Tobias Beecher
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Tobias Beecher is a fictional character on the television show Oz, played by American actor Lee Tergesen.
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[edit] Sexuality and Addiction
Beecher arrives in Oz as an alcoholic where he is immediately raped by an Aryan inmate, Vernon Schillinger. Having failed his family and been the victim of rape, Beecher also becomes addicted to heroin with the help of inmate Ryan O'Reily to cope with the bad things that have happened to him. He does this while working for Sister Peter Marie, the prison's psychiatrist and drug counselor who easily notices. When Sister Pete and unit manager Tim McManus see that he is using drugs to escape his problems, they call his family in to apply outside pressure where he then stops using heroin after attacking Schillinger. Free from Schillinger, Beecher becomes addiction free but goes crazier in Oz to the point where the other inmates view him as a headcase. He starts drinking alcohol again in Season 2 though when he hears that his wife dies and is supplied by new inmate Chris Keller. Keller is a seductive bisexual inmate, who had also once been raped by or had sex with Schillinger, depending on the interpretation. As a favor to Schillinger who he still "owes," Keller gains Beecher's attention, and eventually his trust. As Beecher falls for Keller, he falls into a trap by he and Schillinger who then hospitalize him. In season 3, Beecher goes to Kareem Said for help and forgives Keller to relieve himself of self-guilt and cope with his problems.
In Season 4, Beecher attempts to be in a relationship with Keller to calm himself down but is stopped short following the kidnapping of his kids when FBI agent Pierce Taylor suggests Keller may be suspect. At this point Beecher and Keller have sex with other inmates to make each other jealous while they are separated. Beecher later reveals to Said that he has sex with men to make himself feel self-hate as he is looking for any sort of self feeling available. Beecher then enacts revenge on Schillinger having the Italians kill his son when Beecher's son dies during the kidnapping. Schillinger finds out but Keller takes the blame to protect Beecher. To make himself more whole, Beecher participates in interaction sessions with Schillinger to resolve any negative feelings he has. Beecher stays in these interaction sessions up to his parole in Season 6 where he is mediating Said and Schillinger's Muslim/Aryan war that is occurring within Oz. Beecher leaves Oz and begins a relationship with his daughter's teacher until Keller asks him to do a favor that results in him coming back to Oz. Back in Oz on parole violation, Beecher ends up killing Schillinger in a play of MacBeth and then kills Keller who advances toward him. Before killing Keller, Beecher claims that he loved many of his addictions that he eventually saw as death and after Keller dies, he realizes the love they had for one another will no longer exist.
Throughout the series, Beecher turns to alcohol and heroin when he is feeling self-hatred and turns to homosexual activities out of loneliness. His struggles with both sexuality and addiction are repeated themes throughout the series.
[edit] Season 1
Beecher, an alcoholic lawyer, killed a young girl while driving drunk. Sentenced to prison, Beecher quickly learned that he was out of his element after being roomed with monstrous inmate Simon Adebisi during his first week in the titular facility. Inmate Vern Schillinger offered to be his new cellmate; he then brutally raped him. Schillinger, the leader of the Aryan Brotherhood, then "branded" him by burning a swastika design into one of his buttocks. Beecher was regularly sexually humiliated by Schillinger and developed an addiction to heroin. Schillinger then had him get a "makeover" by one of Em City's drag queens to doll up his appearance. Among other tortures, Schillinger made him beg to see his wife, making him eat pages of a law book, and tear up pictures of his family. However, eventually Schillinger tires of him and in an attempt to replace him as a roomate with Scott Ross, forces him to leave the cell wearing a Confederate Flag t-shirt. An act that is almost certain to ensure his death, Beecher snaps, and emboldened the PCP he is given by O'Reilly, attacks Schillinger, smashing the acrylic glass wall of Schillinger's cell and sending a broken shard flying into his eye. Beecher almost jumps to his death immediately after, but is restrained by guards and thrown in the isolation ward.
After being released, he confronted Schillinger (who was now sporting an eyepatch) in the prison gym's basketball court. He incapacitated Schillinger by kicking him in the groin and assaulting him with a piece of gym equipment, then defecating upon him in front of many of Emerald City's fiercer inmates. This earned him respect from inmates such as Ryan O'Reily, Miguel Alvarez, and even Adebisi. When a riot erupted in Em City, Beecher sided with O'Reily in the chaos, as neither belonged to any strong gangs. Throughout the series, Beecher and O'Reily had a love-hate partnership.
[edit] Season 2
In the aftermath of the riot, Beecher and the other prisoners who'd been housed in Em City were sent to other sections of the prison. Beecher found himself sharing a cell with James Robson, an Aryan member who tried to make Beecher perform oral sex on him. Beecher had by now learned to fight back, however, and bit the tip of Robson's penis off.
