The Tip
Written By: Tom Fontana
Directed By: Nick Gomez
Original Airdate: July 11, 1998
Transcribed: January 5, 2000. Last Revised: January 17, 2000.

Oz is the property of Tom Fontana, Barry Levinson, Rysher Entertainment, and HBO. This page is not authorized by any of the above. Absolutely no copyright infringement is intended and no profit is being made from this page.

(Hill narrating, with flashbacks of the riot.)

Hill: Oz. The name on the street for the Oswald Maximum Security Penitentiary. Oz, where after months of tension, a riot erupted. The unit known as Emerald City was overtaken by its prisoners. The Governor ordered his troops to recapture it by any means necessary. When the smoke cleared, literally, six prisoners and two correctional officers were dead. Thirty-four others were injured. Some overcome by the gas, some from the beatings, some from rifle wounds. Among those shot: Tim McManus, who invented Emerald City and, some say, ran it into the ground. The rest of the prisoners were moved into Gen Pop, except the riot leaders who were drop-kicked into Solitary. By dawn, peace descended on Oz. Yeah, right.

(At a press conference.)

Devlin: Let me just say about that, I've already started to put together a Gubernatorial commission to investigate one, the causes of the riot, two, the criminal activity of those prisoners involved, and three, the appropriateness of the response to it by Warden Glynn.

Reporter: Governor, who's the chair of the commission?

Devlin: Well, I've just spoken to Alvah Case, who's the Dean of Law School at Kaufman-Ferber University. He's agreed to lead the investigation. To my mind, there's no more respected jurist in the state. I can assure you his findings will be fair and complete and impartial.

(In Glynn's office.)

Case: Fuck you, Governor.

Devlin: What, am I asking so much?

Case: You want me to come out on your side, you want to close down Emerald City permanently, you want me to say that the prisoners were guilty of everything and that you were totally justified in bringing in the SORT team. You want your hands clean of the blood of those eight dead.

Devlin: My hands are clean. My conscience is clear.

Case: Well, then back off. Let me do what you appointed me to do.

Devlin: OK. But keep one other thing in mind: Myron Suttle is stepping down as state's Attorney General. I'm looking for just the right man to replace him. Come in, Warden, we're done. Find the truth, Case, 'cause the truth shall set your fee.

Case: Truth. What is the truth, Leo? Is Devlin guilty? Are you? Leo, depending on what I do find, you could be the one who gets fired.

Glynn: Yeah. You may be doing me one huge fucking favor.

(In Gen Pop.)

Beecher: How's it hanging, Vern?

Robson: Oh, great. More Em City prags. You fucks have a hissy fit, now the rest of us gotta sleep on top of each other. Hear me boys, hear me good. This is my cell, this is my bunk. You got a problem with that?

Rebadow: No.

Beecher: (Rhyming to himself.) Faith in butter...

Robson: Hey, I'm talking to you.

Hill: Hey, either of you hear what happened to Dobbins or Vayhue?

Rebadow: No.

Robson: Shut the fuck up.

Hill: Are they in the hospital?

Rebadow: I was only in the ER. I couldn't see into the ward.

Robson: Shut the fuck up.

Hill: Beecher! Beecher!

Beecher: Hooky hook, you wink your mama
How do you like your... (Robson hits him.)

(Em City inmates start fighting with the Gen Pop inmates and the CO's have to break it up.)

(In the chapel.)

Mukada: Ladies and Gentlemen, let us pray. Please stand. Lord, we pray for the souls of our friends and colleagues, Officers Edward Hunt and Anthony Knowakowski, and we pray for the souls of the six prisoners who died as well. (The CO's look angry and murmur.) We pray for the recovery of Officers Joseph Mineo and Jason Armstrong and for Tim McManus. (Wittlesey flashes back to the riot.) And Lord, we ask your blessing on this place, we ask for understanding, we ask for patience, we ask for the strength to forgive, we ask to be forgiven. (Glynn flashes back to the riot.) So that we might renew ourselves in this important work that we do. Amen.

(Hill narrating.)

Hill: Blame is a beautiful thing, baby. Blame keeps this whole planet spinning. You can point your finger at the next man, you can shift the weight onto him, you don't have to carry that shit around yourself. You can slide into bed and get a good night's nap. Yeah, right.

