THE BEST OF MEDIA

Inglorious X-Force #1
Big fan of all the characters featured (even the secret 5th member). I also like Tim Seeley's work; his Ant-Man miniseries is a good read, but he primarily writes for DC so this was interesting to see. This is one of the many modern comics that is leaning way too heavy into Gen Z lingo, but it's not as bad as X-Factor 2024. My one big gripe is that once again, Archangel is being framed as something good instead of a walking reminder of Warren's trauma and him wanting to move past being Archangel is framed as bad. I get embracing your demons and all, but God, just do something new with him. He is more than X-Factor #24. However, it's overall not bad. It's quirky and is setting up yet another good Cable time travel plotline, and the cast is strangely perfect. Don't read if this is your first introduction to these characters, but especially Daken because modern Daken is almost a different character from Daken 10, 15 years ago. Generally, though, hard rec if you loved Nicieza's X-Force or Casey's Weapon X-Men, and if you could read through X-Factor 2024 without cringing.

Oz Season 4A
After the slight decline in quality in the previous season, Oz picks itself back up and chooses to pump out the only season that can be considered better than the first. This season is the equivalent of laying down on a bed and getting massaged for five minutes, bitten for the next five, and then going back to getting massages before the cycle repeats. All of the tension that the previous season was building finally gets released, which is amazing because holy shit season 3 had so many loose ends that it was genuinely unbearable. Thankfully, this season works overtime and ties up so many plotlines that it even starts ending plotlines that have been running since season 2. Works of Mercy is my personal favorite episode of the entire series, and You Bet Your Life is also my favorite season finale when I don't feel like needlessly glazing A Game of Checkers. Even though we only get a handful of episodes with the full death row gang, I love all four of them and I wish we could have seen more of them together. Even though the one in season 5/6 is still a solid group, the original death row quartet will always be my favorite. The only thing that this season suffers from is the dreaded fact that side characters will get introduced to die within a few episodes/do nothing, but I'm not deducting anything for it. This season fucks.

Oz Season 4B
I can't say the same thing for the second part of the season. Since 4A shoved so much into its 8 episodes, the second 8 episodes of the season are unfortunately so boring that it's genuinely shocking because every other season of this show is entertaining, even if it's bad. The first 4 episodes are such a slog. I know I said that you need to accept the more unrealistic parts of the show because it's not supposed to be a realistic drama, it's supposed to be a soap opera for grown men, the Chinese refugee subplot is so unrealistic that I just can't brush it off. It's also just needlessly cruel, and causes the introduction of the most irrelevant relevant character of all time. The only redeeming parts of this season are the fact that I'd say it's the most religious/spiritual season since the first which is a nice change of pace, the subplot with Schillinger and Carrie, and everything going on with Said. It sucks because stuff DOES happen during this season, but it's just tough to digest because it feels so irrelevant. I also like the stuff with Ryan O'Reily and his biological mother, but it's like the only thing this season that was rushed for some reason so I can't exactly speak on it.

Oz Season 3
Unfortunately, this is kind of where Oz starts to slow down. This season starts the trend of the show introducing random side-characters that you know won't really affect the plot and will definitely be gone by the end of the season. However, it's still solid and isn't even the worst season of the show, even if it does have the worst finale. This season features the build-up of a lot of racial tension, but none of that tension will actually cause anything to happen until season 4A. The only worthwhile arc that really gets started and concluded within the bounds of the season is the boxing arc, and it's extra good because it leads to some really good character development for the O'Reily brothers. The reversal of Adebisi's character after what happened last season is also fun, because everyone loves Adebisi when he's functioning as usual. Also, yay for more Keller and Beecher. They're still beefing after what happened last season, but the one other good part of the finale outside of the conclusion of the boxing tournament is their moment together in Out O' Time. I'd describe this season as being a weaker, but still powerful, version of the previous season. It forgoes the initial focus on prison politics and chooses to focus on the intimacy and relationships between prisoners, but it doesn't do it well enough to make up for the imbalance. This is where I'd actually start to recommend the show for fans of The Sopranos instead of fans of The Wire, but once again you SVU fans are gonna enjoy this.

Oz Season 2
Another masterpiece season from a masterpiece show. My only actual complaint is that we don't focus more on the politics of the prison system beyond The Tip, the mystery behind who shot (spoilers) at the end of season 1, and stuff with parole, but it makes up for it because this is where Oz really leans into its soap opera bloodline. This season is intimate and romantic in the worst (best) way. The subplot with Ryan O'Reily and Doctor Nathan is probably one of my favorites just because it makes so much room for O'Reily to be expanded upon, and also I want to include this quote I found on Tumblr of all places. "His guilt is meaningless. His attempts to make things right are meaningless. He goes ahead with both anyways and it only hurts him and everyone else he cares about in the end because he cannot actually change his base code." Once again, this season will make you laugh and then maybe even cry right afterwards, because that's right, Oz is emotional now beyond just "Aw man, my favorite character died". Escape From Oz definitely isn't as good as a season finale as A Game of Checkers, but that's only because it feels like a series of vignettes instead of one full plotline, which honestly isn't that bad. It's just not what I expect from an Oz finale. Overall, though, this season kicks ass and I'm not even going to deduct a star because those two flaws I've mentioned are literally me nitpicking. Once again, hard rec if you like The Wire or Law and Order SVU, and be cautious of rape (especially this season) and graphic violence.

Oz Season 1
This is the start of my favorite television series of all time, and my god does it start off incredibly strong. The best way I can describe this show is if a soap opera on cocaine had a baby with a community center theater production. It makes you laugh and then makes you wince within the span of a few minutes. You find yourself empathizing with characters who you didn't think you would give a shit about, but I do think it's not as emotionally intimate as some of the later seasons. Out of the entire show, I think season 1 focuses the most on the politics of the prison in addition to the lives of the inmates. Each main member of the cast is fleshed out well, and nobody's really hateable because they're a bad character in terms of writing. Hateable characters are so despised because they're well-written terrible people, which is pretty incredible considering this season had only 8 hour-long episodes to work with. Some events are unrealistic, but that's bound to happen because like I said, this is 50% soap opera and 50% theater production. It's not going to be entirely accurate to the penal experience, and it pulls it off well. Great social commentary from Augustus Hill, our lovely narrator/one man greek chorus. Also, A Game of Checkers is one of the greatest season finales of all time, and same with the routine but for series/season premieres. Hard rec if you like The Wire or Law and Order SVU just because it's really fun to see which actors you recognize. Of course, be cautious of stuff like rape, graphic violence, generally bigoted language, etc. This show is an investment but it's worth it.