Once Upon a Time - Enter the Dragon - Review: "In which Maleficent got her groove back"

OUAT is a hard show to review. More often than not, I end up changing my mind about the episodes I watch; on my first watch I honestly enjoyed the Neverland arc even though it was shaky, but on my second watch it became really bothersome to watch; it wasn’t really bad, but it had many flaws I didn’t actually caught up on until I rewatched it. Episodes that I graded high I considered to be less valuable than I did at first. And then there’s Oz, which I sometimes think I didn’t give enough credit at the time for being as fun as it was; rewatching Oz was tons of fun.

I always talk about the show as a highly entertaining, but inconsistent show. One week it is great, filled with witty humor, action and actually compelling drama, and the following week it drags on and on advancing little with the plot, acting as more build up.

Last week I gave OUAT an “A-” based on how I felt everything paid off at the end, but the grade was also based on the potential for the storylines I saw coming. But considering how little pay off there’s on this week’s episode I can’t help but feel that the grade should have been at least a little bit more grounded, a “B+” to suit the good emotional beats to it, but recognizing its pacing issues.

This week’s “Enter the dragon” is quite disappointing in terms of what I expected; Regina going undercover with the villains should have been more fun than just having Regina poofing the car out of the train’s way. When Regina said there was “lots of destructions” that’s something I would have wanted to see, and then see Regina coming to the Charmings saying “sorry about that”.

Fun and humor is key to a show as ridiculous as this one; I say ridiculous in the best way possible, OUAT can get away with anything it sets out to do because its tone is light and it has no trouble squeezing whimsical elements to an otherwise all front drama. That’s a talent; the writers on OUAT can pull their best episodes when they can draw honest character drama out of fantasy situations - like “The Miller’s Daughter” on season 2 -, but they can also pull incredible episodes when they commit to being funny, entertaining and engaging all while being honest with their character - like the season 3 memorable double finale.

But sometimes the writers just miss the necessary balance of drama and comedy and we’re left with an inconsistent episode such as this.
“Enter the dragon” is not the show’s worst episode - not by a long shot! -, but it is an episode that has some really good moments, and some others that truly drag.

The flashback with Regina going to Maleficent for magic lessons is surprisingly interesting, at least to my eyes; Maleficent has lost her will to pursue her revenge, accepting a fatalist fate in which she’ll never be happy, in which she’ll never turn into a dragon again, and Regina is there to try to get her groove back.

Regina needs to believe she can succeed in order to move forward with her revengenda, so she does everything in her power to try make Maleficent remember who she truly is. That’s an interesting parallel as to what Maleficent is trying to do on Storybrooke; while Ursula and Cruella essentially give up on Regina saying she has gone soft, Maleficent is actually trying to pull Regina back to her old self, in a way to repay her for what she did for her on the past.

Maleficent is becoming more and more compelling as the episodes goes; last week we learned she lost her child and she still feels the loss greatly. This week she tries to help Regina - in her own evil way -, to repay her for what she did. Even though she is a queen of darkness and there’s no wonder she is a villain, I can’t stop noticing the humanity the writers are squeezing through her. It’s actually kind of amazing that while I realize she is evil she still feels like a likeable character.

Sadly, with the focus on Maleficent. Ursula and Cruella feel like they are just side dishes instead of villains of their own; they have a supporting role and while Cruella has her sassy attitudes and lines to carry her over the episode, Ursula in particular feels like she’s lost in the middle of it all; she’s just there, making for some company, and nothing she says or does is truly remarkable or memorable for that matter.

This is pretty much a heavy Maleficent episode, even when Regina is sharing the spotlight there wasn’t much to go on. I’ll always praise Lana Parilla’s incredible performance, but this week there wasn’t much for me to enjoy for what happened to Regina; she’s with the queens of darkness, she learns valuable info such as what their plan is and that Rumple is alive, and she gets to see how Pinocchio gets turned back into August - a moment in which I said “yay!” out loud -. The most fun we could have had with her and the queens of darkness where mere lines dumped in the middle, and Regina going undercover should be an opportunity for fruitful, entertaining plots rather than more build up, as necessary as it may be for the plot.

One thing I did like of Regina going undercover was how involved Emma decided to be; their friendship is one of the best things that could have happened for the show, and every time Emma is there for Regina it just feels great; it’s heartwarming to see how much they’ve come to care for each other, and it’s great to see how much Emma has come to trust Regina, enough so that she could leave Pinocchio on her hands under the promise she would protect him.

