Once Upon a Time - A Tale Of Two Sisters - Review: "Good? Evil? Or both?"

Honestly, I needed to watch the season premiere twice. Why? Because the first time around I was so worried that Regina was going to choose evil over good that it actually impaired my enjoyment of the episode for most of the hour; I was so sure that the writers were set on making her evil again that I started hating every Regina related scene to my core. And sure, the last scene made her seem a little bit villainous, but as everyone said she is not a monster anymore, she’s changed- her quest to look for the writer to have a happy ending doesn’t need to involve evil in it, and that’s something to be excited for.

Talking of which, I can’t be more excited for this plot! I’ve been predicting it since season 1 and I have been waiting for it ever since. Meta-fantasy is one of my favorite type of fantasies and the interactions of a writer with his creation is one of my favorite meta elements in fiction- in my book “El filo del Olvido” the plot revolves around an author whose reality is being consumed by the one of his characters, so you can guess why I’m so excited about this plot-. So I really can’t wait to see how Regina’s quest to find the writer turns out. And wouldn’t it be sick if she actually found the writers of the show at some point? If that happened- ala Supernatural’s episode “The French Mistake”- that episode is most likely to be graded with an “A” by me.

Ok, enough with that. OUAT’s season opener is good, but flawed. Upon a second watch I was more laid back, but I still was quite annoyed the pacing, some lines and some directions the premiere was taking. Georgina Haigg and Elizabeth Lail did an amazing performance as Elsa and Anna, they really acted like the characters and sold it completely; I like that they have such a strong attachment to each other and that they kept the spirit of the movie, however the treatment of the story was a bit stale.

I didn’t like much that Elsa found that entry on her mother’s diary about her being dangerous, it seemed way too convenient that the diary ends just right there, and it led to some very stereotypical pep talks with both Anna and Kristoff- but I must mention Scott Michael did a very solid job as Kristoff- that has no other purpose than moving the plot forward.
OUAT is at its best when the characters show more layers of depth and show that they are not only fairy tale’s characters but real people. So far, these characters lack some humanity, they are only their Frozen’s personas, and that’s ok, but I wanted to see more to them than what we saw.

Now it is as good time as any. Since the season is going to be very Frozen related I must tell you that I thought that the movie was ok, but a tad overrated. Though very poignant at times- especially at the beginning-, by the end the movie plot forgot key elements such as Elsa overcoming her fear and solved everything with the power of love, making her quest of understanding her powers reduced only to how much she loves her sister. And that’s ok, but it’s not the stellar ending I was hoping for when I started seeing the movie.

OUAT right now seems to be following somewhat of the same trajectory; Elsa hasn’t overcome the fear of what she may be, so my hopes are that the show- unlike the movie- will actually focus on her journey to trust herself, to love herself, because I always felt the movie left that part out: Elsa and Anna love each other, and that’s great, but did Elsa actually came to love herself? That was always kind of left on the air.

Characters like Snow and Charming didn’t have much to do here besides strolling Neal- and being utterly useless in battle against the snowman-, while Henry was only there to point the obvious question everyone is asking “Is my mom going to be evil again?”, so their scenes while needed to have an update on what they are up to don’t hold much relevance.

On the Rumpbelle front, our favorite villain actually decided to keep his promise and he switched the daggers. I appreciate that, just like Regina, Rumple is tested and must prove that he can be good, yet there is some uncertainty regarding the magic item he found in his new house. It turns out to be hiding the Sorcerer’s hat from Fantasia. Will it be a helpful tool in the future or is it going to backfire? Only time will tell; so far I like the ambiguity of it all, even though Rumple’s scenes felt quite slow to be honest.

Emma and Hook’s relationship moves forward at snail pace, mostly because Emma feels guilty about what she did to Regina; she’s not going to apologize for saving Marian, but she surely does feel bad about taking away her happiness. She does ought to fix it and grant Regina the happy ending she deserves- a scene utterly beautifully crafted- and she leaves her alone as Regina decides to take action instead of waiting.

Watching it for second time, seeing how Regina deals with her abrupt breakup with Robin becomes pretty fascinating; though Robin Hood went full cartoony about his vow to his wife Lana Parilla’s acting stole the scene as she drops a single tear and then she does what Regina does when she is hurt: find someone to hurt back.

On my first watch I was praying for her not to go full evil, so on my second watch I was relieved and really happy to see how closely she almost followed her bad habits, only to find herself saving Marian; it’s a moment where she proves how far she has come, and even though there is definitely still darkness in her heart- as the last scene suggest- she is done being only good or bad; she’s somewhere in the middle right now, not so good as we can tell from her face on the last scene and not so bad to cause misery to everyone around her. That should make a pretty interesting arc when she looks for the writer.

So OUAT’s first episode of the season is interesting, but not quite as much enjoyable; there’s a lot of setups, but not enough fun. One of the greatest strengths of the season finale was that it was really, really fun, and that’s some of the best tools the show has to be great, so I was a bit disappointed by the lack of humor in the episode, which surely made the episode feel a lot slower. A show like this needs to be able to offer some comic relief before it gets too cheesy. But even then, I’m more than happy with what we got: the season seems to be heading somewhere really interesting, and I can’t wait to see what happens next. I trust this show will continue to surprise me, entertaining, even if once in awhile it keeps frustrating me.

Grade: B

Stray Observations:

-Giancarlo Esposito is back! Glad to see him once again, though I’m still sad about the Revolution cancellation- especially since that show became way better in S2.

-Regina to Sidney as she transforms him into a mirror: “Relax, it’s only temporary.”
How long will Sidney be a mirror? Make your bets!

-Sven had a little air of Gene the cow from Fringe in the episode. It made me feel a little bit nostalgic. I hope we get to see him a bit more.

-Emma: Want to go home and see what’s on Netflix?
Hook: I don’t know what that is, but sure.

-Emma: “Henry brought me here to get everyone’s happy endings back. Including yours.” Jennifer Morrison landed that lind very powerfully.

-Any guesses on whose character Elizabeth Mitchel will play later in the season? I hope she gets a chance to interact with Giancarlo Esposito for a Revolution reunion!

-The fight with the snowman was lame; the effects on OUAT have never been outstanding, but come on. This is a new low. And Emma throwing magic light balls at it? Girl, you should be stronger than that by now.

-I- like many of you I’m sure- was very surprised and very happy to see that OUAT hit a 3.4 on the demographic, a number it hasn’t even got close to since November 2012. Many people sampled on OUAT because of the Frozen arc it appears. I would have been even happier if Revenge’s number weren’t so dismal, but I have OUAT ratings to take comfort of.

-It seems that next week Emma is going to be affected by Elsa’s magic pretty much the same way Anna was in the movie. I see lots of potential there!

About the Author - Pablo

I'm currently studying Psychology while also writing fantasy books (one already published in my home country, Chile, you can check it out on the facebook icon). I watch many different types of shows, including my favorites Revenge, Game of Thrones, Once Upon a Time and about 23 more. Currently writing reviews for Once Upon a Time, The 100, Community and Marry Me

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