By the end of season six, the show became a race to the finish as bodies piled up like prison laundry. Parole was teased throughout but when it was finally granted, he was back in Oz by the next episode via a plotline so rushed and paper-thin it felt as if we had been cheated. For six seasons and more than 50 episodes we followed his agonising journey, from being sexually assaulted to having his family members murdered by a rival. Not to mention the fate of the Reverend Jeremiah Cloutier, who was somehow buried alive in the prison walls without detection.Īt the heart of the show was Tobias Beecher, a successful lawyer who killed a child with his car and was thrust into a horrifying unknown world. It was baffling beyond comprehension, as was the story of the prison nurse who fell in love with the inmate who had her husband killed. In season four, an ageing pill was given to inmates with long sentences so they could be released as old men as a measure to ease overcrowding. It was like a soap opera on angel dust – leading eventually to some wild shark jumping. Oz used the extremes of prison life to stretch plotlines well beyond what would be readily accepted in the outside world. But the show’s gritty veracity spared us nothing. Relationships – both consensual and coercive – played out over long periods, allowing viewers to sink into the dynamics of prison life. It used space and time thoughtfully, reflecting the repetitive nature of prison as often as it employed explosive techniques to echo impulsiveness and self-destruction. Alongside managing vast numbers of characters, Oz succeeded in tackling subjects with great emotional and sociopolitical depth episodes used flashbacks to tell individual inmate stories (a technique later mirrored in Orange Is the New Black). The show juggled a huge and ever-changing cast with an agility that allowed multiple plotlines to unfurl and interlink.

It captured the brutality of prison life and hit as hard as the frequently thrown punches. It didn’t shy away from hard realities: gangs, drugs, rape, extortion, assault, murder and racism. With a paralysed inmate who spouted philosophical opening monologues, it was evident early on that Oz was a prison drama unlike any other. The show focused on an experimental prison wing where inmates underwent holistic methods of rehabilitation.

Oz tv show full episodes