Impotence
- Episode aired Feb 24, 2002
- TV-MA
- 59m
In the Season Five finale, Robson goes to extremes to remedy his gum dilemma, Meanwhile, McManus struggles with personal turmoil over his decision to stay at Oz and Rebadow deals with his gr... Read allIn the Season Five finale, Robson goes to extremes to remedy his gum dilemma, Meanwhile, McManus struggles with personal turmoil over his decision to stay at Oz and Rebadow deals with his grandson's fate.In the Season Five finale, Robson goes to extremes to remedy his gum dilemma, Meanwhile, McManus struggles with personal turmoil over his decision to stay at Oz and Rebadow deals with his grandson's fate.
- Suzanne Fitzgerald
- (as Betty Lynn Buckley)
- Dr. Gloria Nathan
- (as Lauren Vélez)
Storyline
Did you know
- GoofsWhen introducing Wolfgang Cutler, his name is backwards on the signboard. It should read Cutler, Wolfgang, but instead reads Wolfgang, Cutler.
- Quotes
[the Aryan Brotherhood has exiled James Robson while in the hole for getting a black man's gums implanted into his mouth]
James Robson: [returns to Unit B and approaches Schillinger and a few other Aryans with a smile] Hey!
[all the Aryans but Schillinger literally turn their back on him and walk away, stunning Robson]
James Robson: Jesus. Don't do this to me, Vern. You guys are all I've got in here.
Vernon Schillinger: It's not my choice, James. We've got a charter we gotta follow. You know that charter better than anybody.
James Robson: I asked the fucking dentist; he said put white man's gums in my mouth! White!
Vernon Schillinger: Really? Because that bruise Dr. Faraj planted on your cheek is blue. That tells me you didn't get the answer you were looking for. Tomorrow you're moving to another cell.
- Alternate versionsMore sadistic torture & hazing rituals involving the Aryans. Specifically involving Franklin Winthrop & Vern Schillinger. Scenes cut included Schillinger graphically sodomizing Franklin Winthrop with close ups of penis thrusting and full frontal nudity. Another rather disturbing scene involving more psychological torture of Franklin Winthrop with Vern Schillinger handing Franklin Winthrop a roll of toilet paper after Schillnger defecated in the toilet. Schillinger then stands up, bends over, looks at Winthrop and states with a smile "Come on prag, wipe it clean."
This I was fine with because it produced good results but when this same lazy or stupid writing is employed elsewhere then it really hurts the season. We may as well jump to the worst example – Rev Cloutier. At the end of the previous season this character was bricked up in a wall just before an explosion ended the season. Now, the easiest thing to do would be to have had him either be forgotten or just be killed in that explosion; so I'm not sure why they decided to have him survive and then exist on an astral plain before physically vanishing from his hospital bed. This thread did nothing of significance to the main characters or wider plotting and really just served to be silly – I really have no idea why they decided to do this. At least with some of the other silly writing, I can see what they were doing beyond that starting point. So, for example, Cyril being put on death row – yes it is silly that this would happen but at least it creates a plot and motivates characters. Likewise the lottery win is highly improbably but does allow characters to develop.
None of the examples really work as well as the main conflicts do though and even at their best the dumb stuff is still dumb and distracts from the show. It is particularly annoying when they do some clever stuff in and around the main plot. I continue to enjoy the narration and I really liked the musical episode this season – characters breaking that realism wall to sing songs within the world of the narrator. Things like this reminded me why the show was distinctive to keep me up at night to see it years ago and why it stays in my mind today – shame that the more I watch the more the weaknesses and the missed potential gets louder and louder. The cast continue to do good work though and this season feels like the plots are evenly spread out and mostly work reasonably well. Everyone convinces in their character and I guess it also helps that I was no longer looking for development of them as people, just for them to do their part within the plots.
Overall this 5th season of Oz is a good example of the good and the bad. On one hand we have some daft writing and silly plot devices that don't ring true at all, but then on the other hand we have a consistent tension and small conflicts which fit into the bigger picture of a never-ending battle. This aspect I liked as it felt realistic and fed into the brutality of the character and the place – shame that there was so much convenient plotting and supernatural nonsense floating around because all that did was undercut what the season did well.
- bob the moo
- Jun 8, 2013