Once Upon a Time
Mar. 8th, 2013 09:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flywomanI just finished watching the first season of Once Upon a Time, the fantasy series co-starring Big Love's Ginnifer Goodwin, The Full Monty's Robert Carlyle, and our very own Jennifer Morrison. For anyone who's not familiar with it, the show is about Emma Swan, a woman who has never known her real parents, and her reconnection to her biological son, Henry, whom she gave up for adoption. Henry believes that his small Maine town, Storybrooke, is populated by fairytale characters who can't remember their past lives, and that Emma is destined to save them from the machinations of his adoptive mother, the Mayor - a.k.a. Snow White's evil stepmother.
I see Once Upon a Time as part Buffy the Vampire Slayer, part Gilmore Girls, minus the witty dialogue (and, as it happens, Jane Espenson has written for all three of these shows). That doesn't mean that it isn't enjoyable; I really like the way that the individual episodes are constructed, with the character's motivations and relationships playing out in flashbacks to their past lives as well as events in the nonmagical present. (It must be an interesting challenge for the actors: their modern selves are played very naturally, like any quirky characters you might meet in a small town, while their fairytale selves take on a certain self-importantly epic quality that often makes them seem a little stiff and cartoonish, in my opinion.) I also appreciated how there were no superfluous characters or details: the entire season had clearly been planned out from the beginning, with everything interwoven, building up to the climax of the final episode. It's virtually seamless and tremendously consistent, despite having a large ensemble cast and a stable of writers.
I probably won't see the second season until it comes out on DVD, but is anyone else following this show? (You may remember from House that I'm not especially spoilerphobic.)
I see Once Upon a Time as part Buffy the Vampire Slayer, part Gilmore Girls, minus the witty dialogue (and, as it happens, Jane Espenson has written for all three of these shows). That doesn't mean that it isn't enjoyable; I really like the way that the individual episodes are constructed, with the character's motivations and relationships playing out in flashbacks to their past lives as well as events in the nonmagical present. (It must be an interesting challenge for the actors: their modern selves are played very naturally, like any quirky characters you might meet in a small town, while their fairytale selves take on a certain self-importantly epic quality that often makes them seem a little stiff and cartoonish, in my opinion.) I also appreciated how there were no superfluous characters or details: the entire season had clearly been planned out from the beginning, with everything interwoven, building up to the climax of the final episode. It's virtually seamless and tremendously consistent, despite having a large ensemble cast and a stable of writers.
I probably won't see the second season until it comes out on DVD, but is anyone else following this show? (You may remember from House that I'm not especially spoilerphobic.)
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Re: You asked. ;)
Date: 2013-03-09 04:57 am (UTC)I personally love long arcs and shows that reward consistent watching and re-watching. Buffy, Battlestar Galactica, The West Wing. Of course, when it's done badly, without enough attention to established canon, it gets very frustrating (as when The X-Files and House went downhill).
The dialogue really does bum me out sometimes, I have to say. I hate it when I know exactly what cheesy line the characters are going to deliver before they do it.
I don't have DVR, or tv at all, actually, so I'll be waiting for a while. But I don't mind. I'm currently catching up on last season's Game of Thrones and have three entire seasons of Torchwood to watch after that.
Re: You asked. ;)
Date: 2013-03-09 05:25 am (UTC)And I do love arcs. Usually it's a sign of good continuity. Joss Whedon, who could string an arc out for a year, spoiled me for other shows. It's those underlying arcs that drive the premise of the series that I have no patience with, like The Mentalist's Red John, Last Resort, or Lost. It would be okay if it were a mini series, but otherwise I feel manipulated.