No Place Like Home marks the season finale of Emerald City. At this point, there's no word as to whether or not a second season will occur; however, the ratings have declined to such a degree that No Place Like Home may well be the series finale. Having become a fan of Emerald City, and its beautiful cinematography, I really hope that it appears in the fall line up.
The soldiers are in a tizzy because the witches are making their way to Oz. The flying monkey returns and Eammon looks at the footage that it captured. As Eammon makes his way out, all of the monkeys suddenly start to move on their own and fly into the sky to spell out the word Ozma. The soldiers are worried because there's nothing they can do to defend the city against the witches and as we know, The Wizard is off in Ev getting his weapons to fight Glinda.
Tip marches into the city with West by his side. Tip is quick to notice how the people cower away from him, causing West to snark about Tip expecting a parade of roses. Tip is all too aware that he must quickly decide what kind of ruler he is going to be. When confronted with a soldier, West's first inclination is to kill him but Tip stays her hand. Unfortunately, the soldier responds with an attack and this time West kills him. Tip and West make their way into the courtyard and are greeted by Eammon, dressed as the lion. Eammon kneels in front of Tip and surrenders his sword. Eammon holds up the crown and West snatches pointing out that Eammon has already made his choice and that Ozma must make his now.
What a powerful moment for Tip, who shivers in front of the man who killed his father and his mother. Tip asks why Eammon killed his parents and is told by Eammon that he was afraid and that he killed them to save himself. Tip then asks why he was spared and Eammon explains that he has a daughter the same age as Tip and that when he looked at Tip as a baby, he saw his daughter looking back at him. Tip orders Eammon's family to be brought to him. Eammon screams out that his family has nothing to do with this, desperate to protect them. When Eammon's family is assembled, Tip approaches each of them and states that Eammon cannot protect them and then she strips each of them in turn of their memory of Eammon. Eammon is horrified to find that his wife and children believe him to be a stranger now. He is quite literally dead to them. Tip then orders Eammon banished from Emerald City and that he is to walk the land friendless with the weight of his actions upon him. As Eammon leaves, the people of the city hiss at him much like a pissed off cat.
When we last saw Dorothy, she had arrived in time to save the Wizard from the firing squad with a stone giant in tow. Dorothy very much wants to stop the war to save Sylvie and the other witches; however, the Wizard believes that the only way to stop the war is to kill Glinda and the witches because he believes them to be the Beast Forever. The Wizard renews his offer to send Dorothy home, if she uses the Giant to kill Glinda. An upset Dorothy marches out.
Jack, upset by the revelation by what happened to Langwidere decides that it's time to kill the Wizard. I totally agree with Jack at this point. Jack is a one man wrecking machine with the Wizard's soldiers and finally gets Frank on the ropes. Just as he's about to deliver the killing blow, Jane shows up and stops him.
With Jane's arrival, the Wizard sees his way out of a sticky situation. It seems that Dorothy is actually Jane's daughter and not Karen's. The Wizard tells Jane that if she has him killed, she will never see her daughter again.
At the Prison of the Abject, Ojo is now unconscious stuck in the mud courtesy of the creature who had been skinned and left there. Nahara begs for her husband's life, promising that Ojo will help the creature to free itself but the creature is in full on I can do bad all by myself mode. The creature retrieves its skin and starts to put it back on its body.
Jane rushes to meet Dorothy in the field but before she can introduce herself, a plague of locusts appears, signalling the arrival of Glinda and her witches. Using the gauntlet, Dorothy manages to freeze the locusts around herself, protecting herself from the onslaught. Glinda makes an appearance and tells Dorothy that by choosing the Wizard, she chose the wrong side. Dorothy tries to argue that all she wants is peace. Glinda comments that Roan was wrong about Dorothy and Dorothy responds that he didn't know her at all but does now. This is a reminder that Dorothy is playing for keeps now. Sylvie appears as Glinda talks about Dorothy's love for the child and her desire to protect her, even when she turned humans to stone. Glinda now plays her trump card and points out that stone can be cracked. Sylvie uses her powers to begin the destruction of the stone giant. Dorothy tries pleading with Sylvie but the child is set on her task. Dorothy is forced to use her gauntlets to awaken the other stone giant and crash a hole through the well. It's a enough to break the spell much to Glinda's surprise. Dust settles over them from the giant Sylvie destroyed and the Wizard uses the cover to order his men to begin killing witches. The first one shot is Sylvie, much to Dorothy's horror.
