Once Upon A Time - Season Review

Over the course of it's first season, I've posted a couple of reviews of Once Upon A Time. For me, it's been a big show and definitely fills the void left by Lost. That's not really any surprise though as two of Losts writers thought up Once Upon A Time before working on Lost. Back then the show was deemed a pretty big risk, that is until the phenomenal success of Lost. After that,  Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz could do pretty much anything. So they pitched the idea for Once Upon A Time and got an immediate air date. In essence the idea for the show is intriguing. Fairy tale characters trapped in our world with no memory of their true selves is a really good concept. I don't know if it could've worked under any other writers though. Those who have seen Lost will know what I mean. The basic premise of that show is that a plane crashes on a mysterious island. That particular show is much much deeper than that though. Whenever people ask me what Lost is about I have real difficulty explaining it and the same can be said about Once Upon A Time. The mysteries of the show are many. That doesn't make the show complicated or confusing. The original premise still stands, just with added extras.

Prince Charming finds that famous Glass Coffin.

     The show begins with Prince Charming galloping across the fairy tale land to save his beloved Snow White who has eaten the enchanted apple. The scene that greets Charming is one we all know. Snow White in her glass coffin surrounded by the seven dwarfs. We then see that kiss that wakens her and the following wedding ceremony. What follows is something we don't know. The evil Queen striding through the crowds, threatening to unleash a curse so that there will be no more happy endings. That curse is a cloud of black smoke that engulfs all of fairytale world, sending them all to this world and a town called Storybrooke. Meanwhile a young lady called Emma Swan is celebrating her 28th birthday alone. That is until she gets a surprise visitor in the form of her son, who she gave away as a baby. We quickly learn that Emma is the child of Snow White and Prince Charming and that they got her into this world before the curse struck making her the only person who can break the curse.

Snow White and the Evil Queen in
the real world.

     This first season mainly dealt with the love story between Snow White and Prince Charming. 'Flashback' sequences showed their fairy tale world back story while their present day story played out. The main thing that this show gave us was the stories we didn't know. How Snow White and Prince Charming got to know each other and why the Evil Queen hated Snow White so much were the two main stories that were explored. Interspersed were the back story of the dwarfs, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Red Riding Hood and Rumpelstiltskin's back story. These episodes provided a break from the Snow White/Prince Charming/Evil Queen story and were often the better episodes.

And their fairy tale selves

     The influence of Lost is evident with a few tributes to that show being carefully placed. A few of these are....

+ The town clock being stuck at 8:15 is a clear shout out to Lost. The plane that crashed on the island was Oceanic flight 815.

+The mayor of Storybrooke, Regina Mills/Evil Queen lives at number 108 the same number that the famous Lost numbers equal when added together.

+Apollo Candy Bars feature heavily in both shows.

+MacCutcheon Whiskey also features heavily in both shows.

+Jefferson/The Mad Hatter lives at number 316. This is a clear reference to the 6th episode of Season 5 of Lost. In that episode, titled '316', the Losties find their way back to the island. This is a clear nod to Jefferson's quest to get back to his own land.

+Upon arriving in this world Pinocchio is surprised by an Oceanic airlines flight overhead, an obvious nod to the fictional airline featured in Lost.

+The numbers play a big part in both shows.

There are many other references with some of Losts lines being borrowed as well as the odd prop. This may seem like Once Upon A Time is trying to emulate Lost but it isn't. Both are very different shows and in many ways, the creators have learned from their experiences on Lost. While Once Upon A time still has mysteries, these mysteries are often solved pretty quickly.

     I know I've been raving about Once Upon A Time and that is probably because I'm a pretty big fan of the show. It does have it's flaws though, the main one being it's seeming lack of progress during it's middle episodes. Your resilience during this time is paid off though during it's final episodes. The penultimate and finale episodes in particular are standout episodes. .

GOOD POINTS

+ This is definitely a show dominated by strong women which is quite refreshing. Snow White is portrayed as a strong woman able to defend herself while the Evil Queen is scary without being too much of a pantomime villain. In the present day, Emma Swan is a bonds collector and later sheriff of Storybrooke.

