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S01.E01: The Beast Forever / S01.E02 Prison Of The Abject


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22 hours ago, surfer said:

Most of the reviews for this were pretty horrible so I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Beautifully shot. They re-imagined enough that it was still interesting without getting dragged down in the familiarity of the original story.

I'm glad I haven't read any reviews, then! I was transported and really loved it, particularly the glorious costumes, locations, and production design. As Adam mentioned in his recap, I don't plan to give a fig about previous iterations; any similarities and/or deviations can bite me.

I'm delighted by E City but also wondering about life back in Kansas, with stormy night adoptions and trailer knife fights to the death.

Can't wait for more and, being spoiled by entertainment these days, am miffed that the entire series isn't streaming. Weekly episodes, really? How quaint.

Edited by lordonia
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Just now, CooperTV said:

SyFy's Tin Man was that kind of mini-series!

I know. I remember watching the first episode, but I never finished it. I may stream it in the next few days thought - tv pickings are kinda slim in January.

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14 hours ago, ParadoxLost said:

I would rather it not be the case but given the beginning of the show, Dorothy probably is a witch brought to Kansas as a baby to hide her from the Wizard or the witches.

I am liking this show so far, but if that's the case, J.K. Rowling should sue.....

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1 hour ago, call me ishmael said:

Am i the only one wondering if the "beast forever" isn't just another word for natural disasters?  The whole it can take many forms (mostly bad weather) seems a bit much to me.  

It's really curious and could play into the original movie with The Wizard being a charlatan. 

I hope we get some back story on the events of 20 years ago. I want to know what happened to The Witch of the South and the events surrounding Dorothy being sent to Kansas.

Edited by Morrigan2575
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The Beast Forever is either a natural disaster like event or I would think a kind of spirit/demon/magic possession maybe - a way for WWotW to turn into the villain of sort. One of her titles is the "vessel", next to solace and truth.

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25 minutes ago, tanita said:

The Beast Forever is either a natural disaster like event or I would think a kind of spirit/demon/magic possession maybe - a way for WWotW to turn into the villain of sort. One of her titles is the "vessel", next to solace and truth.

Does anyone happen to know all 4 Witches titles?

East - Mercy, ?

West - Vessel, Solace and Truth

North - ??

South - Mother, ?

Edited by Morrigan2575
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East - Mistress of the Eastern wood, most merciful and stern

West - Mistress of the Western fields, vessel of truth and solace

North - Maiden of Northern light, mother of the sound and pure

South - no title except Mother South and that she was presumably vanquished by the Beast Forever (no magic funeral for her) - I assume she is probably still alive or at least we will see her in flashback

Edited by tanita
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1 hour ago, tanita said:

East - Mistress of the Eastern wood, most merciful and stern

West - Mistress of the Western fields, vessel of truth and solace

North - Maiden of Northern light, mother of the sound and pure

South - no title except Mother South and that she was presumably vanquished by the Beast Forever (no magic funeral for her) - I assume she is probably still alive or at least we will see her in flashback

So South is likely Dorothy's mother i guess.

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I particularly liked the scene of the Wizard wearily removing his toupee. I was wondering if the beard would be next, but so far the wig seems to be his only curtain. He's quite intriguing to me as a character. I assume D'Onofrio was told to play him broadly? Hopefully his performance tones down a bit as we go along.

The inhabitants of Emerald City certainly have a wide array of accents!

I trust we'll get to see the unincorporated people again, for their costumes if nothing else. Ojo seems like he'll turn into an ally.

I keep expecting East not to be dead somehow. Magic exists and Mombi hasn't quite expired despite being sworded.

Okay, only a witch can kill a witch ... but East was manipulated into shooting herself. I'm open to Dorothy being a witch, but think the creators have technically left themselves an out.

Edited by lordonia
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25 minutes ago, lordonia said:

Hopefully his performance tones down a bit as we go along.

Oh god, I hope NOT!  Truthfully, D'Onofrionics (tm Bunting/Ariano) are the reason I've tuned in. 

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If anyone hasn't seen "The Fall," DO! It is amazing. Singh is a genius especially with locations and costumes.

