The Hunchblog of Notre Dame

10Aug 2017

Once Upon a Time Season 6 Episodes 9 & 10 Review

by jess

Episode 9: Changelings

Emilie de Ravin as Belle and Keegan Connor Tracy as The Blue Fairy

So the Black Fairy is really Rumple’s mother. This family tree gets more complicated all the time especially when you think that Regina is both Henry’s mother and step great-grandmother.

Basically it seems that Rumple has had a dark origins this whole time and is the reason he hates fairies. Not sure how to feel about this twist especially with the better twist that Aladdin became a Genie! That’s a good twist. I hate how little the show is doing with the Aladdin plot unless it goes into Emma’s death vison plot or Rumple and Belle. I’ll admit Rumple and Belle’s dynamic this episode was interesting but they have been having variations of the same conversation since the start now they just have a baby thrown into the vocabulary.

The scene with Belle giving her son to Blue was emotionally charged but the episode was just alright. Good in parts and dragged in others.

Episode 10: Wish You Were Here

Jennifer Morrison as Emma

Are you kidding me with this episode? Another alt-timeline? Really show? I have to ask even though it’s a wish, how does Emma and Neal get together to even have Henry and why is he still called Henry? That name was because of Regina! It might be a fake wish reality BUT STILL SHOW! And somehow in this world Rumple could get a bean with ease when in reality he got Regina to cast the dark curse so he could get to his son. On a context level this episode hurts. Plus Robin is back now in the wish world.

In other plots, when Aladdin became the Genie, Jasmine didn’t make her wish to return to Agrabah. For some reason they waited and EQ got the lamp prompting the whole wish world. In other, other plots Belle and Rumple’s son got taken by the Black Fairy and turns out to be the hooded figure who is destined to kill Emma, so that’s how they worked Rumple and Belle’s plot to have more importance. And EQ is now a Snake and at two masters later, Jasmine has the lamp and made her wish. Still wish Aladdin and Jasmine weren’t side-plot fodder.

Did not care for this episode, sure it’s another twist that Baby Gideon is one who kills Emma but the wish-world shenanigans literally hurt my head with all the mental leaps it asks of the viewers.

Also this show has a pattern of having a character telling other characters to meet they at place in one hour. Is that ever enough time?

07Aug 2017

Once Upon a Time Season 6 Episodes 7 & 8 Review

by jess

Episode 7: Heartless

Ginnifer Goodwin as Snow White and Josh Dallas as David

And we are back to having a sleeping curse in play. This time it’s a shift based curse on the Charmings. If Snow is awake then David is asleep and vice-versa. It’s rather clever. Too bad the rest of the episode hinged on being boring aside from the puppy. What happened to Charming’s dog?

The past section rewrites Snow and David’s first meeting so instead of meeting when Snow robbed him, now they actually have their first encounter when Snow got captured by a bounty hunter. Why? Why retcon this? Is it so they have more True Love to their story because they literally drown in true love mythos.

So show of hands, who sick of Belle and Rumple’s toxicity? I hate that they take up so much screen time. The show murdered their relationship because it needed Rumple to always be in the villain position but they can’t make Belle a doormat so it’s sucks to watch them. You can’t root for them.

Emma and Hook are getting boring since more of their scenes are just pep talks. And that just leave the Charming who are too perfect but now they are curse. So I guess that makes them compelling? Not really.

Liked the twist on the curse and the puppy. Also the line about the Dying of the Light reference. Sure they were referring to the poem but my mind went to the George R.R Martin book.

Episode 8: I’ll be your Mirror

Lana Parrilla as Evil Queen and Jared S. Gilmore as Henry

Well don’t the Charmings just adjust super well? No curse is going to get in the way of making pancakes. And hey and the curse allows to actually care for their baby whom they haven’t talked much about this season but at least baby Neal is there, still a baby and yet Henry keeps on aging.

This episode has Regina and Emma getting trapped in the Mirror world with the Dragon. The Dragon seems like he has a compelling backstory which we will probably never see. EQ tries to pull a Darth Vader on Henry when she gives him a Sophie’s choice which is kill the Dragon, whose heart she holds or let the Dragon, who can turn into a dragon, kill Emma and Regina. Henry opts for that heroic third option which is the smash the mirror which works and not just taking the heart from EQ and telling the Dragon to stop. They never do things like that. Maybe heart stealing is that fourth option. In anycase since Regina has had a light and dark battle in her soul, is she Kylo Ren?

In other plots, Aladdin steals the portal wand so that Belle can go to the Enchanted Forest because Rumple is a mammoth asshole who wants to use the Shears of Destiny on their son so the kid won’t hate him or something? Rumple forces Belle to stay and now he wants Zelena killed since she has leverage on him because he can’t hurt her. Just sick of the Rumple plot. The show loves the actor but they can’t do much with character without constantly making him an ass-face.

Also Emma is going on and on about her death again. This season lacks focus

Also RIGHT before EQ throws Hooks I swear there some weird effect in the water. Maybe it’s a subliminal message?

subliminal message or weird effect in Once Upon a Time

subliminal message or weird effect or compassion error?

