TV Review: ONCE UPON A TIME 1.1, 'Pilot'

After the disappointing effort made by NBC’s fairytale mash up Grimm, we are given another shot with the premiere of ABC’s Once Upon a Time.

rating: 4

After the disappointing effort made by NBC€™s fairytale mash up Grimm, we are given another shot with the premiere of ABC€™s Once Upon a Time. Fair warning €“ it will be difficult to review this without spoilers so read on at your own risk. Unlike Grimm, which was a genre clash of fantasy and cop drama €“ a fairly poor recipe that fell flat - Once Upon a Time is a straight up fantasy drama. Set partly in the fairytale Kingdom and partly in the €˜real world€™ fictional town of Storybrooke, the residents of this sleepy, timeless town have been placed under a curse. Where once they frolicked through happy ending after happy ending as the carefree fairytale heroes, they now live as ordinary people, ignorant of their true selves, in the most horrible of hopeless prisons €“ our world. But there€™s hope for good yet. Before the Evil Queen (Lana Parilla) could finish her curse, the newborn daughter of Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Prince Charming (Josh Dallas) was placed in an enchanted wardrobe and set free into our world so that one day she could return to save the fairytale characters. Fast forward twenty-eight years and we meet a grown up Emma Swan, played by Jennifer Morrison of House fame, who leads a lonely friendless life as a Bail bondsman, or €œBondsperson€ as she stubbornly claims. Blowing out a lonely candle, she makes a wish not to be alone once again on her birthday and low and behold, there€™s a knock at the door. A young boy, Henry (Jared Gilmore) reveals that he is her son, the one she gave up for adoption ten years ago. Henry has come all the way from Storybrooke to find her and bring her back with him. What she perceives to be his vivid imagination is actually the eerie truth, and somehow Henry understands that the sleepy town is in fact a fairytale prison. The idea behind the show is quite sound, interesting to say the least, and I was pleased that the fairytale Kingdoms final hour wasn€™t just the opening sequence but instead ran parallel to the main story. The world was visually well realised and probably took up a huge chunk of the Pilots budget. It will be interesting to see if we return there throughout the series and if ABC is willing to put up the budget to maintain it. Presumably, as we meet new characters in Storybrooke, we will get to see flashbacks of their fairytale pasts. I€™d also hope to see some kind of sinister development that affects the residents of Storybrooke, because so far, living in a peaceful seaside town where nobody ages isn€™t exactly a prison worthy of the name. Since nobody remembers their lives before Storybrooke, it€™s only the viewer who has any desire for their salvation, and that€™s not enough. Of course Henry is the one anomaly, for an as yet unexplained reason, he knows the true plight of his fairytale neighbours, but because he is child, Emma doesn€™t believe him, and frankly I found him too annoying to care. I suppose having the Evil Queen and her alter ego Regina (also the town Mayor) as Henry€™s adoptive mother is cause for concern, but so far I€™m not entirely sure if even she knows who she truly is. One glimmer of hope €“ Emma reveals her name to Mr. Gold (Robert Carlyle) who is also Rumplestiltskin, the one who told Snow White to save her child on the promise that she would one day return to save them €“ for the trade of knowing her name. When he learns her name, this gives Mr. Gold pause, and I€™m guessing this will lead to his returning memories as the series progresses. Performance wise the cast seems sound, in particular the presence of Robert Carlyle gives an added credibility to the ensemble. Jennifer Morrison plays the guilty mother well but I can€™t say I care much for Jared Gilmore who plays her son. I€™m also unsure if I like the overdramatic portrayal of the fairytale characters, it seemed like Lana Parilla and Ginnifer Goodwin were really stumbling through their lines as the Evil Queen and Snow White but by contrast, their €˜real world€™ counterparts provide much more natural performances. Josh Dallas was impressive as Prince Charming, but as his alternate character is in a coma we won€™t have anything to compare him too just yet. Overall, it was a solid introduction to this new series, but I have a feeling it will take a few episodes to really get into its stride. Hopefully we can rely on writers and Executive Producers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis to bring the same level mystery and intrigue that made their previous show Lost so successful.
Contributor
Contributor

Freelance writer and part-time Football Manager addict.