(Flashbacks of McManus being taken to the ER, shot in the riot.)

(In a hospital.)

Case: McManus? Mr. McManus? I'm Alvah Case.

McManus: Ah, yes. Our grand inquisitor.

Case: This is not an inquisition, sir.

McManus: Bullshit. Devlin's been trying to dismantle Em City since the beginning. This is his chance.

Case: Leo told me you'd be tough. He says you two aren't always in agreement but he admires your vision, your ideals.

McManus: What is it you want exactly?

Case: I wanna ask some questions.

McManus: I have nothing to say.

Case: The Governor is busy picking the other members of the commission. In the meantime, I'm doing some preliminary interviews.

McManus: I have nothing to say.

Case: Look, ultimately it's gonna be up to me to decide if Em City ever reopens.

McManus: I have nothing to say.

(In Ad Seg.)

Case: Minister Said?

Said: Asalaam aleikuum.

Case: Alvah Case. I'm here to interview you about the riot.

Said: Is that interview, or interrogate?

Case: I guess that depends on what you're guilty of.

Said: There was no riot.

Case: Oh, really?

Said: There was a righteous struggle against oppression and injustice.

Case: Righteous or not, there are still eight bodies rotting in the morgue.

Said: I grieve their deaths.

Case: Do you mind?

Said: Please.

Case: I understand that from the minute you came to Oz, you started organizing other Muslims? Converting stone cold killers, all the while sowing seeds of discontent.

Said: I spoke the truth.

Case: Then speak it now. Oh, come on, Said, you talk a good game about the truth. But how come it doesn't include taking responsibility for what you've done?

Said: I didn't fire those rifles.

Case: Did you create a set of circumstances that causes those rifles to be fired?

Said: The judicial system created those circumstances, not I. Your commission is a fraud, Case. Governor Devlin, the one man whose actions should be investigated, is the man that appointed you. That's like me getting to pick the jury at my own trial.

(In Adebisi's Ad Seg cell.)

Adebisi: You want to lick my balls? (Masturbating and singing. Case leaves without interviewing him.)

(At a press conference.)

Case: Judge Phee and Mr. Baldwin will focus on events leading up to the riot. Mr. Callahan and Mr. Dodge will deal with the behavior of the inmates and the staff during the riot. Mrs. Peterson and Dudley Free will concentrate on the decision to send the SORT team.

Reporter: Mr. Case, how long do you estimate the investigation will take? Days? Weeks?

Case: Well, it will take as long as it takes.

(In an interview room.)

Case: And you're?

Hill: Augustus Hill.

Case: Hill, Hill, Hill...

Hill: Hey, can I ask you a question? Two prisoners got released from the riot, Eugene Dobbins and Jackson Vayhue. Dobbins was hurt pretty bad. Know what happened to him?

Case: My questions first, Hill. So tell me, in as many words as necessary, what you think led to the riot.

(Various answers from different inmates and staff around the prison, as flashbacks of the riot are shown.)

Wittlesey: They're violent. All they know is violence.

Alvarez: The COs, man, they treat us like shit.

Nathan: Sometimes the inmates get bored.

Ryan: They took away conjugals. They took away smoking.

Sister Pete: No, it's more than that. You deny a man his freedom, his family, his privacy, his dignity, all he has left is time to simmer. Eventually, the simmer becomes a boil.

Schillinger: We'd been hearing whispers the Muslims were gonna start trouble.

Arif: The Aryans are paranoid.

Hill: What caused the riot? Two braindead, crackhead motherfuckers playing checkers.

Mukada: All of a sudden the world imploded.

Alvarez: We treated the hostages good.

D'Agnasti: They treated us like shit.

Ryan: We tried to negotiate.

Devlin: Their demands were ridiculous.

Beecher: Then the lights went out.

Wangler: There was tear gas.

Rebadow: Guns.

Wittlesey: Tim McManus got shot in the chest.

Alvarez: I saw the side of Rodrigo's head get blown off.

(In the hospital.)

Nathan: Hunt and Knowakowski were both hit in the back.

Case: What about Scott Ross?

Nathan: What about him?

Case: Well, according to the autopsy, he was shot three times: once in the head, once in the heart, and once in the testicles.

Nathan: Yeah?