As Dorothy rushes through the crowd to get to the Wizard, Jack searches in vain for Jane. Jack manages to evade a few of the soldiers for a bit but ends up being hacked up and left to bleed to death in the field. Dorothy makes her way to the Wizard and like the coward he is, Frank immediately starts to plead for his life. Suddenly, all of the witches who've been slaughtered by Frank's soldiers sit up and move to stand beside Glinda. Everyone is shocked by the resurrection and Glinda nonchalantly reminds everyone that only a witch can kill witch. The Wizard is stunned by the resurrection because of his belief that they are the Beast Forever.
Okay, we have to pause for a moment now. Only a witch can kill a witch yet, East died from a gunshot wound and Dorothy at that point wasn't a witch. In fact, all Dorothy did is guide East into shooting herself. It makes absolutely no sense that East is dead and yet all of the witches Frank had shot survived. If Emerald City gets a second season, they're going to have to explain this little faux pas.
The witches all gather in Emerald City. Dorothy drags a much defeated Frank with her. After everything Dorothy has been through, she's absolutely desperate to get home. Glinda and West are reunited and Glinda is not enthused with the idea of sharing power once again. West reminds Glinda of her loyalty to Tip's parents and introduces Tip as Ozma. West asks Glinda to unite with her and support Tip as he rules Oz.
Dorothy drags Frank to his lab and tells him to get the process started to send her home. Frank however is not interested in being compliant, even when Dorothy points out that if he goes home that he can start again. Frank was a nobody outside of Oz and has no desire to return to that. Even now, Frank's desire for power is overruling common sense. When Frank moves to destroy the machine, Jane arrives and shoots him.
Jane quickly explains to Dorothy that she's her mother and that she's the one that made the small tattoos on Dorothy's hand, so that she would always be able to identify her. Jane explains that she sent her back in order to protect her and then sent Karen back as well to protect her. Dorothy is overwhelmed with the information. Jane gets the machine working because she's the one who built it. Jane tells Dorothy to get inside and promises that she'll be right behind her. Once Dorothy is standing in the machine, Jane slams the door shut and tells Dorothy that she promised to protect her and will do so until the day she dies.
The creature in the Prison of the Abject has freed itself and put on its skin. It squats down and wings burst from its body. The creature takes to the air and flies over Eammon, as he walks down the yellow brick road alone and Roan as he hangs as a scarecrow in the field. I suppose now we know who the Beast Forever is.
Dorothy wakes up back in Kansas and she rushes to Karen's side. Karen is bleeding out on the ground.
When next we see Dorothy, she's safe at home with a few bruises and scratches from her ordeal. Clearly, everything feels strange to her. Dorothy heads outside determined to go and get some air. When she walks into the middle of the field, the first thing she sees is Toto. Dorothy begins to wonder if she is seeing things. Roan then appears and explains that he was sent there by Jane because Dorothy is needed to save Oz.
I suppose like me, you were happy to see the Wizard dead. As much as I love Vincent D'Onofrio, and the life he breathed into Frank, I never really got a sense of how it is that he managed to control the population. Sure, they believed that he might have controlled the stone giants but as we've seen from West and Glinda, magic is extremely powerful. How is it that they didn't simply just swoop in and swat him dead? What made the people of Emerald City follow the Wizard as he engaged in heinous action after heinous action?
West and Tip were easily the most interesting characters in Emerald City. West was plagued with survivors guilt and regret. Clearly, West is suffering from PTSD and turned to drugs to deal with her emotions. Tip is clearly a boy who is trapped in a girl's body. He knows who he is and announces his gender identity to anyone who will listen. It was heartbreaking to watch Tip choose to become female again in order to secure power. Just before Tip but the crown on his head his reflection was male. If Emerald City does get a second season, it's clear that the issue of Tip's gender has not been solved and will continue to be an issue for him.
Just as Tip and West were the most interesting characters, Dorothy is easily the worst. For most of the season she needed saving from herself, what with her penchant for just pointing guns at people and running into situations without making any sort of plan. I found her to be irritating. What particularly got to me was Dorothy constantly interjecting herself into the politics of Oz without knowing all of the players or the history.
