Once Upon a Time ( TV Series ) Review

Name : Once Upon a Time
Status : Currently Airing Season 2
Number of seasons/episodes : Two seasons (for now)
Year : 2011-2013
Genre : Adventure, Romance, Fantasy
Director: Adam Horowitz, Edward Kirtis
Main Cast : Josh Dallas, Ginnifer Goodwin, Jennifer Morrison, Lana Parrilla
Based on : fairytales and children's books

Warnings : things tend to get quite cheesy from time to time; too many beautiful princes to choose from :P

Review : 
( it might contain a few small spoilers for those who haven't seen season one yet ) 

Once upon a time, in a kingdom far, far away, there was a girl with skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as the night. Her name was Snow White. She was forced to run away from her home because her stepmother, the Evil Queen, wanted her dead. In the forest where she had to live, she made many friends, including seven dwarfs working in the mines for magical fairy dust. One day Swon White crossed paths with Prince Charming and the two fell in love against all odds. They had to overcome many obstacles to be together, but in the end they succeeded - the Evil Queen was banished, her reign of terror was put to an end, and Snow White and Prince Charming got married, became parents of a beautiful baby girl, and lived happily ever after....Or maybe not! Because this is where the fairytale ends and real life begins, kids!

Or, better said, this is where the TV series Once Upon a Time puts an end to fairytale cliches and starts afresh with a mixture of real-life drama, some pinches of  magic and, of course, loads of adventure!

The series follows the story of Emma Swam (Jennifer Morrison), an independent woman living an ordinary life in the big city until Henry, her 10-year-old son she has abandoned as a baby and never seen since then, appears on her doorstep and forces her to go with him to his hometown, Storybrooke. Emma plans to just take him back to his stepmother, Regina (Lana Parrilla), and leave the small, strange town as soon as possible, but ends up staying and even becomes the new sheriff who has to deal with a lot of strange events taking place in Storybrooke. And little by little Emma starts to realize that the crazy stories Henry keeps telling her just might happen to be true: the people of Storybrooke are actually fairytale characters, snatched from their fairytale land and trown into this real world without any memories of their past life by a powerful spell cast by the Evil Queen. And Emma just happens to be the only person who can brake the spell and thus give back Storybrooke's people their memories and loved onces. All she has to do first is believe that her son's stepmom Regina is the Evil Queen, the only person in town who remembers the past before the spell, that her new best friend Mary Margaret (Ginnifer Goodwin) is actually Snow White, that the John Doe lying in a coma in the hospital is Prince Charming (John Dallas), that the local antique shop owner Mr. Gold is the famous magical creature Rumpelstilskin.....and that Emma herself is the daugther of Snow White and Prince Charming, and the only person saved from the effect of the evil spell as a baby with the help of a magical wardrope! Piece of cake, right?

Both seasons of Once Upon a Time follow a very successful formula: each episode introduces new characters (or further develops old ones) and the viewer gets a glimse of their past life in the fairytale land and of their present life in Storybrooke (which noone can leave because if they try, "bad things will happen"!). We are introduced to the personal stories of well-known fictional characters such as the Sleeping Beauty, Pinocchio, Mulan, Captain Hook and even Dr Frankenstein, but fear not - nothing is like we know it: the Little Red Riding Hood turns into a huge wolf on every full moon, the Beauty is in love not with an actual beast but with the evil Rumpelstilskin who might not be that evil after all, and so on and so on. Surprises lurk behind every corner both in the fairytale land that was and in the real world of Storybrooke, which always keeps viewers on the edge of their sofas and makes the waiting for the next episode sooo much harder!

Ok, since this is supposed to be a review, let me finally say why I think this series is good: the story is very entertaining and engaging, the plot is full of twists and always leaves some questions unanswered until the right moment comes, the characters have depth in them and the actors chosen to play them are relatively well selected. Also, Once Upon a Time has a little bit of everything in it: there is love, friendship, heroism, sacrifice, mother issues, true evil, not-so-true evil....As long as you have an open mind and are willing to escape for 40 minutes once a week into a fairytale world, where things tend to get cheesy for realists' taste, I dare say you will love this series!

I recommend it to : families with little children, grown-ups who don't have children but feel like children themselves, romantic souls like myself  ( blushing )
I do NOT recommend it to : fans of serious drama and action series, non-believers in true love at first sight that lasts forever and beyond


Favorite Scenes : all scenes with the Evil Queen in the past
Favorite Characters : the Evil Queen, Rumpel, Captain Hook
Favorite Quote : "Magic Always Comes at a Price!"
What I liked the most : the combination between scenes in the real world in the present and scenes in the fairytale land in the past. I thing that it is this combination that made the series so successful in the first place!
What I liked the least : There are definitely some episodes that are just fillers, i.e. they're aim is only to prolong the season until viewers' impatience to see the grand finale reaches a boiling point! At least this kind of episodes are not too many, especially in Season 2, and they are still interesting to watch, so they're not a significant drawback of the series.

from DiDi

photos taken from : fanpop.com  ; bittersweetromantic.xanga.com