3 hours ago, attica said:

Oh god, I hope NOT!  Truthfully, D'Onofrionics (tm Bunting/Ariano) are the reason I've tuned in. 

He is awesome in the "Magnificent Seven" remake.

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I have to recap this so I was hoping to at least enjoy it a little. Sure, lots of dumb stuff happened and it wasn't all executed perfectly but I'm into it. And there were parts I fucking loved.

Vincent D'Onofrio is beautiful nonsense. I feel like his accent keeps changing and sometimes he slips into his Law & Order character and I would not change anything about it.

I know I'm being manipulated to ship Dorothy and Lucas but they're doing it really well at least. Like if you're going to pander with a romantic subplot, do it well. Also, Toto is the best. I love Toto. More Toto.

I feel like I should be offended by Ojo and the Munja'kin Village but I can't pinpoint who they should be offensive to. Native Americans? Scots? Vikings? Scandinavians? 

From the way Tip talked (the pitch of "his" voice), I saw that reveal coming from a mile away.

It was cool to see Fiona Shaw play a "magic" character given her role in Harry Potter. 

I'm not totally sold on the witches yet. North has the best costumes and Joely is pretty good at playing her but she's not quite evil enough. East was posing a lot but not that scary either. I feel like this would be a part they offered to a nonactress... like Naomi Campbell. I like West being a little rock and roll but while she's my favorite so far, she hasn't lived up to her sass potential. Maybe it'll happen if she can get off the opium. 

I miss Leverage. It was nice to see Gina Bellman briefly even if her character was nonsense. 

Spoiler

I'm pretty sure Karen is Mother South, making Dorothy a witch. If witches have to be female, I guess Tip could also be her daughter but I'm not sure why she'd go back and leave a child there without revealing herself. 

I think the biggest places where the show is failing for me is all the cutting back and forth and the lack of clarity. It's not a difficult story to follow, except when it is. I think I'm more attuned to the confusing parts because I have to try and recap it and explain what just happened. 

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I liked it to be honest. The production value looks amazing for tv, don't know there this was filmed but it reminds me of LOTR and last year's Shannara Chronicles. 

I can tell you one location was Park Guell in Barcelona. The place with all the mosaics? I thought I was imagining it but then they pulled back. They certainly spent money on this show. After the beginning when everything was just scary smoke/weather, the money really started to appear on screen.

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21 minutes ago, aradia22 said:

I feel like I should be offended by Ojo and the Munja'kin Village but I can't pinpoint who they should be offensive to. Native Americans? Scots? Vikings? Scandinavians? 

I was mainly very relieved they weren't Little People.

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1 hour ago, aradia22 said:

I can tell you one location was Park Guell in Barcelona. The place with all the mosaics? I thought I was imagining it but then they pulled back. They certainly spent money on this show. After the beginning when everything was just scary smoke/weather, the money really started to appear on screen.

End credits say Spain and Hungary. Amazing production values on this show. Just wish it had been released on Amazon or Netflix where it would not just be bingeable all at once (which it really needs, I think), but also would allow it to be released in 4k and HDR, which would make the cinematography pop like crazy.

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32 minutes ago, NJRadioGuy said:

ust wish it had been released on Amazon or Netflix where it would not just be bingeable all at once (which it really needs, I think)

The most weird thing is that the entire season was released for the professional reviewing anyway.  I'd rather they released at Netflix as well.

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It scares me how much thought I have been putting into this show. Didn't happen in a long time to me.

Someone upthread said they wished it was on HBO, as it would have made it better - I disagree. On HBO Dorothy would have been subjected to attempted rape at least three times by now, we would have had more graphic violence and at least two additional sex scenes. Naturally, we can still have those as the series progresses, but I think it's well balanced currently with semi off-screen gore and covered-up sex in brothel. We don't need everything up-front to know what's going on.

Another things that made me think up some theories concerns some of the characters:

Lucas

The clothes and the sword left intact at the foot of the cross seem strange to me, since - why would it be done? If he was a soldier taking part in the massacre, why no uniform? If he was a civilian, why the sword? A logical explanation would be that he was a deserter from the Wizard's army, perhaps had a family in Nimbo and that's why he was punished in this way - crucified with a great view of burning village.

