EMERALD CITY Introduces Tin Man and More

Season 1, Episode 4 “Science and Magic”
Teleplay by Shaun Cassidy
Television Story by Sheri Holman
Directed by: Tarsem Singh

[Header  image courtesy of David Lukacs/NBC]

On last week’s episode of Emerald City, Dorothy (Adria Arjona) took over East’s (Florence Kasumba) mansion to try to ride the tornado that had formed since East’s death back to Kansas. Anna (Isabel Lucas) called the Wizard (Vincent D’Onofrio) out for not being able to control the giants, and he locked her up because of it. Tip (Jordan Loughran) struggled to accept his new body, and Jack (Gerran Howell) struggled to understand his feelings for Tip. During an argument, Jack kissed and Tip, and Tip ended up pushing him off the balcony. For my full review of last week’s episode, including my recap video, go here. This week’s recap and review are below.

This week’s episode starts on a more macabre and disturbing note. Not only are we introduced to a kind of creepy lady in a surgical mask with lots of tools that look like they’re used for torture, we also see the aftermath of Tip’s emotional trauma from pushing Jack off the balcony. Tip has carved “Sorry Jack” into the side of a bridge with the dagger Jack stole, and climbs over with the intention of jumping to his death. It’s a dark beginning for both Tip and Jack, who ends up being the person in the lab from the opening scene. Both scenes evoke strong emotions, one of fear and the other of sorrow.

When we get our first view of Dorothy and Lucas (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), they are slowly working their way through the snowy woods. It took my watching this episode twice to realize the sound you can hear during the wide shots is the little girl breathing. Just as Lucas and Dorothy almost kiss, the little girl, who later picks up the name Sylvie (Rebeka Rea), runs into Lucas and hugs him. She is probably the most adorable kid ever, and she does a great job in this episode, even with no spoken lines! Lucas seems really grumpy in this episode, even more than usual. It must be from putting up with Dorothy’s incessant foolish decisions that seem to lead her into trouble every time.

We also finally get a view of what’s going on in Nimbo for this episode. The Wizard’s Guard is cleaning up the aftermath of their massacre, which they make a joke about. These are obviously not good guys, though I’m sure there’s an argument there about “just following orders.” The shimmering wall that they find while searching the houses looks pretty awesome. I love all of the graphics in this show, as they almost always feel realistic and natural. With the appearance of possible magic in Oz, of course the Wizard wants to go investigate. He’s also grumpy this episode, but he usually is anyways. He lashes out at Elizabeth (Roxy Sternberg) for being wrong about something as simple as the weather, even though he made fun of Anna for predicting it’d snow during the sun season. I guess the perks of being the ruler include not having to admit you were wrong.

Back over to Tip, who was taken in by the military after he asked to join them, and we find out he’s actually just being sold to an orphanage for girls where Glinda (Joely Richardson) picks up her new recruits for the Wizard’s council.

This episode jumps from character to character quite a bit, but does it in such a way that doesn’t feel disjointed. Each story develops in bits until it’s that character’s turn for extended development. I think one of the best things about this show is that while Dorothy’s seems to be the main storyline, every other story is just as developed, and every other character is just as important. This is probably because all of these characters are important to Dorothy’s story anyways, so they need as much detail as she does to understand what everyone’s background is and to become attached to them, too.

This leads us to the reveal of Tin Man! Jack, who’s been in and out of consciousness, sometimes on his own and sometimes because Jane (Gina McKee) drugged him before getting out a terrifying electric saw, finally wakes up to see that he is now half metal, including his heart. It’s dramatic and sad, and I’m sure I would scream just as much as Jack does.

Dorothy has decided to take Sylvie to a nearby village (this is why Lucas is always grumpy!), and finds shells in the girl’s ears. Apparently, she uses them to block out the magnitude of noise she hears when they’re removed. It seems she has some magical abilities, and it makes me wonder if that’s why she’s alone in the woods seemingly abandoned. Meanwhile, the Wizard and Anna, whom he freed just to take with him, and because she predicted snow, ride to Nimbo.

It’s here that I feel Anna may have made a mistake in her predictions. After the Wizard admits she was right about the giants, she mentions that all of her studies suggest the Beast will take the form of something that has fallen from the sky, and it will have a brain, a heart, and strength. If this is true, she believes the Wizard can kill the Beast on his own, without the giants. I think she may be misinterpreting the information and has determined that those three characteristics are all in the same being. My guess is the Beast may be Dorothy, and the brain, heart, and strength that Anna mentioned are actually Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion, respectively.