03Aug 2017

Once Upon a Time Season 6 Episodes 5 & 6 Review

by jess

Episode 5: Street Rat

Deniz Akdeniz as Aladdin & Karen David as Princess Jasmine

Sigh, this savior business has gotten out of hand. So being “The Savior” in the first season seemed like a cute nickname for Emma to bring back all the happy endings and her “light magic” was the result of being the product of true love which is what fuel her nickname as the Savior. Turns out “The Savior” is now a status with a tragic fate. All Saviors Must Die, All Saviors Must Serve. However, the savior status can be cut with special scissors.

Didn’t dig the Storybrooke section with EQ and Zelena getting a spa day. Gotta wonder which story the spa workers are from.

The past section on the other hand, savior business aside, was pretty good. Jasmine and Aladdin are likable and the aesthetic of Agrabah was fun. Sure they mixed cultures and the leads have English accents but whatever. Rather would have the story focus on them than moody Emma. Basically the Aladdin is also a savior and his story feed more into Emma’s story than his or Jasmine’s plot.

Episode 6: Dark Waters

Colin O’Donoghue as Hook & Faran Tahir as Nemo

A MAN IS NO ONE!? OMG IT’S A FACELESS MAN! RUN HOOK RUN !!!!!!!!!!! Or Nemo (no one) HA! How droll.

Basically this episode is another episode about how revenge isn’t all that great yadda yadda yadda. You have heard it all before, agian and agian and then agian.

There are some issues with this episode. First off, apparently the past section takes place during the Dark Curse BUT BUT BUT didn’t the dark curse freeze the Enchanted Forest? Isn’t that what Cora said to Hook right before it fell in season 2 in another past section? And yet here is Hook now having an adventure with Captain Nemo and his brother Liam, his other brother. under the sea.

Also when did Henry start hating Hook? His weirdness toward Hook was contrived. Plus if you had a drinking game going where you take a drink anytime someone says “Hope” and “Family” you would have extreme liver cirrhosis by now. Suppose if you added “Dearie” to the mix you’d be dead.

And finally and this isn’t so much an issue with this episode BUT more on the season as a whole. What are the stakes anymore? The characters have been told that splitting a heart with one’s true love cheats death so long as it’s done quickly before the soul can leave the body and back in season 5 hell Emma and Hook passed the true love test so what’s the problem with Emma’s fate? Let fate play out and BOOM heart share.

Otherwise the episode was weak, less revenge and Emma’s visions and more Jasmine and Aladdin. They are the saving grace of this season so far.

This episode did remind me of Song by Sarah Brightman called Captain Nemo.

02Aug 2017

Naomi Scott as Princess Jasmine

by jess

Naomi Scott

Let’s just unpack this bit of casting news. Recently Naomi Scott was cast as Princess Jasmine in the upcoming Live-Action Remake of Aladdin and some people are upset. Scott is half Indian and half British and Jasmine is Middle-Eastren which means for a lot of people that she isn’t White or Indian. The reason for her casting is that she can sing and dance. At least that is excuse given.

Karen David as Princess Jasmine in Once Upon A Time

It’s a hard one. Personally I think Scott would have been better suited for Esmeralda, though I would rather see Gigi Radics in the role but this isn’t the first time Jasmine has played by a women of Indian Descent. In Once Upon a Time she was played by Karen David who can also sing and dance, watch Galavant, that show is awesome. One point people are making against Scott playing the role is that is was great chance by Disney to have a Middle Eastern woman in a prominent positive role. Another issue is that casting Scott looks like Disney doesn’t understand that Middle Eastern culture and Indian culture are different, even though some have defended Scott by saying there is overlap in the styling of Aladdin like the palace look like the Taj Mahal and Raja’s name. Also at Disney World Aladdin character frequent the Moroccan pavilion at Epcot. Disney has aways mixed vaguely similar cultures. I mean Agrabah is a combination of Arga and Baghdad, which is where Aladdin was originally supposed to be sets. Agra is an Indian city in Uttar Pradesh where the Taj Mahal is located.

Princess Jasmine

Oh, boy am I generalizing today but a lot people feel that everyone should play any role and some feel that if you whitewash you have to cast everything like in voice acting in accordance with a character’s race and background and it just a can worms. First off Whitewashing is a BIG issue. If a character is a specific race and if it’s important to their character and setting than YES cast someone who fits the mold. I had no idea that years ago bitch about Chinese women playing Japanese women in Memoirs of a Geisha that should have been grateful they were at least East Asians. I did here people complaining about black people in the new Beauty and the Beast movie as historical inaccurate. Forget about the implications of a forgoten Prince hanging out after I guess the Revolution, it’s the race of few minor characters that irked some people.

