Somewhere Over The Rainbow

I just finished going through Season 4b - possibly the trick to this season is to watch all the episodes back to back with little time to think about the weirdness of it all. So in addition to doing the little quote things (I have developed a weird Said obsession, which will probably lead to me being incredibly sad tomorrow, since he buys it in 6.3), I have put together a list of why Season 4b sucked. To be fair, I also have a list of some decent things about the season.

Reasons why season 4b sucked (really in no particular order):
1) Omar White/Burr Redding - These two characters bug the heck out of me. There was a need to replace Adebisi, but, man, these two together don't even come close to everything Adebisi's character brought to the show.
2) The Cage - Was there a move to cut down on nudity at HBO? We liked them sending people to the hole. This was just bizarre.
3)Floria - So was she or wasn't she supposed to be a love interest for Leo? She was too perky for this show.
4) Chinese refugees - This was a horrible subplot (despite the fact that it gave Morales more screen time)
5) Lighting - was someone experimenting with gels this season - the laundry room was a horrible shade of green and the computer room made everything blue. Not pretty.
6) Up Your Ante - good Lord, where was Miss Sally when we needed her (I know, on Up Your Ante)
7) Half a season without Keller - don't know what you've got til it's gone
8) Experimental Accelerated Aging Drugs - you don't have to use everything that comes into your head, Tom, sometimes it's best just to leave it alone.
9) Basketball/Dave Brass - the beginning of Brass' whining campaign and the fact that the sports clips are the least watchable thing in this series
10) The beginning of Ryan O'Reily's redemption - Little bits of it show up in the last episode making it seem that the other half of our favorite "Fandango" team is heading toward the boring straight and narrow.

( QUOTES! )

The good things about Season 4b (again in no particular order)

1) The return of Alvarez
2) The acting, particularly in "Cuts Like a Knife" is particularly good
3) JIA! (Maybe cause I'm just looking forward to him in Season 5)
4) Lots of Morales
5) "Adebisi lives!" - The Muslims attack on the Aryans came as a complete surprise
6) Clayton's nuttiness/Giles' moment of clarity
7) Medium Rare - an unusual way to present a recap episode but there's some brilliant dialogue in it
8) Sean Whitesell (aka Donald Groves) on as a writer
9) ( Said's Progression )

Wrapping up with Season 5 today, just in time for tomorrow's release date.

So these are the things I loved from Oz Season 4a - all quotes are from Fontana, working solo for the season (and doing a bang up job)

For me the whole season is really about the relationship between Adebisi and Said, so I'm going to start with their quotes -

( Adebisi-Said Quotes )

There are also some nice images from this season -
1) Nekkid Ryan O'Reily (A Word to the Wise)
2) Gloria's leaping over furniture to get at O'Reily (Works of Mercy)
3) Adebisi tilting Said's kofi as a symbol of allegiance (A Town Without Pity)
4) Robson & Keller's reactions when Zabitz drops dead (A Town Without Pity)
5) The blood stain growing on the white curtains (You Bet Your Life)

A lot of people don't see the comedy in Oz, but here are a few illustrations -
( Quotes that Make Me Laugh )

Eight episodes and I'm actually cutting these down a lot from the original list. One more group and that's it for today. These are the quotes that pretty well define the season.

( The Classics )

Honestly, in retrospect, I am beginning to think that Season 3 outperforms Season 4a, but if it does, it's not by much. The Omar White marathon starts tomorrow - God help us. There probably won't be nearly as many quotes as in this one.

So I have 3 days to watch 24 episodes so that I'm right on track for the new (to me) season.  Whew!  Thank God for 3 day weekends.

From "Secret Identities" by Tom Fontana and Sunil Nayar - significant for being the beginning of the ill-fated courtship (of sorts) between Adebisi and Said.





From Out O'Time - Fontana, going solo again.  Credit needs to be given to the director Barbara Kopple for some beautiful images - Keller and Beecher having a quiet conversation on either side of a chasm overlooking the common area of EmCity, Howell & Wittlesey's catfight, and the New Year's celebration between Beecher & Keller..

So today I kept visualizing the one Oz image that I really love - Ryan O'Reily jumps down from the top bunk, his bare feet hitting the floor.  And he walks to the front of his pod and looks out.  Pause, rewind, Ryan O'Reily... exactly.  

