BBC One’s drama series, Waiting for the Out, is an extremely unique show in the sense that such stories are hardly ever told in the long format, and are mostly put together in just 120 minutes or so. The six-part series is centered around Dan Stewer, a young man who sets out on an internal adventure to learn more about and accept his family members, especially his father, all of whom had spent significant time in prison. But at the center of this beautiful and poignant show is also Dan’s gripping fear about being arrested and jailed himself, now that he takes up a job at the local prison. Waiting for the Out is based on Andy West’s memoir, “The Life Inside: A Memoir of Prison, Family, and Learning to Be Free.”
Spoiler Alert
What is the show about?
Waiting for the Out begins with the protagonist, a young man named Dan Stewer, having a phone conversation with a friend, Jamie, about the new job that he has been appointed to. A graduate in philosophy, Dan had been teaching at a university before he seemingly got bored of the job and quit. Just a few days ago, he opted for quite a unique professional role, one that Jamie has been instrumental in leading him to. Dan has taken up the responsibility of conducting philosophy classes with the inmates of the local prison at Kenworth. Jamie, who already works at the prison in some other department, naturally becomes Dan’s guide with regard to what he must expect and the rules at his new workplace.
But there is something off about Dan as well, as to begin with, he is a bit too nervous about working inside a prison, to the extent that he buys a pair of work boots with steel toe-caps, believing that they would keep him safe. When he shares news of his new job with his elder brother, Lee, the latter is startled as well, for he cannot comprehend why someone would leave a job at the university for something so unusual. Dan has an unhealthy obsession with the oven at his house, for he is too scared he’ll keep the gas running whenever he leaves home, and he keeps taking photos of it to reassure himself that it is off.
Despite being quite outgoing and especially charming with women, Dan does not have a very stable romantic life, as he is unable to have a serious relationship for long. His new professional stint at the prison begins quite well, with a number of seriously interested inmates joining his class, but Dan is soon caught up in his personal life. After all, this job at the prison seems like a twisted chance for him to get to know his brother, uncle, and most importantly, his father better, as they had all been imprisoned for significant portions of their lives.
Why does Dan really take the job at the prison?
The very first question that occurs to everyone around Dan is about his logic behind taking up the job of teaching philosophy in a prison. There is no way to ignore the fact that a subject as abstract and theoretical as philosophy feels a bit out of place inside a correctional home, as inmates mostly choose to learn hard skills that they can make use of after their sentence ends. One of the inmates in the group goes on to ask Dan what the prospect of studying philosophy is, and is rather disheartened when the protagonist replies that his only job at the moment is the seemingly low-paying one at the prison. Those close to Dan believe that although his previous job at the university was possibly as low-paying as his current one, it still provided for a safe and stable workplace.
At a party organized by one of his friends, a guest directly asks Dan whether his decision is linked to the fact that his father, and in fact most of his family members, have spent time behind bars. Although the young man lashes out against this insensitive suggestion and upsets the mood of the whole party, the truth is that he is genuinely affected by the close association between crime and his family. At his core, Dan is conflicted between the feeling of shame and guilt for his father having been a criminal, and also a peculiar sense of alienation from his family for not having inherited their criminal intent. From his very childhood, Dan had never had any trouble with the law or any disciplinary issues, unlike his elder brother, who had gotten addicted to drugs and spent time in prison as a juvenile.
Because of the very different trajectory of his life, Dan has an internal desire to know more about prison and life behind bars, to understand the psyche of inmates, and to learn how they manage to survive the grueling days, months, and years away from their families, stripped of their freedom. It is primarily for this reason, and to feel closer to his father in a very indirect and complicated way, that he takes up the job at the prison. Eventually, it is revealed that Dan felt an overwhelming sense of love and admiration for his father, even at an age when he already realized that his father was not really a good man. He would often feel conflicted about judging the man as a petty criminal and then looking up to him as a father figure. Having been estranged from him since his childhood, as Martin (the father) had abandoned the family, Dan desperately wants to know and understand his father better, and spending time with inmates seems to be his best bet at the moment.
