Tag Archives: fantasy

Retro Review: Once Upon a Time, Season One: Episodes 1-6

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As someone with a craving for quality high fantasy television, I’ve long had an interest in Once Upon a Time, but for one reason or another, I didn’t find the time to give it a shot when it premiered. I did see a few episodes here or there in my final months in Toronto, but they were all out of order.

The logo for Once Upon a TimeWhat I saw left with me with some mixed feelings. At times, the show seemed very clever and offered a great portrayal of old school fantasy, but at other times it was so smarmy it made me want to puke. I didn’t much care for Emma, the main character, but I loved many of the peripheral characters.

Overall, the good seemed to outweigh the bad, and now that I’ve finally signed up for Netflix, I’m going to start watching the series properly and in order.

As with previous binge watches, my individual episode reviews may be a bit more truncated and spoilery than usual.

Pilot episode:

Once Upon a Time wastes very little in establishing the format and overall arc of the series. Like the other episodes I’ve seen, the pilot jumps between scenes in our world and flashbacks to a fantasy kingdom to tell a cohesive story.

Our hero is Emma Swan, a bail “bondsperson” who is contacted out of the blue by the son she gave up for adoption, Henry. She is forced to take him back home to a small town called Storybrook, and along the way, he regales her with outlandish stories about how Emma and everyone in Storybrook are actually exiles from a fairytale land, and how it’s Emma’s destiny to save them all.

The wedding of Snow White and Prince Charming in Once Upon a TimeExcept they’re not just stories.

As this is happening, the pilot also illustrates the final days of the fantasy kingdom as an evil queen unleashes a terrible curse to end all happy endings. The imprisoned black magician Rumpelstiltskin* foresees the only hope will come from the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming , and they call upon their allies to save the newborn Emma at all costs.

*(Played by Robert Carlyle, who is awesome.)

The rest of the episode deals with Emma attempting to wash her hands of Henry, and largely failing. As this happens, the seeds of a rivalry between her and Regina, Storybrook’s mayor and the evil queen in truth, are sewn.

The pacing is good, and there’s an emotional punch without it being too overwrought. A lot of the actors already seem very comfortable in their roles, and the characterizations come through strongly — though it probably helps that I already have some familiarity with the characters.

Something I really enjoy about Once Upon a Time is all the clever little ways events and characters in our world mirror the fantasy world, and that’s already on full display. Regina offering Emma some apple cider, for instance.

Emma and her son, Henry, in Once Upon a TimeIf I have a complaint, it’s the pilot ended too soon and left me wanting more… but that’s not really a complaint.

Overall rating: 8/10 A strong start.

“The Thing You Love Most”:

As with most shows, the second episode of Once Upon a Time is a little on the slow side.

In Storybrook, Regina does everything in her power to drive Emma away. If I was coming in fresh, I’d find this all very unreasonable and a bit strange, but based on later episodes I’m seen, I’m of the impression Regina still knows who she is and thus likely knows what Emma represents.

On the fantasy end of things, we learn the backstory of Regina’s use of the curse, and the terrible cost she had to pay for it.

I don’t really have any major complaints about this episode. It’s just not terribly memorable. Also, again, I don’t much care for Emma. The actress just doesn’t feel authentic. She’s trying too hard to seem tough.

Lana Parilla as Regina Mills in Once Upon a TimeThe one interesting thing to come out of this — that was news to me — is that Regina’s father’s name was Henry. Hmm…

Overall rating: 6.9/10

“Snow Falling”:

As the name might imply, this episode focuses heavily on Snow White. Specifically, the start of her relationship with Prince Charming — which turns out to be a mocking nickname she gave him.

On the fantasy side of things, Snow is a brigand living in the woods for fear of being caught by the evil queen. She robs Charming as he passes by, and he hunts her down and blackmails her into helping him retrieve what she stole.

It starts out as one of those “trying so hard not to be cliche it feels terribly cliche” things, but the plot evolves well, and it has a lot of action and excitement. It’s perhaps a bit hokey, but hokey in a way that’s more endearing than irritating — which based on my experience to date is probably an apt description of Once Upon a Time as a whole.

Meanwhile, in Storybrook, a field trip to the hospital leads to Henry learning that Prince Charming is in that reality a comatose John Doe. He gets it in his head that if Mary Margaret — Snow White in truth — were to read their story to him, he might wake up, and an in an attempt to not hurt Henry’s feelings, she and Emma choose to indulge him.

Snow White and Prince Charming in Once Upon a TimeBut as is often the case, Henry’s ideas aren’t so crazy after all.

The most interesting thing about the Storybrook side of “Snow Falling” is once again all the subtle ways it mirrors the events of the fantasy world, like David/Charming being drawn to the toll bridge and Mary Margaret waking him with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Also, the normal world versions of the Seven Dwarfs really crack me up.