Which, naturally, does not mean he doesn't have a violent streak. He definitely has PTSD.

I'm also wondering if smashing Mombi's head in was not an instinctive thing, deeply rooted in a former Wizard's guard: a witch is a powerful creature, only a witch can kill a witch. So if you happen to seriously wound one, make sure to at least immobilize her for good. And putting a hole in her think-box seems like a good idea, if cold.

Also, I hope Eammon will know him from the good old soldiering days.

Dorothy

I understand that her fear of commitment may not go hand with the nurse profession, but on the other hand - her patients are all but permanent. In this line of work one quickly learns that people come and go, and that a good deal of those people will die. Some on your watch. If you get attached, you'll just feel it more.

I think Dorothy set up a wall to protect herself. She only let her aunt and uncle in, to some extent. She didn't let that Ollie doctor guy in yet. And in Oz, she involuntary started to let Lucas in - and got stung hard, once she saw what he's capable of. So the walls are up again.

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8 hours ago, Cthulhudrew said:

Maybe it's just because I know nurses in real life, but it doesn't strike me as remotely being a profession that someone who spends their life avoiding responsibility would go into.

As a misanthrope who has thrived in a service sector career, I would posit it's useful in that it lets you not take work personally. It's easier to give when it doesn't cost your heart.  

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I had no idea how this was going to be (I didn't look at any reviews), but I was looking forward to it, and, I have to say, its not perfect, but I really enjoyed this. It looks amazing for one thing, and I am cautiously enjoying the characters and the actors, especially Dorothy. I am enjoying her character a whole lot. She is likable and smart, but not annoyingly perfect. She has a sense of humor, but isn't "sassy" or constantly throwing out one liners in situations where it would be inappropriate. And I think the actress did a good job at being likable and engaging. And I like their take on the scarecrow as well. The guy is kind of stuck in PTSD but dreamy land right now, but I think he is doing a good job with that, and I already like the chemistry between him and Dorothy. God I am easy. 

That being said, there were certainly some issues here. For one thing, it was so serious all the time, and that made the whole thing seem a bit dull at times. Some of the actors (especially the Wizard and the Witches) seem a bit one note and over the top, and there was a lot of plot dumping and exposition. But, its a pilot. Thats all to be expected. My issues with this are all things that can be quickly fixed, and might just fix itself as the season goes on.

As for the Wizard of Oz stuff itself is actually really fun and interesting. I love that they are going more into the direction of the books, and not just the movie. I love the classic movie, and I read a few of the books when I was a kid and enjoyed them, so I am excited to see them put new twists on classic Oz characters and places. I know some people have compared it to Game of Thrones, and I get that, but this is WAY more weird and whimsical than GoT ever got, and I really enjoy that. GoT is fantasy, but, especially in its first season, its all very down to earth, and seems more like a historical piece than a fantasy world, in costuming and locations especially. Like, I dont ever see anyone from GoT employing a steampunk flying monkey drone any time soon. This seems like its actually in a fantasy world (even if magic is outlawed) with fantasy settings and costumes and characters. Even if the rest of the show is totally stupid, I will keep watching for the locations and designs.  

Plus, Toto is a German Shepard police dog! You had me right there!

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I find the witches and the wizard less than thrilling (and a bit confusing) at times, but I LOVE Dorothy, Lucas, and Tip, both in terms of the actors' performances and the intrigue/ potential of the characters. I'm very excited to see the rest of the series!

On 1/6/2017 at 11:07 PM, merylinkid said:

 

I decided to give this a try.   I could look past a cop trying to shoot someone in the middle of a tornado who was frantically waving their arms.   Because yeah, no one needs help in a weather event, nope their just a threat.   But I damn near checked out during the water torture.   The. Munchikins. Do.Not.Torture.  But I figured it was owuld be that one.   Then I see the voodoo doll torture by one of the witches.   At that point I checked out.  

