Article originally published as ONCE UPON A TIME Review "Dreamcatcher" on Seat42F.
This week on ONCE UPON A TIME, Emma
(Jennifer Morrison) frees Merlin (Elliot Knight, Sinbad) from the tree
in which he is trapped, but far from resulting in a happy ending, it
only raises more questions. Weeks later, in Storybrooke, Regina (Lana
Parrilla) uncovers Emma’s treachery against their son, Henry (Jared S.
Gilmore), in a “Dreamcatcher,” bringing the heroes closer to figuring
out Dark Swan’s plans, but driving a wedge between mother and son.
Where Regina and Henry and Emma and
Henry are now is almost completely reversed from where they are at the
start of ONCE UPON A TIME. Is Henry destined to never have both of his
mothers be on the right side at the same time? Is the show really about
the balance of light and dark, rather than about good triumphing over
evil? If so, the ending will surely be a tragedy for everyone, the core
characters too intertwined at this point to cast one as a pure villain.
How much is Emma to blame for what she
is doing? When Rumple (Robert Carlyle) is the Dark One, he manages to
let his love shine through and even engage in self-sacrifice in the name
of love. Yet, he is consistently drawn back to his fiendish ways, the
good in his heart never taking hold. Knowing this, can anyone truly
blame Emma for anything she does, and isn’t she as much of a victim of
the Dark One as anyone else? So by that logic, Rumple should be forgiven
for everything, right?
Well, this is where free will versus
mind control come into play. The question is whether Emma is being
corrupted or if she’s been replaced in her own body. ONCE UPON A TIME
keeps saying it’s the former, but actions seem to point to the latter.
“Dreamcatcher” muddies the waters more by bringing a child in this, as
while Henry is rapidly growing more mature, he can’t possibly instantly
forgive Emma when she’s cured, which she must be. It’s a very depressing
plot to consider.
The way Emma hurts Henry is by turning
Violet (Olivia Steele-Falconer) against him in order to get a tear.
Look, Henry is 13 years old, so only in a fairy tale would he end up
marrying Violet (though, admittedly, this is kind of a fairy tale). Also
only in a fairy tale would Violet be as taken in by Henry as he is by
her, which actually makes her rejection of him feel more real than it
ends up being. But whether Violet is the one he’s meant to be with or
not, it’s a hard thing to lose a first love. So what Emma does is cruel.
I think all of this helps identify a
fundamental issue with ONCE UPON A TIME. It wants to be set in the real
world and also in the fairy tale world, but the two don’t mix well when
it comes to rules governing reality. Things can either magically work
out and heroes can always triumph over villains, or we can live in
complex shades of grey. By never making up its mind which is going on,
ONCE UPON A TIME is constantly contradicting itself and feeling
authentic to neither.
Which isn’t to say that “Dreamcatcher”
is an entirely bad episode. Despite some issues with the things
happening above, the poignant story of a mother breaking a son’s heart
does engage viewers. Rumple’s struggle to become a hero, and Merdia’s
(Amy Manson) frustration when he fails, is also interesting. The concept
of the pensieve
dreamcatchers in the show is a cool conceit, even if it’s nothing new,
and uses Regina’s past well. And I’m still invested enough in the
characters to care what happens.
At least ONCE UPON A TIME hasn’t totally
fallen apart in sense and continuity as some past arcs have done.
Hopefully, it can still pull out a decent ending from this. It remains
enjoyable and good, if not as deep or cohesive as it should be.
ONCE UPON A TIME airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on ABC.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.