But I needed that image.  Today was better than yesterday but I was feeling lousy - I think I'm coming down with a head cold - just what I need.  And wifey was in the office today.  I had limited interaction with her, thank God.  But when I went on lunch, I was checking my e-mail and there was an e-mail from her - subject line "Phone" - I figured it was the usual crap about not giving my boss phone calls, but when I opened it, it said "Happy phone voice, PLEEEESE:" with one of those smiley emoticons after it.  This is a woman who cannot write checks to our independent contractors (after I separate & total up the invoices) because she doesn't have the time, but she can take the time to put some b.s. in an e-mail and send it to me (WITH EMOTICONS!!!)  I didn't reply back "Bite me" - at least not in the e-mail.  Instead I just used the "Block Sender" function so she'll either have to get up from her desk or else call me over the phone (which is probably what she will do).  I did show her e-mail to one of my co-workers, we'll be enjoying that for weeks.  My boss' wife is the Omar White of my life.  And actually Omar was probably more endearing (and smarter).

My boss is getting on my last nerve - he stuck me with the client from hell yesterday (I tried very hard to refrain from screaming into the phone).  And then today, he tells me he doesn't want to take on this one firm as a client because they aren't going to be bringing us any kind of profit.  But he sends them information, they call him back and tell him that they want to use us.  And what happens - we start working with them on Wednesday.  Brilliant.  I'm listening to this conversation and I just want to hit him over the head with the phone receiver for being so ridiculous.  This is going to bite us in the ass in a month or two.

Had a meeting at church tonight.  Seemed like the battle lines were drawn.  It's crazy.  Churches are some of the worst organizations for petty politics.  I have my allegiances though and I have to stick with them.  I was going to leave right after the meeting, but I had to stay and monitor things for a friend of mine and wound up making a significant amount of input.

Okay, once I'm done with Season 3, the episode highlights format is going to change - instead of all the fun and relevant quotes from each episode, I'm going to just choose one, as well as one image from the episode that captures the fun place that is "Oz" - whatever shall I use for "A Word to the Wise"?  (Ryan O'Reily jumps...)

Here's from the two episodes I watched last night - 

From "U.S. Male" - the dynamic duo of Fontana/B. Winters at it again.  There are some really nice monologues in this one



From "Cruel & Unusual Punishments" from the brain on Tom Fontana

Some days I just like to spend money.  Lately those have been few and far between, but since today was payday and since I was also dropped off by the Virgin megastore 45 minutes before I had to worry about a train connection, I decided to go in and look.  Big mistake.  I wound up taking advantage of this $10 sale they were having, picking up 2 DVDs (South Park Bigger, Longer & Uncut and The Big Lebowski) and 2 cds (Abba Gold and a collection of U2 music from 1990 to 2000 - I already have 1980-1990).  So I went a little overboard, but I could have done so much more.  And yes, I am pimping for Soderbergh, but they do have "sex, lies, and videotape" on sale for $10 and it's probably less at Target - it is really worth the investment.  That is if you don't get a sudden case of Meloni-induced dementia and opt to pick up "Wet Hot American Summer" instead.  Of course if you're a fellow Ozzite reading this, chances are you've seen it or even own it.  I never quite got the appeal.

I also found - thank goodness - some decent poppyseed dressing.  I'm very happy with that.  And my boss' wife wasn't in, my dancing didn't suck, and I just got finished watching a really wonderful episode of "Oz".  So it's all very nice right now.

So for the quotes - I honestly thought you people were going to get off easy today, because I only had one quote going into the last chapter, but then the whole last scene is pretty much in here verbatim.  This is some brilliant work from Tom Fontana (guess we can excuse him from writing one of the two stupidest lines in the first five seasons during the next episode).  BTW, the entire show can be summed up by Beecher's little sigh at the end.  Beau-tiful.

