ONCE UPON A TIME "Dragon" This Year

Article originally written for Seat42F.

ONCE UPON A TIME rarely fails to let fans down these days, and this week’s episode, “Enter the Dragon,” is no different. In the hour, Regina (Lana Parrilla) goes undercover with the Queens of Darkness, ditching her friends to do so. In flashback, we see her at the beginnings of her evil journey, hinting that her status as a spy may not last. Elsewhere, Rumple (Robert Carlyle) does one of his worst deeds yet, with absolutely no real remorse in sight.

The first thing the Queens do when Regina joins up with them is to test her, which has many flaws. They do this by parking on a train track and daring Regina not to save them. She waits until the last minute to do so, but in the end, she poofs them away. What did they want her to do? Save herself but not them? Die at the hands of the train? And why does Rumple tell them they may be able to trust her in the first place, having witnessed Regina’s growth arc before he is banished from town?

Despite Regina ‘failing’ the test by allowing them to live, Maleficent (Kristin Bauer van Straten) decides to give her a second chance. This may seem strange at first, until we see young Regina help Mal get her groove back during the semi-traditional unfolding of the Sleepy Beauty fairy tale. Mal is defeated when Regina finds her, Regina still in the early days of her magic training. Because of Regina, Mal is able to put Aurora (Sarah Bolger) to sleep and win the day. It’s no wonder the dragon feels some degree of sympathy towards Regina, Maleficent being the least obviously evil of the three new villains, and the most kindred to the current Regina.

Regina is told that the Queens are after The Author in hopes of changing the game, letting all the villains have happy endings at the expense of the heroes, whose lives are ruined. This seems evil for evil’s sake, not something worthy of Maleficent, who usually acts with defined purpose. So either they are lying about their plan, a real possibility, or, as in many other ONCE UPON A TIME plots, the motivations shown don’t make sense.

The one bright spot from this story is that August (Eion Bailey) returns! Formerly a main character, August was turned back into the boy Pinocchio (Jakob Davies) and has no memory of his former life. August knows things about The Author, so Rumple restores him from the child, whom Regina kidnaps. Setting aside that the Queens aren’t suspicious of how long Regina takes to nab the kid and that Rumple used to be redeemed, so should have restored August back when this first happened if he had the power to do so, it’s really good to see the character return to ONCE UPON A TIME.

The way Rumple has reverted makes me worry for Regina. Rumple is an excellent character, the show’s best, for two and a half season before being completely scrapped in the past year in favor of a flat bad guy. Not long before Rumple was ruined, Regina began her own redemption journey, which has been fantastic, making her the best deep, consistent part on the show. “Enter the Dragon” teases that she may lose that, and while she could go evil again in a convincing plot, it’s much more likely ONCE UPON A TIME would ruin her character if they choose to go that route, as they have done Rumple’s, negating what he previous did. I really, really like the Regina who has struggled for her happy ending, and I want to see that continue.

Rumple has the worst story, in “Enter the Dragon,” though, taking on Hook’s (Colin O’Donoghue) to trick Belle (Emilie de Ravine) into giving up the dagger that controls him. He then goes back to Belle to ask about her relationship with Will Scarlet (Michael Socha). This is cruel and stupid, and if Rumple ever really loved Belle, he wouldn’t do it.

In short, despite some wonderful acting from Parrilla and Bauer van Straten, “Enter the Dragon” is another disappointment in a long series of them. I don’t know why ONCE UPON A TIME went downhill so much after the near-perfect Neverland half-season, but it seems viewers should have taken the warning of the uneven first few episodes of the show and never got invested. Now, those of us who have put in the time are waiting around for it to end, teased by the occasional good hour, and hoping against hope the overwhelming problems will be fixed, which isn’t likely to be the case.

ONCE UPON A TIME airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

ONCE UPON A TIME Improves But Remains "Unforgiven"

Article originally published as ONCE UPON A TIME Review Season 4 Episode 14 Unforgiven on Seat42F.

