100 Reviews: 57

[jedi_of_urth]

wigbee71583 requested some Once Upon a Time episodes for my review project. The pilot wasn’t actually one of them, but you’re getting it anyway because I thought I was a logical inclusion.

Once Upon a Time: 1x01: Pilot

Pilot episodes are always kind of weird things, and this is only after a little over a season of stuff since then, by the time we get a couple more years down the road I’m sure the pilot will seem all the more awkward. As could be completely expected, most of the oddness comes from how...unfinished/unpolished it is, on pretty much every level. Actually, no, Emma and maybe Henry’s characterizations set as far as where they’re starting from It doesn’t mean they’re “finished” because that would imply they didn’t have anywhere to go, but they do seem to standing on my solid character ground.

Obviously that implies that part of the problem is the fact that they’re trying to establish two different characters for each character, and I do definitely think that’s a factor. The show has never done a great job establishing what those 28 years in Storybrooke were like for the people who lived it, and this episode didn’t spend much time on if and how their SB personalities are connected with their original ones so the SB character are by and large kind of...non-characters at this point. Which would actually make sense, them basically as living shadows, frozen in half-lives unable to look back or move forward; but would have made for pretty boring TV to keep up for very long.

There’s also a feeling like the show doesn’t really know what it wasn’t to be about yet. It’s got this idea of fairytale characters being forced to live in our real world, but it is Henry’s story about fighting again opposition on all sides to bring the truth out? Is it Emma’s story as the chosen one? It is an ensemble story about the council of characters then and now? Is Regina or Rumpie/Gold the ultimate bad guy to face in the final battle? And yeah, some of those they never really settle on (for good or bad), but the lack of focus is holding it back here in a way that they do eventually embrace and make work for them (sort of).

The pilot, and by extension at least the first few episodes, definitely gave me a feel of this show needing a lot of planning I didn’t feel like they had done. This something that has improved a lot just in s2, because I feel less like it must be building towards an end point, that there could always be new stories coming along and keeping things interesting. Most of the first season, but again especially early on they set it up as if this was all about getting to THE happy ending, which was why I was so worried that they would drag it out forever and never give any real resolution to the big questions. But I am happy to say that I’m feeling better about it now.

As far as the characters go, I’ll just give a brief thought or two on how they started:

Snow: seems much closer to her Disney version here than she will be revealed as, even pretty soon. There’s flashes of the more feisty Snow, but mostly she seems a bit...spineless. Early as it is MM actually seemed to have more room to develop than Snow, for better or worse that does get changed.

Charming: Very white bread hero at this point. Although also no David to worry about.

Regina: FTL Queenie is a pretty shallow evil, while SB Regina actually comes across as a character. But then it takes a while for me to see FTL Regina as more than straight evil, while in SB I find her really interesting, and there are definitely good reasons for that in the show. So here they start as the will continue for a while.

Rumple: Mostly just seems...crazy in FTL, while in about five seconds of screen time Gold carries a lot of creepy villain weight. I don’t think his interactions with Snow and Charming track with their history we’ll see later, which of course they couldn’t have known here, but it kind of glaring today.

Emma: Characterization delivered with all the subtlety of Rose’s shipper manifesto on TVD, but this IS a pilot and she is sort of our lead character so it’s more forgivable. Sure it could have been written more naturally but it is stuff that needed to get out there since we don’t have a popular consciousness fairytale of her in our heads to draw on.

Henry: A lot of the same problems as Emma, but from a child’s perspective the bluntness and roughness of his attitude is less jarring to me. Now that does makes it a bit more annoying in other ways, but I wanted to sound positive at first.

There are plenty of basically cameos by characters we will come to know later, but not giving me a lot to comment on yet. So I guess I’ll leave it there. It was a good start, but it was definitely rough in some places both on its own and judged in the larger context.


Next time:
Can’t say, but I will try and do these a bit quicker than I have been.

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One comment on 2x07

I’ve clearly been watching too many bad soapy shows because right now I’m terrified the show is heading towards some Red/Charming action and I want to call foul on something that hasn’t even happened yet and the show hasn’t show any actual evidence of. The show has done nothing but have Snow/Charming OTP in its bones since day 1 even when they didn’t really treat it all that well through MM/David. I could try to blame my concern on David’s behavior in season 1, but that’s not really it. Over on TVD I’d totally be expecting a round of love the one you’re with eye rolling manufactured drama, but this ISN’T TVD and I need to remind myself of that. Reminding myself of that goes a long way towards making me feel less worried about character assassination I guess I just expect right now (oh TVD, you hurt me so bad it seems).

In conclusion, I need Elijah back on TVD so that it will make me feel something. As is it’s just that show that makes me either nervous about other shows or really happy other shows aren’t it.

Comments

at least it's not TVD

[toriblue.livejournal.com]

"As is it’s just that show that makes me either nervous about other shows or really happy other shows aren’t it."

It's such a relief to know that I'm not the only one who feels this way. If it wasn't for Daniel/Elijah and/or Elejah, I'd still be happily mocking TVD and fans of TVD. TVD has really turned me into a cynical bitca.

Re: at least it's not TVD

[jedi_of_urth]

I always say that while Elena is the character I love with the most of my heart, it takes Elijah for me to feel invested in the show. Of course this would be helped if the show treated my dear Elena better, and really helped if Elijah was part of that :). At the moment it seems like even Elijah's presence (the most basic of my wishes) seems like a pipe dream.

I'm getting a bit bitter myself yeah.

Re: at least it's not TVD

[toriblue.livejournal.com]

I wish I could come up with a logical explanation for the lack o'Elijah. Why are the writers intentionally ignoring one of their most popular characters? Of course, TVD writers have never been on a first name basis with logic.

I defend Elena like she's a family member. I just wish she didn't lose so many IQ points around Stefan and/or Damon. At least with Damon I have the satisfaction of hearing her frequently *and justifiably* chew him out.

Your OTP (Elena/humanity) fascinates me...if only because I don't quite understand it. To me, becoming a vampire doesn't equate to immortality as much as it equates to physical preservation. Vampires can die just as easily as humans...just not from aging. Other than the blood lust (which everyone but Stefan is able to control), there really doesn't seem to be much of a downside to becoming a vampire (on TVD). Maybe I just don't think that there is enough of a distinction (on TVD) between how the vampires act and how the humans act to make a judgement call (morality wise) as to which is better. To me, Vamp!Elena is still Elena...she just gets to look like a *young* Nina until she dies.