Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Lost in Oz, Chapter 11: 11:11

No, that title is not a typo, that's the actual name of the episode. Earlier in the series it was established that, when their digital watches read 11:11, Dorothy and Evelyn would make a wish. Well, in this one Dorothy is going to need all the wishing she can find, because Langwidere traps her in a painting of her own house! She and Toto don't appear to have any way of getting out, and for the first time Dorothy is about to give up hope. But then, on that 11:11 wish, Toto hears Evelyn's voice, and finds a portal into another painting. In this one, they find Glinda—the real Glinda, where Langwidere has trapped her. They quickly discover other portals, in the artist's signature (to be specific, the dot in the i in Smith—yes, as in Smith and Tinker), and eventually find their way to a painting in Evelyn's room! Dorothy can at least see and talk to her mother at last, and Glinda vows to do whatever she can to help the Gale family out again

Wait, again? Evelyn's painting is of her ancestor, Dorothy, on her original trip to Oz! She named her daughter after the famous Dorothy. It seems several Gales have all made trips to Oz, and our Dorothy is just the latest. They've all had their issues with the witches, too, but Glinda had hoped that Evelyn's friendship with Cyra had finally put an end to that. Bun Langwidere still hates the Gales, and is using West as a pawn to not only rule Oz, but also to erase Glinda and the Gales from all of Oz history!

This was another of those my-that-went-quick-it-was-so-good episodes. Langwidere's true colors are really showing now, and it's starting to look like she might actually succeed (yeah, right). Smith may get a mention, but Tinker actually shows up, having created a device as part of Langwidere's plans. But the best Easter egg this time around was a Bureau of Magic agent named Wamego. No, don't go looking through your Oz books for that reference, you won't find it. But break out your atlas, because Wamego is a town in Kansas with one of the first Oz museums, and host to an annual Oz festival.

I like the tie-in with the original Dorothy's trip. What we see of her in the painting, she's wearing a blue and white gingham dress and pink sunbonnet, just like in the book. One might wonder how the Oz of Baum's books could turn into the technological society we've been watching for the last eleven episodes, but we saw a lot of magical technology in the books that developed as the series progressed, so I don't see why at least one version of Oz couldn't look like this one.

Only two more to go! Ooh, I'm getting all excited to see how this wraps up! (Stilt no Tin Woodman, though!)

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