Sunday, February 02, 2020

Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz: The Nice Witch

The Wicked Witch of the West is having a bad day, and Wilhelmina and the monkeys are trying to snap her out of it. Nothing works, so Wilhelmina decides to whip up a "say yes" spell for her auntie. It works, and they work out the next scheme to steal the Ruby Slippers. They scope out the gang in a meadow, where Dorothy is braiding the lion's mane. Once she's done, she asks, "Does anybody else want braids?" to which the Wicked Witch says, "Yes!" Okay, not suspicious, but just to be safe, Dorothy also asks if anyone is hiding behind the rocks. Again, the Witch says, "Yes," and Wilhelmina and the monkeys head home, knowing the jig is up. Wilhelmina thinks her auntie is still up to something, but Lyman believes the say yes spell backfired. Meanwhile, her hair freshly braided, the Wicked Witch confesses to Dorothy and the boys that she became a grouch after losing her powers, but the new hair makes her feel much better. The Tin Woodman then suggests a full makeover. They take her to the Patchwork Girl (yay!), and the Witch says yes to everyone's suggestions—so she ends up looking like Dorothy! Complete with ruby cowboy boots! While Wilhelmina works on the reversal spell, Ozma comes to Dorothy for help, and is all confused by also seeing the Wicked Witch there. Wilhelmina flies in with the reversal spell in a cup of tea, and asks the Wicked Witch if she wants to drink it. Of course the Witch says yes. But then Dorothy asks if the Witch wants to stay happy. She says yes to that, too! Arguing and grumbling breaks out as the Wicked Witch agrees to whatever anyone says. Finally, Dorothy says that Wilhelmina is right ("Wait, Pigtails thinks I'm right?" Wilhelmina asks), and that the Witch should drink the tea and make up her own mind about how to be, not be influenced by a spell. Well, she drinks it, and she's back to her old self again. I guess she didn't like being nice after all. The witches and monkeys fly away while Dorothy, Ozma, and the boys laugh off the adventure.

This was a little disturbing, in a good way. I mean, when are the Wicked Witch and Wilhelmina going to figure out that Dorothy's not so bad, and they may as well just get along with Ozma's regime? They can pretty much do what they want now anyway (except have the Ruby Slippers), nobody's going to bother them. But it is amusing to see the Wicked Witch being nice and agreeable for a bit. Lyman gets some really fun one-liners in this one, as well.

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