Once Upon A Time "Desperate Souls" Review

Once Upon a Time truly walks a thin line between serious serialized television and campy nonsense television; the teaser depicted the family of Rumplestiltskin being threatened by the king's men. The men rode into town to take children 13 years or older to fight for the king in the ogre wars. Rumplestiltskin could do nothing but watch the brusque and rough men ride off a child of the village. Women wailed. When they tried to react, The Darkness (or Dark One) appeared in the distance, and worked some magic to prevent anyone from stopping the king's men. The scene combined serious beats with true camp. The Dark One wore a hooded cloak and leaned on a cane. The village folk were repelled by what looked like a mirage in the desert: wavy and watery lines, active and rolling, carrying enough force to choke the village folk and send them into convulsions. I can only shake my head in disappointment, shrug my shoulders, and accept that OUAT is what it is.

The origins of Rumplestiltskin worked well. A man as dark, depraved, and evil as Rumple could only become that dark, depraved and evil creature following a less enchanted or noble life. The flashbacks have followed the same formula, except when the writers clearly lack interest in revealing revelatory things about the narrative (any Snow White or Regina episode, specifically). The theme of choice unites the flashbacks, thus far, which is interesting, because the characters lack free-will and choice in Storybrooke (interesting juxtaposition, specifically). Whereas every character not named Rumplestiltskin or The Evil Queen made honorable decisions, Rumplestiltskin's choice reflected how he perceived himself. The leader of the king's men humiliated him in front of his son, outing him as a coward who ran away from battle and let his wife die. The coward label followed him from that day forward, in villages and beyond, all the way to the king's throne. Rumple felt cornered, impotent, and weak. When an old, poor man in the forest offered him the opportunity to take and wield real power, Rumple listened and acted as instructed because he's a desperate soul.

The old, poor man in the woods (portrayed by Brad Dourif) wanted Rumplestiltskin to turn his flaws into positives, weaknesses into strength. Indeed, Rumplestiltskin needed to transition from a passive person into an aggressive person. Sure, he could've simply wielded the power of The Dark One, but the thought of taking it appealed to him. His son encouraged him, which cemented his conviction to take the power, because the act represented not only redemption for himself but also redemption in the eyes of his son. Rumple burned the dark one's castle, retrieved the magic dagger, summoned the dark one, and stabbed him in the heart. Of course, the dark one was none other than the man from the woods. Rumplestiltskin regretted the murder for five seconds, and then the dark magic and power went through his power and filled him with an incredible sense-of-self he'd forgotten about the day he fled the ogre wars. The power, though, cost him his relationship with his son and irrevocably damaged his humanity. All he is now is a monster--in a past life and a present one.

Mr. Gold's clearly the only other person in Storybrooke with memories of the world left behind. One doesn't make a deal with Mr. Gold, as the Queen did when preparing the curse, and expects him to magically forget the place left behind. Mr. Gold tried to be for Emma what Brad Dourif was for him a timeline ago. Graham's death left Storybrooke without a deputy. Emma assumed she'd be the new deputy because two weeks passed without a replacement being named; however, on the 14th day, Regina named Mr. Glass the new deputy of the town because he's one of her's. Mr. Gold, though, found a technicality in the laws that allowed Emma to run against Mr. Glass in an election. Beyond the desire to beat Regina, Emma felt the need to win for Henry, to prove to her son that good can beat evil. Henry reacted badly to Graham's death, convinced the active attempts to disrupt the curse cost Graham his life.

I didn't like the election battle between Emma and Regina. For a show that aspires for inventiveness and originality, they resorted to one of the most common tropes in television. The election gave the two women a legitimate reason to be at odds in public. The election didn't reveal anything new about the characters. We knew the townspeople supported Emma from the very first episode, so they're unwavering support of Emma after her Mr. Gold/fire confession was not surprising. The story felt like the writers took the scenic route to connect the dots between the flashback and the present. Mr. Gold overshadowed the election by acting in the shadows. Mr. Gold claimed he planned every minute detail of the process, including reaction to the scandal, and that Emma now owed him for the favors he performed for her. Regina smiled smugly at her enemy and remarked that Emma knows how to choose superlative enemies. When Emma asked why Mr. Gold even helped her, he told her that he knows a desperate soul when he sees one, which signified Mr. Gold's remembrance of all things.

"Desperate Souls" was an enlightening 41 minutes of television. I wonder if any redemption is left for Rumplestiltskin who literally gave his soul away in pursuit of power. I liked how Henry recognized his mother as a heroine for doing the right thing; that it restored his faith in their purpose to uncover the secret of Storybrooke.

Some other thoughts:

-I learned that an 8 year old wears more stylish clothing than I do.

-Brad Dourif completely owned the role of Grima Wormtongue in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It's a damn shame his character was killed off tonight; Dourif as creepy fairytale or fantasy villain is great.

-Jane Espenson wrote the episode. Michael Waxman directed it.

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