Case: I was curious. Bullets flying randomly, every which way, and he gets shot three times in three very precise places?

Nathan: Oh, that's right.

(Hill narrating.)

Hill: They say curiosity killed the cat. What the fuck was the cat so curious about that got him killed? (Shots of Adebisi in the Hole, singing and banging his head against the wall.) Solitary sucks, man. If you really want some company, you just gotta go through withdrawal. (COs drag Adebisi out of the cell and down the hall.)

(In a hallway.)

Glynn: Just what I love. My prison in lockdown, crawling with outside investigators and TV cameras.

Case: What are you afraid we'll find?

Glynn: It's not what you find, it's where you find it. These questions, they stir things up. And God knows, everything's stirred up enough right now.

Case: Leo, who was Scott Ross?

Glynn: Ross? He was a biker, drug dealer, three strikes lifer. Why?

Case: I'm not sure yet, but Ross may have been murdered.

Glynn: What?

Case: During the SORT team's attack, he may have been killed. Deliberately.

Glynn: What makes you think that?

Case: He was shot three times, almost execution-style. And the bullets in Ross' body were nine millimeters, not double arts, which were in the SORT rifles.

Glynn: The SORT team uses nine millimeters in their handgun.

Case: Right.

Glynn: So, SORT team member A, he enters the common room in Em City, lowers his rifle. Ross comes at him from out of the dark, he raises his handgun, fires. That's not murder.

Case: You throw a bullet in someone's brain, you pretty much figure he's done.

Glynn: Well, maybe he shot him in the heart first or the balls, and Ross just kept coming.

Case: Yeah, but the bullet from Ross' brain was in the wall below the command center by a TV set, and the one that went through his heart was embedded in the floor. So unless he died falling upwards...

Glynn: It's murder.

(Hill narrating.)

Hill: In all that chaos, what a perfect chance to off Ross and get away with it, scot free.

(In the gym. The SORT team is training.)

Glynn: That's him over there. Officer Heim.

(In the locker room.)

Case: The bullets that killed Ross came from the same box as the ones that you put in your handgun.

Heim: So?

Case: So, your gun was used to kill Ross.

Heim: Uh-huh.

Case: Yet you don't mention firing at him in your report.

Heim: I didn't.

Case: Then who did?

Heim: I dunno.

Case: Did you hand your gun to someone?

Heim: No.

Case: Was it in your holster when you entered Em City?

Heim: Yes.

Case: And then?

Heim: It disappeared.

Case: Did you feel anyone take it?

Heim: No. Things were crazy in there, you know, happening pretty fast.

Case: So you're telling me that someone lifted the handgun out of your holster without you knowing?

Heim: That's right.

Case: Well, how come you didn't mention that little ditty in your report?

Heim: Because I found it on the floor.

Case: Ah. Officer Heim, do I look like a stupid fucking idiot to you?

Heim: No, sir.

Case: Then cut the shit. You SORT guys love your weapons more than pussy. You'd die before letting anyone take it, and you sure as Christ would know it was gone. Who are you covering for?

Heim: Scott Ross was a lowlife scumfuck, just like all those other scumfucks in there. They hurt Armstrong and Mineo. 'Cause of them, Hunt and Knowakowski died. Are you seriously going after some CO because they whacked a fucking pig like Ross? Who the fuck's side are you on?

Case: The law. I'm on the law's side. Now you can go.

Heim: Thank you.

(Hill narrating.)

Hill: I never lie. Not 'cause I'm so honest, but 'cause I have a bad memory. And you can't be a good liar if you got a bad memory.

(In Gen Pop.)

Hill: Wangler, you ok?

Wangler: I need some tits, Hill.

Hill: Tits is the last thing you need, man.

Robson: Hey, c'mon, wake up. Get up for a second.

Beecher: No.

Robson: C'mon.

Beecher: Fuck you.

Robson: Suck my cock. C'mon, man, suck my cock. C'mon, suck my cock, prag.

Beecher: Fuck you. (Robson hits him.) All right, all right.

Robson: Get up. Let's go. C'mon, let's go.

Beecher, OK, ok.

Robson: C'mon, bitch. Yeah. (Beecher begins giving him fellatio, then bites the tip of his penis off and spits it out.)

(Robson is taken to the hospital and Beecher is put in the Hole.)

(In Em City.)