On the whole, I do find Snow White a much more compelling protagonist than Emma. She’s got the perfect balance of spunk, toughness, and humanity, along with a healthy dose of charisma, and the actress seems to be having almost too much fun with the role.

Overall rating: 7.6/10 Less Emma makes for a better episode.

“The Price of Gold”:

We continue to run down the list of classic fairytales. Today, Cinderella’s up to bat.

But there’s a twist. In this version of things, Cinderella won her grand life not through the blessing of a faerie godmother, but through a deal with Rumpelstiltskin, and as he is so fond of reminding people, all magic has a price. In this case, the price is a child.

Events in the real and fantasy worlds mirror each other as Rumpelstiltskin/Mr. Gold attempts to claim ownership of Cinderella/Ashley’s soon to be born child. In the real world, Emma travels across town to try to save Ashley and the child as the circumstances shine an uncomfortable light on Emma’s own past.

This was one of those times where Once Upon a Time just felt a little too smarmy for my taste. They tried so hard to make Cinderella sympathetic that it felt cloying, and the episode just hammered home the whole redemption/anyone can change angle a little too heavily.

Robert Carlyle as Rumpelstiltskin in Once Upon a TimeAlso, it was a very Emma-heavy episode, and I think my feelings on her are clear at this point.

On the plus side, the nod to the darker side of fairytales and the terrible price of magic was quite cool, and there was a lot of Robert Carlyle in this episode, and that’s always a good thing.

Overall rating: 6.8/10

“That Still Small Voice”:

And now it’s Jiminy Cricket’s turn.

In Storybrook, he’s Henry psychologist, Dr. Hopper — I see what you did there, Once Upon a Time.

When a sudden earthquake exposes an old mining tunnel, Henry becomes convinced Regina is keeping a secret there key to uncovering Storybrook’s true nature. He’s determined to explore the mine despite the dangers, so Regina coerces Dr. Hopper into denouncing Henry’s “fantasies.”

Naturally, Henry doesn’t take this well, and he runs off to explore the mine on his own, becoming trapped. The race is then on for Emma, Regina, and Dr. Hopper to save him.

Jennifer Morrison as Emma Swan in Once Upon a TimeOn the fantasy side of things, we learn how Jimmy became a cricket in the first place. Perhaps not surprisingly, it involves Rumpelstiltskin. And it gets surprisingly dark.

I really do hope that some definitive proof of Storybrook’s true nature is uncovered soon, because the inevitable “you’re crazy, Henry” speech is getting very tiresome. It’s good the show acknowledges how preposterous the whole situation is, and it makes sense for Emma to be skeptical, but it’s the same scene every episode, and we as viewers know Henry’s right, so it feels quite redundant.

Otherwise, I felt this was a solid episode. One thing that was particularly interesting was seeing some nuance added to Regina’s character. This is the first time it’s been clear that she really does care about Henry, and seeing her put aside her loathing for Emma for his sake was a powerful moment.

I may not be a particular fan of Emma, but her interactions with Regina can sometimes be quite interesting. They’re so at odds, but they’re united in wanting to protect Henry.

…I can only imagine the slash fics that must exist involving those two.

Overall rating: 7.5/10

“The Sheperd”:

This is one of those times when I have very mixed feelings on Once Upon a Time. There’s much I like about this episode, and much I don’t.

Josh Dallas as Prince Charming in Once Upon a TimeThis time, the focus is on Prince Charming… who turns out to not be such a prince after all. He just plays one in real life. On the Storybrook side of things, he’s torn between his feelings for Mary Margaret, and his loyalty to his wife, who is notable for not being Snow White in any reality.

Snow White and Prince Charming are one of the highlights of the show. They’re very likable characters, and the actors who play them have a lot of charisma. It’s very hard not to like them. So any episode that focuses on them earns some points.

And the fight with the dragon was quite cool, if a bit brief for my taste.

But this another case of laying the emotion on a bit thick, and having David/Charming go back to his wife is disappointing, and not for the reasons the show intended. I don’t need to have seen later episodes to know he’ll end up with Mary/Snow; why waste our time pretending that’s in doubt?

It also doesn’t make a lot of sense for Charming to have been able to pull off all his feats of martial prowess if he was really just a shepherd. The overall impression is it was a very short amount of time between his being ushered off the farm and meeting Snow. How’d he become an expert archer and swordsman in that time?

Overall rating: 7/10

TSW: It Hasn’t Been a Good Week

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As regular readers know, I love The Secret World. It’s my favourite game at the moment, and in my opinion, one of the best games of all time. It may have its flaws, but it’s probably about as close to perfect as I can ever reasonably expect to see.

Beaumont getting his ominous monologue on for Cassie in The Secret WorldBut this week has pushed my love for the game to its limit. In the space of three days, we’ve gotten a tidal of bad news, bad decisions, and poor behaviour, and for the first time ever, I feel an echo of doubt over whether my support for this game has been deserved.

