Product Details

• Actors: Ernie Hudson, Harold Perrineau, Lee Tergesen, J.K. Simmons, Dean Winters
• Directors: Alan Taylor, Bob Balaban, Gregory Dark, Jean de Segonzac, Kathy Bates
• Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: Unrated
• Number of tapes: 4
• Studio: Hbo Home Video
• VHS Release Date: January 7, 2003
• Run Time: 480 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00006RGLX
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #21,002 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  Video > Television > HBO > Oz

• This is item 2 in The Oz Series.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

If the title of HBO's brutal prison drama suggests a fairy tale, be warned that this Oz lies on the other side of the rainbow. This gritty portrait of men behind bars is a testosterone-driven soap opera packed with murder, suicide, sadism, and savage battles for dominance in the concrete jungle.

Season 2 opens in the wake of a prison riot that shut down the experimental cell block known as "Emerald City" among the inmates, but it doesn't take long to build a whole new head of steam after prison reformer Tim McManus (Terry Kinney) reopens the unit. The drug wars pit the Italians against the blacks, the Aryan Brotherhood re-establish their campaign of intimidation, and Alvarez is pushed to desperate measures when he's ousted by the new Latino leader (Luiz Guzmán). Even more volatile than the physical brutality (this season offers up a bloody blinding and a crucifixion) is the soul-crushing psychodrama played out between vicious Aryan leader Schillinger (J.K. Simmons) and Beecher (Lee Tergeson), the meek lawyer transformed into a drug-addicted wild man by prison's predatory world and seduced by cold-blooded killer Chris Keller (Law and Order: SVU's Christopher Meloni).

Some the stories get lost in the thrilling runaway pacing, but at its best Oz's searing stories of men penned in and pushing back goes straight for the jugular and invariably draws blood.

In addition to HBO's four-minute promotional short is an interesting featurette in which the creators and select actors discuss the show. The three-disc set also features cast and crew bios, an episode index, and episodic previews.--Sean Axmaker

Product Description

All that glitters is not Emerald City. Following the bloodbath that ended the prison riot, life is returning to far from normal for those who survived in the experimental unit of OZ. The Aryan Schillinger still butts heads with Beecher. The mob, led by Schibetta, continues to find its business cut into by the cold-hearted Adebisi. Warden Glynn and Tim McManus struggle to do the right thing for their prisoners, facing adversity at every turn from Governor Devlin. New prisoners include the sexually provocative child killer Shirley Bellinger and a guilty priest who will be forced to pay a terrible penance. The world of Oz will shatter your expectations in a new season where safety is not an option.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fontana's Mythic Vision, January 21, 2004

By	R. W. Rasband (Heber City, UT) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Oz - The Complete Second Season (DVD)

At first glance, Tom Fontana's extraordinary television series "Oz" seems to be a hyper-naturalistic view of the hellish life behind bars in American prisons. It is that, of course. But the title is a tip-off that Fontana also has larger, more mythic concerns on his mind. His tortured Catholicism plays a role in the world-view presented here, as it did in his wonderful earlier series "Homicide: Life on the Street" and "St. Elsewhere." It turns out that Oz (the prison) is a kind of purgatory where wounded spirits struggle with good and evil. Even the best (like administators Tim McManus and Leo Glynn) are highly fallible, even misguided and foolish at times. And even the worst prisoners have sparks of humanity in them. These worst include the amazingly terrifying Simon Adebisi, the larger-than-life Nigerian criminal who controls the heroin trade in Oz. And J.K. Simmons deserves some kind of special award for his portrayal of Vern Schillinger, the leader of the neo-Nazi prisoners. He is the worst human being imaginable, but Simmons plays him with such style and elan that you have to grant the devil his due. As the recappers on "Television Without Pity" put it, if "Oz" were more well known, Schillinger would join Hannibal Lecter and Norman Bates in the Fictional Villains Hall of Fame.

The battle for the souls of these men is best shown in the ordeal of Tobias Beecher, an upper-class lawyer who is convicted of a drunk-driving homicide and finds himself in the middle of this inferno. His horrible experiences in Oz reach a Job-like intensity. The second season sees the arrival of actor Christopher Meloni as the sociopathic Chris Keller. The three-way tango of betrayal between Keller, Beecher, and Schillinger is absolutely chilling. The storytelling of "Oz" is intricate, densely layered, and paced like a rocket taking off. If you miss five minutes of a single episode you may miss the fate of a character's entire life being sealed. There is a heightened, almost magic realism to much of what goes on. (In the land of Oz, it only takes a few weeks from a death sentenced being pronounced until its execution; and each episode is narrated by inmate Augustus Hill inside some kind of omni-aware, postmodern space.) This can be a little disconcerting at first, but the final impact is exhilarating. If you can take the intense (but never gratuitous) violence and the hair-raising prison sex, "Oz" is a wild ride from one of the best writers working in television.

38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best TV series ever, November 9, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Oz - The Complete Second Season (DVD)

OZ continues its DVD treatment with the second of six seasons, which originally aired in 1998. As the first season dealed more with episodic themes (capital punishment, conjugals, drugs, etc.) this is the season where the individual character arcs really began developing.

For those who do not know, Oz deals with life in a fictional prison and an experimental unit called Emerald City. It's about hope and survival. This was HBO's first drama, and paved the way for much more successful shows like The Sopranos and Six Feet Under. However in my mind, Oz will always be the best: no other drama can shock you like this one. But it's not all violence; creator/writer Tom Fontana deals with real issues and really makes you think about stuff. Some of the questions addressed in this season: Should neighbors be notified when a convicted child molestor moves into the neighborhood even though he's paid his debt to society? How far will you go to be part of a gang? What's more important: revenge or safety? Is there any hope at all for a prisoner serving life without the possibility of parole?

Many of the fan-favorite characters return: Hill, Beecher, Said, Schillinger, Alvarez, McManus, Rebadow, Adebisi, Wangler, Glynn, Mukada, Sister Pete, O'Reilly, Dr. Nathan, Peter Schibetta, Poet, Arif and others.

Plus many new characters are introduced: Nappa, Robson, Keller, Hoyt, Cyril, Busmalis, El Cid, Bellinger, Guerra, Pancamo, Kirk, Coushaine and others.

This is a great show that deserves a wider audience. I highly recommend it.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deeper Down the Yellow Brick Road, March 23, 2003

By	James Hiller (Beaverton, OR) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Oz - The Complete Second Season (DVD)

Whereas many second seasons tend to disappoint, the second season of OZ not only doesn't disappoint, it continues boldly and bravely with some powerful storylines and even more powerful acting performances.

Picking up after the amazing prison riot at the end of the first season, the second season has a big hurdle to overcome. Instead of trying to overcome it, it is a companion to the first season by allowing us to delve into the characters and their lives more deeply. The season explores relationships, sexuality, health issues, love, as well as continuing the "be aware and beware" feeling so important to the success of the story.

Strong performances continue this year, with the addition of Chris Meloni as an Aryan "spy".

Oz doesn't let you down. If anything, the lesson sent is: NEVER go to prison, just watch it on TV.