Cyril O'Reily
Cyril O'Reily is a fictional character, played by American actor Scott William Winters, on the HBO drama Oz.[1][2] He is also mentioned in the companion book Oz: Behind These Walls: The Journal of Augustus Hill.
Character overview
"Prisoner #98P284: Cyril O'Reily. Convicted July 1, 1998 - Murder in the first degree. Sentence: Life, up for parole in 60 years."
Cyril was a hoodlum like his brother
In the last season of the show, Cyril is executed despite Ryan's multiple attempts to save his brother, and despite Cyril's intellectual disability. Although Cyril is normally placid, he is prone to violent attacks on people when enraged, often showing great strength, which has earned him the resentment, but also the respect, of many inmates.
Fictional history
Season 2
Cyril O'Reily is the mentally handicapped brother of Ryan O'Reily, an Irish American
When Cyril arrives in Oz he is put in Unit B, where he is approached by Aryan leader
Later, a guard
Season 3
Cyril starts off this season working in the kitchen and essentially shadowing his brother. The Aryan inmates, especially Schillinger and
In the first round, Cyril goes up against Robson. Ryan spikes Robson's water with drugs to ensure victory. Cyril wins the first fight against Robson in a knockout, and the Aryans leave off their taunts and threats afterward. Ryan spikes other boxer's drinks as well, as there is a lot of gambling money to be won. Ryan sees another opportunity to get back at the Aryans when Schillinger's
Cyril is now in the championship round and must face
Season 4 Part I
The lockdown ends and Cyril is having nightmares over Khan's death. Ryan suggests
In the interaction sessions, Cyril expresses his remorse and the Nathan parents express their anger. Ryan, however, turns the tables on the Nathans when he suggests that Gloria Nathan cheated on her husband during a temporary separation. As a result, the relationship between Dr. Nathan and Ryan becomes increasingly hostile. In Em City, Cyril is later attacked by inmates
In the midst of this, Em City is undergoing a demographic shift that worries Ryan,
Season 4 Part II
In this half of the season, Cyril's violent behavior begins to worry the staff. First, reporter Jack Eldridge comes to Oz to do a news story. When Cyril and Ryan were younger, Eldridge wrote a story on Irish street gangs which depicted the O'Reily's gang as brutal and heartless. The story angered their mother Tess, who died of cancer shortly afterwards. Cyril recalls the incident and beats Eldridge severely; the story is subsequently quashed.
After Asian inmate Jia Kenmin arrives in Oz, disputes erupt between him and both the Irish and Latino factions. Kenmin provokes Cyril and Ryan to the point where Cyril loses control, beating the Asian man into a coma. McManus, angry and alarmed, considers transferring Cyril to the Connolly institute for the Mentally Unstable. Sister Pete, however, pushes him to send Cyril to Protective Custody for a while so that he can calm down.
Back in Em City, Ryan and new inmate
Throughout the season, as Dr. Nathan finally falls for Ryan, she becomes somewhat more forgiving towards Cyril for killing her husband.
Season 5
Ryan's birth mother Suzanne Fitzgerald turned herself in after being on the run with a radical group for more than 30 years. Governor Devlin however reduces her charges to 2 years of community service at Oz where she can see Ryan and Cyril. While Cyril was in Protective Custody, it was determined that he and Ryan were half-siblings with different mothers but Ryan and Suzanne keep this secret from him. They enjoy seeing her on a daily basis but this is short lived when
Season 6
In effort to overturn Cyril's death sentence Ryan, with the help of
As Cyril's execution approaches, Oz's prisoners, led by prisoner
Analysis
Merri Lisa Johnson explains that one "of the few scenes in Oz to deal gently with prisoner rape comes when Cyril O'Reily, a developmentally disabled inmate who was also raped by Schillinger, talks with Gloria Nathan, the prison doctor....Cyril's diminished capacity allows him to innocently ask Nathan if she was on vacation because she was raped."[3]
References
- .
- Seattle Times Company.
- ISBN 978-1845112455.