Upon his release from isolation, Beecher began taunting Schillinger, threatening to ruin his chances at parole. Frightened, Schillinger unsuccessfully sought out for other people to kill Beecher for him. Finally, Schillinger seemed to find somebody willing to do the deed: guard Diane Wittlesey, whom he blackmailed with knowledge that she had shot a prisoner during the riot. Wittlesey reluctantly agreed to get rid of Beecher if Schillinger would keep quiet. Beecher disappeared and Schillinger subsequently met with Wittlesey to discuss their deal. During this meeting, however, Schillinger was under surveillance; Wittlesey had never intended to kill Beecher and had reported Schillinger's request to her superiors, who arranged to hide Beecher until they could get Schillinger on tape incriminating himself. Schillinger obliged them, and Beecher had the satisfaction of being present to see the look on his face when he realized what had happened.
Afterwards, with Schillinger in the hole, Beecher bragged to his new cellmate Augustus Hill that his plan had worked perfectly; Schillinger would be charged with conspiracy to commit murder and had no chance at parole. Hill warned him that Schillinger would be out for revenge and now had less to lose than before, but at the moment Beecher was too happy to care.
Hill was eventually transferred to a different cell, and Chris Keller was brought in. As time passed, Beecher was surprised to find himself becoming attracted to Keller. This became more apparent after Beecher's wife Geniveve committed suicide. Unbeknownst to Beecher, however, Keller was secretly working with Schillinger, in order to help the latter get revenge. After using Beecher's attraction to Keller to put him through an emotional wringer and start him drinking again, the two cornered him with the help of an Aryan guard, Karl Metzger, and broke his arms and legs.
[edit] Season 3
Keller discovered that he had genuinely fallen in love with Beecher, however, and was desperate to win Beecher's trust and love again after he recovered. Beecher rejected Keller, however, refusing to forgive him unless he confessed to his role in the attack. Beecher then killed Metzger. While Keller did confess, Beecher still withheld forgiveness, and ambushed Keller shortly after his release from the infirmary, stabbing him. Although Keller never saw his attacker, Beecher told him that he'd been the one who attacked him some time later.
The conflict between Beecher and Schillinger continued throughout the run of the series. When Schillinger's son Andy was arrested and incarcerated in Oz, Beecher saw his chance to get even with Schillinger by befriending the young man and arranging to share a cell with him. While Beecher never did anything to Andy and in fact helped him cope with his withdrawal from drugs, he led Schillinger to believe that he was going to rape Andy, scaring his former torturer to death. Moved by Beecher's kindness, Andy renounced his father and everything he believed in. Schillinger then arranged to have his own son killed. Beecher's co-conspirators in the plan (Keller and Ryan O’Reilly) were happy about the outcome, since they had tormented Schillinger and turned his son against him. Beecher wasn't as satisfied, despite having gotten revenge, and he felt guilty for his part in Andy's death. At this point, Beecher was cellmates with former Muslim leader Kareem Said, who convinced Beecher to resolve his guilt asking for forgiveness from Keller and Schillinger. Beecher finally forgave Keller, and saved him from Schillinger's attack.
As the racial tension in Oz intensified, Beecher and Said were the only men of different backgrounds who remained friends throughout the lockdown of Oz.
[edit] Season 4 Part I
Beecher tried to resolve his guilt with Schillinger further by having a private investigator at his father's law firm discover Vern's younger son Hank. Schillinger, however, wanted revenge on Beecher for "corrupting" Andy, and ordered Hank to kidnap both of Beecher's children. Hank killed Beecher's son before ultimately releasing his daughter. Hank Schillinger severed the hand of Beecher's son before killing him and mailed it to Beecher in Oz. Schillinger also paid another prisoner to tell Beecher that Keller was responsible for the kidnapping. Enraged, Beecher tried to kill Keller, and a rift opened between the two lovers.
When Beecher learned the truth, he tried to apologize to Keller, but Keller was unforgiving. Beecher proceeded to have sex with inmates Shemin and Browne, in order to feel something. Upon learning that Hank Schillinger had been acquitted due to a legal technicality, he approached Chucky Pancamo in order to commission a mob hit on Hank Schillinger. Beecher had second thoughts shortly after, but when he went to Pancamo to cancel the hit he was informed that it was too late; Hank Schillinger was already dead. Keller later had Shemin and Browne killed in a plot to undermine the authority of Emerald City manager Martin Querns
[edit] Season 4 Part II
Over the course of his imprisonment, Beecher remained friends with Said and maintained a dysfunctional relationship with Keller. The other inmates and staff members viewed Beecher as the "Girlfriend" in the relationship, as he was not as hardened a criminal as Keller.
When Schillinger learned of Hank's death, he plotted revenge — all chance of which was lost after Keller falsely confessed to having hired the hitman. Keller did so to make himself Schillinger's target instead of Beecher, and not long afterwards he was transferred to another facility. Beecher and Schillinger then were involved in victim-attacker interaction programs led by Sister Peter Marie, who was trying to help Beecher fight his inner conflicts. With Keller in Massachusetts for confessing to Hank's murder, Beecher was up for parole and fell in love with his attorney, Katherine McClain. McClain did what she could for Beecher, but Schillinger rallied the Aryans to ruin his parole chances. Beecher was protected from Schillinger by Said and the Muslims, but was denied parole. Schillinger and Robson then attempted to rape Beecher, but Said came to his defense and fought the Aryans off with a knife.
