Monday, September 30, 2013

'Once Upon A Time' 3.01 "The Heart of the Truest Believer" Review

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When any show reaches it’s third season, it’s usually time to put up or shut up. A first season is all about establishing the world and the characters that reside within. The second can be used as a time to experiment--try new things see what works and what doesn’t. Hopefully, by the time the all-important third season comes about a show’s creators have some idea of what needs to be changed, expanded upon, or dropped entirely. Once Upon A Time floundered quite a bit last year but the season premiere seems to be taking what worked from that year and finding new ways to incorporate it into the storytelling in this new season.




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Take the entire concept of Storybrooke for example, the quaint Maine town created by Regina’s curse to trap the people of the fairytale world so that no one would ever have a happy ending while the queen herself could not. This locale and story concept had a place in the first season as well as part of the second. I can’t stress enough how it belonged in only part of the second season since much of what went wrong last year was centered around spending far too much time in a place that had long since outlived its usefulness. I love Red and Archie as much as the next person, but when they’re barely getting stories or they get ones that are not worth the screen time given well then we as viewers would benefit just fine without. 

One of the best things about this new story is the fact that the creators have carved out a piece of plot for the characters that can actually do something with it. The ship is filled with the arguable main characters of the show--it’s the Jolly Roger but I call it the S.S. Let’s Not Pretend the Show is Really About Anyone Else For the Most Part. Focusing on Snow, Charming, Emma, Regina, Gold, and Hook is a wise choice but better still is the fact that they’re not in Storybrooke or even the Enchanted Forest for this latest quest. This time, they’re traveling to a new world, to Neverland and that provides an exciting locale filled with potential. As well as characters that hopefully won’t be forced into a show that’s already proven it doesn’t do well having more than a handful of characters to give story to in the first place. That is part of the hope that going to Neverland can provide to the now cynical OUAT fan, When the story there is finished everyone can just move on and leave whoever is left in the aftermath behind. I swear if a former lost boy is busing tables at Granny’s Diner in a year’s time they have squandered a perfect opportunity to avoid past mistakes.
ABC

Our fairytale version of the breakfast club (a savior, a pirate, a prince etc) has come together with the singular goal of finding Henry, who if you’ll recall was snatched away WAAAAAAAAALT style by Greg and Tamara. It’s cool if you don’t remember their names, I had a hell of a time remembering Greg’s until someone on the show said it--their fairly quick disposal was another smart move. They were pawns, and now their usefulness has run out so buh-bye now. Following Henry may be a grating endeavor of being stuck with a character pretty much no one in the fandom likes, but it does provide us with establishing scenes of Neverland and how it’s different from the other places we’ve visited in the show’s run. 

One of the major complaints of last year, and I made this one myself at least a couple of times in my reviews of the show, is that much of season two did everything it could to quash the darkness from Once Upon A Time. Villains were ‘woobified’ at an exasperating rate and half-hatched plans never did anything to truly leave a mark so everything just got too sunny. Neverland is an inherently twisted place from the very concept of what makes a lost boy to how this version of Peter Pan (closer to the original than the lovable imp of Disney) operates. It’s exciting to have this element of darkness back on the show since it’s sorely needed to balance out the rainbow kisses and unicorn stickers of many of the major themes of happy endings and redemption. 

ABC
Season one had plenty of evil but also plenty of shiny happy good and they were better off for it. It certainly doesn’t hurt that the casting of Peter Pan and the lead lost boy was so well done. Both had a different way of proving their sinister worth; the lead lost boy, Felix (Parker Croft), even made Rumple break down and cry. Peter Pan played a wonderful ‘game’ with Henry throughout the episode and it really highlighted ’s Robbie Kay's  range as his Peter Pan took Henry for a ride that led him directly where he wanted him. Did the book of fairy tales not teach Henry how to spot a trap? It was interesting to see that with Henry on his own how he was forced to be a character again instead of merely a plot device that gets the grown-ups to make their moves. That said, well unfortunately he’s way better off as a plot device. At least they’ve given two of the sunniest characters on the show, Snow and Charming, some guts recently, Henry’s primary weapon remains whining about how being good is awesome and will always win over evil and yadda yadda. We get it. So I admit it I might have laughed when Pan revealed himself and just how utterly screwed Henry was for having followed him. Henry will get a hard-learned lesson here about how kids can be cruel. 
ABC

Thankfully, Henry isn’t our only ‘lost’ boy this season as Nealfire is on a journey of his own. He’s back home in the Enchanted Forest and he’s got company as he’s joined by Aurora, Prince Philip, and Mulan. This is another instance of using what worked last year and all of these additions became fan favorites so it’s great to see them have a plot together. Neal gets to traverse his former home in its post-curse state to try and get back to Emma as he believes she’s still back in Storybrooke for most of the episode. I love the stigma Neal has to travel under from being The Dark One’s son or as Robin Hood puts it when Neal asks why he didn’t need to further prove his identity, ‘no one would claim to be that who is not’. Instead of having to deal with a fish out of water story (again) the show allows Neal to handily retain much of his knowledge of the inner workings of this place. Pairing him with Mulan might be one of my favorite creative decisions from this episode. They’re both very capable individuals and I love their interplay when talking about the modern world compared to theirs. It’s okay if one day Mulan gets to see that movie about her life that Neal mentioned but if it’s in a Storybrooke theater then we’re going to have some problems. 
ABC

Perhaps it’s not time yet to think ahead, but one can’t help to wonder what happens after this? The show does well on exotic quests as it gives the characters a chance to have layers, be useful with their various skills, and even benefit from being in the presence of others. But when they get Henry back and leave Neverland, are they just going to go back to Storybrooke once more? I can’t think of a worse mistake for this show to make then to shuffle all of its characters, including the fairytale land only ones like Aurora and Mulan, into that dreadful small town hell. Yes, I know Belle is there still and she’s running the library. I couldn’t give less of a damn about overdue books in Maine right now. This episode had high-seas adventure, mermaids, infighting, creepy teenage boys prone to playing games that would get you arrested in the real world...I can’t go back to the family custody drama. Not after all of that. I can hope that the show realizes that much of ‘The Heart of the Truest Believer’ undid the sins of season two and not fall back into old habits when the mission is accomplished. Maybe if we just take a pinch of pixie dust and we believe...

1 comment:

  1. I can see by your reaction to Greg and Tamara's deaths that you're a piss poor judge of television writing. Instead of complaining about their quick death or bad handling of their characters, you simply cheered over their quick deaths. Perhaps you should try your hand at writing something other that television episode reviews.

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