For
those of you who are not familiar with the show, Once Upon A Time is a
television series with the following premise; the Evil Queen (Regina, yes they
gave her a name) is tired of losing and let’s loose the ultimate curse to take
away everyone’s happy endings…by sending them to our world. This includes the likes of Snow White, Prince
Charming, Jiminy Cricket and a slew of other fairy tale characters. In an effort to thwart Regina’s plan, Snow
White and Prince Charming send their newborn daughter Emma (played by Jennifer
Morrison) into our world apart from the curse.
The following season cover’s Emma’s journey to “Storybrooke, Maine” to
reunite with her long lost son and her fairytale parents. All the while battling the Evil Queen, who
reigns as now the Mayor and the adoptive mother of Emma’s son. The kicker is that only two characters
remember the fairytale world. Season 1
was very strong, with powerful performances from the entire cast, and had very
few weak episodes.
I only
wish Season 2 had such a strong opening.
The important thing to remember about this show is that it is produced
by ABC, which is owned by Disney. This
means that the producers actually get to play with Disney’s interpretation of
these classic fairytales. That works
both to the deterement and the advantage of the show. First, the cons; Disney has a huge stake in
this show, because its part of their product.
Disney Princess is a brand name, and those princesses feature heavily in
the show. That means the writers don’t
have free reign to do with what they please with these classic characters. They are given certain liberties, allowed for
more freedom in interpretation, but it is still under the control of the House
of Mouse. Had they used merely the
classic Grimm’s Fairytales, or the old folktales that inspired those collected
stories, they would have been given much more freedom to move and tell far
bolder stories. However, not all is
lost. Since the Disney interpretation is
so forefront in our minds as a viewing public, we feel we already know who
these characters are. They don’t stray
too terribly far from the Disney interpretations (although Snow White and
Prince Charming got a serious upgrade in Once Upon A Time) so we still feel
safe with these characters. We can
invite our kids to come in and watch the show because we have trust in the
House of Mouse to provide us with quality programing that won’t shock our sensibilities.
So what
about Season 2? Well, remember, this is
a Disney property which means Disney characters are up for grabs. Last season we met with Snow White,
Cinderella, and Belle from Beauty and the Beast. This season opens with us introduced to a
very irritating Sleeping Beauty and…Mulan?
I was cool with it, but you take a character like Mulan and throw her in
with the Disney Princesses and you start wondering where the line is. Are we going to meet Simba and Scar
next? Is Pocahontas just around the
river bend? Mulan’s presence in this
story isn’t, in my opinion, bad, though I think her introduction could have
been handled better. Perhaps in
subsequent episodes we’ll get to know her better and they’ll work harder to
flesh out her character.
Now I do acknowledge that this is a season opener and it
sets up certain plot threads for the following season, and while not displeased
with the episode, I wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about it either. I like Mulan’s addition, sincerely I do. I like the idea that the fairytale land
wasn’t just populated with western Europe fairytales. I do fear that Pecos Bill will be popping by,
but its neither here nor there. I only
have to cry foul on one thing…a giant gaping plot hole.
In an early episode of Season 1, Regina, Snow White’s evil
queen (while still in fairyland) visits Maleficent, Sleeping Beauty’s
nemesis. There is some banter about how
they both lost out to these princesses…meaning that Maleficent had already been
defeated and Sleeping Beauty released from the spell, as this scene was a flashback. Season 2 has us going back to Fairytale Land
right as Prince Phillip is awakening Sleeping Beauty. Unlike other scenes depicted in this land,
which are all done in flashback, this is portrayed as happening in real time,
in conjunction with events in our world, where everyone, including Maleficent,
have been trapped for 28 years. Either
nobody remembered that exchanged between queen and witch, or Maleficent put
Sleeping Beauty BACK to sleep before Regina activated her curse, which would
beg the question as to “Why?” If your
plan failed before, why try it again?
Now, in the scene where Sleeping Beauty is rescued, there is a spinning
wheel right next to her. But then does
that mean that ANYTIME Sleeping Beauty pricks her finger on a spinning wheel that
the curse is reactivated…meaning Maleficent had nothing to do with it this
time? I know it’s a relatively small
thing, but it’s a plot hole that didn’t have to be there. They could have opened it better,
reintroduced us to that world more effectively without having to drag out
events that were already established and concluded in Season 1.
But
this show does not have a history of opening plot threads without having a
payoff for them. Almost everything that
was opened last season had closure, or was referenced in the beginning of
Season 2, so here is hoping the series only gets stronger.
Again,
if you missed out on Season 1 and want to find out what it’s all about, I
highly recommend the series and it can be found on Netflix online. If you want to catch up on episode 1 of
Season 2, it can be found on ABC Go online, with the series proper airing at
7pm central standard on ABC affiliates.
This Michael with Sidewinder Reviews, reminding you that
when it comes to escapist entertainment, go big, or go home!
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