Emerald City Review [1×05] – “Everybody Lies”

‘Emerald City’ turns things up by a thousand notches and burps out its best episode yet in ‘Everybody Lies’. And no, that’s not a ‘House M.D.’ title.

Ojo (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) gets things going in ‘Emerald City’ this week by throwing Dorothy (Adria Arjona) into West’s (Ana Ularu) captivity. Meanwhile, injured Guard Eamonn (Mido Hamada) reveals he hasn’t been hunting Lucas (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) to kill him. He’s here to help. As he seeks medical aid, Sylvie (Rebeka Rea) finds Lucas and tells him she senses Dorothy near. And she is.

She’s kind of being tortured.

In some hugely haunting scenes, an angry and unstable West tortures Dorothy over East’s (Florence Kambusa) death. Meanwhile, Tip (Jordan Loughran) watches on, learning West’s psyche. It’s misdirected fury that causes her to ditch Dorothy’s plea for help. And it’s a turnaround of concern, and a debt owed, that ultimately sets her free.

Elsewhere, Jack (Gerran Howell) and Princess Ev (Stefanie Martini) grow closer. He struggles to teach her the meaning of friendship. It renders the stirring, confident lady behind the mask to a little girl. She doesn’t know friendship. But when Jack saves her life, she kisses him, and recognises it for something more.

But we saved the best ’til last. As Lucas gives himself up to the Wizard’s Guard for his crime, Dorothy’s pushed by curiosity and perhaps frustration into the Wizard’s (Vincent D’Onofrio) palace. With a gun. She wants to know who Karen Chapman is—once and for all. She wants to go home. And she’s greeted by the Wizard’s shock as he proclaims:

The Wizard: “Oh my God. Dorothy…you’re home.”

Back up a second.

What?!

Ana Ularu. That’s it. That’s the header.

Everyone pulled their weight in this episode—every single one. But by far, the outstanding actress award goes by Ana Ularu. This was her episode. Always formidable, fearsome and cocky, West is the stuff of nightmares. She even sweeps tall, in character, above the humungous Ojo. Yet she’s never shown in ‘Emerald City’ to be evil. She does some horrible things to people—but this episode framed her as someone who may be set for a tragic downfall.

Her trust in Tip and inability to read her mind (or her need to protect and nurture Tip) saves Tip’s life, after Tip helps Dorothy. It’s this mish-mash of emotion that Ularu so effortlessly bears on her shoulders.

The juxtaposition is heavy in the scenes where West is smashing cups of tea in anger; physically torturing a petrified Dorothy; coldly manipulates Dorothy’s memories; holding Tip’s hand as she smiles almost childishly up at her. A smile of deprived love, perhaps. Her voice tremors as she speaks of East; her pain evident as she shrieks upon touching Dorothy (or East’s) gem-covered hands.

West: “Well. Good witch or bad witch? There’s no wrong answer. Unfortunately, there’s no right answer, either.”

Ularu doesn’t just chauffer us through West’s carousel of ups-and-downs. She embodies it. Her walk never lacks that unbothered slump. Her eyes are dull until provoked. And make no doubt about it: West is a mess. But oh, does Ularu play it well. If evil is not Glinda (Joely Richardson), and evil is West—then this one time, we’re going to root for West.

Thanks, Ms. Ularu. We’re now endorsing opium-smoking, torture-happy witches.

Character relations all dip and dive in this corkscrew of connections. Reunions, pseudo-reunions, and Dorothy’s home.

This episode gelled because in both driving home the relationships, ‘Emerald City’ expanded its world yet again. In combination, it’s—well, magical.

Perhaps the main story was Lucas’ missing history. Eamonn proclaims him a hero; Lucas finds out that he was a traitor who butchered. What Eamonn does from here on is crucial: does he spare his best soldier? Or does he ensure that honourable justice, as Lucas gave himself up for, is served?

Furthermore, relationships are forged tentatively between Jack and Princess Ev. It’s a testament to Martini’s acting that she can play the back-chatting smartass at the dinner-table, but be so infantile towards something like friendship. Howell and Martini’s back-and-forth is irresistible, and be it romantic or not in the future, this partnership is one to keep an eye on.

