Review: The Chronicles of Oz, Season 2 Episode 2

Spoilers Ahead!

Episode one has set the auditory stage. It was revealed that Tip is retelling his adventures to Glinda which makes us Oz nerds ask a couple of things. What point of the story is he telling this? If he is telling the story to Glinda, does that mean Dorothy was telling her story to someone; if then, who? Either way, Tip has ditched Mombi with Jack and brought the Sawhorse to life. For the most part, we are focused on what's going on in the Emerald City in this episode with the exceptions of when we check-in with Tip when he runs into Jinjur (hint: it doesn't go super well).

In the Emerald City, the Scarecrow is the apprehensive, restless king of Oz who just wants to go adventuring. In fact, he escapes from the palace and his handlers so often that the Guardians have grown a little jaded with his attempts and even have a code for it. This sends Jellia off to find him and after apprehending him, they meet Jack on the Sawhorse. Immediately, the Scarecrow insists that he bail on all of his meetings to talk to Jack.

The Scarecrow tries to greet Jack in Wizardly fashion, but it just ends with a confused Jack and a Scarecrow who says "Quiet, I'm doing a bit" before giving up the whole thing. This is followed by the famous "Interpreter" part of the book, but instead of Jellia purposely trolling the pair of them, she takes on a "I don't get paid enough for this shit" attitude and delivers the scene with exasperated sarcasm. It's a refreshing take on the chapter since this version of Jellia has consistently presented herself as someone who took her job seriously as the Guardian of the People under the Wizard. But she can't so much under the Scarecrow simply because he won't let her. It's like government officials don't like babysitting their leaders...interesting.

As for the Scarecrow's missing appointments, he was supposed to meet with the Queen of the Field Mice and instead he is being covered by a reluctant Faramant, the Guardian of the Gate. Their disastrous lunch date is interrupted by the Wogglebug who is forcing his way in, shouting "Don't you know who I am?" like he's Kylie Kardashian at Coachella. He comes to warn Faramant about an upcoming Munchkin army invasion. At first, neither he nor the Mouse Queen believe him until a literal bomb drops.

General Jinjur has arrived. In tow, she has the Munchkin army along with Tip as a prisoner, but once she decides he's no longer necessary, she demands his execution. It doesn't look good.

This brings up one of the major differences in this adaptation. In the book, Jinjur is the general of an army of girls who feel they are oppressed under men and feel that they should be running the show in the Emerald City. Her plan is to take over, establish female dominance over males, and have the men take over the domestic tasks that women typically do. Basically, she is a Femi-Nazi's wet dream. I don't see that theme playing out here in this adaptation. Instead, Jinjur is the general of the Munchkin army, not specifically all women; most of the soldiers we hear speak are men. It leaves me wondering if they are going to explore the feminist theme that Baum wrote about in The Marvelous Land of Oz that makes it stand out in the series (well, among other things).

I understand that many of the aspects from the book are (dare I say it?) out-dated for 21st Century audiences who may not be familiar with the Oz books; therefore I can understand this change in Jinjur's story. Once the book established the 1904 idea of a women's army, it just gets more sexist from there (again, from a 21st Century viewpoint). It's like how The Royal Book of Oz by Ruth Plumly Thompson was super cool when it came out in the 1920s but now it's considered racist as balls.

Nevertheless, the season is still young and we are still learning more about what is going on. It's one of the reasons why I love this season so far: it is so different from the book that you're not sure what is going to happen next. You know that the story is going to progress in a certain direction, but you don't know how they are going to get there. However, I am going to keep an ear on Jinjur and how Crossover Adventures carries out Baum's original themes. Bring on episode 3!