Screw Episode Four Review

Screw shows massive changes within C-Wing as things heat up for Leigh and Rose.

Leigh has finally received her promotion, but it comes at a time of crisis. Drugs have been smuggled into the prison and violence has increased. Leigh’s solution is a radical one, a drugs amnesty, and if the prisoners behave they get to watch the big boxing fight. Her ideas are met with scepticism.

Screw has been a show that has yo-yoed in quality. The first episode was a good start, the second saw a big drop in quality and the third was a mild improvement. Episode Four was the second downgrade.

Since the first episode Screw has fallen into a formulaic trap. Every episode gets split into two storylines – one involving a prisoner, the other about guards. The prisoner storyline in this episode involved a new prisoner, James (Denzel Baidoo). James was a 21-year-old prisoner who gets moved to an adult prison for the first time. Because of James’ young age he feels he must prove he’s tough enough by killing another prisoner. It was a cliched story that has been done many times before. Screw already did a similar story in Episode Two because Walker got into a fight with one of the hardest prisoners in the wing so he could be accepted into a gang.

The episode did attempt some social commentary with Rose going to Raheem (Jorden Myrie) for help. Raheem states that James will probably fall back into crime again and returns to prison because he doesn’t have a support network that helps him fulfill his ambitions. Raheem also suggested Rose was racist because she went to the only black officer for advice.

Whilst this storyline was cliched it did have one strength: it showed Rose did care. Rose only took the job because she was blackmailed by Costa so she can smuggle contraband. However, she has a scene of empathy, and she was genuinely trying to help James, even if it meant bending the rules.

Rose also starts her fight back against Costa. When Costa demanded that Rose needed to bring in more drugs Rose threatened to make his next visit from his family very brief. Rose told Costa she was also in a gang. A theme throughout the series has been Rose becoming more integrated with the guards.

In my review of the first episode I compared Leigh to a teacher because she had a friendly relationship with the prisoners and was careful with how she disciplined them. Episode Four took this to the next level because Leigh was offering a treat if they were good. Tanner even pointed this out. However, they were prisoners for a reason. It made a change that Leigh’s lenient approach failed.

The other aspect of the episode was Toby’s role. In the previous episode, Toby suspected Leigh was smuggling drugs into the prison and the amnesty heightened his suspicions. Toby starts his own investigation into Leigh and learns of her deep dark secret. Simon Ray also had a prominent role in the episode. He watches over Leigh and his expression says he wants Leigh to fail.

The fourth episode had some decent character moments for Rose, but the series feels stale and restrictive. It shows through the repeated storylines.