I continue with my binge watch of Once Upon a Time. As usual, expect some spoilers.

“The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter”:

The last few episodes have been mostly about fleshing out the backstories of various cast members, and while that’s valuable, it was getting a bit repetitive.

Now, things are moving.

The focus this time is on Graham, the sheriff, who I had largely ignored up until now. An encounter with Emma grants him shocking visions of another world and another life: His life before Storybrook.

Feverish and panicked, Graham goes all across town and through the woods in a search of answers. With the help of Mary Margaret and Henry, he’s able to put the pieces together.

He was the huntsman sent to kill Snow White. The huntsman who failed, and who was punished severely by the queen. And as his memories return, his rebellion against Regina will earn him a harsher fate still.

This episode seems to mark a turning point. This is the first time the true nature of Storybrook has manifested as more than Henry’s outlandish claims and a series of strange coincidences. If Emma and Mary don’t start suspecting something is up now, I’ll be both surprised and disappointed.

This is also the first time Regina has made good on one of her ominous but vague threats, which is very welcome because she was starting to feel a bit toothless.

Best laugh of the series to date: Mr. Gold — inexplicably in the middle of the forest wearing a leather apron and carrying a shovel — saying he hasn’t seen anything unusual.

Overall rating: 8.1/10

“Desperate Souls”:

This is another “origin story” episode. Rumpelstiltskin, this time.

Back in the land of magic, Rumpelstiltskin — a wretched coward loathed by all — is desperate to prevent his son from being conscripted into the army of a corrupt duke. His only hope is to steal the powers of a terrible dark wizard and claim them for his own.

In Storybrook, an election is held to find a replacement for Graham, and Emma faces off against one of Regina’s puppets. Mr. Gold cuts a deal with her to help her win… by any means necessary.

This is on the whole an unremarkable episode. It’s quite predictable and feels mostly like filler — of course Emma is going to win the election.

It’s also rather disappointing that Emma still doesn’t seem to put any weight into Henry’s ideas even after everything that happened with Graham. I realize it’s far-fetched, but she ought to realize something weird is going on by now.

I am reminded that in my earlier experiences with this show, I thought Emma came across as rather dense. I remember why I felt that way.

However, Robert Carlyle makes it worthwhile. He just oozes sleaziness, and he’s got creepy down to a fine art. This is probably the most attention he’s gotten so far, and that saves an otherwise bland episode.

Overall rating: 7.2/10

“True North”:

Since when do police cars have window controls in the backseat?

That one little bit of silliness aside, “True North” was a solid episode, though I doubt an important one in the greater scheme of things.

This time, it’s the story of Hansel and Gretel. And it doesn’t really differ that much from the traditional story, aside from a little involvement by Regina.

The Storybrook side of things is a bit more interesting, with the kids as orphans about to be shipped off to foster homes.

Once Upon a Time often treads a fine line between being touching and cloying, but for the most part, this episode stays on the good side of that line. Even Emma manages to put on a decent performance for once.

The only knock against this episode is that it feels very much like filler, doing nothing to advance the main storyline.

Overall rating: 7.4/10

“7:15AM”:

This episode is a great example of why I usually hate romance stories.

We all know Snow White and Prince Charming are going to be together, in both worlds. That’s blindingly obvious. Yet this episode spends nearly all its time trying desperately to convince us that’s somehow in doubt.

Hint: It isn’t.

It’s a waste of time, plain and simple. There’s no drama, because the outcome isn’t remotely in question. This is a story masturbating.

The only saving grace of this episode is that Grumpy is pretty awesome.

Overall rating: 4/10

“Fruit of the Poisonous Tree”:

It’s time for another origin story. This one is for Sidney, who was Regina’s mirror (“Mirror, mirror, on the wall…”) in the fantasy world. He was originally a Genii who was freed by Regina’s then-husband, but as is always the case when magical wish-granting is involved, things get ugly before too long.

In Storybrook, Emma and a seemingly embittered Sidney go to extreme lengths to discredit Regina.

Mostly, I enjoyed this episode. It was nice to see Sidney get some development, and once again the weaving of different stories and the real world was very clever, particularly the concept of how wishes always go wrong.

It didn’t really advance the story in any meaningful way, though, and the revelation that Sidney is just a sleazy bootlick after all rather invalidated his character development from earlier in the episode.

Overall rating: 7.1/10

“Skin Deep”:

Rumpelstiltskin is easily the best part of this show.

I’m not just saying that because Robert Carlyle is an amazing actor — although he is. Emma aside, there’s a lot of good acting on this show, but he blows everyone else out of the water.

But there’s more than that. Rumpelstiltskin, more than anyone else, embodies the soul of Once Upon a Time’s source material. And I don’t mean old Disney movies.

Rumpelstiltskin harkens back to the old days of fairytales, where all magic came at a terrible cost, where dark things stalked the night, and where happy endings were a rarity. He is a chillingly stark yet refreshing contrast to the at-times cloying sweetness of the rest of the show, and this episode is a great example of that.

“Skin Deep,” as you might have guessed, focuses on Rumpelstiltskin/Mr. Gold. It’s a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, with him playing the role of Beast. But this isn’t the story we’re familiar with. There’s no “happily ever after” here. A little interference from Regina coupled with Rumpelstiltskin’s own demons soon shatters his relationship with Belle, and things spiral out of control from there.

This episode goes to some seriously dark places by Once Upon a Time standards, and that brutality contrasts brilliantly with the tenderness of Rumpelstiltskin and Belle’s budding love. It all makes for what is easily the most shocking and powerful episode of the series to date.

On the downside, the parts of “Skin Deep” that didn’t involve Robert Carlyle were quite lame: David and Mary Margaret’s continued time wastery, and a random appearance by Cinderella for some reason. Thankfully, those bits are mercifully brief.

Overall rating: 8.8/10

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.

What 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.

Except 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.

If 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.

The 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.

But 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.

Also, 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.

On 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.

This 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