Directed By: Adam Bernstein
Written By: Tom Fontana and Sean Whitesell
List of tropes applying to this episode:
- Alas, Poor Villain: Hughes' mental breakdown and subsequent death, as he spends his final moments asking Glynn to hug him while Glynn loses his surrogate son.
- Androcles' Lion: White starts following McManus around like a puppy after he says he won't give up on him, even giving up drugs to please him. It ends badly when he attacks Guerra after he insults McManus and kills one of the Latinos in the process.
- Asshole Victim:
- Supreme Allah dies of an allergic reaction to the eggs the Homeboys put in his food.
- Galson gets killed by Morales when he crushes him with an elevator.
- Averted with Cloutier; he confides in Mukada that he wants to change and live up to his position after letting his Pride get the better of him, making his fate all the more horrific.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- The whole All Just a Dream sequence where Beecher is paroled and leaves Oz seems like a definitive ending to his character arc and the series as a whole. It turns out to be, well, a dream, and his parole is rejected.
- Connolly's bomb turned out to be a dud.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Hill orchestrates Supreme Allah's death by telling the Homeboys he has allergies to eggs.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Ultimately, Supreme Allah can't even get Hill to side with him while the latter is on the outs with the Homeboys, and ends up dying of an allergic reaction to eggs.
- Bolivian Army Cliffhanger: Double Subverted. The episode looks like it's going to end with Connolly's bomb detonating, but it turns out to be a dud. Then the kitchen explodes because O'Reily left the gas on.
- Bookends: The first episode of Season 4 had a Mass "Oh, Crap!" caused in Em City by a prisoner going on a shooting spree; the final episode has another one being caused by a prisoner threatening to set off a bomb.
- Buried Alive: Kirk and the Bikers entomb Cloutier in the kitchen walls.
- Despair Event Horizon: Beecher just shuts down after his parole is rejected.Beecher: Fucking Oz…
- Disproportionate Retribution: Schillinger tries to have Beecher killed and reignites their feud just because he didn't say he was up for parole.
- Downer Ending: Beecher's parole is rejected and he crosses the Despair Event Horizon, Schillinger gives up on his redemption entirely, Kirk wins his battle for control of the Christians against Cloutier, Hughes dies and Glynn is overcome with grief and regret, McManus gives up on White and sends him to solitary, Said gives in to his anger, and Oz is ravaged by an accidental gas explosion.
- Foreshadowing: One big clue that indicates that Beecher being paroled is All Just a Dream is that it happens before the subplot with O'Reily, Connolly, and the bomb is resolved.
- Heel–Face Turn: O'Reily, of all people. He admits his faults and helps stop Connolly's bombing out of genuine benevolent intent.
- Irony: O'Reily pulls out all the stops to stop Connolly's bombing, only to accidentally cause another explosion when he leaves the gas on in the kitchen, which ignites when a CO lights a cigarette.
- Kick the Dog: Kirk and Hoyt taunt Cloutier while they entomb him.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": Everyone panics when they realize Connolly has a bomb he fully intends to detonate.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Beecher's well-meaning advice to Said to embrace his so-called inner Adebisi (essentially act out on his withheld frustration and rage) resulting in Said going berserk on Robson and Schillinger once more. On the other hand, Said did so specifically to save Beecher from them.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Cloutier joins his followers on the work detail to prove he isn't above them after Kirk calls him out on his cushy position. Instead, it turns out Kirk had done it so the Bikers could get him alone and entomb him in a wall.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Morales gives one right before killing Galson.Morales: Be all you can be, baby.
- Reformed, but Rejected: Beecher is rejected for parole because the parole board because it feels his good behavior is unable to redeem his prior actions.
- Sanity Slippage: Hughes goes full-on batshit crazy after spending too much time in solitary, now believing himself to be 'Gamba Khufu', leader of the Republic of Huru.
- So Proud of You: Redding expresses his pride in Hill after he says he won't join the Homeboys and that he feels guilty for killing Supreme Allah.
- Undignified Death: Supreme Allah dies of an allergic reaction to eggs.
- You're Insane!: Alvarez and another inmate call Hughes insane while listening to his deranged rant.
