Once Upon A Time "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter" Review

I can't shake the sense of deja-vu I felt throughout "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter." Truly, I didn't have interest in watching Once Upon a Time through the lens of LOST. I mentioned the LOST references briefly. I advised the writers to quit imitating the show. This episode of OUAT seemed like a re-make of "The Lie," with Game of Thrones in for good measure. I don't want to directly declare the episode a re-make because that'd fly in the face of what I learned as an English major. Qualifiers are sometimes a person's best friends. Usually, though, they're examples of weak and lazy writing. Oh well.

Graham is Desmond David Hume. Emma is his Constant. Between the flashes of fairy tale land whenever Emma was around (or the wolf), as well as the mirrors, I wondered if I stumbled into a lost episode from season six of LOST. Graham began the episode in a miserable state of mind. He drank shot after shot of hard liquor. Emma wandered through. Graham was disconsolate over Emma discovering his after-hours romance with Regina. Graham kissed the woman right on the mouth, which awakened dormant memories. Between the kiss and a dream involving a ghost, Graham felt convinced that another life existed apart from Storybrooke. The huntsman began a journey of self-discovery; a redemptive journey in which he remembered the blessing that is free choice, severed all ties with Madame Mayor, and found his heart. The man needed to feel. The wolf would lead him to his heart and Emma would lead him to his soul. Graham had a bit of Jack Shepherd in him, and Emma was a human representative of jughead, in that she represented a cataclysmic change for one character.

The second episode of LOST's fifth season is about regret. "The Lie" is about living with the regret of a massive lie that threatens to destroy someone's spirit, moral compass, etc. The first five episodes of LOST's fifth season deal with getting the Oceanic 6 characters back to The Island. Graham's desire isn't as large as the Oceanic 6; he just wants to find his heart again. "The Lie" focuses on Hurley--the show's heart. We follow Hurley in the early days of post-Island life in California. He's guilt-ridden. In a moment of absolute honesty, he tells his mother the truth about what really happened, about the number of people he left behind, about the bad things that might've happened to them. Mrs. Reyes doesn't call him crazy. Instead, she lays her hand on his and says, "I don't understand you, but I believe you." Lest I forget, "Because You Left" was part of the two hour premiere. The premiere concluded as Desmond awoke from sleep, startled by the earlier scene we saw between him and Daniel, and he tells his wife that he didn't dream--he had a memory. My goodness I miss LOST. Anyway, Graham's equal parts Hurley, Desmond and Jack in "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter." Naturally, he's Boone'd off.

Despite the feeling that I saw this exact story in a season five episode of LOST, I thought this episode was the best yet. I'm always a fan of feverish journeys through the wilderness in search of Truth and Enlightenment. "White Rabbit" is one of the best episodes ever produced in the history of television. In that episode, Jack follows the 'ghost' of his father through the jungle as he works through his grief and comes to a place where he can be open with someone about what happened prior to the crash, about why he was traveling from Sydney to Los Angeles. I digress once more. Graham literally runs through the episode with a fever, as diagnosed by Mary-Margaret. The episode, as per usual, split time between the fairy tale world and Storybrooke. The Evil Queen hired Graham, the Huntsman, to assassinate Snow White. The Evil Queen wanted an assassin without a heart. The Huntsman lacked a heart, apparently, because he was raised by wolves. The 'heartless' angle didn't track. The Huntsman's first line is one of apology to a deer he'd just killed. The Huntsman murders two individuals in a tavern because they threatened him and his wolf. The Huntsman kills to survive. Yet The Evil Queen praised the heartless Huntsman as she looked at him like she wanted him to disrobe her immediately upon finalization of their murder-for-hire deal.

Initially, I speculated that The Huntsman put Snow White into the glass coffin she'd eventually be resurrected from. I suppose, though, that the show isn't going to abandon the poison apple element of the Snow White-Evil Queen squabble. The Huntsman spared Snow's life after he read a letter of apology she composed for the Evil Queen to read upon her death. The Evil Queen ripped the heart from The Huntsman's chest as leverage. For as long as they both lived, she'd own his emotions by simply putting pressure on his still-beating heart. Regina eventually descends a staircase in a mausoleum where her heart collection remains. Graham rejected Regina earlier, so she responded by destroying his heart. Graham dropped dead in the police station, moments after his memories returned to him, and a heartfelt kiss with Emma. Regina remains the woman behind the curtain.

Once Upon A Time isn't a subtle show. Themes are stated by the characters on many occasions. Therefore, only so many utterances of "I don't have a heart" occur before it loses meaning. Still, though, despite the repetition, the acting was strong, the story was strong, and I was disappointed when Graham died in the end. This episode transformed him into a compelling figure. Of course, a flood of memories would make him less interesting in the long-term. It's also unfortunate the ending reduced him to a plot device. I'm just glad the series produced an episode that met the potential of its very, very talented writing staff.

The series won't return with new episodes until early January. Jane Espenson promised the next episode will be Rumple-centric. Espenson also said she wrote it. That should be fun. The creators, show runners, and executive producers, Adam Horowitz and Eddie Kitsis wrote the episode. David Barrett directed it.

Other Thoughts:

-One of the consistent problems with Once Upon A Time is the tendency to pack in a bunch of plot in 41 minutes. Some shows succeed with an overload of plot and not only make it work but thrive in that format while other shows with so much plot seemingly skip over small, important moments that'd make the episode stronger. TVD's an example of the former. Once Upon A Time's an example of the latter.

-Mr. Gold spent the morning gardening in the vast forest of Storybrooke. Gold gardens in an expensive suit and doesn't bother with any tools besides a large shovel. I wouldn't be surprised if Gold's trying to find a tunnel or passage into the world they've all left behind. Mr. Gold simply wasn't gardening.

THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK