Once Upon A Time wants the relationship between Snow White and Prince Charming (and their Storybrooke counterparts) to be an epic love story. After all, the fairy tale's among the most famous love stories of all-time. From a young age, children watch the Disney animated film. Prince Charming kisses his one true love on the mouth and restores her to life. From a young age, we're brainwashed by Disney about what to expect from love; that it's all about feelings and how we're in little control over those feelings; that the feelings that we feel for a specific person was destined to happen since the day we were born; that when we meet our soul mate, we'll just Know. And, really, it's a nice and simple idea. Adult women will openly declare their desire to meet their own Prince Charming (though no male every longs for his Snow White, which says alot about the demographic of Disney fairy tales and this show). The phrase 'falling in love' is what people say about their spouses. Popular culture's dictated a specific rhetoric for love, romance and relationship. Our most famous stories are responsible this, and Once Upon A Time isn't about to turn their show into a thoughtful meditation, or study, on what love is. Kitsis and Horowitz probably stated their desire to tell the complete and unforgettable story of how Prince Charming and Snow White got together. So now we're witnessing the story unfold.
The action in the fairy tale world begins soon after James agreed to marry Midas' daughter, Katherine. The future of the entire kingdom rests on this marriage. King George presented James with an expensive crown. James reacts with derision and disgust. Couldn't the crown feed the entire kingdom for a year? King George turns James' moral thinking around and states that Midas' wealth will feed the entire kingdom, once James and Katherine are married. James' honor is the problem. King George demands James forget about Snow White. Nobility isn't supposed to be easy, King George says, and it requires sacrifice. James understands the reasons why the marriage needs to happen, but he insists on pissing off the King by speaking openly about his affections for Snow. When George flatly tells his fake son to forget about her, James sends her a message of love via pigeon.
Snow White, meanwhile, wants to forget about James completely. She tells Red, aka Little Red Riding Hood, that she's been unable to get David out of her head. Red tells her about what Rumplestiltskin's able to do with magic. Red's confident the imp can create an anti-love potion. Snow met with Rumple, who went on about how miserable love is, and then cut a deal with her for the potion. But Snow received the message from James seconds before she drank the potion. She went to the castle, but ended up in a prison with Grumpy the dwarf. Stuff happens in the prison, but I've no interest turning the review into a recap (which it's dangerously close to), so I'll cut to the important, but contrived, stuff.
A story about tortured lovers makes for great drama. I'm thinking of the story of Tristan and Iseult (and not the lousy adaptation starring the girl from Gilmore Girls), specifically, even though the Snow White-Prince Charming story bears little resemblance to Tristan and Iseult. Romeo & Juliet’s another celebrated story of tortured lovers. The difference between these classic tales of tortured romance and the OUAT story is the quality of the stories. Tristan & Iseult is a great story; Romeo & Juliet is a great story; OUAT's Prince Charming & Snow White story is NOT great. The couple will have their shippers, of course, but even The Cape had its shippers. Anyway, their separation isn't contrived in the fairy tale world; its medieval setting makes things easy for the storytellers because it was impossible for people to meet their soul mates. James can't be with Snow White because of a dowry. It sucks for the characters, but it makes sense, and it's fine drama.
The contrivance occurs at the end of the fairy tale storyline. Snow White's broken-hearted because King George told her the truth about James' duties. King George threatened to murder James as well, which would be upsetting for anyone in Snow's shoes. Grumpy, the dwarf, helped her escape from prison. Snow returned the favor by saving his life. So she's alone, crying, walking back into the lonely forest, and the dwarfs join her. The 8th dwarf, sleuthy, died stupidly running away from armed guards after they ordered the escaped prisoners stop. The dwarfs identify with Snow's sense of loss. Doc says, 'now we are seven,' which made me think of Wordsworth's famous poem, but Doc's line and the poem aren't related; I won't spend the rest of the review comparing them. The scene with the seven dwarves was quite sweet, though, especially the advice Grumpy gave Snow about dealing with pain and loss. The next scene we get is an amnesiac Snow White: she drank the bloody potion. Say it with me, friends and well-wishers: PLOT CONTRIVANCE.
The story in Storybrooke reminded me of a LOST island story. In LOST, a character went on an Island journey of self-discovery (it was awesome), and returned to camp a slightly renewed individual. Mary Margaret's still heartbroken about David. One day, she finds a hurt bird, takes it to the vet, and learns the bird needs it's flock before they migrate again. The bird might suffer the same lonely fate as Mary. Mary embarks on a journey to return the bird to her flock. David joins her. There's a ton of conversation about how both hurt because they can't be together. A brief plot device about Katherine's pregnancy is thrown in, but she's not pregnant, so Mary and David hook up. The resolution didn't have the catharsis of a LOST Island journey of self-discovery nor the quality. Regina watched from her car, displeased.
I think it's difficult to make the same exact story work in two different stories. The Once Upon A Time writers, as talented as they are, aren't close to cracking the code for successfully telling the same story twice in an episode. There are minor differences between the two tales, but not enough. Snow White the Amnesiac is a contrivance because it's a lazy way for the writers to show her destiny with James--just think of the entirety of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind. This story will unfold like THAT story.
Other thoughts:
-Emma and Henry were interested in the leather-clad stranger who rides a motorcycle. The stranger didn't answer many questions, but he opened the mysterious wooden box. A typewriter was inside, which confirms he's not only a writer but a pretentious writer. I'm interested in learning more about the character though.
-I have questions about the curse. We know characters can't leave Storybrooke. Other folk can't enter the town. Mary teaches in a grade school. How many children can possibly exist in Storybrooke? The town's the size of a TV set. Also, how is a convenience store continually stocked? How will a delivery man drive into the town when it's impossible? I'll ask more of these questions later.
-The second paragraph in which I comment on popular culture's opinion of love is related to a book by Erich Fromm's The Art of Loving.
-Daniel T. Thomsen wrote the teleplay. Kitsis and Horowitz got the story credit and a sizable paycheck for that credit apart from the money they receive as creators and show runners. The story by credit seems like such a farce. I thought Lenkov was the lone dude who gave himself the story by credit. Anyway, Ralph Hemecker directed it.
THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK
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