Emerald City started on a strong note last night with a two hour premiere. The show tackles an American favorite, the Wizard of Oz, but gives it a dark twist. The land of Oz is different. It lacks the bright colors and cute munchkins celebrating the death of the Wicked Witch of the East. Much more is in store for our Dorothy.
Unlike the movie, Dorothy does not run away from home when the twister sweeps her into another world. In fact, she is adopted, and went to rescue her birth mother during the storm. I can’t wait to see what happens in the modern timeline. Something suspicious was happening at her birth mother’s trailer before all hell broke loose.
I like Dorothy, played by Adria Arjorna, she is clever, and not very sweet. Just in the first episode, “The Beast Forever,” she kills East, not once, but twice! I like that Dorothy’s instincts feel real, she does not readily trust people and isn’t afraid to take people out if it means she will survive.
I especially loved the scene with the old apothecary woman. Dorothy is not the only one who has a dark side, the Scarecrow, named Lucas, does not remember who he is. He brutally smashes the woman’s head in after she is already too far gone, and Dorothy is disgusted and afraid. This show has the potential to be much darker than I expected.
The introduction of the witches is great. If the writers do their job correctly, the cardinal witches will be the most compelling characters on the show. We met all three witches, starting with North, Glinda, the serene and serious one. Her sister, West, the punk-rock junkie who runs a brothel and doesn’t play by the rules. Finally, East, who is cool and casually tortures people who hurt her on the yellow brick road and clearly states that, “I don’t make deals.” If we never see East again I will be sorely disappointed.
The story of Tip gives Emerald City a bold new twist. He starts “Prison of the Abject” as a young boy trapped in the apothecary’s house. Later, without the medicine, he turns into a young woman. Tip’s story alone could set Emerald City apart from other fantasy shows. Unfortunately that must wait until next week.
The Wizard also has a lot of potential. Played by Vincent D’Onofrio, praised for his role as Wilson Fisk in Daredevil, could make the Wizard quite the compelling character. So far, it seems that every single character has some moral ambiguity, and I am excited to see how it plays out. Will Emerald City fall into the classic good versus evil plot, or will it blur the lines of this classic story? With more television shows taking risks to portray more complex narratives, I hope NBC chooses the latter.
[Photo credit: Rico Torres/NBC]
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