ABC’s ONCE UPON A TIME shows us who is “Unforgiven” in this week’s episode. Mary Margaret (Ginnifer Goodwin) and David (Josh Dallas) try to prevent the resurrection of Maleficent (Kristin Bauer van Straten), knowing she has legitimate beef against them. The problem is, they want to keep the reasons for the feud a secret, and so have to resort to sneaking around to do so, making them vulnerable for manipulation and prone to failure, which is what happens.

I credit Once Upon A Time for seemingly crafting a story that is at least a little meaty for Mary Margaret and David. They are heroes, and as such, rarely do anything bad, minimizing the drama in their lives. “Unforgiven” talks a lot about the bad thing they supposedly did, which doesn’t seem all that believable, until we learn they did it to protect Emma (Jennifer Morrison). Emma is their precious daughter, a person that could have been a force for great good or great darkness. It’s understandable they may be willing to sacrifice of themselves for her, as many a parent does, taken to the extreme.

The problem is, I still don’t see why they can’t tell Emma their story. She has come to expect nothing less than the truth from them, and that’s what she deserves. If she is going to be a hero, she needs good examples set for her from other heroes, including tales where they screwed up and how they got past it. Besides, if Mary Margaret and David did something bad to save her soul, wouldn’t it stay saved no matter what they tell her now? Is the secret they keep so precarious?

Once Upon A Time refrains from giving viewers everything, still not showing what the couple did, only mentioning that whatever it was caused Maleficent to lose her own baby. This is why Maleficent is mad at them and wants to cause them immense pain, not kill them. I’m intrigued by the mystery, one that seems to stretch the definition of hero and villain, and wonder where the season will go.

“Unforgiven” reveals that Maleficent could perhaps have been a hero once. She tries to team up with Mary Margaret to save the realm and protect her child. This is a noble, selfless act, and she certainly seems ready to bond with her foe in order to do so. Regina (Lana Parrilla) isn’t an anomaly then, the villain who might turn good, and it makes the world even less black and white. What’s more, Maleficent makes this decision in the Enchanted Forest, not our world, where things were more clear cut.

So how will Maleficent make the Charmings pay? I have no idea. She obviously is the leader of the three female witches this season, and so is likely a force to be reckoned with. Whatever she has in mind will not be easy to stop.

And what of Rumple (Robert Carlyle)? His plan still has not come to fruition, and if it was just to get back to Belle (Emilie de Ravin) to talk her into taking him back, that hope is dashed when he sees her with Will Scarlet (Michael Socha). That’s a story that needs more explanation, given we don’t know what’s happened to Will’s love, but I assume that will be dealt with. So what will Rumple be asking the evil ladies to help him with?

At the end of “Unforgiven,” Mary Margaret asks Regina to go undercover with the witches. This makes sense, given Regina is the only one they might accept into her club, assuming they don’t believe she can truly go good. But it risks Regina’s soul, which is still in a precarious position. She is working very hard towards her happy ending and is mostly succeeding, but she snaps at Pinocchio (Jakob Davies). Even as she apologizes to Marco (Tony Amendola) later, who offers her a hint in her quest for The Author in forgiveness, the snap shows just how close to the surface Regina’s dark side continues to be. Yet, should she be able to pull this off, it would definitely go far in solidifying her redemption.

“Unforgiven” is a pretty good episode, with some satisfying relationship moments between Emma and Hook (Colin O’Donoghue), a number of intriguing plot points in the main arcs, and none of the obvious holes that sometimes plague the series. I’m still not sold on ONCE UPON A TIME’s Queens of Darkness half season, but at least they’re not blowing things right out of the gate.

ONCE UPON A TIME airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

Once Upon a Time Elicits Heroic Traits

Article first published as ONCE UPON A TIME Recap Season 2 Episode 18 Selfless, Brave and True on Seat42F.

Grade: 92%

ABC’s ONCE UPON A TIME tells a story of redemption, as we learn that August (Eion Bailey) has what it takes to be “Selfless, Brave, and True.” He didn’t always, by the way. We see in flashback how he behaves in Asia, which leads to his return to wood form. But, in the end, he finds the hero inside of himself, and is rewarded for it.

