Lemuel Idzik
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Lemuel Idzik is a character, played by Joel Grey on the American television show Oz. Little is known about his life before Oz, except that he is a Jewish man, and he once met Kareem Said in a coffeeshop in Istanbul, where their conversation about the impending end of the world, at a cosmic level, greatly depressed Idzik and "changed his life forever." He doesn't affiliate himself with any of the factions in Oz upon his arrival.
[edit] Season 6
We are introduced to Lemuel Idzik shockingly, as his first appearance is disguised as a reporter who is in Oz to do a story on Said's efforts to self publish Augustus Hill's memoirs. When Said walks up to shake his hand, Idzik pulls out a revolver, shooting Said twice in the torso before a C.O. disarms him. Said dies shortly afterwards, and Idzik is convicted of murder in the 2nd degree, sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Understandably, Idzik already has enemies in Oz - notably the Muslims and Omar White. Tim McManus talks to both parties and convinces the former to give Idzik a wide berth. White, however, is not entirely compliant, and leaves McManus's office with uncertain intentions. When Idzik is made White's new cell mate, White becomes very agitated and conflicted, but eventually decides not to harm Idzik, much to Idzik's dismay. When repeatedly asked why he murdered Said, Idzik finally tells White that he asked to come to Em city so someone would kill him, because the cosmos is coming to an end. When, after a day of research, White naively but stubbornly refutes Idzik's prophecy and thus his desire to be killed, Idzik murders White in his sleep by slitting his throat.
For his second murder, Idzik is placed on death row, but his conviction is overturned, again to his dismay. Finally, Sister Pete coaxes out an explanation for his death wish. He tells her of how, long ago, he met Karim Said in Istanbul, before Said's conversion to Islam. Said spoke passionately and convincingly of how the universe was ultimately doomed, and those words stuck to Idzik, changing him forever, sapping from him all purpose in life. He killed Said out of revenge and White in hopes that he would, in turn, be executed.
He is last seen on one of the evacuation buses in the closing scenes of the series, alive and well, despite all of his intentions.
