Once Upon A Time Isn’t Cliche ANYMORE!

If you’re a fantasy/fairy-tale lover and haven’t heard of the new show Once Upon a Time you’re really out of the loop. I really can’t say that, seeing as I just got into the loop yesterday with my family’s HuluPlus account, but I’m just mentioning it because you REALLY NEED TO WATCH THIS SHOW. RIGHT. NOW.

Heh. Maybe a little bit too pushy, eh?

Click here to find out about the show if you have no idea what I’m talking about.

This contains some HUGE spoilers if you know what I mean. And if you still aren’t in the loop and want to get in, beware. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Anyways…

Let’s start in chronological order, shall we?

Before He Wakes Snow White

Episode 1 (Pilot): So, starting off, the acting was really cheesy. I now realize that there are two kinds of actors in this world: ‘real life’ actors and fantasy actors. And one cannot really pull of both in the same movie/show. So I can excuse the typical flaws of a ‘real life’ actor in a fantasy role, which is primarily wooden speech (maybe you have to speak without contractions, but please don’t make. it. sound. like. this…). It was super annoying. Believe me.

But the set was amazing. And the special effects. And once you got to ‘real life,’ the acting got tons better and I was finally able to notice how cute Prince Charming was instead of being the fantasy nerd I am.

Episode 2 (The Thing You Love Most): I can now officially say that I know what the creepiest, scariest, and twisted-est thing in the world is: killing your own father. Or mother. Or sister. Or brother. Or anyone you love dear. The Evil Queen does exactly this because she needs a human heart to sacrifice (that word is key in this episode) for her curse to work. And so she picks her father. She doesn’t even flinch when she takes it out of his body. She smiles. I’m absolutely horrified until she says ‘I’m sorry,’ while her father is lifeless on the floor. That’s about as human as you’ll ever see her, you bet.

Snow White, a thief, meets Prince Charming for the First Time

Episode 3 (Snow Falls): Here, you start to see the parallels between the two worlds more: while Prince Charming and Snow White meet each other in the fairytale realm, Mary Margaret Blanchard, Snow White’s real life counterpart, wakes up John Doe (Prince Charming), an anonymous patient who was in a coma at the StoryBrooke hospital. If you remember, Prince Charming dies (or almost dies) in Episode 1 before the curse is enacted, so this is where the coma part comes in in the real world. You also come to realize that no one seems to know their real pasts except for maybe two people-Rumpelstiltskin (Mr. Gold) and The Evil Queen (Regina/Madam Mayor) but even then, you’re still not exactly sure.

Episode 4 (The Price of Gold): This is the first time the story kind of delays from the main plot to focus on a, well, not a minor one, but a more miniscule aspect of the whole story. The episode focuses on the story of Cinderella or Ashley Boyd, and in this retelling of one of the most famous fairy tales of all, Cinderella is not sent to the castle by her fairy godmother, but by Rumpelstiltskin, which I thought was interesting. Man, does he need a pay raise-he’s almost in every episode! Anyways, Rumpelstilkskin makes one of his famous, dangerous deals, blah blah blah blah blah, and in this episode you realize that Graham, Emma’s kind of love interest, is with Regina. (I know. That was shocking.)

Episode 5 (That Still Small Voice): Now I know what the second most horrible-est, dreadful-est, disturbing-est thing could be, second to killing your own father: finding your parents turned into marionettes with screams carved into their faces. This episode takes the story of Gepetto (Pinocchio’s father) and Jiminy Cricket to a whole new, blabbering, sobbing level. I almost cried. And that’s saying a lot. By the way (my sister doesn’t believe me) but does Raphael Sbarge look like that one guy-oh yeah, Ryan! from High School Musical?? Kind of, right???

Prince Charming (the second, not the first) reluctantly accepts Abigail's hand in marriage

Episode 6 (The Shepherd): Now this is where it gets really weird. I mean, seriously, you find out that the original Prince Charming was killed in a tournament and then that he has a twin brother that is actually the real Prince Charming we all know. WHAT???????

The coolest thing about this show is its ability to keep going farther into the past without making the audience bored, and its parallel universe type of thing where the same thing keeps happening in both worlds. So, I guess this little phenomenon was supposed to explain how John Doe/David Nolan has kind of two split personalities: the one before the coma and the one after. And why the one before might’ve been with his wife, Kathryn/Abigail and the one after with Mary Blanchard/Snow White. Wow. That was a lot of confusing right there. I didn’t particularly think that storyline was necessary, but you did see a lot more Rumpelstilkin involvement and you kind of fit together the puzzle pieces. Only thing is, you’ve lost this big huge gap in the middle.

Episode 7 (The Heart is a Lonely Hunter): So, first thing first, Graham (the Sheriff/Huntsman) DIES! NOOOOOOOOO! THE WORLD IS ENDING! WHY! WHY???? Fortunately, he’s still going to star as his fairytale counterpart, but in the present, he’s currently post mortem. (Maybe they’ll do one of those miraculous bring back to life things? No? Aww.) I was just starting to like him; I mean, supposedly Emma and him had this whole thing as Mary Margaret mentions to Emma one day, but I guess I didn’t notice it until Episode 7. There’s also some really really really really really interesting developments that occur after Graham first kisses Emma: before I mention that, read this quote. It’s funny.

 

Henry: When did your flashes begin?

Graham: Right after I kissed Emma.

Henry: You kissed my mother??????!!!!!!!

Okay, so, anyways, kissing Emma has caused Graham to regain part of his memory, but at the end of the episode, he rejects Regina as his lover to choose Emma, and Regina is so angry that she squeezes Graham’s heart (in the fairytale portion of the episode, it’s revealed that The Evil Queen took the huntsman’s heart after he failed to bring Snow White’s, and can squeeze it to cause large amounts of pain) until he dies. Before this happens, however, there are three things I realized. A) ABC has a habit of killing its main romantic leads (look at the Nine Lives of Chloe King, for example) B) Regina actually remembers her past, and C) Graham remembers everything just before he dies. Oh, and let me add a D) Emma, darn it, still doesn’t believe anybody about the fairytale thing!!!!!!!!

Okay, I did a really long rant. It’s finally all out. Phew. If you liked this article, wait eagerly for the next episodes.

Desperate Souls

True North

7:15AM

The Fruit of the Poisonous Tree

Skin Deep

What Happened to Frederick

Dreamy

And, in the meantime, visit the Once Upon a Time Website: http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/once-upon-a-time

Sources: Wikipedia, IMDB, HuluPlus