(NO SPOILER REVIEW) Honestly didn’t have any plans to watch this show after twin peaks but I was looking for something fast paced and not insanely long so I decided to give it a go and thank god I did. Oz is a show I’ve heard of for quite a while, it’s not a show that I hear being talked about in the greatest shows discussions but it’s held in high regard for being an innovator of starting the golden age of television. To my knowledge and after watching the show I can say and believe that this is the show that started true modern television. Of course Twin Peaks is the first ‘great’ show but this show pushes boundaries that no show did or has done since. It’s easily the most violent show I have seen but also one of the darkest. The world is gloomy, every character is depressed, violence is always around and it shows dark moments I don’t even know if I can say on this app. We see a true bleak look at prison life as in detail it showcases the gang life and the many battles they have with each other, the guards and how they are underpaid with them often having to do overtime or smuggle contraband and just an overall disregard for life. For a show from 1997 and to be the first proper great show on HBO you would expect it to not be as ballsy as modern tv but if anything this is one of the most ballsy shows. It throws you right into the deep end and never holds back. Unfortunately I would be lying if I said the show is a complete grounded realistic look at prison, for the most part it is but the last two seasons and arguably the second half of season 4 have their moments of absurdity. Moments where it feels too over the top to the point where it doesn’t exactly fit into the world it’s already built up. You will often hear people claim that the final two seasons (mainly the last) as the worst seasons in television which I find ridiculous. Are they great? No. But are they enjoyable and still decent absolutely. They aren’t awful but they just unfortunately fuck up a lot. The actual plot of the show is Oz is a prison in an unnamed city that is maximum security and holds the lowest of the low. Inside of Oz is an experimental wing curated by idealist Tim McManus who believes that instead of just locking away prisoners they should learn to integrate back into society and be rehabilitated. This experimental wing earns the name of ‘Emerald City’. From the start of the show they do a fantastic job at making Oz feel like it’s been alive for decades before and we are merely just a visitor for the short time we are there - almost like we are a prisoner there doing our own time. It expands on this by never showing outside life of the prison so the whole time we are there we only see the walls of the prison and maybe occasionally the outside gates. This makes the show feel really claustrophobic especially with the narrowed screen and close shot camera. You are constantly on edge as there is no sense of safety - no room to breathe. Each scene you are expecting the worst as it’s not a rare occurrence for major characters to get shanked out of the blue and murdered. The show makes us feel like the prisoners. There are also a lot of plot lines in Oz which at the start is really well balanced but as the show goes on it does get a little messy since so much is going on, I saw someone online describe it as “like if a hyperactive cameraman went into the prison and filmed as many plots as he could running around filming each prisoner”. There are many controversial shows where the story can influence real life people, for instance when watching Mr Robot you have a feel to be the vigilante Elliot is. It’s the opposite in Oz where when you watch it makes you never want to go to prison and it makes you feel dirty for watching almost. After each episode you feel like you want to have a long hot bath and enjoy the freedom we have on the outside. The show is also narrated by crippled inmate Augustus Hill who is wheelchair bound, he talks to the viewer personally during episodes and discusses philosophical questions in surreal dreamlike one-to-ones. Oz is also special in the way that it’s the first show to have no protagonist, it focuses on many people and the screen time is shared equally. Overall Oz is a great show but unfortunately does have many significant flaws. The show does get worse over time and makes some really bad plot decisions later on but it never once gets overall bad. It’s still really enjoyable even when it’s at its worst. It is also outdated and does have its pacing issues. But there are so many amazing things about Oz like its world, its characters, the acting and the influence it’s had. Oz walked so every great show could run. Even though it’s really gloomy and everyone is depressed it’s still hilarious at points especially when taken out of context, it has that HBO charm to it. Early on it’s very reminiscent of the wire in the way that it gives us insight on how a prison functions and runs - although unfortunately it loses that as the show goes on. Hell half the wire cast are in the show anyway so it might as well be a prequel. Oz is a LIGHT 8/10. Top 5 Episodes: 🥇A Game of Checkers (1 x 8) 🥈You Bet Your Life (4 x 8) 🥉Escape from Oz (2 x 8) 4️⃣ Famous Last Words (4 x 16) 5️⃣ A Day in the Death (6 x 6) Top 5 Characters: 🥇Augustus Hill 🥈Simon Adebisi 🥉Bob Rebadow 4️⃣ Omar White 5️⃣ Ryan O’Reily