- jet lag + pms = DED
- unpacking + cramps = crabby beyond all reason
- Let's Cram EVERYTHING into OCTOBER because it's not like we did anything in August.
- Election season is a freaking moneygrab for so many industries...including mine. Yay dayjob!
- Hulu HATES me for some inexplicable reason. I know I ignored it all summer long to catch up on Buffy and Scandal and Sherlock and Revenge with Netflix, but come on. Get over yourself.
Which is to say, mea mea mea culpa on the backlog. Diving in. Spoilers!
First and foremost, I have to say this was a pretty slick episode. LOTS of Robert Carlyle and Jennifer Morrison and Colin O'Donahue doing their thing, and doing it strong. Lots of points for Michael Socha's facial expressions. A little light on Lana Parilla, but she will get her moments this season, and lots of them, I should think. This episode also dispensed with a lot of conventions, for good and for ill. It's still doing a lot of reiteration and audience hand-holding, and this episode was a bit motivational dialogue heavy, which usually means we're about to get into some action - and the dialogue was tempered with some fun banter between characters. It's nice to see them settling into Life in Storybrooke, whatever that may mean. It's interesting that magic is very much alive, well, and accessible in Storybrooke, which makes me wonder what other characters with other motivations are up to. The answer is obviously, nothing - because this show is The Charmings meets Modern Family masquerading as a drama.
Second, as anyone who knows me can testify, I have drunk the Disney kool-aid and found it sweet. I am aware that OUAT is little more than a 60-minute commercial in primetime for every "classic" Disney movie property ever. They are absolutely catering to those of us who have grown up with modern Disney classics - they know all those little (let's be real) girls who watched and rewatched The Little Mermaid on VHS until their parents wept tears of blood and brothers big and small rended their hair and garments, are now in their late 20's/early 30's and they are turning childhood nostalgia into ADVERTISING CHEDDAR. ABC is the new Disney Channel boys and girls, and you would do well to remember it. That being said - this has always been true of OUAT. But in S1, they were more subtle about it. Even in S3, Peter Pan borrowed a lot of influence from its many other incarnations, and The Wizard of Oz isn't really a "classic" Disney property, I don't care what James Franco says. WE DO NOT DISCUSS S2.
This season is UNABASHEDLY for the Disney Fandom. It is pandering. I don't mind that it's pandering, but some people do and will. There's no sense in trying to sugarcoat that. Face it for what it is, and decide whether or not you are on board the S.S. Disneyphile.
Who did we meet?: The Apprentice! Who got turned into a mouse of all things. Who ever would have guessed? /sarcasm
Shiny Objects: SO MANY! Hook's hook. Hook's hand. The bucket!box. The neat but sort of unnecessary walking broom. But yay to the FX dept. If ever a broom looked like it meant business, that one sure did. The starry starry hat. The dagger/"wavy knife".
When/Where did the events take place?: "A Long Time Ago". This is now the second time we have seen this so far this season. They have thrown in the towel on timeline. We know that Anna arrives in "Mysthaven" aka The Enchanted Forest roughly two years after the events in Frozen, well after Rumpel becomes and is well established as The Dark One, and before the Dark Curse is cast for the first time by Regina. This is important because we have only seen Anna in flashback up until now. We have no idea where present day Anna (or Kristoff! Or Sven!) might be.
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| The Incredibles 2: Frozone Boogaloo. |
Oh Henry!: Go ahead and file this under things I never thought I'd blog, but I'm really impressed with Henry this episode. He got in a little underhanded emotional manipulation (Hi Neal!) with the damn Dark One and it WORKED. It was slick. It was cashing in on wholesome reputation to do a little stealth recon. But maybe learn to sweep a floor like you didn't just have a massive brain hemorrhage?
Wait, what?: Isn't the entire town looking for Princess Snow Kaguya? Sorry - The Snow Queen? And she's just leisurely traipsing about the town in broad daylight in Liberace's dressing gown? As totally over Grumpy-as-mouthpiece as I am, this might have been a useful time for him to show up and utilize his increasingly horrifying brand of mob justice.
Really, OUAT?: Wardrobe...I don't know what to do with you. On the one hand, you put Charming in Adorkable Dad Flannel and got Hook out of those piratey duds that can probably pillage on their own after 2 seasons. On the other hand, no librarian/archivist worth her Dewey Decimals would be caught tripping around day-in-day-out in platform heels, and could we maybe have gotten Hook or Rumpel in some color? Do villains have to be in all black all the time? Seriously, what SEASON is it in Storybrooke. The radio broadcast says that it's 70 degrees, but 30 by the ice wall (ha.) So...is it summer? Maine is a pretty chilly state, no?
Stuff I didn't hate: Sven. Sven all day. If that reindeer doesn't win an Emmy, what is even the use of having Emmy awards?
Didn't hate the nods to Lady and The Tramp (HA! Get it?) on Hook and Emma's date. Cause nothing says "romance" like a knocked up bitch. In general, I'm not hating the use of new locations this season.
Reminding everyone that Rumpel isn't just a threat because of his knowledge of and access to magic, but because of his character. He's manipulative and power-hungry. Much like Hook's hand, the bucket!box/starry hat/wavy knife is not the problem. It's just given him permission to be who he is.
Loving that no new characters are related to Henry.
Anna and Kristoff. D'aw. Although, I really hope we avoid making Anna's central characteristics "sweet" and "nice". Anna is brave and loyal, and much more interesting than some parts of this episode would have us believe.
Remaining Questions:
- Where's Anna?
- And Kristoff? And SVEN???
- What's up w/the SQ?
- And her relationship to Rumpel? And Emma?
- If she didn't come with a curse, are we about to see magic in "our world" outside of Storybrooke?
- Who's the writer?
- Who's the Sorcerer?
- What happened to Wendy, John, and Michael?
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