On the B plots of the episode, Belle and Will’s relationship still makes 0 to no sense. Belle tries to explain it by saying that she isn’t over Rumple, but that in the meantime he makes her smile, but how did we get here? Last week I had people telling me that they’ve bonded over being in love with villains, but why couldn’t the show bother to show us at least one conversation about it? Not everyone watched OUAT in Wonderland, and not everyone is going to conclude that immediately.

Gladly, there’s only one scene they share before Rumple - disguised as Hook -, comes in and crashes the party to trick Belle into giving him the all mighty dagger. From the start I had the feeling it was Rumple, and it was a neat trick, though I have to wonder how in hell did he know how close Belle and Hook have become? I’ll let it pass, but the show has to be more careful with details.

So now Rumple has his full powers back and complete control over himself, and the queens of darkness are ready to strike at August to get information. They are seeking the author just as Regina does, and that makes the premise of next week’s episode all the more interesting. Will Regina actually torture August to keep her cover? Will she come up with some other way? And if she gets the chance to get info on the author, will she take it even if it is with the queens of darkness alongside her? Those are interesting questions for a character that has decided that the end does not justify the mean.

Now, let's talk for a bit about that little Henry scene and what it could mean for his character: he is examining the painting of the door August left on the book. He doesn’t know what it means yet, but I’m sure this is leading to a more important role that Henry will fulfill on coming episodes. With each passing season Jared S. Gilmore’s acting came from pretty weak to tolerable to passable so as long as he keeps improving I’m all in for him to have an arc of his own.

So I didn’t love nor hated the episode; I’m disappointed because after last week I thought lots of fun were coming, but we’re not quite there yet. At times the episode delves into good drama and characterization with Maleficent, which remains the MVP of the queens of darkness, but aside from that there’s only so much good on an episode that seems to be filling the gap for the more important issues of the season: finding the author and the Dark Swan rising - my way to denominate Emma going evil -. Until we get closer to those plots, it would seem like the show is on filler mode.

Grade: B-

Important remark/disclaimer:

The responses to my reviews are more divided than ever and some people have started to question the way I feel about the show and the way I make the reviews, so I’ll make something clear right now: I love this show. For as much as it frustrates me when it airs an episode I consider bad, it hasn’t stopped giving me lots of fun and lot of memorable moments. I think it is a very creative show that takes fairy tales to an unexplored territory. I love that it is both silly and serious, quirky and dark (when it wants to) and witty. At its best it is a pretty inspired TV show, but at its worst it is pretty clichéd and awfully paced, but it is never boring. It is highly inconsistent, but it almost always bring me a good time and it light ups my Sundays.

When I give an episode a low grade some people go on and say “do you really love this show? You should accept it for what it is” and when I give it a high grade some other people say “this episode is terrible! How can you like this?! Don’t you see how awful it was?!” And that is becoming more and more often this season than ever, so I’ll go on the record here for those people: this is my opinion, and grades are relative as to what I felt each particular episode, it does not reflect my appreciation of the show as a whole. You can’t take a “C” grade - which by the way is a passing grade - and think “this guy hates this show!” and you can’t take an “A” grade and think “this guys has no grounds for this show”, because I always go on detail on what I like and don’t like about the episodes here. If I go hard on the show sometimes, it’s because I love it and I know it can do better. If on your opinion “I went soft with the show”, it’s because the episode actually got me one way or another and it is detailed on the review why I loved it.

You can like or dislike the episodes and you are welcome to disagree and discuss the episodes with me; I’ll be happy to discuss our disagreements - just like I do with Dahne on her section of “Last Week in TV” in which we tend to disagree a lot, but have a really good entertaining time discussing the shows we watch -, that’s what makes this site incredibly fun and engaging.

But please, I ask you to stop questioning my appreciation towards this show; as I said I love it, and I’ll go as hard or as easy as I see fit, because I can only rate and review the episodes through my eyes. I try to be as objective as possible, but my own feelings and appreciation are going to come through, as it should on any review. The discussions I have with you here allow me to see the show in new/other ways, but you can’t expect me to watch it through your lens only; I have my own opinion, and I hope for you to respect it.

No Stray Observations this week: sorry, little time and the disclaimer already used a lot of space and I don’t want to make this an infinite review. It’ll be back next week as always.
Thanks for reading and for discussing; I honestly love that you come here each week and leave your opinion on each episode; I try to read and reply to all of them as possible. The most interesting part of reviewing the show is not writing the reviews per se, but seeing what you have to say about both the show and the points in which you agree or disagree with me and why. And this season there’s been a lot more participation than last season, so I’m really grateful for that.

From the bottom of my heart, thanks for coming here every week! I’ll keep trying to make the best job possible reviewing the show :)

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 and Community

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