 

Not sure if I'm just fanwanking this, but I kind of figured the cop had gone inside the trailer and seen his dead colleague before he saw Dorothy, which is why he pulled the gun. At the very least, he definitely saw his colleague's abandoned vehicle and may have been panicking over that.

The torture I could have done without as well, but at least it was network TV torture and not HBO torture. And I did think East's torture of Dorothy and Lucas (I'm assuming that's the voodoo you're referring to?) was visually interesting, even if it was painful to watch.

Echoing all of The Fall love!

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What is the round dotted tattoo on Dorothy's hand? They showed it on her baby hand and later on her grownup hand. 

We don't know yet; undoubtably its significance will be revealed later on.

I didn't actually think the show "looked" all that great. I mean it was fine but nothing to write home about and no more impressive than any other network TV show. 

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On January 7, 2017 at 11:32 AM, attica said:

The scenes with East sitting on the rock outcropping in her scarlet dress looked straight out of The Cell, another of Singh's visual stunners.

Exactly! I loved it.

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That being said, there were certainly some issues here. For one thing, it was so serious all the time, and that made the whole thing seem a bit dull at times. Some of the actors (especially the Wizard and the Witches) seem a bit one note and over the top, and there was a lot of plot dumping and exposition. But, its a pilot. Thats all to be expected. My issues with this are all things that can be quickly fixed, and might just fix itself as the season goes on.

What's a little weird to me is that I think there is some humor in the script, if they chose to play it. But given that everyone's so serious, I have to assume it's the direction. I think the closest we got was with Dorothy and Lucas and the witches. But witches could be a lot more fun... camp or gleefully evil or snarky... there are a lot of directions left open to them based on what's written. But it feels like they were directed to be serious so the quips just get tossed off without much bite. I don't need it to be the 10th Kingdom which got too silly at times but letting the actors find more of the humor would be nice. 

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I love that the small town - at less than 400 population - is actually a small town. Too many times in Hollywood "small town" means anything less than 100,000 people. As someone from a small town, I think if you don't know everyone in it, it's not *that* small. 

That said, I'm personally not aware of any rural small town of that size that has a medical center. You wouldn't have enough patients to support it. (Unless I missed something and the medical center is actually in a larger town near Lucas). 

I do love that Dorothy is a doctor though. (edited: or nurse, or whatever she is)

Long-time fan of Oliver Jackson-Cohen, so I'm here to stay. 

Edited by I-Kare
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23 minutes ago, I-Kare said:

Okay, I was going by reviews that called her a doctor.

 

26 minutes ago, MrsR said:

She's not a doctor. She's only 20. She's a nurse, maybe, or maybe a nursing student.

Now this could lead into interesting territory. By our standards, in our world, if she's an RN, she's highly skilled in human anatomy and remedies, trauma mitigation and so on. Depending on her training and experience, perhaps even moreso than a physician in certain respects. Rural America won't have the high volumes of GSWs and MVAs of an urban trauma center, but she'd certainly have seen some of each, as well as things like agricultural accidents, ODs and the usual frequent fliers with chronic conditions that need to be managed. So on a scale of "eeeek! Blood" to "Battlefield trauma team surgeon" she's probably about 2/3 up the scale in terms of knowledge and abilities.

In their world, what she does would easily be considered magic, and forbidden, with terrible consequences to her. It cannot be explained by any Ozian, yet she can do it with half her brain tied behind her back. To wit, using charcoal to counteract the poison--we won't get into the nuts and bolts of it, but let's handwave it as a save for dramatic purposes. In that society, poison kills, period. And witches don't suddenly get a case of the deads with a .45" hole in their forehead.

So I have to wonder whether they're going to go down that road in the series. And speaking of roads, when a nurse can get a virtually unlimited supply of an opiate that could also be an interesting plot point.  Which brings me to this classic from my earlier days....

Edited by NJRadioGuy
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The charcoal/ poison part aside, I kind of wondered how she saved Lucas in general with just a few herbs and some bed rest... Dude looked seriously hurt. I'm not sure if we're supposed to do the usual TV- hand-wave-of-unrealistic-medicine (probably, considering how long Lucas managed to walk before finally collapsing), or whether Dorothy's supposed to have some kind of actual magical healing powers. 

