Beecher comes back to Oz to serve out the rest of his sentence (nine years). Then, in the words of Rowan:
"Keller commits suicide when he realizes he's never going to get Beecher back. The thing that has most OZ fans in permanant denial, is that he tries, at the last second, to pin it on Beecher, by yelling "Beecher, no!" as he falls -- which in Fontana's world, is Keller's one last attempt to be in control of the relationship, even at the bitter end."
I call that violently out of character, even for Keller, and I think Fontana deserves to be whacked with the Bad Writer Stick. Many, many times.
*mopes* This is a ridiculously long comment and yet I still have things to say. Bugger.
Well, I'm all for long comments, but if you'd rather take this whole blame-commiseration-exorcism-Wharton thing to email, I can be found at deepbluesea at postmark dot net.
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Is it wrong that I giggled here? It's definitely wrong that I giggled here.
You'd think though, that after awhile a pattern would start to emerge and either Beecher would realize it ["Is it me?"] , or the prisoners he's having sex with would ["Fuck Beecher, end up dead in a supply closet."]
Aaaaaand the Understatement of the Year Award goes to - Ryan O'Reily!
No kidding. Aha! Through google image search [for Schillinger, but we'll get to that later] I've discovered that the one eppy of Oz I inadvertedly watched part of, contained Cyril O'Reily, previously known only as "Someone with long blond hair to whom unspeakable things happened in the space of fifteen minutes. Let us never speak of this again." Ha! You have no idea how satisfying that is. For years my only knowledge of Oz was a vague impression of someone with long, stringy blond hair who gets totally brutalized in ways I no longer remember. But then I was reading
Pretty sure that's Vern Schillinger, though I'd appreciate some confirmation from someone who a) has watched at least one episode of the series and b) can recognize faces. But if I'm right, excellent call on that nightmare-albino-Pit of Despair thing.
Okay, so I came up with this for Vern Schillinger:
After watching that video again, in the name of research, I still can't tell if they're the same person. My initial reaction is no, but then after pausing and going frame-by-frame [thereby revealing myself as an anal-retentative cow] I'm not sure. Schillinger would make the most sense, though.
Glad to know someone else sees the PB-Albino thing. Cheers!
Beecher gets paroled. Keller deliberately fucks it up, and Beecher comes back to Oz to serve out the rest of his sentence (nine years). Then, in the words of Rowan:
"Keller commits suicide when he realizes he's never going to get Beecher back. The thing that has most OZ fans in permanant denial, is that he tries, at the last second, to pin it on Beecher, by yelling "Beecher, no!" as he falls -- which in Fontana's world, is Keller's one last attempt to be in control of the relationship, even at the bitter end."
... UM. Ouch. So I'm assuming that Beecher found out and Was Not Pleased, and that's why Keller knew he was never going to get him back? So he commits suicide, but pins it on Beecher, thereby making sure his Beloved will never ever be paroled? And also, hello, alone in Oz. Which has to be sort of a bitch. As witnessed in Season One.
I think I see what you mean about it being OOC, though. That seems a little too vindictive, for someone who wanted to be with Beecher so much he actually got him thrown back in jail. But then maybe I'm wrong, and the Oz-fangirls are laughing at me from afar. "Too vindictive? Keller? Go back to Hogwarts, little girl." It seems like the more I find out about Oz, the less I want to know. And yet I keep asking.
I can't imagine watching this show if I didn't know what was going to happen beforehand.
Well, I'm all for long comments, but if you'd rather take this whole blame-commiseration-exorcism-Wharton thing to email, I can be found at deepbluesea at postmark dot net.
I don't mind the long comments either, but it's your journal, and I thought you might. I'm lessien[at]gmail dot com. I leave it up to you, as I'm generally up for talking about things long after people are ready to beat me to death out of boredom. I definitely appreciate your answering my questions, even if it is 'blind leading the blind'. I can't even tell.
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Hey, just to poke my head into your convo here for a sec (I'm a buttinski that way *g*) -- actually, no, there really weren't that many rapes *shown* on the show. More like one a season. (Not that that isn't plenty, but...)
Deaths? Heh. Now that's another story...
Yes, the guy Keller has his arm around is Schillinger. The actor JK Simmons lost a quite a bit of weight after the first two seasons, which might account for some of the confusion.
And you know, one thing I haven't seen mentioned here at all in this discussion is that the show isn't *all* violence and despair. It's really really funny sometimes. And human, and sometimes downright touching. I hope I don't sound prickly for saying this, but some of this discussion is making it sound like anyone who actually watches this show must be some sort of depraved ghoul. It's really not like that. This show was, for the most part wonderfully written, had one of the best ensemble casts ever assembled, and wasn't afraid to tackle real issues about race and social justice in America.
