In the main area, Poet, now sporting cornrows along with those ridiculous sideburns, "treats" the crowd to his latest "oeuvre." Man, can Poet do the monologues and Hill do the poetry? I'm not sure that'll be an improvement, but it would lend some variety. Maybe I should just stick with the devil that I know. Diane nervously reenters Em City, and gets a lot of looks from the prisoners. She makes her way up to the control station and doesn't look happy. Diane, in the words of Buffy, "Kicking ass is comfort food."

Classroom. Coushaine tells Wangler to check out the article on Tiger Woods. With some assistance on the big words, Wangler manages to read an entire paragraph out loud. I can deal with learning-to-read Wangler a lot better than any other Wangler I've seen so far, so let's just give this plotline a chance. Wangler doesn't even fly off the handle when Kirk calls him the n-word, and if they want to make Wangler relatively more likable in my eyes, more scenes with Kirk won't hurt a bit.

Later, McManus marches into Wangler's pod as Adebisi, sitting outside, looks all, "The hell?" McManus tells Wangler that Coushaine praised his progress in class, and gives him a paperback copy of Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington. McManus explains that Washington was one of the most influential African-Americans of his time. Wangler: "This to do with the peanuts?" Hee! Very clever, Tom. McManus tells Wangler that the book influenced his life. Oy. As McManus turns to leave, Wangler tells him that he doesn't miss mopping the kitchens at all. I was afraid McManus was going to smile in an insufferable my-work-here-is-done way, but while a smile does escape, it's not too obnoxious, so thanks for that, anyway. Outside, Adebisi sort of gets in McManus's face while plucking what looks like an African banjo, and since I seem to remember that the banjo originated in Africa, I'm going to go with that. (Don't e-mail me!) Once McManus is gone, Adebisi swaggers into the pod and announces, "That cocksucker doesn't come in here again unless you ask me." Wangler reasonably enough asks how he's supposed to stop him, but Adebisi isn't interested in little things like logic, and repeats himself in a little singsong. Hee. He adjusts Wangler's stocking cap so it's slanted to one side like his hat, and leaves. Hee, again.