Emerald City Review: Why all the hate? It’s good!

I don’t know where all the hate is coming from for this show.  I just watched the premiere for the second time, and it was really good.  In fact, it was really good the first time.  So good that I was excited to watch it again.

I wanted to watch this show, because the trailers looked so good.  But after watching and/or reading several bad reviews, I was dreading it.  So I sat down fully prepared to be disappointed but hoping that it might not be so bad. And it wasn’t.

I kept looking for what was wrong with it, expecting to be bored and disappointed, and I just couldn’t find lots of fault.  Sure there were few things, but I frankly found the entire show engaging, fun to watch, and it held my attention the entire time.  I barely realized that I’d been watching the show for nearly 90 minutes and I definitely didn’t want to miss any part of it.

I think what is happening here is that we have people who have read the books and have been fans of the property for very long time.  They may have even seen other re-imaginings of Oz in their various forms and have been disappointed in the past by some or all of them.  So, when they see this new take on Oz, they already have preconceived ideas, expectations, and their own considerations on what it should be.  Consequently, they are perhaps looking for what was missing from earlier incarnations that failed to live up to their desires.

This prejudices them, and causes them to not view it for what it is, but instead to view it in relation to what they think it should be – seeking to fill the void left by their prior disappointments.  This is a huge mistake, and results in missing out on what could be a truly enjoyable experience.

That said, here is my spoiler-free review of Emerald city.

It was a dark and stormy night…  Just kidding.  Though it was cloudy and stormy.  The show opens with our famous tornado clearly imminent.  Dorothy is abandoned as a baby by a mysterious woman to be raised by Aunt Em and company. Intrigued? So was I. Read on.

Fast forward 20 years and Dorothy is now a nurse.  After some brief but interesting character development and a number of subtle foreshadowings, which I’m sure will have more exposition later, Dorothy lands in Oz.

During the course of this double episode premiere, we see a number of characters we know from the original including: scarecrow, witch of the west, Glenda, witch of the east, the munchkins, and the wizard himself.

While the series definitely has a darker tone than the 1939 motion picture, it’s more in the tradition of original Grimm tales, and consequently more realistic.  I would still say however that it is suitable for children 12 and up, 10 if they’re fairly mature, though NBC rates it 14 & up.  Let’s just say that it’s dark, but not too dark.

The actors’ performances are good, though I would like to see them have a little bit more life in them.  And no I don’t mean activities or excessive enthusiasm or excessive talking.  Have you ever seen one of those scenes when an actor’s face says 1000 words with just the right look?  That’s what I’m talking about – acting with soul – life. That said, first seasons are are usually a bit stiff while the actors, directors and writers “find their groove”.

The production design is lovely as are the costumes and cinematography.  Though I did hear that the Oz location is the notable Spanish landmark Réal Alcazar, which will be obvious to any who’s seen it and could detract from the story. I personally did not find it immersion breaking, though I did recognize it.

And now for my favorite part – the writing.  I’m going to have to say that the writing was “fine”.  By that I mean that the story held my attention and was interesting.  Since this is the first episode however, the jury’s still out on the writing.  That said, in my opinion, from the seeds of the story there so far, the writing seems to be shaping up nicely and could go to some very compelling places if the writers and producers follow through.

It’s possible that the reason why I enjoyed it and others didn’t is because I watched it on Hulu with no commercial interruption.  Looking back, I can see how having this immersive, albeit subtle, story interrupted by commercials could be problematic.  So if you’re planning to watch it, I recommend doing so on Hulu, NBC.com, Amazon or the NBC app.  Or at least DVR it so you can speed through the commercials.

To sum it up: Overall, so far, Emerald City is an intriguing updated version of the classic Oz story, ideally suited for young adults and up.  It has lain a pretty solid foundation for what could be a very fascinating story. I’m looking forward to the next episode.

Scroll down to view the full first episode and our scores for this one.

SFB Scores:

Overall: B+

Story: A- | Writing: B+ | Directing: B | Acting: B+ | Cinematography: B

Production Design: A | Editing: B+ | Costumes: A | Sound Design: A- | Music & Scoring: B

Viewing Options:

Broadcast – NBC | Hulu – $12/mo for commercial free; $8 / month for limited commercials

NBC.com – Free – limited commercials | NBC App – Free – limited commercials

Amazon Video – Commercial free – $2.99 / episode; $19.99 Season Pass

You can also watch the full first episode on our NBC.com embed below.

 

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