Glynn: You still on the job?

Case: Yeah. So are you.

Glynn: Well, we had a couple incidents tonight.

Case: Anything I should know about?

Glynn: Nah. What are you doing in here?

Case: I'm trying to figure this Ross thing through. There were six hostages left when the SORT team attacked: McManus, Wittlesey, Mukada, D'Agnasti, Hunt, and Knowakowski. Hunt and Knowakowski died during the first moments of the assault. And McManus was shot, so there's less of a chance that he killed Ross.

Glynn: What makes you so sure it was a CO? Why not a prisoner? Ross wasn't exactly beloved by his fellow inmates.

Case: That was my first thought, that someone used the opportunity to take revenge on the guy. But after talking with Officer Heim who, by the way, Leo, is lying through his teeth, I realized he'd never cover for a con. He's protecting one of his own.

Glynn: D'Agnasti.

Case: Or Wittlesey or Mukada.

Glynn: Alvah, stop. Father Mukada wasn't involved.

Case: You never know.

(In Mukada's office.)

Case: How did Ross treat everyone?

Mukada: He was a condescending little prick.

Case: Did he do any harm to you personally, physically?

Mukada: Nope.

Case: What about Officers Wittlesey or D'Agnasti?

Mukada: I don't remember. I'd been beaten pretty badly. I was terrified.

Case: Anything else you remember?

Mukada: My nose itched. But because our hands were tied behind us, I couldn't scratch. Through it all, through the tear gas and the gunfire and the fear and the adrenaline in overdrive, the only thing I could think of was Christ, would someone please scratch my nose.

(In Gen Pop.)

D'Agnasti: Shut the fuck up!

Hill: Did you hear anything about Dobbins and Vayhue? I'm asking you a question. D'Agnasti!

D'Agnasti: No.

Wangler: I need some tits!

D'Agnasti: You junkie fuck. Shut the fuck up!

Case: D'Agnasti, D'Agnasti.

D'Agnasti: What?

Case: Can I ask you a few more questions?

D'Agnasti: I'm working here.

Case: I'll be brief. All the hostages were bound, right? Hands behind your back, with rope.

D'Agnasti: Yeah.

Case: When did you get free?

D'Agnasti: Sometime after the shooting stopped.

Case: Who tied you up, which prisoners in particular?

D'Agnasti: Scott Ross. Settle down, Wangler!

Case: You didn't like Ross.

D'Agnasti: What was there to like?

(At the front desk.)

Case: Pretty quiet.

Wittlesey: What?

Case: Well, compared to your last assignment at Emerald City, this is pretty quiet.

Wittlesey: Whoa, can I help you?

Visitor: Yeah, I'm here to see my husband, Billy Kempf.

Wittlesey: Sorry, ma'am, we're in lockdown.

Visitor: No, no, no. OK, I drove 312 miles. Look, it says I'm supposed to see Billy Kempf today.

Wittlesey: We had a riot here. Maybe you heard about it?

Visitor: Fuck yes, I heard about it. I also heard the fucking thing was over.

Wittlesey: Yes, it is.

Visitor: Yeah, so then you let me see Billy.

Wittlesey: You won't be seeing him today.

Visitor: You don't get it. I drove 312 miles...

Wittlesey: Can I get you anything else?

Visitor: Yeah, you can open the fucking gate...

Wittlesey: Can I help you with anything else?

Visitor: I don't have to stand for this! Who the fuck do you think you are? I drove 312... This is bullshit! (A CO carries her outside.)

Case: Wow. Maybe it's not so quiet after all. Diane, what happened from the point the SORT team entered Em City?

Wittlesey: I told you this already.

Case: I know. Dumbass me, I lost my notebook.

Wittlesey: Well, the tear gas made it hard to see. Tim McManus and I, we ducked behind a column. We heard gunfire for what seemed like forever, and then silence. We thought it was over. Tim leaned out and he got shot.

Case: He fell to the floor?

Wittlesey: Yes.

Case: And you?

Wittlesey: I cradled him in my arms until help arrived.

Case: What kind of prisoner was Scott Ross?

Wittlesey: What kind?

Case: Model? Trouble?

Wittlesey: Average.

Case: Thank you. Thank you.

(Hill narrating.)