Joelzilla is no more:

This week, game director Joel Bylos dropped the bombshell that he has been transferred away from The Secret World, and from the sounds of it, he will not be replaced.

TSW has been hemorrhaging staff since launch, and just when the bleeding seems to have stopped, we hear of more losses. It wasn’t so long ago they let the much-beloved developer known only as Quokka go, and his absence is still felt keenly by the community.

But losing Joel is the worst news yet. Joel is The Secret World. He has spent years working tirelessly on the game, and he’s always been a bright spot in the community. He has a level of honesty, engagement, and humour that is unmatched in the gaming industry. He also provided much of the creative talent for the game, writing some of the most beloved characters, lore, and missions.

It’s very hard to imagine the game having much of a future without Joel, and even if it does, it’s even harder to think it will maintain the same high quality. They’re already enacting sweeping and largely unnecessary difficulty nerfs (more on that in a moment), and Joel’s departure makes me worry this is just the first step towards a major change in direction for the game, and not necessarily for the better.

WITNESS THE GLORYJoel is supposedly moving on to a new project within Funcom, but one has to wonder how many more games than can handle. They’re struggling to keep their current roster afloat, and the recently launched LEGO game seems to be under-performing. Is spreading themselves even thinner really wise?

To make matters worse, the most recent financial report shows TSW as the best-performing game in Funcom’s roster. Why would they divert resources from it to take a chance on yet another new project?

I have a lot of respect for the developers of TSW, but the upper management at Funcom just doesn’t seem to know what they’re doing. Add to this the Mankini Incident, and it’s difficult to have any faith in Funcom management.

And they’re not the only ones wearing clown shoes.

Community mismanagement:

I had a big rant written here, but it seemed like airing my dirty laundry in public, and that doesn’t feel right. I don’t want to say, though, that I have really lost faith in TSW’s community and those who manage it.

Nice apocalypse puppy wouldn't hurt a Templar...And I am not only saying that because I’ve gotten into some disagreements. I’m a pretty ornery and unpleasant person, so that’s only natural, but I’ve seen people far nicer than me — who are true and ardent supporters of the game — be given some truly shabby treatment.

Funcom’s community team doesn’t seem to value the game’s fans, and for a game this small, that’s dangerously reckless.

To the ground, baby!

Today saw the launch of TSW’s ominously titled “Enhanced Player Experience.” This was their attempt to make the game more approachable for new players. It’s a noble goal, but a lot of the methods they’ve chosen to attain are likely to do more harm than good.

Going in, we were told this was an attempt to smooth the difficulty curve. The jumps in difficulty between zones — which in my experience have always been greatly exaggerated — would be smoothed out. Pretty unnecessary, but probably not too harmful in the long run.

But that’s not at all what ended up happening. Instead, the “Enhanced Player Experience” is an across the board nerf to everything before Tokyo.

My Dragon alt battling a zombie hulk in Kingsmouth in The Secret WorldThis is a classic case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. I’ll be the first to admit TSW was far too intimidating for the average player, but that’s because it’s a complicated game with very poor tutorials. The problem was never the difficulty; the problem was the game didn’t teach people how to play.

And to Funcom’s credit, they did improve the tutorials a lot, and that’s a good thing. But it also means the massive difficulty nerfs were utterly unnecessary. The game isn’t unreasonably hard if you know what you’re doing.

TSW needs a certain degree of challenge to be interesting. It’s a horror game, after all. If mobs aren’t scary, then it loses much of its ambiance, its fear factor, and its soul.

What’s worst about all this is that most of the game’s nightmare missions — especially in the Besieged Farmlands, which was a beloved place for endgamers to farm — have been downgraded to normal missions.

For solo players, nightmare missions were a cornerstone of the endgame. That endgame has now been gutted. TSW was one of the few MMOs offering a meaningful endgame and options for progression to people who quest, but now our options on that front have shrunk dramatically. From the sounds of things Tokyo and scenarios are now pretty much the only relevant content for solo players.

Toga! Toga! Toga!The really bizarre thing is that several ability tweaks also included in this patch have indirectly made Tokyo significantly harder, which seems rather at odds with their goals as of late. Seems like instead of preventing players from hitting the wall, they just delayed the point at which they hit the wall, and made that wall much harder.

There are some good things in this patch. They’ve added a normalized fast travel system, which is way overdue and extremely welcome. They’ve made Tokyo much easier to access, and players can now enter the zone without buying issue nine. The improved tutorials and starter decks are obviously a positive. I’ve heard tell there’s some new clothing, and that’s always welcome.

But are those enough to compensate for all the game has lost from this “Enhanced Player Experience”? It’s too early to say for sure, but it definitely doesn’t look that way right now.

* * *

TSW and its developers have built up a tremendous amount of goodwill with me over the years, and it will take a lot to burn through it all, but the events of the past week have certainly taken a heavy toll on it, especially since much of that goodwill was invested in Joel.