Sunday, February 12, 2017

Emerald City, Season One, Episode Seven: They Came First

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This episode is aptly named because They Came First, is all about choosing who to align with. Glinda, The Wizard and Lady Ev have all moved their pawns into place and now all that is left for the pawns to do is decide if they are going to run and hide, or follow through with the plan to its culmination. With the Beast Forever and the future of Emerald City at stake, neutrality is no longer a choice.

The first person placed in a position to choose his alliance is Eammon, who is ordered by the Wizard to go door to door and round up all of the little girls in the hunt to find witches.  One of Eammon's friends begs him for mercy, pointing out that he's known his daughter from birth but Eammon responds by knocking the man to the ground savagely. At the castle, Eammon tries to advocate for the girls but the Wizard is adamant that they need to gather up the witches that Glinda is grooming. Eammon then suggests that the people will revolt but that doesn't worry the Wizard, because the Wizard feels that people only revolt when they are angry, not scared.  I think the Wizard might be wrong on that one because if someone had simply gathered up my child, I would absolutely be on the war path. 

When we last saw Dorothy, Lucas and Sylvie, they were making their way out of Emerald City, thanks to Dorothy making an agreement with The Wizard to kill Glinda.  Dorothy and Lucas stop to allow Sylvie to stretch her legs.  While Sylvie plays, Dorothy makes a point of reminding Lucas that he's sworn loyalty to Glinda and Lucas in turn points out that Dorothy's allegiance is to the Wizard, thus setting them up as being at odds with each other.

Jack and Lady Ev have begun their journey from Emerald City and Jack being a sensitive young man, does his best to attempt to console Lady Ev.  Unfortunately for Jack, Lady Ev takes offense to every single overture he makes and promptly throws him out of the carriage, stranding him in the Screaming Woods.  This is yet another reminder of the unequal power between these two and that Lady Ev doesn't know how to treat a friend or love interest.

Proving that they are the worst babysitters ever, Lucas and Dorothy realise that they've lost sight of Sylvie.  Are either of these two ever going to watch out for this child? When Dorothy finally comes across Sylvie, she is lying in a field completely unaware that a pack of wolves is approaching because of her ear plugs. Dorthy calls out to Sylvie repeatedly as the wolves get closer.  In her fear, Dorothy throws our her arms and the red gauntlets appear, causing a massive shock wave which scares away the wolves. The gauntlets really are an upgrade on the ruby slippers.

After retrieving Sylvie, Dorothy and Lucas head to the little cabin Elizabeth told them about. Lucas does a check to make sure that it's safe and Dorothy plays a little game with Sylvie to get her comfortable with not wearing her ear plugs. Seeing the closeness which has developed between Dorothy and Sylvie, he makes a point of reminding Dorothy that when they reach Glinda's, Dorothy will have to give the child up. 

Now that the Wizard has gathered all the girls, he needs to be able to figure out which ones of them are witches and this means that he needs West.  When he arrives at West's bawdy house, she's right out of her mind on opium.  Tip tries to run interference but is quickly cast aside by one of the Wizard's men.  This is when the soldier decides to attempt to have his way with Tip and she quickly puts him in his place by pulling out a knife, before running to West's side. 

West is plagued with nightmares of witches dying in a massive wave.  The Wizard requests West's help and is promptly declined because West is tried of killing witches.  The Wizard then tries invoking West's conflict with Glinda and the fact that Glinda hid the mother witch from her. West however responds that even with everything which has happened, Glinda is still her family. 

When West does agree to help the Wizard, it's under the condition that the Wizard won't hurt the young witches and that the girls will be handed over to her to raise.  We all know that this deal is never going to hold right? 

Dorothy is making a stew for dinner and she finally admits to Lucas that she doesn't want to give up Sylvie. Dorothy believes that they should take Sylvie and keep her safe from the war to come but Lucas doesn't seem to be on side with this. 

Now that West is on side and has made her deal with the Wizard, it's time for her to check out the girls. West walks bristly beside the assembled children and quickly declares that none of them are witches. The soldiers are then ordered to get more girls and one girl runs but is quickly cornered.  The little girl rises in the air and an explosion goes off. 

Things are not going well for Jack, whose body has started to rust in the screaming woods.  

Dorothy is still doing the maternal thing and puts Sylvie to bed for the night, promising that they will find her mother one day. Dorothy heads downstairs to find that Lucas is still watchful for the Wizard's forces. Dorothy finally comes clean about the Wizard letting them go and says that she withheld this vital piece of information because she was worried about Lucas's ties to Glinda.  An emotional Lucas makes it clear that he's only been devoted to Dorothy since the moment he met her.  
Umm no not really. I've yet to understand why Lucas is into her beyond the fact that Dorothy saved him when he was stuck in scarecrow mode.

The Wizard, Eammon and West, check out the courtyard which is now in flames.  The Wizard is certain that the little girl is dead but West says that if she's a witch, she's still alive. West walks into the flames and returns with the little girl. The Wizard attempts to put the child in a cage and the girl takes off running, causing West to collapse the ground around the girl. This pisses the child off and she combusts, which is enough to freak the people out. The Wizard realises it's time to make himself scarce and forces West to abandon the child. 