Hill: You ask most people and they'll tell you lying is wrong. Then they immediately go out and lie like a motherfucker. But that's cool. We all know lies are necessary.

(In the staff break room.)

Nathan: Yeah, I was talking to them yesterday.

Sister Pete: What'd they say?

Nathan: They say Tim will be out of Benchley Memorial next week.

Sister Pete: Oh, geez. I feel terrible. I've only been to see him once.

Wittlesey: Hey.

Nathan: Hi.

Wittlesey: This guy Case, has he been talking to you?

Nathan: Yeah, he interviewed me yesterday.

Sister Pete: Yeah, me too.

Wittlesey: Did he ask about me?

Sister Pete: Not in particular, no.

Wittlesey: OK.

(In Gen Pop.)

Hill: Hey, Jackson! You're ok, man! How's Dobbins?

Vayhue: He's dead, man. He died.

Hill: Fuck.

(In a hallway.)

Judge Phee: There you are!

Case: You've been looking for me?

Judge Phee: Everywhere. Pauly and I have been trying to meet with you all day. What've you been doing?

Case: I've been working this murder angle.

Judge Phee: Oh, Christ. Alvah, forget about that. Really. You don't want to concern yourself with things like that. Believe me, you're looking in the wrong direction.

Case: Well, it's all part of the story, Judge. It's all part of the story.

(In the hospital.)

Nathan: Well, we've sedated Adebisi pretty heavily. He should be out for a couple hours.

Case: Good. I could use a break anyway. And how 'bout you? You ever take ten minutes?

Nathan: Sure.

Case: Good. Can I buy you a cup of coffee?

Nathan: I don't think so.

Case: Why not?

Nathan: You make me nervous.

Case: Who, me? Listen, I'm the sweetest guy on the planet. Ask my mother.

Nathan: Yeah, well, if we went out for coffee together I wouldn't be sure if you were interrogating me or what.

Case: Dr. Nathan, I swear, I am far less devious than you think. I'm a college professor, for Pete's sake. I give lectures, I grade papers.

Nathan: You train lawyers.

Case: Yes. OK, I'll stop being adorable and just ask my questions.

(In the ward. Robson is having nightmares about Beecher and wakes up.)

Alvarez: How's it feel?

Robson: Weird.

(Shots of Arif, Hill, and Wangler in Gen Pop and Said, Ryan, and Beecher in the Hole.)

(In the hospital.)

Wangler: Get the fuck off me!

Nathan: Hey!

D'Agnasti: Another junkie asshole spiralling out.

Wangler: Get the fuck off me!

Nathan: Take it easy, take it easy.

(In a conference room, watching TV.)

Reporter: The public outcry against Governor Devlin's decision to use force at Oswald remains high, even as a Gubernatorial commission searches for answers.

Devlin: Guys, help me out here. What the fuck is taking so long?

Case: You want this done right or fast?

Devlin: Both. I want you to hold another press conference, give them an update. I'm tired of saying be patient and I'm tired of telling them I have absolute faith in you because, frankly, I don't.

Judge Phee: We'd be moving a lot faster if Alvah could just stay focused on the big picture.

Devlin: What do you mean?

Judge Phee: He's off trying to solve a murder that for all we know isn't even a murder.

Case: It is a murder.

Judge Phee: Well, if it is, it is only a small part of our overall mission.

Case: I disagree. I think it's endemic of the whole problem here at Oz.

Judge Phee: You're so full of shit.

Case: Well, you know, Benji, given the last three decisions you've handed down from the bench, you're the expert on full of shit.

Judge Phee: What the fuck is that supposed to mean?

Case: Don't fuck with me!

Devlin: Guys, guys!

Judge Phee: Fine, forget it! I'll resign!

Case: No, I'll resign!

Devlin: No one is resigning. The last thing I need is for the media to hear is the commission's selfish fighting. Now everybody, back to your corners and back to work.

Case: Yeah, right.

Devlin: The sooner we get this done, the happier we'll all be.

(In the hospital at night. Alvarez sneaks out of bed, breaks into the drug cabinet, and steals pills for Adebisi. He places one in Adebisi's mouth.)

Alvarez: Sweet dreams, motherfucker. (He pops a pill in his mouth and goes back to bed.)

(In the hospital.)

Adebisi: Dr. Nathan. Doctor, the last time I had a woman tie me down like this, I married her.

