Article first published as ONCE UPON A TIME Review Season 4 Episode 13 Darkness on the Edge of Town on Seat42F.
Once Upon A Time airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
In
this week’s episode of ABC’s ONCE UPON A TIME, there is “Darkness on
the Edge of Town.” A down-on-his-luck Mr. Gold (Robert Carlyle) brings
Ursula (Merrin Dungey) and Cruella De Vil (Victoria Smurfit) to the edge
of Storybrooke with a plan to get them inside. If only our heroes
weren’t such goodie-two-shoes, as a couple of them apparently aren’t,
the hamlet might be safe. Alas, evil is allowed within the protective
spell once more.
This is supposedly about the lowest Gold
has ever been, yet he’s easily able to manipulate not just his cohorts’
way into Storybrooke, but his own as well. If this doesn’t give you an
idea of how powerful and forward thinking the Dark One is, nothing will.
He may look pathetic eating a cup of ramen noodles in Ursula’s sad
apartment, but this is merely cosmetic. Gold is still very much a force
to be reckoned with, and far from done with his plans.
I contend, though, that things go far
too easily for Gold in “Darkness on the Edge of Town.” Gold is very
intelligent, to be sure, but so is Belle (Emilie de Ravin), and he not
only tricks her into releasing a demon on the town, he does so without
anyone suspecting his spell. Then, while Emma (Jennifer Morrison) and
Regina (Lana Parrilla) do have reason to think villains can be redeemed,
they don’t question how convenient it is that two baddies who can stop
the demon show up at just the right time to do so? Not to mention, after
allowing Ursula and Cruella in with a magic scroll, our heroes don’t
get this key back, allowing the women to sneak Gold in later. This all
adds up to a pretty weak story.
Weak, uneven story has been the problem
with ONCE UPON A TIME for at least the past year. Ever since the
excellent Neverland arc ended, it seems the writers can’t quite manage
to come up with a cohesive tale that makes sense. I am very interested
in Gold’s past with these villains and how they ended up in the real
world, but we need a framework that makes sense to get us there. Having
coincidence and laziness move characters that are supposed to be the
best of us is sloppy, and it’s hard to get into the story when this
exists.
That being said, there are some cool
teases in “Darkness at the Edge of Town.” Snow (Ginnifer Goodwin) and
Charming (Josh Dallas) apparently have a past with Cruella and Ursula
they don’t want exposed. This is intriguing because the pair are usually
so good as to be boring. The few times their darkness has come out have
been among the best moments for their characters. I’m anxious to see
what their secret is this time.
Also, after the Blue Fairy (Keegan
Connor Tracy) is rescued from the sorcerer’s hat, she speaks of the
sorcerer and the author of the story book being two very different
people. As has frequently been the case in ONCE UPON A TIME, Blue seems
to know a lot more than she’s letting on. Given the importance of the
author and how the show has been teasing his or her identity for awhile,
it’s heartening to see this arc moving forward.
Lastly, Gold says that the heart with
the darkest potential in Storybrooke is Emma, not Regina. Given just how
bad Regina used to be, that’s hard to believe, but our Emma is
certainly not as pure as Snow (he he), with her own checkered past.
Emma’s use of magic has been slowly growing, and we’ve seen that magic
can corrupt. Might Emma be reaching a tipping point where her soul is
pulled towards the wrong path? That would be an interesting plot, if
done right.
“Darkness at the Edge of Town” manages
to be a pretty intriguing hour, despite the flaws in the central plot.
The series certainly can’t afford to let every installment be this
flimsy, but if it focuses on the established strengths it possesses, Once Upon A Time
could get back to being great again in short order. There is enough
good stuff here to build a half-season upon. The question is, will they?
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