There’s A New Queen In Town – As the opening episode of Queen of Oz begins, Princess Georgiana (Catherine Tate) arrives at Clayton House School to speak to the students. Molly Esmond (Sunny Darcy-Smith) shows Georgiana the gift she made for her. Eventually, the Princess throws up on the gift. The press quickly takes pictures of the mess. Molly tells Georgiana that she smells like her granddad who is an alcoholic. Georgiana claims she is going to make it up to her, but she ends up throwing up all over the young girl.

The media has a field day with the latest Georgie story. Michael Grayston (Nicholas Bell) meets Georgiana later and mentions that Australia has a new Prime Minister. She is considering a referendum to have Australia leave the Commonwealth and that could create a domino effect. They’re going to send Georgiana there for good. She will be installed as their queen. Given the chance, she may grow up and do her family proud for once. Prime Minister Rebecca Stewart (Rachel Gordon) is questioned about the move. She hopes Queen Georgiana will be an asset. On the plane, Anabel (Niky Wardley) wonders where they would’ve been sent if Georgie had killed the little girl.

While Georgie tries to sleep, Matthew (William McKenna) wants to show her the menu for the welcome reception. She quickly looks at the list, gives him answers, and sends him away. Georgiana complains to Bernard (Robert Coleby) that those two are a joke. She soon learns that her staff wasn’t loyal after all. Most members had something unkind to say about her. Bernard reveals that her parents asked him to come out of retirement to act as her private secretary. Georgiana argues with Anabel about the outfit she picked out because it is going to be too hot in Australia.

Once Georgiana arrives in Australia, she is introduced to Marc Kemarre (Rob Collins) who is the head of her new security detail. She is only interested in getting into an air-conditioned car. She changes clothes in the car while Matthew works on his computer next to her. She is worried that the press has released bad photos of her. Georgiana makes Matthew show her the photos on his computer. Then, she gets upset and throws his computer out of the window. Georgiana arrives and is introduced to Rebecca Stewart. Rebecca shows her the specially commissioned piece of art that was designed to celebrate the beginning of her reign. When they go in, Georgie is introduced to Weiwei (Anthony Brandon Wong).

After Georgie is shown her living quarters, Zoe (Jenna Owen) comes in and says she is her director of communications. Zoe thought she was hired because she wanted Australians to see her as an equal. Georgie believes she is a Republican so she wants to get rid of her. Zoe says she is very good at what she does since she is at the cutting edge of PR and social media. She will make it her mission to turn Georgiana’s reign into a global sensation that is the envy of the world. Georgie learns she will have to attend a welcoming reception tonight. Georgiana makes them leave before telling Bernard she hates Australia.

He warns her that her parents will cut her off if she messes this up. Later, Georgie gets dressed to prepare for the welcome reception. She says hello to many of the guests before being introduced to Richard Steele (David Roberts) who is the CEO of Steele Media. Georgie doesn’t have an answer when she is asked which causes she will champion. Zoe quickly says they’ll be outlining that in the coming weeks. Richard thinks she will be very good for business. Matthew breaks the news that they don’t have Georgiana’s speech because it was on his new laptop. The makeshift speech does not go well.

Georgiana stops and admits this wasn’t her planned speech. She jokes about throwing people in the tower because moving on to a joke about lesbian koalas. After the speech, she learns that the highly offensive joke is already trending on Steele News. Georgiana gets upset and criticizes her team. Mac joins Georgiana outside and talks to her about the speech. She tells him that she is a screw-up and a liability. Before she goes in, Georgiana throws her cigarette over the edge. It ends up burning the art display.

 

Queen Of Oz Review

The opening episode of Queen of Oz wasn’t great, but the overall effectiveness of the series may depend on the viewer’s perspective and tastes. It will really come down to the viewer’s comedic tastes. However, a lot of people are obviously not going to enjoy Queen of Oz’s over-the-top, crude humor and many will find the characters obnoxious.

Personally, the only joke that was slightly humorous was the little girl early on saying Georgiana smelled like her alcoholic granddad. The series may develop into something more when Georgiana begins turning things around, but it will take patience and a lot of eye rolls to get to that point.

There isn’t enough new or innovative here to justify sticking around for that long though. If viewers can tolerate and enjoy the humor, they should stick with it. Otherwise, this can probably be skipped without any regrets. The opening episode scores a 4.5 out of 10. Recaps of Queen of Oz can be found on Reel Mockery here.

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