Nathan: Well, if she kept you like that you might still be married.

Adebisi: I feel good. You can let me go now.

Nathan: No, before that happens, you, Sister Peter Marie, and I need to spend some time together.

Robson: Hey, Doctor, my dick is hard. Is that good?

Nathan: You tell me.

(In Sister Pete's office.)

Sister Pete: What are you looking for?

Case: Your impressions of Ross.

Sister Pete: You're a teacher, right?

Case: I used to be. Now that I'm a dean, I spend less and less time in the classroom.

Sister Pete: You know how teachers get favorite students sometimes, get a real affection for them?

Case: Yeah.

Sister Pete: I couldn't wait for Ross to leave the office.

Case: Did he frighten you?

Sister Pete: That, and he had a terrible hygiene problem.

Case: Did he ever mention having a sexual relationship with anyone on the staff?

Sister Pete: Have you seen the files? He said a lot of things. He was a compulsive liar.

Case: Do you ever counsel staff members?

Sister Pete: Sure.

Case: Did anyone ever talk of Ross? I mean negatively?

Sister Pete: Sure.

Case: Who?

Sister Pete: Everybody.

Case: Can you be a little more specific?

Sister Pete: C'mon. You know a nun doesn't reveal a confidence.

Case: You're not a priest. The silence of the confessional doesn't apply here.

Sister Pete: As a psychologist, it does.

Case: Then we may have to let a court determine that.

Sister Pete: Well, that's fine. I want those files back when you're through with them. Anything else?

Case: No.

(In Ad Seg, Ryan's cell.)

Case: Ryan O'Reily.

Ryan: Yo, yo, that's me, man.

Case: Vehicular manslaughter, reckless endangerment, possession of controlled substances, possession of a deadly weapon, violation of parole. That's an amazing list of crimes.

Ryan: Well, you know, I applied myself.

Case: Still, even with all those talents, you must have had a hard time adjusting to life in Oz.

Ryan: No. I can take care of myself.

Case: Yeah, I can see that. But how?

Ryan: I'm like the lord of the fucking dance. I got moves.

Case: Yeah, I bet you do. Of all the guys that led the riot, you were the only one with no firepower behind you. Yet, the others included you in all the decision making.

Ryan: I had nothing to do with the riot.

Case: Oh. I guess I was misinformed.

Ryan: I guess you were.

Case: Like I heard, from what I thought was a reliable source, that you and Ross were close.

Ryan: Close? No.

Case: You and he were lovers.

Ryan: Now who the fuck told you that?

Case: Ross poured his heart out to Sister Peter Marie.

Ryan: Hey, look, I'm no fag, pal. But if I were, I wouldn't put my dick anywhere near Ross' scumhole. That cocksucker'd fuck anything on two or four legs.

Case: Yeah, what about the COs? Has Ross ever fucked one of them?

Ryan: How 'bout some help in getting me out of this place?

Case: Sorry, you're not going any place until the investigation is over.

Ryan: Hmm. Well, then how 'bout a cigarette? This is good. When I'm done puffing on this, I can suck on my own secondhand smoke.

Case: So?

Ryan: Ross had a thing for Wittlesey.

Case: Yeah?

Ryan: Yeah. He claimed they knew each other on the outside. Makes sense. They were always sneaking off and whispering to each other.

(In the hospital.)

McManus: What's the matter?

Wittlesey: That guy Case. He gives me the creeps.

McManus: Why? You got nothing to worry about. He'll do his inquiry, he'll be gone.

Wittlesey: Yep.

McManus: Right?

Wittlesey: Yeah, I guess.

(Hill narrating.)

Hill: They also say if you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth. Or, at least, you convince yourself it's the fucking gospel.

(In an interview room.)

Case: You run the Aryan Brotherhood, Mr. Schillinger?

Schillinger: I used to.

Case: You have a parole date coming up.

Schillinger: Yeah.

Case: Think you got a chance at getting out?

Schillinger: I hope so. My sons need me.

Case: Well, I'd be happy to put a letter of recommendation in your file.

Schillinger: If I help you out.

Case: That's right. Scott Ross.

Schillinger: Poor son of a bitch.

Case: So you were friends? Did he ever mention having any kind of a sexual relationship with Officer Wittlesey?

