ONCE UPON A TIME "Dream" On

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.

"The Price" of Watching ONCE UPON A TIME

Article first published as ONCE UPON A TIME Review "The Price" on Seat42F.

ONCE UPON A TIME - "The Price" (ABC/Jack Rowand) JOSH DALLAS, GINNIFER GOODWIN

This week’s installment of ONCE UPON A TIME is entitled “The Price.” An evil creature is unleashed upon Storybrooke, coming to collect an unpaid price from magic used. Because only Emma (Jennifer Morrison) has memory of the past six weeks, only she knows why it’s here. She says it’s Regina (Lana Parrilla) who has drawn it to the hamlet. Can Regina step up and be the hero that the town needs?

I’d be lying if I said I weren’t enjoying the role reversal of Emma and Regina. Regina has long been my favorite character, and to see her trying to be the Savior while Emma descends into darkness is great. But I feel like “The Price” is a bit too on-the-nose in portraying this. The situation is too perfect, and because Robin Hood (Sean Maguire) is the life threatened, Regina doesn’t even have to be all that selfless to save him, already being in love with him. It would have been much more powerful to see Regina struggle to step up or do the unexpected for someone she doesn’t care as much about.

That being said, it’s satisfying that the town begins to back up Regina. Many do not believe she has it in her to be the Savior, Leroy (Lee Arenberg) chief among them. And Leroy is one who ends up supporting her and believing in her later. I am sure Regina can be a hero, though not entirely sure she can be the Savior. But I like that Regina has shown enough goodness that others are standing up and paying attention.

On the other hand, I am not entirely convinced Emma is as evil as she seems. She definitely has some darkness in her; the scene where she and the Dark One (Robert Carlyle) look at Excalibur shows she’s still trying to grab power. Yet, she isn’t actively trying to hurt anyone. Rumple, as the Dark One, didn’t always act malevolently. Often, he stayed at home and was just selfish. Emma is displaying the same characteristics, and it leaves me wondering why everyone is so bent on destroying the Dark One. Sure, they want Emma back, but it’s not like the Dark One seeks to kill everyone and destroy the town or anything.

There is the curse, though. Dopey steps across the town line and becomes wrapped up in a tree. Why has Emma cast this curse? What is her purpose? Why did she bring the Camelot group back with her? These are the unanswered questions that will give great insight into this year’s plot when they are revealed.

In Camelot, we see Percival (Andrew Jenkins) try to kill Regina, knowing she was the Evil Queen. He is stopped, David (Josh Dallas) slaying him, and that is when Emma uses deep magic to save Robin Hood at the request of Regina, spurring the creature who is in Storybrooke. (Albeit six weeks late, no? Did it get lost on the way?)

What confuses me is why Arthur (Liam Garrigan) and Guinevere (Joana Metrass) don’t raise a finger to defend their knight. True, these strangers in their midst have come as Merlin’s prophecy said they would, and the king and queen expect something to happen because of them. But why aren’t they more upset that one of their Round Table has been killed? Why does no one in the kingdom, people that know less about the prophecy, demand justice that the interlopers have killed one of their own? Doesn’t anyone seek to know why he attacked? Is the prophecy so clear and so important that and so widely known that the kingdom would allow friends to die in order to not stand in its way? I have serious doubts it will prove to clear this up.

“The Price” is a worrying hour. On the whole, it’s very enjoyable, with some great dialogue and performances. Yet, the holes I’m poking, while not entirely being exposed as flaws yet until we have more information, point to an uneven, non-cohesive story. ONCE UPON A TIME often falls into this trap, starting out strong and then losing steam along the way. It’s a little too early in the fall to be seeing these stumbles, and it makes me worry that season five will not pay off as it should.

At least we get to see Henry (Jared Gilmore) fall for young Violet (Olivia Steele-Falconer, Red Riding Hood) not once, but twice! That softens the blow of the underlying flaws of the hour.

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