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Well, that's not so bad I guess (and how wrong do I feel for saying that?) I think that just by reading episode guides, maybe it seemed like there were a lot more rapes than actually existed per square inch. Condensing the plot makes it sound a lot more batshit than it actually is, I'm guessing.
Deaths? Heh. Now that's another story...
See, that I think I could handle more, because of the morbid sense of humour thing I have going on.
Yes, the guy Keller has his arm around is Schillinger. The actor JK Simmons lost a quite a bit of weight after the first two seasons, which might account for some of the confusion.
Aha. Thank you very much.
And you know, one thing I haven't seen mentioned here at all in this discussion is that the show isn't *all* violence and despair. It's really really funny sometimes. And human, and sometimes downright touching.
Well, I figured it had to be more than doom and despair, or else who would watch it, right? I'm just speaking out of a) ignorance and b) a real fear of getting into this show and then having to invest in psychiatric therapy. Because personally, (and I ended up going into this a little on my LJ) I get way too concerned with what happens to fictional characters -- it's embarrassing, but it's true. And I have a feeling that I could probably very easily get into this show, but I'm trying to stop before I start. The easiest way to do this is to remind myself of all the worst things that happen on the show. Kind of a screwed-up attempt at self-preservation.
I hope I don't sound prickly for saying this, but some of this discussion is making it sound like anyone who actually watches this show must be some sort of depraved ghoul. It's really not like that. This show was, for the most part wonderfully written, had one of the best ensemble casts ever assembled, and wasn't afraid to tackle real issues about race and social justice in America.
You don't sound prickly! And I'm really sure that no one intended it to sound like that at all. If anything, I was getting a huge sense of admiration for the fangirls who braved six seasons of the show, without the luxury of knowing what was going to happen beforehand. Honestly, I salute you girls. I couldn't have done it.
I think perhaps the fact that the show was so well-written is another reason people might be reluctant to get involved with it? I mean, people usually form an attachment to well-written characters, and maybe I'm generalizing again, but it sounds like OZ is not a fandom in which you want to get too attached to anyone. It looks amazing, and touching, and very real.
But...like I said before, I don't really consider myself strong enough to watch it all the way through alone without going a wee bit insane.
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I went to check this out, but it must be a locked entry. :-(
Anyway, no I totally hear you -- and believe me, OZ isn't the show for everyone. It is intense, and graphic, and it will put you on an emotional rollercoaster if you get attached to the characters. I'd say go ahead and rent the first season, give it a shot and see what you think. If it's too intense, you'll know after an episode or two, heh, but I doubt that would be enough to send you out for psychiatric care. :-)
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I think another part of the reason I'm reluctant [read: scared] to start watching is that, well...not unlike Beecher, I have a bit of an addictive personality. Only instead of drugs, I do fandoms. Multiple fandoms. For some reason, it is all too easy for me to get really really into a new fandom, and generally it doesn't work if I try to do it halfway.
So even if I do rent the first season, watch a couple of episodes, and then decided it's too much, I will in all likelihood, spend altogether too much time still thinking about it. "I wonder if so and so dies." "I wonder how many episodes I'd have to watch before Beecher goes nuts."
And so on. Before I knew it, I'd be howling and throwing things at the TV, but completely unable to tear myself away.
Also, my flist is completely barren of Ozfans, and there is no way I want to experience all this stuff without the benefits of cathartic whining.
[The sad thing is, I'm pretty much considering renting it now. Nooooooo.]
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My apologies; that wasn't what I intended to convey, or what I actually think. I just think you guys are braver and tougher than I am. I mean, I pitch a major wobbler when there's even one death in my favorite canons (Sirius, whose death really undermined my love for the whole HP series, being one example), and I tend to get squealy and scared and totally little-girly if there's the slightest hint of badness in TV shows. (Seriously. Cannot watch the second season of Sports Night without making this horrible noise, just because there's some drama happening there.) That does not make me not ghoulish, because I am. It just makes me really irritating to be around.
And I know the acting (on Oz, which is actually the subject at hand no matter how much I like to turn the conversation back to me me me) was incredible, and the show itself was amazing and ground-breaking. I even know there was humor in it, because I've read a few of the transcripts, and if something makes me smile in a transcript, I know it must've been profoundly funny in the actual show. And, truly, I've flirted with the idea of watching the show, because it sounds so damn amazing. I just know I couldn't handle it - because, you know, see above about squeamishness. In other words: the problem is me, not the show.
But, you know,
And thanks for verifying the presence of Schillinger, who is one scary-looking man. I remember watching that vid, which actually got me started on Oz fic, and thinking - ooo, this can't be good. He's all huggy. With Satan.
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Anyway, I'm sorry again for sounding cranky. I just get tired of feeling defensive about my fandom (You like WHAT??? Ohmigod, WHY???) and I guess my buttons are a little too easily pushed. :-(