While ONCE UPON A TIME has not tackled the Pinocchio story directly in its fairy tale world sequences, “Selfless, Brave, and True” is very much the same plot. We have a flawed man who seeks comfort and pleasure and the easy way out. He is willing to steal to help himself, even if others are hurt in the process. But when it really counts, when lives are on the line, he manages to sum up the courage to do the right thing.

Pinocchio learns this lesson once, when he was a boy. Now, as an adult, he must learn it all over again. When we first meet August in season one, he is already turning back into wood, thankfully a slow process. “Selfless, Brave, and True” shows us why, taking us to the fall of 2011 in the real world. And now, August must learn the same thing all over again.

This time, the stakes are much higher. Tamara (Sonequa Martin-Green) is on the hunt for magic. She is obviously willing to murder innocents to get it, as she does with The Dragon (Tzi Ma, 24, Rush Hour). She is now manipulating Neal (Michael Raymond-James) to gain access to Storybrooke, the place where magic exists. Since August is the only one that knows this, he decides to give up the chance at becoming a real person again with a potion she has in order to stay and warn the town. For his trouble, Tamara kills him.

It’s upsetting to see August die, even after the Blue Fairy (Keegan Connor Tracy) restores him to the little boy he once was (Jakob Davies). Yes, the adult August has been corrupted, and becoming the boy Pinocchio again gives him a second chance. But he also loses who he is, the good with the bad, and his memories, which means he doesn’t get to tell anyone about Tamara. It’s a moving scene, seeing Marco (Tony Amendola) hold his boy in his arms. But it’s as much about loss as it is about rebirth.

We don’t know much about Tamara yet, other than that she is evil. But the existence of her character opens up a whole world of possibilities that haven’t been explored on the show before. Greg knows about magic because of his Storybrooke experience. Tamara somehow learns of it another way. And The Dragon either came from the fairy tale realm or also found out about it at some point. So magic has been connected to the real world long before Regina’s (Lana Parrilla) curse.

I do wonder if Greg will turn out to be a bad guy. He has legitimate beef against Regina, to be sure, even if she claims she let his father go a few days after young Owen left the town. This is probably a lie, but we don’t know for sure. However, thus far we haven’t seen anything to indicate that Greg knows of Tamara’s intentions. Did he make a deal with her, and is willing to be bad and help her steal magic in order to find his dad? Or is he so concentrated on his mission that he didn’t check the terms or the source of his help, and his values aren’t aligned with Tamara’s? After all, Greg has been in town for awhile, and surely has seen that not everyone there deserves punishment.

Mary Margaret (Ginnifer Goodwin) punishes herself enough, and doesn’t need it from any outside sources. She finally does get out of bed in “Selfless, Brave, and True,” and encounters August in the forest. August believes he has done unforgiveable things, and Mary Margaret does her best to convince him that that is not so, and he should return to his father.

Seeing August is just what Mary Margaret needs. She is too close to the situation involving herself to be objective, but she has no problem letting August off the hook for his own sins. In the process, she realizes that she is in a similar situation, and can also seek redemption for what she has done. August helps Mary Margaret out of her funk, and she will now begin to put her life back together.

These parallel plots are well designed, especially because they are the culmination of a lot of story. Mary Margaret and August’s similar circumstances don’t come about all of the sudden in this single episode, but have long been built to, and now intertwine beautifully. The ONCE UPON A TIME writers are brilliant masterminds at making connections and having arcs fit together. This episode is a wonderful example of some of their best work in that arena.

I am still baffled by the chemistry among the Charming family. Henry (Jared Gilmore) seems to have adjusted to seeing Emma (Jennifer Morrison) as his mother and Mary Margaret and David (Josh Dallas) as his grandparents. But Emma is clearly uncomfortable around her own parents, and hasn’t figured out how to treat them yet, likely hindered by the fact that they appear to be roughly her own age. The way that Emma treats Mary Margaret in this episode, annoyed at her being in bed, in stark contrast to David’s nurturing approach, shows she hasn’t accepted them as family yet, at least not in the way they view family. I wonder if this will ever sort itself out, or if it will always feel awkward.