[edit] Season 5
Fearing for a war between the Aryans and Muslims, Sister Pete suggested Beecher mediate interaction sessions between himself, Schillinger, and Said. In the first interaction session, Beecher said he felt Schillinger's attempts to ruin his parole were semi-justified, and that Said and Schillinger were very alike, despite drastic differences in religion. As the interaction sessions continued, Chucky Pancamo informed Beecher that Agent Pirece Taylor had implicated him in the murder of Hank Schillinger, and that the elder Schillinger would come after the Italians for protecting him. Surely enough, the Italians and Aryans went to war.
Shortly after, Keller was released from Massachusetts custody. Keller's return to Oz was not easy, however; Taylor now had evidence implicating him in on a series of murders, and a guilty verdict would send Keller to death row. Keller was isolated from the general population, and thus from Beecher.
In an interaction session, Schillinger denied any involvement in Beecher's rape. Beecher then attacked him. Afterwards, Franklin Winthrop and Adam Guenzel arrived in Oz, the latter being a friend of Beecher's family. Winthrop is immediately raped by the Aryans; Beecher, fearing for Guenzel's safety, recruits the Italians to protect him. When Robson attempted to rape Guenzel, Frank Urbano saved him who try to kill off the Aryan inmates. Angered by a failed attempt, Schillinger forces Winthrop to tell Guenzel about Beecher's relationships with men, which causes Guenzel to become disgusted with Beecher. Guenzel becomes verbally abusive toward Beecher and distances himself from his protector, in part due to concerns about other inmates thinking that he and Beecher are lovers. Schillinger then apologized to Beecher in an interaction session and shortly afterwards offered him a deal.
Schillinger told Beecher he could see Keller working in the mail room if he allowed Guenzel to be transferred to Unit B, without the Italians' protection where Schillinger would be free to do whatever he wished to Guenzel. Beecher initially refused, but then considered giving in after growing tired of Guenzel's homophobia. When Guenzel is talking with Biker Max Sands, Beecher warns him of the Aryan/Biker alliance that is being used to set Guenzel up for Schillinger. Guenzel disrespectul then sucker punched him in front of the entire Em City population and repeatedly pushed Beecher's head toward his groin to simulate oral sex. Beecher gave in to Schillinger's demands and convinced McManus that he could no longer help Guenzel. McManus then transferred Guenzel to Unit B where he was then gang-raped by the Aryans with Winthrop watching. Guenzel was then seen in the gym beaten and raped bleeding heavily from his anus and across the rest of his body.
Stricken with guilt, Beecher asks for Said's advice. Said counseled Beecher to give up his relationship with Keller and help Guenzel any way he can. Beecher asked Sister Pete to talk to Guenzel and Schillinger; Afraid that Guenzel would eventually rat out the Aryans, Schillinger arranged for Guenzel to "escape", which resulted in Guenzel's death courtesy of the electric fence.Guilty over Guenzel's death, Beecher confessed to the authorities about Schillinger's involvement, forcing Warden Glynn to sentence Schillinger to solitary confinement for an undetermined length of time. Beecher then saw Keller, who had just been found guilty of murder, released from the hospital, where the two of them shared an intimate kiss.
[edit] Season 6
Beecher was transferred to a safer Unit, as unit manager Tim McManus saw that he had become an Aryan target once again for testifying against Schillinger. Beecher's father, Harrison, in the meantime appealed Keller's death sentence until Winthrop killed him to earn membership in the Aryan Brotherhood. Fortunately, Beecher was paroled, and then after inheriting his father's law firm overturned Keller's death sentence.
Soon afterward, Beecher was sent back to prison after a lonely Keller arranged for him to get caught buying illegal drugs. Keller had told Beecher that his ex-wife was terribly ill and asked him to pick up a drug for her that hadn't been approved by the F.D.A. and was thus illegal. After Beecher agreed to do so, Keller anonymously telephoned the police and told them where the deal would take place. Once in prison again, Beecher banished Keller from his life. In an attempt to make Beecher forgive him, Keller engineered Schillinger's death; during Oz's production of Macbeth (in which both Beecher and Schillinger had been cast), he switched a prop knife for a real one, resulting in Schillinger's death when Beecher stabbed him.
Once Beecher realized what had happened, he and Keller got into a heated argument, during which Keller realized that Beecher would never be able to love him again. The argument ended with Beecher rejecting Keller and pushing him away, sending Keller over a nearby railing and breaking his neck. At the end of the series, Beecher was in protective custody to shield him from the Aryans and awaiting trial for Keller's death.
