AllMovie

Ten months after the riot, Em City is re-opened. McManus (Terry Kinney) has a new plan to keep everyone happy. He's divided the cellblock into ten different groups: Muslims, gangbangers, Italians, Latinos, Irish, Aryans, bikers, Christians, gays, and one final group known as "others." Each group will have four prisoners living in Em City, and one representative on the "Emerald City Council," where grievances will be heard. McManus opens the first council meeting by pushing his education programs. He goads a Christian prisoner, Coushaine (Bryan Callen), into teaching a reading class. He tells young gangster Wangler (J.D. Williams) that he doesn't have to work if he goes to class, and tells Poet (MuMs) that if he gets his G.E.D., he'll arrange for him to have a conjugal visit with his girlfriend. The reading class is disrupted when Wangler, embarrassed that he cannot read, attacks Coushaine. McManus decides to teach Wangler to read himself. New inmate Peter Schibetta (Eddie Malavarca), son of the late mob boss, gets Glynn (Ernie Hudson) to return an unnamed "favor" by giving the kitchen back to the Italians, which upsets Adebisi (Adewale Akinnouye-Agbaje). O'Reily (Dean Winters), worried that Schibetta will learn of his involvement in his father's death, tells Schibetta that Adebisi killed his father. Beecher (Lee Tergesen) continues to taunt Schillinger (J.K. Simmons), but Schillinger can't retaliate because his parole hearing is coming up. In desperation, he offers Wittlesey (Edie Falco) two thousand dollars to kill Beecher, threatening to expose her for killing Scott Ross if she refuses. His plans backfire, and he finds himself facing a longer prison term. Glynn learns that his daughter was beaten and raped by Latinos, and takes his anger out on Alvarez (Kirk Acevedo). Later, Dr. Nathan (Lauren Velez) gives O'Reily the shocking news that he may have breast cancer.