Tip is having a rough go at the orphanage. He refuses to take a bath, and it’s that obstinate, fiery nature that intrigues West (Ana Ularu) enough to show up to talk Tip into joining her side instead of Glinda’s. I always enjoy Ularu’s scenes, and every time she shows up, I just smile. I can’t help it, she’s my favorite!

Dorothy also runs into trouble while trying to find Sylvie’s family. When a sketchy couple suddenly claim the girl, Dorothy rightfully doesn’t trust them and requests to follow her home. When the Wizard’s Guard arrives, Lucas tries to pull Dorothy away in his brooding, hero fashion, and, of course, she goes back. My heart melted just a little when he tells her he cares what happens to her. It seems he’s finally beginning to develop his own personality, regardless of who he was before. I have a feeling that he may have been in the Wizard’s Guard, as his sword suggests, but that he refused to commit the atrocities they were ordered to do in Nimbo, and that’s why he was left to die. In fact, Eamonn (Mido Hamada) does recognize Lucas’s sword later in the episode, suggesting he was indeed in the Guard.

With West and Glinda arguing between who should get Tip, Tip realizes that his only choices as a girl are essentially between being a nun or a prostitute. Jumping over to Jack, a mysterious new lady appears to rummage through masks at Jane’s lab. She’s snarky, but not in the same was as West. Where West is sarcastically snarky, Lady Ev (Stefanie Martini) is more playfully snarky. I’m definitely interested in learning more about her character, especially given that she’s a client of Jane’s and always wears a mask, but I’m not completely sure if I like her or not.

While the Wizard is dealing with the unhappy citizens of Nimbo, Anna goes off on her own and touches the shimmering magical wall, which backfires (pun intended). Dorothy is also dealing with her own magical situation when she finds Sylvie has turned her new captors into stone. This was one of those moments where I wasn’t happy about the CGI. Sylvie is caught between her stone captors, and her eyes are black. That much was fine. However, she’s also shaking dramatically, and the effect made her look very distorted. It did not look natural or real, and was very obvious to me. Honestly, it was kind of distracting, though luckily there wasn’t much going on in the scene to distract from.

Anna apparently had to make the same choice as Tip as she mentions she chose service over pleasure when the Wizard starts subtly admitting his feelings for her. Talk about Tip, he’s finally in the bath when a mysterious girl who turns out to be West magically appears in the tub. I would not have been so calm if I brought my head up from under the water and saw a person staring at me.

A few scenes ahead, Tip confronts West while Glinda is loading up her girls. I take that to mean that Tip chose not to go with Glinda, but hasn’t necessarily chosen to go with West either. When he asks for West’s magic, I have to assume it’s to turn him back into a boy. I’m so intrigued on how Tip’s story will play out! Will he find a way to become a boy again? If he does, will he still want to after his experience as a girl? He certainly wasn’t as adamant about being a boy in this episode, and seemed more resigned in the tub, but that doesn’t mean he wants to stay like that, as he does still identify as male.

When Eamonn catches Dorothy, he almost executes her immediately, until he sees Lucas’s sword. Apparently finding Lucas is more important than carrying out the Wizard’s orders, which makes me really curious now what Lucas’s backstory is. Dorothy, of course, goes against Lucas’s advice and shoots her gun in order to escape.

Jack is taken over to Lady Ev’s mansion where he finds out she now owns him. This is where I started questioning whether or not I like her. She seemed quirky and fun at first, but now she seems cruel and demanding. Either way, I think her character is going to be really interesting to watch and learn more about.

Anna seems to be rubbing off on the Wizard as he merely threatens the leader of Nimbo to denounce magic and follow him or lose his unborn grandchild instead of killing anyone. Progress is progress, right? And after Lucas has pretty much the best freak out reaction to music, he and Dorothy finally kiss! Unfortunately, the happy time doesn’t last long as Eamonn catches up with Lucas and Ojo knocks Dorothy out as she escapes.

Overall, this has probably been my favorite episode so far! Trisha Biggar continues to do absolutely amazing work on the costume designs. I love every single outfit in the show, especially West’s multitude of dresses. The music is great, the scenery is beautiful, and the effects work really well.

While I do love the Lucas and Dorothy romance that’s developing, I’m most interested in learning more about Lady Ev and seeing where Tip’s story leads in the coming episodes. What are you looking forward to from this series? Comment below!

Emerald City airs on Fridays at 9/8c on NBC. You can watch on the NBC app or site, as well. And don’t forget to come back each week for a new recap and review!