| The Truth and Nothing But... | |
|---|---|
| Oz episode | |
| Episode No. | Season 3, Episode 1, # 17 |
| Directed by | Nick Gomez |
| Written by | Tom Fontana |
| Original Air Date | July 14, 1999 |
| Episode Guide | |
| Previous Escape from Oz |
Next Napoleon's Boney Parts |
"The Truth and Nothing But..." is the first episode and season premiere of the third season and the seventeenth overall episode of the HBO television series Oz. Written by Tom Fontana and directed by Nick Gomez, it originally aired on July 14, 1999.
Plot[]
Narrations[]
(Hill laughing)- Oz. (McManus)- Oz. (Beecher)- Oz. (Schillinger)- Oz. (Sister Peter Marie)- Oz. (Ryan O'Reilly)- Oz. (Warden Glynn)- Oz. (Alvarez)- Oz. (Hill laughing, other characters replay saying Oz)- The name on the street for the Oswald Maximum Security Penitentiary. Only, big news: They've changed the name. It's now called the Oswald State Correctional Facility, Level 4. I don't know what the difference is. Leo Glynn is still warden. Sister Peter Marie is still in psych. Tim McManus is still unit manager of Emerald City. And I know for damn sure none of us have changed. Beecher is still in the hospital after Schillinger and Keller broke his bones. Alvarez is still in solitary after blinding a CO. Adebisi, still in the loony ward, after changing hats. Maybe it's truth in advertising. Maybe by getting rid of the word "penitentiary", the state is finally admitting that nobody's penitent. Nobody's sorry. Nobody.
Solitary confinement. In 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville visited this country to study our penal system. American penitentiaries were considered the ideal, enlightened way to rehabilitation. Putting a criminal in solitary allowed him time for quiet reflection. But no man wants to think about himself all day, face the truth about himself every day, for the rest of his life.
Prisoner number 99C122, Malcolm Coyle. Convicted: January 17, 1999. Grand larceny, armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, assault of a police officer. Sentence: 50 years, up for parole in 20.
Jailhouse confessions. You always gotta take them with a grain or two of salt. Of course, there is the chance that the inmate doing the confessing is actually telling the truth. But more likely, it's a half-truth. "Half truth". Huh. How come it's never called a "half-lie"?
Now, you see, love; love is the ultimate half-truth.
I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So help me, God. So help me, God. So help me, God.
There are some confessions that you can't even make to yourself. Yearnings, desires, that if you admitted to having, you'd have to stop being who you are. And the facade you've built so carefully, would crumble. Exposing to those around you, what really makes you tweak.
Truth is a powerful thing. It can right a wrong, or make a bad thing worse. But in Oz, the truth is, if the facts don't fit the truth, fuck the facts.
Deceased[]
Unnamed accomplice of Malcolm Coyle- Shot by police officers.
Karl Metzger- Face and neck slashed by Tobias Beecher.
Crime flashbacks[]
Malcolm Coyle- Grand larceny, armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, assault of a police officer