But at the same time, there is also an immense fear working inside Dan, which makes him feel that there is something inherently criminal in him, because of his family, which will ultimately lead to him being put behind bars as well. This fear makes him paranoid, especially when he has to walk into the prison at the beginning of his shift. Since all personal belongings are supposed to be left inside a locker before entering prison, the failure of which can be legally considered a crime, Dan is scared that he will carelessly walk into the prison with his phone on him and get arrested for it. He keeps repeatedly checking whether he has placed his phone inside the locker, almost compulsively, which looks extremely odd to the other guards at the place. Such is Dan’s new job that it equally excites and scares him at the same time, and yet, spending time with the inmates gradually gives him a fresh and reassuring perspective on life. Being a child who had to bear the pains of seeing his father often being put behind bars, Dan realizes that he is not the only one to have experienced such misery, while also understanding that captive inmates can still be good fathers if they want to.
Why is Dan terrified of leaving his oven on?
Dan’s strange obsession with the oven at his house initially seems to suggest there’s some kind of mental health issue starting to grip him, as it directly hampers his daily life. Since he lives alone and therefore has to lock up his house before he goes to work, Dan is terribly scared of accidentally leaving the oven on and causing a fire that will destroy his whole house. But as the plot progresses, it becomes clear that this act is part of the protagonist’s growing compulsive nature, which is rooted in his unusual childhood as the son of a hardened criminal. Lee reports that he too has had to deal with numerous such compulsive disorders, and the brothers having witnessed crime and punishment from such close quarters as mere boys definitely plays a role here.
It is not like this compulsiveness actually makes Dan any more careful, for he ends up setting fire to the curtains in his kitchen while trying to use a camping stove. Instead, it is a habit, or rather a compulsion, that gets in the way of things, as he sometimes returns home to check whether the gas is off, getting delayed for professional and personal appointments. He pays extra to technicians to keep checking his oven repeatedly, despite them always finding nothing wrong with it. The compulsion seems to be born out of a habit, instilled by the reckless life his father led, to always be wary of every small movement and decision, to avoid getting caught by the law or getting embroiled in some illegal act.
Although it initially seems like Dan is traumatized by some particular incident from his childhood in which he might have accidentally left the oven on and had to face the wrath of his father, nothing like that is shown in Waiting for the Out. It is possible that something of the sort had happened, but in an overall sense, the fear of leaving the oven on is representative of Dan’s crippling fear of losing control over his life and spiraling down the same dark hole that his father once had. The assurance that the gas oven is off, which he keeps providing himself first through the photos he takes on his phone and then through the live feed from the nanny cam, is also an assurance to Dan that he still has control over his life and not all hope is lost. Eventually, at the very end of the series, Dan learns to cope with his compulsions with the help of his brother and also indirectly his mother, and is finally seen overcoming the fears that once held a tight grip over his life. In a heartwarming final scene, he is seen leaving the house after checking the oven just once and fighting the internal urge to return to check it once more, which is soon bound to turn into a positive habit.
Does Dan make an attempt to meet his dad?
Once Dan accepts that he is indeed on a convoluted journey to get to know and understand his father better, he cannot help but be intrigued by the possibility of meeting the man once again. Dan and his family have no idea where Martin is at the moment, or whether he is even alive; the protagonist seems to get a chance to find out for himself. One of the inmates in his class, Keith McKellar, reveals that one of his acquaintances inside the prison happened to have known Martin quite well, since the two had spent eight long months sharing the same cell. Keith offers Dan the chance to meet this acquaintance of his and learn more about his father, which is initially quite offensive to the protagonist.
But deep inside, he desperately wants to know his father better, even through second-hand narration of stories about the man. Both Lee and their mother are absolutely against the idea of Dan trying to find out more about Martin, and possibly even meeting him, as they consider him to be a terrible person who does not deserve any second chances, and reunion with whom will only cause more troubles for the family. But the sense of love and admiration that he always had for his dad ever since childhood makes Dan feel otherwise. He admits to Lee that he cannot detach himself from the very cause of his pains and troubles in the manner that Lee and his wife had done in their respective lives. He also apologizes to his mother for going against her will and being comfortable with the idea of reuniting with his father.
