Being a huge fan of ABC’s Lost, I was definitely going to tune into see how Once Upon a Time turned out. The series is by some of the same creative minds behind Lost, namely Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis.
The two are very different shows, but there is plenty of fantasy to go around in both. In “Once Upon a Time”, the producers try to put their own spin on classic fairy tales/fables we are all accustomed to reading about. In an interesting twist, this isn’t just a retelling of the old fables. They actually had those classic characters become trapped by the Evil Queen (Lana Parrilla) and trapped in a 21st century town where time stayed still and they weren’t able to leave.
As the episode went on, I became more impressed with the way the story’s focus would shift between the two different time periods. Although we were only given brief glimpse into what life was like before the Evil Queen cast her spell upon everyone, I was satisfied by the time frame. I suspect we’ll see many more flashbacks as portions of the stories are filled in as we go along in the season.
Jennifer Morrison as Emma Swan
The casting director(s) deserves a pat on the back for the casting of the show. I wouldn’t have changed a single one of the actors. Ginnifer Goodwin is naturally sweet as can be as Snow White and Mary Margaret while Jennifer Morrison was also terrific. It’s rare to have such strong, recognizable women as two of the female leads.
I actually came into this series with somewhat of a “down” attitude. Honestly, the Shrek film franchise has kind of killed fairy tales/tables for me. They’ve beaten that genre of stories to death. I’ve grown really tired of them so I honestly wasn’t that psyched about seeing them re-imagined again in Once Upon a Time.
My attitude definitely improved as the Pilot episode went along but I couldn’t help but shake the feeling that there really wasn’t anything particularly impressive with the show. I found it an interesting show, but not compelling. I think part of the problem was no one in Storybrooke seemed to be in dire straits. The Evil Queen a.k.a. Regina probably didn’t truly love her adopted son, but there didn’t seem to be a real need for a hero to step in and save the town like there typically is in stories featuring heroism.
That being said, I think I’ll probably tune in for a few episodes to see where things go. I am hoping something more compelling happens in the coming weeks.
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