We are getting deep into some of my favorite episodes of the series - I'll try to keep the number of quotes down.   These are from Napoleon's Boney Parts, written by Tom Fontana

I have 4 hours left to feel like I've redeemed myself for the way this day has turned out.  I did manage to straighten up the apartment, a plus, but the hair thing was a bust - they were booked wall to wall when I went  there with more profitable assignments - apparently today was highlight day.  So then I went to the mall to check out BB&B for some kitchen stuff.  First of all, if you are going to put the line - "never use a knife again" on your food processor you shouldn't then require people to cut whatever they're processing into 1/2 inch pieces.  So I'm doing some experimenting to find out how far I can go with this thing.  I got the mini-version, maybe I should have coughed up more dough for the bigger one.  Hell, people, I know I'm not going to be able to drop an apple in there and have it sliced for me, but you'd think that some of these things would be easier than they are.  I am going to try to make pesto though.  That's a goal.  Truly though, there is something about chopping up veggies by hand that's very therapeutic, so I may just use the processor for slaws and dips and dressings - yum.  I also got a nifty little salad container which is cool since this week is salad week around the house.  

I'm getting a little disappointed at what used to be my favorite produce market.  They were taken over by new management and since that happened, the quality of the produce has gone way down.  I think I'd rather go somewhere else even if it means paying more money if I can get better fruits and veggies.

So in between attempts to the salon, I watched "Escape from Oz".  Great stuff in that episode, but be warned, people, in the next day or three, you will be besieged with a veritable gold mine of "Oz" quotes, here's a few for right now.  BTW, "Escape from Oz" is the episode where IMHO Wangler transitions from being an annoying little punk into an interesting little punk.  So here they are , solely from Fontana, and from a variety of characters -



By the way, I am starting to find that Said/McManus slash fic very believable.  Especially after watching the chemistry bounce off the two of them in this episode.   Somebody needs to let me know if Terry Kinney is ever going to make a guest appearance on "Justice", you know, before they cancel it.

I've been running the gamut of emotion today. Work was fairly awful, only going to get worse since tomorrow is billing day and my boss is very tense and cranky on those days (the presence of his wife who is our accountant has something to do with it, I'm sure). I'm not dancing tonight. Financial concerns are slowing me down on that front. I may be able to go next week. Hope so. I did a little writing in my MPs this morning. A bit from Alvarez. It made me sad to write it. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night - despite being in bed at 10:30 I stayed awake until almost 1 AM. The air conditioning system is right outside my door so I can hear it running all night long if I have my windows open. It's not quiet. I wanted to get so much done at work today, but I only managed about a fourth of what I had. I did some other things though, which may have made an impact - and my boss was completely nutty asking for this, that, and the other thing. Why he decided against doing the billing today, I'll never know. Maybe he thinks more money will magically appear - at this rate, we'll be running the December 2006 billing on January 15 or something. There's no consistency. But that's part of its charm, I suppose - the "on the toes" nature of the beastie.

Towards the end of the day at work, I started getting giddy, thinking about the fact that I am 35+ days away from finally seeing Season 6 of "Oz". I know I'm a greedy bitch when it comes to that stuff, so I haven't quite figured out how to work the actual viewing - oh I could go the calm approach - watch one episode a day for 8 days, or I could just go all out and watch as many of them at a time as possible (until my eyes are starting to cross). I sort of wish we had a DVD at work where I could sit and watch them during the day. Although I'd probably be taking chapter long bathroom breaks 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 times during the course of the day - might not sit well (plus I have the tendency to get very into the show, which may not go over well in our semi-pro atmosphere, but hell, if the rest of the staff can watch porn on a regular basis, surely I can watch a bit of "Oz". It does though have a tendency to take over. And that last one. I think I'm going to have to watch that on Friday night (even if I'm down to it on Thursday) simply because I know I'm going to be weeping profusely as the bus pulls away at the end. I cried when Hill died. I don't know if it was Hill's death or the fact that Season 5 had ended.

I've decided to run a quote for each episode of Oz, starting from the beginning for the next 35+ days to get me through to the *sniff* end.

From "The Routine", courtesy of Tom Fontana -
How ironic! To finally be an equal in a place where I don't have the freedom to enjoy it - Said

That's the one that beat out all the rest in this episode. The show has some great lines (it also has some sucky ones and we'll get to those in due time - one of my favorite eps has the worst line ever - which proceeds the most beautiful 9 seconds ever on TV - the planets realign, world peace is achieved, ah, Dean Winters. If only...