Ultimately, Dan does his own research and finds out that the acquaintance Keith had mentioned, a certain Matthew Hall, has been released from prison, and therefore he can be spoken to without any legal complications. The young man sets up an appointment with Matthew, and pretty early into the meeting, he asks about Martin. From his conversation with Matthew, Dan learns of a different side to his father that he had never heard of. The man’s description of Martin is that of a sensitive and kind person who loved his wife and longed to be with his family. Surprisingly to Dan, his father actually never spoke about him, and instead shared a lot about his mother and brother while in prison. Perhaps the people Martin pretended to not be too attached to during his free life ended up mattering more to him while in prison. Either way, this conversation ultimately brings a sense of closure to Dan, perhaps with the realization that his father actually never cared much for him. This, in turn, makes him accept the detachment and estrangement that the man had forced upon his son and the family, and Dan finally stops his search for his father. Instead, he focuses on maintaining the truly nurturing relations with those family members who had always stuck with him and supported him, i.e., Lee, his family, and their ever-loving mother.
Is Dan ultimately punished for his negligent crime?
When push comes to shove, Dan seems to exhibit a sense of daring and almost criminal desperation that perhaps comes inherently because of his family’s past record. Unable to check on the oven at his house as the nanny cam is temporarily not working, Dan decides to walk into prison with his phone in his pocket just so that he can check on his oven later in the day and not have to spend the entire time in fear of accidentally setting fire to his house. It is not even like Dan accidentally or forgetfully walks in with his phone, which is a grave crime, as he genuinely knows what he is doing and then even makes a feeble attempt to hide the matter and defend himself.
He is caught and reported to the authorities, and after being temporarily suspended from his position as a teacher in the prison, it seems like Dan will finally continue in the footsteps of his father, uncle, and brother in being put behind bars. The prison director makes it very clear that, if found guilty, Dan will be sentenced to a maximum of two years in prison for carrying contraband. Despite everyone’s advice that he hire a lawyer, Dan does not do so, simply because he knows that his situation does not have any layers that can be used to carve his escape, and he instead tells everything truthfully to the director.
Ultimately, in Waiting for the Out’s ending, the prison director decides not to prosecute Dan, for he is convinced that the protagonist had not carried his phone into the prison for any personal gain. There was simply nothing for Dan to gain through the criminal act, and taking into consideration his compulsive behavior stemming from his father being a convicted criminal, the director decides to drop the case. He knows that if Dan is imprisoned, then the inmates who had chosen to take philosophy classes will be deprived of the chance to think differently. Despite his initial setbacks, Dan had indeed proven himself to be quite an adept teacher, one who was beloved by the inmates, and so this was also useful in him being ultimately saved from legal trouble.
How does the series comment on the failing prison system?
Waiting for the Out comments sharply on the failing prison system and particularly shines a light on the unfairly difficult conditions for inmates who want to reach out to their families. In a large number of cases, men commit crimes for the sake of their families and are then stuck in an ineffective system that does not do much to reform or teach them, and instead only deprives them of the very trivial but significant joys of being a part of their children’s lives. The show, and also the book it is adapted from, are poised to raise awareness about the equally difficult condition of young children who have to grow up with either of their parents in prison, the number being over 190,000 in England and Wales alone. There is no mechanism to support these children and to provide them an understanding of their unfortunate situations, which can result in them resorting to criminal ways of life, if not growing up with serious emotional complications.
One of the inmates, Dris, is ecstatic on the day of his release, only because he will get to celebrate his child’s birthday together with his family, but it all falls apart due to some administrative mistake. It is Dris who has to unfairly pay for this mistake, and his bail is postponed by at least six to eight weeks. In the case of another inmate, Greg Turner, the situation grows so morose that he ultimately ends up taking his own life, and it is not even too shocking to the authorities, because it is not a very uncommon matter in prison. The fact that Waiting for the Out wants to highlight the many failures of the present system and subtly calls for a more sensitive and humane approach is evident from the stories of these characters.
