Sunday, December 2, 2012

'Once Upon A Time' 209 Review 'Set Sail for Storybrooke'

ABC
In an age of television where things are getting darker and morally murky all around in terms of storyline and character motivations, Once Upon A Time truly does stand out as a show that sticks to its fairy-tale morals. True love triumphs over all, love is strength, and if you’re the product of the truest most epic love of all then you are apparently not a character to be messed with. Emma Swan in tonight’s winter finale realized that the fire of true love that forged her made her into something of a warrior in the name of the power of not only love but of good winning over evil.





ABC

That’s exactly what happened on tonight’s episode as, after the dust of the final battle settled, Mary Margaret and Emma made it back through the portal to Storybrooke. Just as we all knew they would and there was no dark twist to accompany it really. So if you’re into the idea of everyone having a shiny happy ending every week, or few weeks if there’s an ongoing story happening that needs time to resolve, then this is definitely a show you’ll find very fulfilling. But until the inevitable happy ending occurs there needs to be more of a significant walk on the dark side (I can use that, Disney owns both this and Star Wars now).



ABC

In that arena, there have been some positive steps made and a large part of that is having Cora and Killian charting a course for Storybrooke at the end of the episode. It was really satisfying to have Hook not only do what he did to Aurora last week (which yes was quickly resolved as is the show’s wont to do), but also having the charming pirate actually fight with the lead heroine and not use it as a chance to screw Cora over was a smart decision. This show benefits from its darker characters and it’s a good sign that they’re keeping Killian on a path of revenge against Gold even if a pretty blond comes along on the way. That means they’ve created a character who sticks to his guns or should I say sword even when the opportunity has been presented a few times to de-fang him and make him yet another good guy on a show with a few too many.



ABC

His arrival in Storybrooke alongside Cora is a welcome occurrence especially when I think that Regina might finally have learned a lesson about what trying to be ‘better’ gets you. It was devastating but not surprising to see that the minute Henry’s preferred mom came out of the portal, Regina could have been bleeding out of her eyes and it still wouldn’t have mattered much to the kid. When it comes to how Regina’s handled herself this year I hope she took to heart Mr Gold’s parting shot when everyone, including Henry, left her alone to go and have their happy ending together. It doesn’t matter what Regina tries because it’s become rather clear that the villains of this show can’t achieve the same level of power that true love brings because their love is never mutual. Regina loves Henry so much but he will never love her the same way, ever. So with that being said, I really hope that in the next part of the season we see a return to the more devious Regina. The one that stirred up trouble for the residents of the town because it certainly kept things interesting before the inevitable happy endings, plus it’s a real shame to lose the utterly fabulous regal evil that Lana Parilla now only gets to display in the show’s flashback sequences. Let her be the duplicitous sexy snake in the velvet and leather again because that’s the best version of her character.



ABC

Hopefully with Regina’s mother coming back into the picture in a big way she can help guide her daughter back onto a path that’s more fun to watch. Regina going back to magic would do this show a huge favor especially because it’s kind of annoying that Mr. Gold has all of that power now. We need to see the battle of good vs evil be ongoing and the side of good needs to get its ass kicked a little more often to make it more of a thrill to root for. Cora coming to Storybrooke, Regina realizing she needs to be more aggressive to get anything in this new world, and Captain Hook getting the chance for revenge are things that the show needs to use to up the conflicts in a meaningful way so that we’re breathlessly waiting for the next episode the moment the current one is over with. Magic is in the real world now so let’s forget the distractions and see what that can truly mean for these characters, and let’s give the bad guys a chance to play again.It also wouldn't hurt to take more jaunts into the other various worlds we've been introduced to, I mean one green screen could take us just about anywhere right? Let's see more Wonderland, more of Victor Von Frankenstein's mysterious world as well as other far-off places. Taking the action out of Storybrooke from time to time can only ever be a good thing because there are a plethora of intriguing characters with stories worth telling.

No comments:

Post a Comment