CATCHING UP: Once Upon a Time (Season One – The Magic Begins)

What comes to mind when people think about fairy tales is that they are generally all about the heroes getting their happily ever after. Once Upon a Time takes this concept and adds depth to it, showing that the road to a happy ending is often a long one.

Snow White (played by Ginnifer Goodwin) and Prince Charming (played by Josh Dallas) have married and seem to have it all, but the Evil Queen Regina (Lana Parilla) is still out for blood. Regina plans to enact a curse that will take them all “somewhere horrible,” and that puts Snow on edge since she’s pregnant. They seek the advice of the imp, Rumpelstiltskin (Robert Carlyle), and he tells them only their unborn daughter can break the curse after she turns 28 years-old. The curse is enacted and, in response, Charming places his daughter inside an enchanted wardrobe moments before it hits. After that, they are all taken to Storybrooke, a fictional town in Maine where everyone doesn’t know who they are and Regina revels in her victory.

The setup of the series, taking fairy tale characters and putting them in our world, is definitely interesting. It’s a play off the concept of the movie Enchanted. What makes Once more complex is that it takes nearly every fairy tale and Disney character and puts a new twist in each story. Red Riding Hood (Meghan Ory) is the Big Bad Wolf who stalks the forest, Rumpelstiltskin (or Rumple, as his is usually referred to) is the infamous Beast who falls in love with Belle (Emilie de Ravin). All of these different takes on classic stories allow the show to take characters in unique directions creatively, making them more enjoyable to observe and learn about.

Two standouts are Regina and Rumple, who are both fun to watch in every episode. Whether she’s the Evil Queen in the Enchanted Forest or Mayor of Storybrooke, Regina steals scenes with her sassy and over-the-top personality. Rumple is great because we get to see two different versions of him, the glittery imp who is as campy as can be and his real world counterpart, Mr. Gold, who is more calculating and conniving. What makes them relatable is the tragic backstories of both characters. Regina only became evil because Snow inadvertently had her true love killed. Rumple created the elaborate curse and goaded Regina into casting it solely to get to our world and search for the son that he abandoned years before.

What works against this season is the arc of waiting for everyone to remember who they really are. Regina and Mr. Gold aside, most of the Storybrooke residents are insufferable to watch because they’re so boring compared to the real selves. Whereas Snow White is a cunning thief, her alter ego, Mary Margaret Blanchard, is a mousy schoolteacher who wouldn’t raise her voice if she were on fire. There’s a whole storyline where she and David Nolan (Prince Charming) are having an “affair” until his “wife” is presumed dead that feels like a soap opera plot.

Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison), the long-lost daughter of Snow and Charming, was a strong female character at first, but after a few weeks I wanted her to hurry up and believe in magic. The faster that happened, the faster things would pick up plot-wise, as most if not all of the real world storylines simply weren’t entertaining. Her son Henry (Jared Gilmore), who is also the adopted son of Regina, tries every episode to see what’s going on and, after a while, he gets kind of annoying. He’s supposed to be the cute kid on the show and the true believer, which is fine, but it would have helped if he made Emma believe sooner.

Once Emma does believe, the conclusion of the season feels rushed. After weeks of getting her to believe and moving at a snail’s pace, everything suddenly begins falling into place. I’m not saying it’s bad that it happens that way, but it would have worked better to see Emma spend a few episodes adjusting to the idea of magic instead of just twenty minutes before the end. The big reveal of magic being introduced was like an adrenaline shot for the second season, assuring that we won’t be bothered with the boring real world problems of the characters cursed selves again.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say that the first season of Once was enchanting, but it was fun to watch. It hit a few bumps, but those can easily be corrected in season two.

If you enjoyed Manny’s review and would like to read other pieces like it, you can find the rest of his work HERE. You can also follow him on Twitter @KN_Manny.

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