Once Upon A Time "The Thing You Love Most" Review

I watched the second episode of Once Upon a Time last night, following the Eagles-Cowboys game. I intended on bolting from bed, powering the computer up, and writing my thoughts about "The Thing You Love Me Most." However, I forgot about the episode. I watched the episode less than 12 hours from the time I woke up, so it was fresh, yet I had no memory. I wondered, was episode two really a forgettable 43 minutes? Well, yes, it was a forgettable episode. Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz came to their own series with nearly six years of writers’ room experience in the LOST room. The writing team stated that OUAT wouldn't be lost, that it'd answer more questions than it asked, etc. I'm one of the biggest LOST apologists you'll meet. Several weeks ago, I found myself defending not only my 10,000 word review of the series finale but, also, my positive feelings toward it. I never cared about questions or answers as long as the story entertained me or moved me. Once Upon a Time is treading some dangerous ground already--things are too vague and the story sort of sucks.

The Evil Queen, or Regina, earned the episode's focus tonight. The scenes in fairy tale world took us to a time shortly before the curse. We followed the Evil Queen as she gathered the ingredients she needed to cast a cursed doom on her fellow fairy tale characters. The scenes in Storybrooke revolved around her schemes to oust Emma Swann from their humble, small town in Maine, and away from Henry, her adopted son. We should've learned more about the Evil Queen than we did, though. Nearly every scene include Regina/the Evil Queen, yet she remains a mystery. Her motivations are unclear, and the path she took to power is mysterious. I thought the most interesting aspects of the character's back story were the parts only hinted at in dialogue. The Queen spoke to her father about all she needed to do to acquire her power. Naturally, I want to know what choices she made to become the all-powerful evil queen of fairy tale land. The story will wait, though. The boring story of the sacrifice she made to fate Snow White and her neighbors to a miserly life of unhappiness took precedent to the potentially good origin story of the Queen's.

Emma and Regina's battle of wits wasn't engrossing. The scenes followed last week's showdown by the characters with little variation; however, we learned a tiny bit about Regina's over-protection of Henry as well as her desire to keep her adopted son all to herself. The key character of the series, its Desmond David Hume, appears to be Mr. Gold (or Rumplestiltskin). The Evil Queen used him to learn about the key ingredient to the curse. Rumplestiltskin told her that she needed to sacrifice the thing she loved most; that great magic requires even greater sacrifice. The price she needed to pay Rumplestiltskin with was great power. He required greatness in the place she was taking everyone to. She swore he wouldn't remember; he swore he would, and he does. So, when Mr. Gold cuts to the core of Regina's feelings for Henry, he's right. Regina named the child after the father she killed in order to successfully execute the magic for the curse. Emma wondered aloud when Regina lost her soul. Well, she lost her soul the moment she took her father's heart out of his chest.

The revelation turned me into an inquisitive fellow. The Evil Queen informed Rumplestiltskin that she lost the thing she loved most because of Snow White; that the curse will happen because of Snow White's crimes. Now, I don't particularly care about what Snow White did to the Evil Queen. I suspect that it involves Prince Charming or some such romantic nonsense (if it doesn't then great). I just wonder if Kitsis and Horowitz dug a hole for themselves. I wonder what could've happened that would cause the queen to murder her own flesh and blood, her father, just to damn Snow White to a world without happy endings. It needs to be damn good now.

I didn't like any of the dialogue nor the action. I thought the fight between Maleficent and Evil Queen would've made the executives at Syfy embarrassed. None of the dialogue felt natural nor did the interactions between the character. One of the most important relationships in the series, Henry and Emma, is weak. I thought the scene between the two when they officially conspired against Regina was clunky, considering we never saw Emma reach these conclusions herself. I won't begrudge the series for a lousy second episode, though. I don't want to dwell on the episode's weaknesses. I just want to move past "The Thing You Love Most."

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