TV Review: Once Upon a Time (ABC)
ONCE UPON A TIME
OCTOBER 23, 2011
The Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday nights brought kids and parents together for great stories. The show could hold the attention of adults while entertaining children of all ages. ONCE UPON A TIME has all the key components of a dual story within a story that is driven through time where the main characters are of vast age differences. Most characters carry dual character-ships with one a fairytale personality while the other has traveled into the current time.
All your favorites are brought back from childhood: Rumpelstiltskin/Mr. Gold (Robert Carlyle ), Geppetto/Marco (Tony Amedola ), Snow White/Sister Mary Margret Blanchard (Ginnifer Goodwin ), Prince Charming/John Doe (Joshua Dallas ), The Evil Queen/Regina Mills (Lana Parrilla ), Jiminy Cricket/Archie Hopper (Raphael Sbarge ), Grumpy/Leroy (Lee Arenberg ), Blind Witch/Ms Ginger (Emma Caulfield ), Magic Mirror/Sydney (Giancarlo Esposito ) and Red Riding Hood/Ruby (Meghan Ory ) Some fairy tale characters are stuck in fairyland such as Pinocchio (Jakob Davies ), Bashful (Mig Macario ), Happy (Mike Coleman ), Maleficent (Kristin Bauer van Straten )The Blue Fairy (Keegan Connor ) and Cinderella (Jessy Schram ).
What is unclear after the first episode is if all the characters from history living in the present understand who they were before. Their personalities have transferred so that those who were good before are good in the now and vice versa. But who is conscience of the past? Or have they been reincarnated and unable to shake who they were before?
Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison ) is a 28 year old bail bonds collector who, on her birthday, makes a wish to not be alone. At that moment, her doorbell rings and a young boy, Henry (Jared Gilmore ), announces he is the son she gave up for adoption about seven years ago. He agrees to let her take him home to his adoptive parents but on the ride he peaks her interest with stories from the book his teacher gave him called "Once upon a Time."
The book explains what happened to get them to where they are in today's world. Can he convince her that his adoptive mother is really the Evil Queen who is holding him captive and that the whole town of Storybrooke was created through a curse to act out revenge on her daughter, Snow White?
Time does not move in Storybrooke as it has been stuck at 8:15 and can not change until there is progress in undoing the curse. Step one is to get Emma into Storybrooke to help uncover the mysteries and figure out how to set the world right again. Emma is intrigued by what Henry has told her, nor by the many events that have transpired during her short time in Storybrooke. This has made her want to stick around just a little longer as she gets a room at a local motel where she intends to spend a week. Will a week be long enough? As Henry looks out his bedroom window at the town clock he smiles as it clicks to 8:16.