Schillinger: Sure. Ross and Wittlesey's ex were in the same bike club. Ross said he nailed her behind her hubby's back. Then again, Ross was sometimes a lying sack of shit. Who knows if it's true?

Case: Did anything go on between the two of them since he came to Oz?

Schillinger: According to Ross, he was banging her pretty regular.

Case: Do you think he was lying about that.

Schillinger: Probably.

(In the library.)

Rebadow: Thank you for getting me permission to come to the library. Lockdowns can be boring with nothing to read.

Case: No problem. They tell me you know everything that goes on in Oz.

Rebadow: They exaggerate.

Case: Do you have any idea if anything transpired between Officer Wittlesey and Scott Ross?

Rebadow: Cigarettes.

Case: I beg your pardon?

Rebadow: Cigarettes is what was going on between them. Wittlesey smuggled them in, a carton a day, she'd get them into Ross' cell. Everything was going smoothly 'til McManus found out. He made Wittlesey shut down the operation.

Case: So Ross hated McManus for that.

Rebadow: And because Wittlesey and McManus started sleeping together.

(In Gen Pop.)

Schillinger: Hey, got a cigarette? Y'know, why would you? Ross is dead. It's funny, y'know, what a guy can see with one eye. Through the dark, through the tear gas. Don't worry. I didn't tell that nigger Case a fucking thing.

Wittlesey: What do you want from me?

Schillinger: Well, I have a parole hearing coming up. I think maybe the best thing for you, be for me to be out of here.

(In Glynn's office.)

Glynn: So you think Wittlesey killed Ross?

Case: She had motive, opportunity.

Glynn: I've known Diane for years. Don't walk in here and talk about motive and opportunity. Give me some evidence.

Case: Well, in the heat of the riot, maybe she just lost it.

Glynn: No, there had to be a more specific reason than that. Ross had to have done something in that moment to get her to pull that trigger. (The phone rings.) Hello? Yeah, ok. OK. Officer down in Ad Seg says a prisoner wants to talk to you.

Case: Which one?

Glynn: Tobias Beecher.

(In Ad Seg, Beecher's cell.)

Beecher: Heya, chief.

Case: You asked to see me?

Beecher: I got a secret.

Case: About?

Beecher: Scott Ross.

Case: Tell me.

Beecher: If I tell you, it won't be a secret.

Case: Would you excuse us please? (The CO leaves.) OK?

Beecher: I bit the tip off a guy's penis.

Case: So I heard.

Beecher: You're not afraid?

Case: Well, I've got my pants on.

Beecher: I used to be a lawyer, you know that?

Case: Uh-huh.

Beecher: Went to Harvard.

Case: So did I.

Beecher: Rah, rah, Crimson. I've been under a lot of stress lately. I haven't been behaving very nicely. Like this biting thing. But I'm using my time in here to turn my head around. When I get out of here, I'm gonna be a better person. 'Cause this whole biting thing just isn't working for me, you know? So as a sign I'm on the straight and narrow, I'm gonna tell you a little secret. And I'll be on the road back, right?

Case: Yeah.

Beecher: I saw the shots fired.

Case: Which shots?

Beecher: Check the bullets.

Case: The bullets that killed Ross?

Beecher: No. Check the bullets in McManus. (Case knocks to be let out.) Hey! (Beecher extends his hand and Case shakes it.)

(In a hallway.)

Case: McManus wasn't shot with a nine millimeter from a SORT team handgun. The striations show he was hit with a nine millimeter probably from a Glock or a Sig Sauer.

Glynn: Sig Sauer. We know there was a Sig Sauer in Em City during the riot.

Case: Whose was it?

Glynn: Kareem Said.

(In Ad Seg, Said's cell.)

Case: You shot Tim McManus.

Said: No.

Case: Well, if you didn't, then who did?

Said: I don't know.

Case: You had a Sig Sauer in your possession.

Said: Now, if I say yes, that's another nail in my coffin. I look like a fool to you?

Case: Are you comfortable here, Said? 'Cause you know it's up to me when and if you get out of solitary confinement. Now, I know how important it is for you to be among your people, leading, guiding, nurturing them. That's gonna be hard to do through eight tons of steel.

