Emerald City – Prison of the Abject

By: Naomi Johnson

The episode opens with a woman running through a field in fear carrying a child and leaving them to be cared for by the people she comes across. Skip ahead twenty years and the child has grown up to be the beautiful Dorothy Gale played by Adria Arjona. Dorothy is your average, everyday nurse working in rural Lucas, Kansas. It is her birthday, but she is about to be reunited with the mother that left her. Suffice to say, it’s a lot for her to take in especially when she seems to be having some type of life crisis wishing she could be more than who she is and all that, but I digress.

Upon arriving at her mother’s trailer, she comes across a murdered cop. As this is happening, a massive storm is starting in the background. Dorothy notices that the conveniently located storm bunker is open and finds her mother in critical condition from what we can only surmise is a shot wound. So, Dorothy being the brilliant nurse she is leaves the safety of the bunker to find help in the storm. Another cop arrives at the scene as they see Dorothy hold her at gun point and completely ignore the giant tornado behind him. Dorothy joins the K9 in the police cruiser as they are all swept up by the tornado.

They crash in an unknown land where upon arrival drive head first into a woman who we find out is the “Mistress of the Eastern Woods” (Florence Kasumba). I thought this was a funny twist to the original house falling on the witch of the east in the Judy Garland film. While stumbling through the woods, Dorothy is met by children who lead her to a village where the inhabitants are performing some type of ritual. They are the people of the Tribal Freelands (a/k/a/ our Munchkins). When they learn that Dorothy was the one who killed the witch they first torture her to figure out who and what she is and then vote on exiling her. Why? Well, because only a witch can kill a witch. Luckily, a man who voted for her death not only escorts her to the border, but also inadvertently names the dog ToTo – in their language it means literally dog.

Cut to the Emerald City where Vincent D’Onofrio plays a wigged wizard who likes to send out drones shaped like monkeys to spy on his empire. We learn that a prophecy foretold of something falling from the sky and awakening the dreaded Beast. Whoever or whatever this Beast is it seems magic could not stop it and only the wizard is capable of ending its reign of terror. So, the wizard sends his best to either kill whatever tore a hole in the sky or bury it. We then met the famed Witch of the West (Ana Ularu) who lives a simple life, indulging in all sorts of extracurricular activities. Obviously, she is a woman jaded by the things she has seen.

Meanwhile, Dorothy is led by the most incompetent man. Honestly, if given the choice of either taking the long safe way around or going through the perilous, dangerous cave I choose the former. So, as Dorothy, Toto and Ojo (Olafur Darri Olafsson) make their way through the cave they come across. It is a strange mud prison where those who practiced magic were held captive by the witch of the east. They safely make it through the cave and Ojo tells Dorothy to take the yellow brick road, which isn’t made out of yellow bricks but actually littered in opium. Dorothy precedes to make her way to Emerald City while suffering some slight side effects of a contact high and stumbles across a slaughtered village and a man strung up like a scarecrow on the brink of death. She saves him and he, of course, is gorgeous, has a British accent and literally no idea why he was crucified or who he is. After a bit of light flirting, Dorothy gives him a name, Lucas, named after her home. It’s fitting as he looks like a Lucas. I can already see the ship names now Dorcas, Lurothy, Crowthy and maybe Kancus. I’ll let you guys decide on that.

So, our heroes after a rather long day settle and make camp and while they sleep they are watched over by none other than the witch of the east. Woo! Lucas awakens the next day to see Dorothy in a type of trance and ends up falling into the same trap. The Witch of the East asks them whether her sister from the north sent them to hurt her. Dorothy tries to tell her the truth and of their innocent misunderstanding, but the Witch will hear none of it and proceeds to torture them. She goes through Dorothy’s knapsack and finds her gun. She is s tricked by Dorothy into shooting herself in the face. Boo! The most intriguing and visual stunning character has just been dispatched permanently because only a witch can kill a witch and I doubt she is coming back from that.

Back in the Emerald City Jolie Richardson makes her introduction as Glinda, but she is not the Glinda the good witch of the north. No, this Glinda is shady and has many secrets that no doubt we will learn later on. She is in a current power play against the wizard over the fate of magic use, which has been outlawed by the wizard. Back on the yellow brick road Lucas is suffering from his injuries and they ask for help. They are sent to the local apothecary who has a young man named Tip (Jordan Loughran) locked up inside. At first, the apothecary played by Fiona Shaw (or Aunt Petunia from Harry Potter) brushes our heroes off, but then she notices Lucas’ sword and invites them inside. As Dorothy patches Lucas up, the apothecary proves to be slightly unhinged and eventually tries to poison Lucas. Luckily, after Dorothy first finds out about the existence of Tip she manages to save Lucas and with the help of Tip’s friend Jack (Gerran Howell) rescue Tip.

Whilst Tip and Jack escape the mad woman, Dorothy and Lucas are cornered. Lucas saves Dorothy by stabbing the apothecary and then proceeds to bash the woman in the head, scaring not only Dorothy, but also myself. Anger issues much? They both return to the yellow brick road and Lucas tries to remove the awkward tension by telling a knock knock joke…nice. Tip and Jack have their own issues because as much as freedom is a huge plus, suddenly changing genders is a lot to take in. That’s right! Tip is now a she and whatever medicine the old crone was feeding her altered her appearance from buxom young maiden to scrawny young lad. Thus, concluding the episodes premiere. Suffice to say, I expect a real shift in Jack and Tip’s relationship.