Upon her return to the brothel, West is absolutely overcome by what she has done.  West confesses to Tip that she fed her sisters milk of the poppy to remove their fears before sending them off to do battle against the Beast Forever. West reveals that she promised the young witch she would be safe and just as she did to her sisters, West betrayed her.  You know damn well that the Wizard is going to pay for this and I for one look forward to it.

Jack is still trapped in the Screaming Woods when Lady Ev shows up. Lady Ev pulls out an oil lamp to free Jack and he begs her to behave like a Lady.  It seems however that Lady Ev has other ideas as she starts to massage, and I do mean massage the oil into ALL of Jack's joints.  Naturally, Lady Ev stops before Jack can climax.

It's the morning after for Dorothy and Lucas, who suggests that they just hang out in the farmhouse. Dorothy claims she wishes they could and adds that she has to return home. Lucas interprets this as Dorothy's fear of losing them in the same manner in which she lost her mother. Lucas brings up Sylvie, and Dorothy explains that she wants Lucas to stay behind and take care of Sylvie, making sure to point out that while she loves them both, her adoptive mother and father come first. Dorothy then attempts to sneak out of the house without even saying goodbye to Sylvie (yeah the little girl she supposedly cares so much about) and Sylvie uses her magic to start shaking the house. Sylvie doesn't stop until Dorothy promises that both Sylvie and Lucas can come with her. 

It seems that the handjob in the Screaming Woods was just a precursor, as far as Lady Ev is concerned. Lady Ev and Jack enter her new bedroom and Lady Ev explains that her father is the only one who has ever seen her without the mask and that she needs someone to really know her. Lady Ev starts to take off the mask and Jack stops her saying that he already sees her.  That cannot possibly be the case, otherwise, Jack would be running the hell out of that room.  Jack and Lady Ev kiss and then Lady Ev stands and begins taking off her clothing. 

Given all the damage the Wizard has committed, he decides that he needs to apologise to the people of Emerald City. To cover for his evil actions, the Wizard claims that the witches are the Beast Forever and that his council sacrificed themselves to eliminate the threat. In a brief flashback, we see Elizabeth confess that she's the only spy right before the Wizard has them all burned alive. Tip heads to the area where the women were burned alive and finds the young witch who is still twitching. 

When next we see Tip, she is in a field with West and the young girl. There's nothing left for West to do at this point but to break her vow and put the young witch out of her misery.  This is when West notices the knife in Tip's hand. It catches West's attention because the knife belongs to Ozma, the heir to the throne of Oz.  Now we know why Tip was held in captivity and her gender changed. 

Lucas, Dorothy and Sylvie arrive at Glinda's.  Glinda thanks Dorothy for returning them to her and Dorothy makes it clear that Lucas and Sylive are going to choose whether they want to stay or not. This causes Glinda to laugh, before quickly kissing Lucas and freeing his lost memories. Lucas happily responds to the kiss and embraces Glinda, before revealing Dorothy's plan to kill Glinda. Lucas turns and apologises to Dorothy, but makes it clear that they (Glinda and the witches) came first. 

Is it wrong that I kind of feel that Dorothy had this coming? She's run head first into everything since the season first started and poor Lucas or should I say Roan, has been stuck pulling her ass out of the fire. Yes, Dorothy came along and saved his life but his unending allegiance to her stupidity simply didn't make sense to me.  I think Roan selling Dorothy out makes it clear that 5 second romance doesn't trump knowing someone over a period of time. It further highlights just how out of her depth Dorothy has been this entire time. Dorothy has just been running from one disaster to another without bothering to learn about the key players or their history.  It is however worth noting that Lucas/Roan could be trying to once again protect Dorothy by revealing her scheme, since Dorothy just walked into Glinda's without a plan. I hope that he's done with her.

The Wizard opened a can of worms this week. The one thing he seems to forgotten is that rulers govern by the consent of the people and not the other way around. Yes, he returned the little girls but the people aren't going to forget that he took them in the first place, even if he tried to play upon their fears by calling the witches the Beast Forever.  We've already seen by Eammon's failure to report finding Roan/Lucas that he is willing to put aside the Wizard's orders. 

The possibility of the people revolting against the Wizard is just one of his problems. The Wizard lying to West is really going to result in some unpleasant things for him. It seems that while West was more than willing to inform the Wizard that Glinda is coming from him, she draws the line at taking out the very witches that Glinda is going to use.  West is really good at blaming herself but I have no doubt that she will eventually assign the blame where it belongs - the Wizard.  Finding out that Tip is the rightful heir to the throne of Emerald City, is further going to empower West's coming rebellion. I'm really excited about what Emerald City has in store for Tip.

The relationship between Jack and Lady Ev is anything but cute. There can be no denying that the unequal power division between the two has simply emboldened Ev's cruelty.  Lady Ev doesn't even begin to see Jack as an equal.  I want Jack to finally find his spine and tell her off for good.  At this point, Lady Ev is emotionally abusive and I cannot see this changing anytime soon.