QWhy did season 3 seem more disjointed and seemed to skip over a lot?
AIn some regions, the season 3 DVD wasn't formatted properly. So while most people who buy the DVD will skip over the opening credits, it will take you straight to the beginning of the episode, but with this season, it skips the first 10 minutes of every episode! So just remember to check the time counter on your DVD after you skip the credits. Also keep in mind that every episode opens with Augustus Hill talking to the camera. So if you don't see that, chances are you skipped something.
QHow did Ryan O'Reilly pull so much crap with everyone and not wind up dead?
ABecause he is very smart, cunning, can think on his feet and never panics. He is quite possibly the smartest person serving time in Oz. Whether or not he is the most intelligent is another story. He didn't belong to any gang, he was by himself for the most part, minus his brother Cyril whom he had to look out for. But Ryan knew what everyone wanted, he would make friends in high places on both sides of the fence and in every ethnic group by dealing drugs to them, tipping them off, keeping his ears open to gain information to barter with. Though he would not shy from betraying one person or another if it meant risking his being found out or killed by staying silent. The most unique thing about how he lies, is that there's about 90% truth to what he says, he twists facts to help deny his involvement, which makes it extremely difficult to tell whether he is lying or not and he's persuasive enough to get people to believe him. Also, he insulates himself from doing the dirty work, if someone asks him to kill someone, or if he needs someone killed; He creates a set of circumstances where he either convinces someone to kill the person or extorts someone into doing the deed. [For example: In season 2, Ryan tries to have Schillinger killed. So he asks Jazz to slip a package through the mail room for him. Then Ryan tells one of his friends in the gym "Hey man, I'm having a package slipped through" but made sure one of the Aryans was in ears shot, so he would run and tell Schillinger. Sure enough, that's what happened and Jazz gets caught trying to slip brass knuckles through the mail room, leading to him being punished. So Ryan says to Jazz "I thought you and Schillinger were friends. If I was you, I'd teach that fuck a lesson." Which convinced Jazz to make an attempt on Schillinger. Which of course completely insulated O'Reilly from killing Schillinger had Jazz succeeded.
QWhy is season 4 longer than the others?
AThe seasons of Oz were all planned to be eight episodes long. The sole exception is season 4, which is sixteen episodes. Part way through season 4 HBO found out that the Sopranos would not be producing a season that year. With the money which they would have spent on that season of the Sopranos, HBO decided to buy extra episodes of Oz. This is why season 4 is twice as long as the other seasons and why it's structure is somewhat more disjointed, with two major arcs. Tom Fontana only found out about the extended season after production had begun and he had to write extra episodes for the season.
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