The Routine
| "The Routine" | |
|---|---|
| Oz episode | |
Dino Ortolani introduces Tobias Beecher to Emerald City
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| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 1 |
| Directed by | Darnell Martin |
| Written by | Tom Fontana |
| Production code | 101 |
| Original air date | July 12, 1997 |
"The Routine" is the pilot and first episode of the HBO prison drama television series Oz. Written by Tom Fontana and directed by Darnell Martin, it aired originally on July 12, 1997.
The events and narration of this episode are centered around the introduction of the Oswald State Maximum Security Penitentiary (nicknamed as "Oz").
Narrator Augustus Hill (Harold Perrineau, Jr.) (who is also a wheelchair-bound inmate in the prison) introduces the viewers to Oz and its new experimental Cell Block E, commonly referred to as "Emerald City" or "Em City" (after the fictional city from the Oz book series). Emerald City is designed to maximize the monitoring of select inmates and promote their resocialization and reeducation. The violence of Oz is demonstrated right away as one of the new inmates, Miguel Alvarez (Kirk Acevedo), is shanked before even being brought to a cell, while fellow new arrival Tobias Beecher (Lee Tergesen) is horrified by the incident. News of the violence upsets Em City's idealistic unit manager, Tim McManus (Terry Kinney). He asks Warden Leo Glynn (Ernie Hudson) to allow the cannibalistic parent-killer Donald Groves (Sean Whitesell) to be brought to Em City as well, believing no inmate is a lost cause. Glynn reluctantly agrees but only on the condition that drug dealer Paul Markstrom (O. L. Duke), his own wayward cousin, similarly be brought there.
Correctional Officer (CO) Diane Whittlesey (Edie Falco) informs the new arrivals to Emerald City about the cell block's particular rules, and introduces the inmates to their "sponsors", inmates who at least nominally look after the new ones and make sure they integrate appropriately. Donald Groves is assigned the older, kindly Bob Rebadow (George Morfogen); Paul Markstram's sponsor is Jefferson Keane (Leon), a fellow "homeboy;" while Tobias Beecher is given Dino Ortolani (Jon Seda). The last pair is immediately not a good match, as Beecher, a lawyer convicted of a child's manslaughter and DUI, feels genuinely guilty about his crime and anxious about doing time in prison, whereas Ortolani is a seasoned mobster who makes clear that he doesn't want to babysit anyone. He does give most basic pointers to Beecher, though, such as to never smile and "get a weapon."
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