Okay, so this show isn’t technically directly Disney related. But Disney owns ABC and the writers seem to use Disney films as their cannon instead of Grimm or Hans Christian Anderson so….I say it’s kosher for this blog.
Warning! Here be spoilers….
I’m not going to do a full on summary, but I will be discussing the show as if you have already watched it. So please, if you haven’t seen it, go watch it. No peaking ahead in the story!
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This week, “Once Upon a Time” takes a cue from the “Walking Dead.” Apparently Cora hearts zombies. No, really. She takes the hearts out of her victims and creates an army of zombies. Or college students walking to their 8 AMs, it’s hard to say.
- We’re still wandering around the woods with Snow, Emma, and the emo twins Aurora and Mulan. It’s like the middle part of Harry Potter 7 in here. Things get interesting when there’s a showdown between Mulan and Snow White. Who would have believed Snow White would have come out on top of that one?
- Side note, is anyone going to acknowledge that Snow White can understand ravens? Even in the animated movie the woodland critters made some sort of head nod or something to communicate meaning. But apparently Snow White can speak bird. We’re going to ignore that? Mulan, nothing to contribute? No? Just gonna keep staring stoically. Okay. Moving on.
- I have to comment here on the strange phenomena where this show takes fairy tales’ (but really Disney’s) more boring heroines, like Snow White, and turns them into dynamic, interesting, and just plain kickass characters. For this I commend them and it’s one of the reasons I love the show. But then they also take the characters that were already interesting and kickass, like Mulan, and take all the fun out of them!
- Mulan’s two faces:
- Stoic
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http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120911172821/onceuponatime8042/images/e/ec/Mulan.1.jpg
- and slightly less stoic.
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- Same thing has happened to my favorite Disney princess, Belle. I realize because she’s my favorite I’m a little more sensitive, but I just don’t like the flighty approach they took with her. I think part of the problem is her entire character development is based on her relationship with Gold/Rumple. And therein lies the problem: I just don’t believe these two as a couple. It’s a shame, but these two share absolutely zero chemistry. Especially when Gold goes sans sparkly makeup and we see just how much older he looks than Belle. When they’re sitting in the diner together it looks like Belle is having a cuppa with her ol’ Dad. Not her true love.
- But I digress.
- Back in Storybrook, Regina and Mr. Gold are, most happily, in cahoots together once more. It’s always a pleasure to see these two gifted actors and wonderful characters share a screen. There’s a beautiful subtly to the constant power struggle between these two, even when they’re seemingly on the same side. Add a little eye candy in the form of Josh Dallas and you got yourself some primo television.
- Plot developments in this episode also promise for more interesting story twists. Snow could have feasibly been happy enough living back home in Fairy Tale Land reunited with her daughter. But now she has to rescue her Prince Charming from the sleeping curse! So now Snow White is as desperate as Pooh for honey to get back to her hubby. And Henry, presumably, is going to go back to living with Regina. Interesting things will happen…
- If I were Henry I’d totally renege that whole ban on magic thing and take her up on the Hogwarts offer she made earlier in the season to turn their house into a school of magic. I want that giant cupcake!
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- But wait, can’t Henry just wake up David/Charming/James/Farm Boy/whatshisname? I mean, Emma woke up Henry. Doesn’t Henry truly love his “gramps?”
- All in all, I enjoyed this episode. Regina and Gold’s give and take coupled with Hook’s suave yet ambiguous deviousness made for some great television.
- But, writers. There’s only so many times you can use the whole “I will always find you” motif before it’s just an echo in my head about as welcome as the refrain from “It’s a Small World”. Although, Regina using that same line to Henry was kind of adorable. Interesting how she refers to Snow and Charming as his grandparents, willingly acknowledging them as his family. Oy. That gets complicated.
- Also, please stop making me attracted to Captain Hook. It’s just not right.
- Small things I enjoyed:
- -How adamant Rumple was about being more powerful than Cora. Like a little boy. “I ain’t gonna be beat by no girl!”
-Charming being pricked on the spindle to go under the sleeping curse. Nice touch.
-Aurora’s existential search for her true accent. Is she English? American? Irish? Who knows?
-Captain Hook. I just enjoy him.
