Monday, March 6, 2017

Emerald City - No Place Like Home


Emerald City closes out its First Season with major changes in Oz. Dorothy's (Adria Arjona) plan succeeds in momentarily halting the war between the Wizard (Vincent D'Onofrio) and the witches, but also leads to the unexpected release of the long-discussed Beast Forever who will likely be a major player should the show return for a Second Season. Dorothy's reunion with her birth mother (Gina McKee) is short-lived but it does allow the girl from Kansas to leave Oz and make the trip home... for however long that lasts. Tip (Jordan Loughran), now revealed to be Ozma, reclaims her birthright and takes pleasure in exacting a measure of revenge against the man (Mido Hamada) responsible for her parents' death. And West (Ana Ularu) and Glinda (Joely Richardson) are apparently on the same side again. Should Dorothy return to Oz she may find it a very different place.

The season finale has a few twists. One, we learn the true identity of Dorothy's mother and see her sacrifice herself again to make sure Dorothy gets back to Kansas. Two, the long-discussed giants are put to rest by an unexpected source. And three, we learn that even guns can't keep a good (or bad) witch down. The last of these is the most interesting. If true, than how did Dorothy kill East? Or does the show see it as more of an assisted suicide? We know Dorothy was born from a mortal and not the witch mother, so is East truly dead? Everything seems to point to yes, although this latest revelation leads to new questions about Dorothy and the magic power she began unexpectedly wielding like a professional halfway through the season. War may have been averted, but Dorothy's time in Oz does lead to the release of the Beast Forever which gives the young woman a reason to return to Oz and set right her mistakes.


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