TV Review: Once Upon A Time 1.3, "Snow Falls"
Overall this episode suffers simply from not being as entertaining as the first two although I will say that Mary now has a reason to want to return to the fairytale world
rating: 3
The first thing I noticed this week on Once Upon a Time was during the intro narration that explains the premise of the show. The narrator mentions the curse and then says; only one knows the truth. This is accompanied by a shot of Mayor Regina (Lana Parilla) whom we all know to be the Evil Queen who placed the curse on the fairytale kingdom, dooming its residents to live their lives in our world, ignorant of their true identities. Supposedly, show runners Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz have been alerted to the fact that like me, others must have been confused as to whether Regina is aware of her true life as the Evil Queen. Judging by this intro sequence, I would say that this is confirmation that she does. The narrator says she is the only one, but I still harbour the belief that Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold (Robert Carlyle) is also aware of his true self, or rather; the arrival of Emma Swann (Jennifer Morrison) in Storybrooke has triggered some of his memories. Being the designer of the curse, its only plausible that he built in a back door to save himself, much like the renegade computer programmer builds a back door into the Pentagon when he designs their security protocols, a cliché in countless Films/TV shows. With that out of the way, its time to get into this weeks episode, Snow Falls, which deals with the back-story of Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Prince Charming (Josh Dallas). After a disappointing date with Dr. Whale (guest star David Anders), Mary Margret is convinced by Emma to read to the John Doe who is in a comma at the hospital. Henry believes the John Doe to be Prince Charming, and that if Mary reads to him from the fairytale storybook, it will make him remember who he is. She agrees to do it, if only to finally convince Henry that fairytales arent real. To her surprise however, the reading elicits a response from John Doe who touches her hand. She summons Dr. Whale, who claims nothing has changed on his monitor, only to call Regina behind her back and deliver the news. This is further proof that Regina knows about the curse because she clearly doesnt want Mary and John Doe to be in contact. Convinced she wasnt hallucinating, Mary brings the news to Emma and Henry and the trio return to the hospital only to find that John Doe has gone missing. In the fairytale world, we learn how Snow White and Prince Charming first met and I was pleased to learn that it wasnt the typical damsel in distress situation. In this instance, Snow White is a thief living in the woods because the Evil Queen has put a price on her head. One sunny day in the fairytale kingdom, she robs a carriage that happens to be housing Prince Charming and his bored fiancé (Anastasia Griffith). The sequence of flashback scenes show Prince Charming tracking down Snow White because one of the items she stole was his engagement ring. Having already sold the ring to a band of grisly trolls, they strike a deal that she will retrieve the ring for him and in exchange, he will not turn her over to the Evil Queen. I wont get into the details but as you can imagine they start off trading gibes and feigning disinterest. As their journey endures they grow closer and after each saves the others life, their love is born. Fortunately for the story they dont embrace their love yet, and Snow White departs to her solitude in the forest while Prince Charming returns to the fiancé he doesnt love. Back in the real world, Mary, Emma, Henry and the Sheriff attend to the search for John Doe in the dark, scary forest. Two civilians and a child dont make for the ideal search party, but the Sheriff clearly doesnt have a deputy and as far as I can tell, hes the only public servant apart from the Mayor in the whole town. Anyway, they eventually find him unconscious on the riverbank next to the Toll (Troll) Bridge. Mary is able to resuscitate him while the Sheriff sits there uselessly. Shes doing CPR but it clearly only works after she sneaks in a quick kiss. Back at the hospital, John Doe is conscious and being attended to by the staff. Unfortunately for Mary, she doesnt get the happy ending she was hoping for when Regina arrives with a last minute twist; John Does wife who was Prince Charmings fiancé in the fairytale world. Shes listed on IMDb as Abigail but Regina clearly calls her Kathryn hmmm also she calls her supposed husband David (Nolan) even though we learn from this episode that his true name is James. So now we know his real world name and his fairytale name. In case you didnt know already, Regina has set this convenient reunion up to tamper with Mary/Snow White. Theres not much to be said about this episode apart from that Im getting more engaged in Snow Whites character. Now that shes a thief and not just a melodramatic princess its a little more interesting. I emphasise little. Ginnifer Goodwin is also much better than in the two previous episodes, though its still far too early in the series for me to dismiss/accept her entirely. Overall this episode suffers simply from not being as entertaining as the first two although I will say that Mary now has a reason to want to return to the fairytale world. As I have mentioned in my reviews of the previous episodes, there wasnt any overall reason for the characters to want to escape their prison. Now weve kind of reached that place with Mary as shes developed a connection to John Doe and has seen that connection taken away from her by the return of his wife. Sound the trumpets! Cue emotional conflict! Next week will feature more of Robert Carlyle as Mr. Gold/Rumpelstiltskin my favourite character so far.