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10 minutes ago, dargosmydaddy said:

The charcoal/ poison part aside, I kind of wondered how she saved Lucas in general with just a few herbs and some bed rest...

He had an infection and a blood loss, I think. Blood loss is cured via consuming fluids, and she did wanted to use honey for the infection (which what I yelled at the screen when Lucas collapsed dramatically). Maybe Mombi's garden had celandine or horse gowan, which are also good remedies for infection.

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The scenes with East sitting on the rock outcropping in her scarlet dress looked straight out of The Cell, another of Singh's visual stunners.

Love that stupid film for sheer beauty and horror.  That scene was exactly Cell. Those red Garnet gold "gloves" could have easily been in that film.

I love me some VdO, but not here. He's far too fat and mean with stupid non hair. Lol. 

Love the witches dynamics. They obviously love/hate each other.  So is West an opium addict brothel madam?  What a horrible way to fall from revered witch. North looked amazing and loved her acting.

I guess I need a re-watch for the wizard/witches antics. 

As for Tip, definitely knew the twist, especially in the bath where I was all "but how can they show young girl boobies.". Then i remembered, oh network TV... Thank you.

 I'm in for now.

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On 1/5/2017 at 10:30 AM, maxineofarc said:

Is the only prominent black character the villain?

Let's get this out of the way -- she was promoted as a major character ("See how progressive and diverse we are -- we have a an actual black woman as one of the witches!" They put her in about 4 scenes and BANG! she's dead (and is in a total of 3 episodes.)  Feh.

On 1/6/2017 at 11:26 PM, thuganomics85 said:

The Tip reveal was pretty good, although I cracked up at Jack's "Oh, shit!  Tip's got boobs!" look.

He's not the only one who noticed that!

On 1/7/2017 at 2:38 PM, Ladyrain said:

I am liking this show so far, but if that's the case, J.K. Rowling should sue.....

The "changling baby" us way older than Rowling.

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3 hours ago, CooperTV said:

He had an infection and a blood loss, I think. Blood loss is cured via consuming fluids, and she did wanted to use honey for the infection (which what I yelled at the screen when Lucas collapsed dramatically). Maybe Mombi's garden had celandine or horse gowan, which are also good remedies for infection.

But would they work that quickly? Mombi believed Lucas was past help; maybe Dorothy knew of a concoction she didn't, but that seems odd considering Dorothy is in from a world with antibiotics and Mombi is a local apothecary. But whatever. It's probably the usual TV miracle-cure that we're not supposed to question...

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21 minutes ago, dargosmydaddy said:

But would they work that quickly? Mombi believed Lucas was past help; maybe Dorothy knew of a concoction she didn't, but that seems odd considering Dorothy is in from a world with antibiotics and Mombi is a local apothecary. But whatever. It's probably the usual TV miracle-cure that we're not supposed to question...

I kind of viewed Mombi's comment as a "your friend is going to die, now go away". 

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40 minutes ago, Morrigan2575 said:

I kind of viewed Mombi's comment as a "your friend is going to die, now go away". 

Yep.  I think at first she just wanted them to leave because she didn't want to risk discovery and didn't care about strangers.  Then when she saw the sword she wanted to make sure he died.

i''m not sure i get Mombi's larger motivation in the show.  Did she really think she was protecting Tip from the wizard?  Is she working for someone else?  Given her reaction to the sword i doubt she is in cahoots with the Wiz.

i am also wondering after all the comments if we aren't going to discover that the "beast forever" isn't actually a force for good.  After all, the Wizard is a dictator and none of the 3 witches we saw are "good" (although i liked West best).  So why should we not think that the beast forever being destructive isn't just a myth that they use to keep their power.  Maybe it is trying to free the people from all these creepy leaders.

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Yeah that was my take as well. At first she just wanted them gone and, after she saw the sword she wanted information before finishing them off.

I'm really curious as to her motivation as well. I do believe she was protecting Tip but as to the ultimate goal, I'm not sure. Was she just doing it out of duty? Love? Her own nefarious ends?

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