Lastly, it’s a little sad that August won’t have a chance with Emma. I feel like there is some real chemistry between the characters, and given their back story, coming over to the real world together, it’s sweet. But this does clear an obstacle towards getting Emma and Neal back together, which could happen next season, after he gets over the betrayal of Tamara.

ONCE UPON A TIME will be taking a few weeks off of fresh installments, but will air “enhanced” versions of recent episodes instead. It continues Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

Smallville's final season and the return of Lex Luthor

If you have not watched Smallville's 10th Season premiere, "Lazarus", please watch it before reading this review, as it contains plenty of spoilers about that episode.

You may want to click here to read my review of Smallville's 9th season finale, "Salvation", last May.

     The single most important thing in Smallville's 10th season is this: Lex Luthor is back.  Michael Rosenbaum, the actor who played him for most of the series, is not, but the writers have gotten creative in getting around that absence.  In the first episode, Clark (Tom Welling) is told once again that Lex will be his biggest foe, but he wonders at that, as Lex was last seen blowing up two years ago.  Tess (Cassidy Freeman), who was seen dying the in the hospital at the end of season nine, wakes up in a lab miraculously healed.  She is surrounded by Lex clones, some closer to the real Lex than others.  The worst of the batch escapes, killing almost all of the others, except for a young child version named Alexander (Jakob Davies), whom Tess takes home with her.

     I don't believe that the bad Lex clone will be the true nemesis that Clark will have to face.   He's already dying, and he lis considerably older than Lex.  Even though the bad clone says that the creator died two years ago, I have my doubts.  For one thing, who was in the hood, rescuing Tess? Sure, there will be other villains besides Lex this season, but without a strong Lex presence in the series finale, the last episode is sure to feel off.  I don't know why Rosenbaum keeps resisting overtures, but his return would be much more satisfying than having another actor take over this late in the game.

     The most compelling plot in the premiere, and likely throughout the season, is Clark's battle with inner darkness.  In the premiere, we see both a supportive Jor-El (Terrence Stamp), who wants Clark to vanquish his foes, and one who has deep doubts about whether Clark will ultimately be a villain or a hero.  Because Clark's encounters with Jor-El are dream-like sequences, there is no real way to tell which, if either, actually happened.  However, as Clark's Superman suit ended up in the Fortress at the end of the episode, the disappointed Jor-El is more likely the correct one.  The nice one may well have been Jonathan Kent (John Schneider), who returned to tell Clark how proud he was of his son, and express his faith that Clark would do the right thing.  Jonathan died years ago on the show, but his trippy return may have been something real in some way.  If Clark can talk to his deceased Kryptonian father, why not his human one, too?  Whatever it was, Schneider's return was welcome.

     With only four and a half main characters this year, Smallville is spending the money saved on principal actors by bringing back plenty of important guest stars.  Besides Jonathan Kent, also set to return this season are John Glover as Lionel Luther, who is also dead, Laura Vandervoort (V) as Clark's cousin, Kara, and quite likely Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang, at least in flashback.  I don't much care if the deal with Kruek is finalized or not, as Lana had a fine ending, and there is no real need to see her again.  Keri Lynn Pratt will be bringing to life the comic book character of Kat Grant beginning with next week's episode, "Shield".  As long as Momma Kent (Annette O'Toole) and Perry White (her real-life husband, Michael McKean) come back as well, everyone essential will be covered.

     It must also be noted that Allison Mack, who plays the only original cast member left besides Clark, Chloe Sullivan, is only doing a limited number of episodes in the final season.  She remains in the theme song, at least in the first episode, but she traded herself to save Oliver (Justin Hartley) from his torturers, so I think it unlikely we will be seeing her again soon.  She has promised to return, and we can only hope she does a sizeable arc that includes the finale, as Chloe is such an essential part of the show.

     And with all that going on, Lois (Erica Durance) discovering Clark's secret was actually played quite minorly in the episode.  It's a huge event in the Superman saga, so I was surprised at how little it impacted the main plot, though she did have to be saved by evil Lex, and it did spur her to leave for Africa.  Her discovery will surely have lasting effects, though, and I doubt that the meat of it has been played out.

     Smallville airs Friday nights at 8pm on the CW.