We ponder Tip’s motivations in regards to West. She wants to learn her powers, but how? Is she already doing so, by manipulating West in the memory-invasion scene? We know she’s merciful—she spared Dorothy. (But, um, is she merciful yet stern?)

The biggest twist was between The Wizard and Dorothy, by far. You’d think by the time ‘Emerald City’ shunted “you’re home!” in a script, it’d be when she got back to Kansas. But upon meeting the Wizard, right in the middle of Emerald City, that’s what Dorothy gets. Kansas was not her home, but Oz.

Karen Chapman, if you weren’t dead, we’d have you in a cellar demanding some explanations. (We’re turning into West, aren’t we?)

It’s interesting how the ‘freaks’ are seen as freakish in ‘Emerald City’—they’re ostracised. By themselves or others. But how much freakier can you get than witches, wizards and giants?

Jack is the clear suspect for this. Bought by Princess Ev for his metal parts, he’s thought of in the last episode as a pretty-boy slave. Howell’s got the pretty-boy face for it. But it’s this episode that turns things around. Whilst Jack and Princess Ev do grow closer, it’s via their characterisation.

Firstly, the Princess sees Jack no more than a toy to giggle at as he struggles with his metal hand. His botched, if hilarious, fight scene with three men was ‘Monty Python’ levels of heroic. Yet it wins the Princess over, who is arguably somewhat a freak herself. Hidden permanently behind a mask, she is politically smart yet in any other area? She hasn’t got a clue. Now is Jack the freak for his physicality, or is the Princess, for her disturbing childishness?

How about Tip? Ostracised by herself, she exclaims:

Tip: “I don’t know who I am anymore!”

She hates herself for it. She hates that she’s physically a girl. In Tip’s heart, Tip remains a ‘he’. So there’s this inexplicable struggle between the two as she tries to adjust, and growing frustration as she accepts who she is now. What Tip can do is make the most of it. But how? It’s that anger, that untapped storm within her, that attracts West. But what can West do for her? And what would Tip do to West?

Final Verdict: Va-va-voom. ‘Emerald City’ just belted out its first “I can watch this whole thing again without fast-forwarding” episode, and it was a joy to see. Truly—a feast for the eyes.

A thumper.

That’s what this episode was. Halley Wegryn Gross’ script was witty, snarky and fast-paced. It was just fast enough to keep on-track with all plot points without a snag. The dialogue was snippy, the plot never stopped moving, and the script brought out the best performances from the entire cast. Adria Arjona picks up her mantle as leading lady again as the tortured, confused, petrified Dorothy—all in one episode. And Ana Ularu, when gifted with some sodding good material, is magical.

Everything just slotted together. Nothing makes us happier when we can say: and it all went to plan! Tarsem Singh’s direction was on-par once again. A shot that will stay with us are those when Dorothy clambers up the steps of the Palace, with the lit lanterns lifting up into the sky, in the background. It’s beautiful, and it shows us the real expanse and vastness of Emerald City.

And a bit of Pink Floyd at the end never hurt nobody.

This is what we’ve been waiting for. This is the episode. Bravo!

Questions and Comments:

• Everybody knew Glinda was one shady witch, right?! Everyone! Nobody can be that pristine and not embody some kind of cold, icy nastiness.
• West is rapidly becoming the best character on the show. Unloved, betrayed, angry and emotionally unstable, she’s not the end-spectrum psychotic evil as she is in the film. She’s someone who needs a true friend yet she’s someone who would scoff at the idea. Her loneliness and isolation could well spiral into the evil we so famously know her for—and it’s a tragic downfall.
  • Who actually rooted for West this episode? I actually did…
  • I don’t know what that says about me other than I’m genuinely brilliant.
• Lucas’ history is becoming even foggier. His honour remains, but why is that so if he turned traitor against ten of his soldiers and butchered them?
• What is the meaning of that tape? Is Dorothy innocent after all? Was she actually just stuck in that muddy swamp place and Glinda took over, and killed East? Then framed Dorothy?!
• I love that the Wizard enjoys a bit of Pink Floyd at night.
• Princess Ev is gunning to become a major player. With her words—I. Can’t. Wait.

You can catch episodes of EMERALD CITY on Fridays, 9/8c. Channel: NBC