cmk418 | The Greatest Lines of Dialogue from OZ

The setup - this dialogue comes at the end of the Season 3 episode "Legs". Season two ended with Tobias Beecher recovering in a hospital room after three men- Karl Metzger, Chris Keller, and Vern Schillinger broke his arms and legs. At the end of this particular episode, Chris Keller has returned to room with Beecher, expecting the two of them to make up. Keller has just gotten out of the hospital after someone stabbed him while he was in a stockroom shelving copy paper.

Beecher: When I hit Kathy Rockwell, when I knew I had taken her life I was full of remorse, full of self-loathing because I hadn't intended to kill her. But Metzger. Oh. That was sweet. You know what else was sweet -- sticking that shank in your back.

Keller: It was you?

Beecher: Never considered that, did you? That it was me standing in the dark in that storage room watching you stack copying paper. And then, boom, boom, baby.

Keller: Was it you?

Beecher: No. But for a second, you believed it could've been. It could've been good old Toby.

Keller: You didn't kill Metzger.

Beecher: Nah. How could a little pussy bitch like me hurt anyone?

Keller: Hey, Beecher, if you weren't in the storage room, how'd you know I was shelving copy paper?

Beecher: Hmm. I don't know. Shit, maybe it was me. Now I got to pray, pray that God shows me a way to fuck Schillinger.

This is some great dialogue written by Tom Fontana, the creator of OZ, and the acting of Lee Tergesen as Tobias Beecher and Chris Meloni as Chris Keller is spot on. It's the payoff after Beecher has suffered for two seasons and it truly comes to fruition at the very end of the episode as Vern Schillinger's son is brought into Beecher's cellblock and Beecher realizes that he now has the method to make his revenge complete. There's a still shot of Tergesen who gives a little sigh of satisfaction as he smiles wide and the scene cuts to black.

This is just one moment of many in a terrific ensemble show and, even if I just spoiled it for you, it's worth watching. (And if you've already seen it, it's worth a rewatch.)