+ Child characters can quite easily become irritating but Henry (Emma's biological Son) is actually really good. He is a well rounded character and a vital and welcome part of the show.

+ The fairy tale world is quite simply beautiful. It is a truly magical place and you get the feeling that it is endless. The shows depiction of Wonderland is also fantastic.

Little Red Riding Hood,
only not so little.

+ The show has a good balance of evil and good. There are also characters that can shift either way which keeps us guessing.

+ The evil characters have a good reason to be evil. It would've been too easy to make the characters pantomime villains. Instead the writers have given them pretty valid reasons for why they are like they are. King George wants the gold to keep his kingdom rich, The Evil Queen lost her love via Snow Whites actions and Rumpelstiltskin was tricked into becoming The Dark One.

Belle and her 'Beast', otherwise
known as Rumpelstiltskin!

+ The way they reworked the fairy tales was fascinating. Making Rumpelstiltskin the Beast from Beauty and the Beast was a masterstroke that gave Rumpelstiltskin a bigger back story and more substance. Making Red Riding Hood the Wolf was also a great way of retelling Little Red Riding Hood in a way which actually made it a better story.

BAD POINTS


+ The lack of progress during the middle episodes. This possibly points to the uncertainty over the shows future and can be forgiven due to the terrific finale.

+ The lack of certain characters. I wanted more Pinocchio back story and more Cinderella. I got a little tired of the Snow White back story.

+ Emma Swans refusal to believe in the curse became a little tiresome even when presented with a lot of evidence. True, most of us would have trouble believing we were the child of Snow White and Prince Charming but her constant lack of belief was perhaps hard to believe.

STAR OF THE SHOW

Rumpelstiltskin!!

     This is an easy one. There were many good characters in this 1st season. Emma Swan was great as was Regina Mills/The Evil Queen. Ruby/Red Riding Hood was fantastic in both worlds and her back story bred one of the best episodes of the season. The star of Season 1 has to be Mr Gold/Rumpelstiltskin though. As Mr Gold he was a truly mysterious individual and one whom you could never quite judge. Sometimes he came across as a good guy, other times he showed a cunning and conniving streak. As Rumpelstiltskin he was a massively complex character. Although he was evil (his habit of turning people into snails before stepping on them proves this) he had his reasons for being who he was. He was the Darth Vader of the fairy tale world in that he did have a glimmer of good in him. This was shown during the Beauty and the Beast episode in which he fell in love with Belle. His love for Belle provided one of the most touching scenes in the whole season when (as Mr Gold) he was finally reunited with Belle in the finale.

Mr Gold!!

     If you read Rumpelstiltskin then you can see how much the writters thought of Robert Carlyles portrayal of him. The real story (as told by the Grimms) is quite simple in that he does a deal with a young girl who has been forced to spin gold. He spins it for her in return for her jewellry. The girl and Rumplestiltskin keep doing deals until he proposes that she give him her first born child. She accepts and sure enough she becomes pregnant with a child. Rumplestiltskin comes to collect and offers her a reprieve. If she can guess his name then she can keep her child. She guesses right (after cheating by getting someone to find it out) and Rumplestiltskin runs off defeated. The writers have really expanded on his story in which he deals with many of the other fairy tale characters. As well as being the Beast, he appears in Cinderellas story in which he kills the Fairy God Mother before offering Cinderealla her happy ever after in exchange for her first born. He also shows up countless times in Snow Whites story and actually helps Prince Charming to find Snow White in the lead up to the season opener.

     It is doubtful that any other actor could've played Rumpelstiltskin as well as Robert Carlyle. It is without a doubt Carlyle's finest hour and he revels in it. As Rumple he is such a good character and his laugh is so funny. It is as Mr Gold that Carlyle really stretches his acting muscles though. Mr Gold is so cunning and has so much mystery about him. He is perhaps one of the most layered characters in the show.

7.5/10