Said: You're an academic, right? You know about hypotheses and theories, right? Theoretically speaking, if I had a gun when the SORT team entered, here's what might have happened. I might have been underneath the control panel at the command station holding that gun when a SORT team member came in and started to beat me. I did not want to kill anybody. I might have thrown that gun over the side.

Case: Where someone else picked it up?

Said: Theoretically speaking, yes.

(In the hospital.)

Case: I know you got nothing to say to me, but I have a couple of things to say to you. First, you've got balls. You voluntarily went into Em City to negotiate the release of the injured officers and Diane Wittlesey. You traded yourself for Armstrong and Mineo, putting yourself into what can only be called a jackpot situation, especially knowing that you'd fall into the hands of Scott Ross, a man you despise. How ironic is it then that he was the one who shot you?

McManus: Who told you?

Case: That Ross was the one that shot you?

McManus: Yeah.

Case: You just did.

(In a storage room.)

Case: You know, Oz is just like anyplace else. Everybody loves to gossip about everybody else.

Wittlesey: Not me.

Case: Oh, but they gossip about you. Well, maybe it's because you're one of the few women around. Maybe it's because there's truth to the rumors. Like, for example, that you were smuggling cigarettes in that Ross could sell. And that you and McManus had an affair.

Wittlesey: Are you accusing me of something?

Case: Yes. Yes, I am. You, you killed Scott Ross.

Wittlesey: Me? How'd I do that?

Case: Ross picks up Said's gun. He fires into McManus' chest. Bang! You took Officer Heim's pistol and shot Ross. Bang, bang, bang!

Wittlesey: Not possible. My hands were tied behind my back.

Case: No, they weren't. You managed to loose the binds before it all came down. You told me that after McManus fell to the ground you, quote "I cradled him in my arms." end quote. How could you cradle him with your arms behind your back?

Wittlesey: Have you ever been in a riot?

Case: No.

Wittlesey: You have to understand what's involved. The idea of being a hostage, the mob mentality, you get carried away. You stop being human. You become part of something else. I have made every mistake there is. I've fallen in love with the wrong men, I had a baby out of wedlock, I drank too much, I snorted too much, I have done things to make money, including this job, which made me dread getting out of bed. But each time, I made the choice. I chose to drink, I chose to stop. When my husband got abusive, I chose to walk. I refuse to be anybody's victim. These mistakes I have made, they are a part of me. They are like my skin. And I do not regret what I've done, you hear me? No regrets, no remorse. I just keep going. What are you gonna do?

Case: When I know, you'll know.

(In Glynn's office.)

Glynn: She has a young daughter, a mother in and out of chemo.

Case: So what, Leo? So what?

Glynn: So if you expose the truth, you destroy this woman's life, and her daughter's. And for what? Scott fucking Ross? Come on, Alvah, please.

Case: What do you want me to say, Leo?

Glynn: Just say that Ross died, like the others, from bullets fired by members of the SORT team in the performance of his duties.

Devlin: I just read the preliminary draft of your report.

Case: Yeah, what's wrong?

Devlin: You recommend not filing charges against Said and the other riot leaders?

Case: From a legal standpoint the evidence is circumstantial. From a moral standpoint, it's laughable.

Devlin: I want those bastards on trial on TV.

Case: Look, Governor, as far as I can see whatever they did came about as a direct result of your actions.

Devlin: You've exonnerated me.

Case: Oh, yeah, yeah, your commission acted like good little boys, but you can't have it both ways. If the prisoners are guilty, so are you.

Devlin: This is not the kind of attitude I expect from an Attorney General.

Case: Yeah, well, I've thought about it. I don't want to be Attorney General. I want to be Governor.

Devlin: What?

Case: I'll see you on the campaign trail, Devlin. Now, I've got a press conference to do.

(At the press conference.)

Case: It is the considered opinion of this commission that though the riot itself and the deaths that followed are tragic, no one in particular is at fault. We do feel there are certain measures that can be taken to ensure that an event like this does not happen again.

(Hill narrating, with shots of Beecher, Ryan, and Said being released from the Hole, Alvarez being released from the hospital, and Wittlesey taking McManus out from his hospital room.)

Hill: So, as it turns out, no one was to blame for the riot. In fact, if no one was to blame, that means nothing bad happened. Nothing at all happened. So, life can pretty much go on as it has before. Yeah, right.