The Witch, Wilhelmina, and the monkeys crash a party at the Emerald Palace, where they end up being the only ones laughing at Motley, the new jester, whose comedy is pretty much insulting everyone. Motley gets another chance, so the Wicked Witch tricks the Wizard into making him a charm to induce laughter, which she gives to Motley. Sure enough, he has the audience rolling in the aisles despite no chance in his material. Dorothy thinks something is up, but can't do anything. When the witches turn up to steal the Ruby Slippers, Motley realizes he's been used, and fights back with cream pies! (Frank and Lyman appreciate that they're banana cream pies!) Realizing what he must do, Motley gives the charm to the Wicked Witch of the West! She commands Wilhelmina and the monkeys to get the Slippers, but they (and everyone else) just laughs at her. The Witch and her crew escape, Motley is a hero, and pledges to only tell nice jokes.
This was a nicely balanced episode, with Oz magic being used in just the right way to tell the story. Motley probably would never have gotten as far as he did, however, being an insult comic in Oz. And we get to see a couple of parties in the Emerald City. There may be one in just about every book, but they appear to be rare on television, so this was nice.
I've been watching and blogging these episodes (I'm not sure I'd go so far as to say I'm reviewing them) in production order (at least according to the list on Wikipedia), but next week I'm going to switch things up a little bit, for a very good reason. So keep your eye on this spot!
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