Mena Massoud

Disney is in a unique position with its remake movies, they don’t need bankable actors. Sure, they help but people are going to see these movies more for nostalgia than the actors. So far with Aladdin, Aladdin is being played by Egyptian- Canadian actor Mena Massoud and Will Smith playing the Genie. If there reason for casting Scott was predicated on Singing and Dancing made they either rethink making these remake musicals or they could considering dubbing.

Naomi Scott

I think if Disney had expanded their search or at least rethought the singing necessity there might have been a better Jasmine. Scott might do fine in the role but I can understand both side of the argument of her casting. It seemed like filmmakers gave up trying to cast the role and settled for some who nearly had the right ethnic background.

Or maybe the film will make Agrabah a reverse Mughal-equse regime where the ruling and noble class are of Indian descent and the lower class are Arabic to justify this casting choice. (This will more than likely not happen.)

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/07/17/disney-aladdin-jasmine-naomi-scott_a_23034316/

http://fortune.com/2017/07/21/disney-aladdin-cast-naomi-scott/

01Aug 2017

Disney Live-action Hunchback movie! Maybe

by jess

Quaismodo Bells of Notre dame reprise Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame

I get a Google-Alert for Hunchback of Notre Dame. However it sucks. Mostly it just tells me about another regional production of Hunchback, which is great or something on Criaglist. To be honest I mostly ignore the alerts. Last Saturday though I got it in my head to just look on Google News for Hunchback when I saw this;

http://www.denofgeek.com/us/movies/the-hunchback-of-notre-dame/266641/the-hunchback-of-notre-dame-live-action-remake-considered-by-disney

OR a similar news outlet making this report. Also I think my Google Alert alerted me to this on Monday.

So about the news. It’s not yet happening so to speak but Alan Meken said

“I can’t say anything yet,” Menken said, “but I think Hunchback would make an amazing live action musical.”

Quasimodo during Out There Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame

So it MIGHT happen. After watching the Beauty and the Beast remake, I think Hunchback is the way for Disney. It really did seemed with the new Beauty and beast movie they were trying to captizle on a movie that studios already thought was near flawless which is why they only changed minor things and did a fairly straight shot for shot remake. What was the point of remaking it other than making money? They could have just re-released the 1991 movie to theater if there weren’t going to adapt the story for the medium more. Say what you want about the 2015 Cinderella movie, at least it was different from the cartoon. Which bring us back to Hunchback.

Disney never liked Hunchback that much. It didn’t make much money ergo it wasn’t successful for Disney. Also the darker tone was turn off for a lot of people. A live-action version could fix a lot of issues and people might be more forgiving of a dark tone. It would be interesting to see what is done with the story. Do they make it more of blend of the musical and the cartoon. Or do they follow the book more? Do we get a more innocent Esmeralda and angry Quasimodo? Do we get a priest/alchemist Frollo? Do we get a Gringoire?

If this movie does get made it brings the total number of Hunchback movie adaptions in production up. Very technically speaking there are three in the works. There is the Max Ryan version (could be in filming hell), there was the version from Esmeralda’s perspective (haven’t heard any new on that one in a long time) and the Universal Monster version (hope The Mummy didn’t kill this being made.) Pretty sure the jazzy Brolin version is dead.

Anyway well we’ll just have to wait and see but I’m up for a new Hunchback version good to bad.

31Jul 2017

Once Upon a Time Season 6 Episodes 3 & 4 Review

by jess

Episode 3: The Other Shoe

Jessy Schram as Cinderella & Tim Phillipps as Prince Thomas

I had forgotten that Rumple was also the Fairy Godmother. He just has so many roles in this show. This episode revisits Cinderella a.k.a Ashley and her step-sister who was in love with a footman but got hauled off to land of untold stories with the wicked step-mother because she didn’t want her daughter marrying beneath her. Apparently working for royalty isn’t good enough for a woman who sold porcelain for some dresses and uses slave labor. Or is Cinderella an indentured servant?

The other plot going on is Emma’s issues with the future and finally asking Hook to move into the house that he picked out for them to live. Emma’s proposal was sweet but weird when she added the bit about getting hit by a bus and space for leather jackets. Also there is a plot with Regina trying to out-think EQ, Snow White wanting to teach, David learning about his father’s death and Rumple getting a mixtape to Belle. These plots are all at the expensive of the other stories going on like the Dwarves saved Dopey from being a tree and Dopey got into a masters program. In what and where? Fuck you, that’s not important when we got a mixtape and a 40+ year old hot cold case. I still wanna know how Mulan and Aurora saved Philip from the wraith back in season 2. That could have been an epic adventure but instead we got Tamara and Owen, Peter Pan’s anti-magic zealots. It’s just like Why on that one.

The past section was good, nice to see Cinderella’s step-sister get more characterization than nothing. How she met the foot-man could have been interesting but there is no time for a line like that when there are like five plots per-episode and a weird pilgrim lady coming to town, the show has its priorities people. Got to wonder what story that Pilgrim lady is from and why didn’t she want her story played out?

It was a good enough epsiode, loved Emma’s white embroidery shirt especially with the leather jacket and the step-sister’s gown. That gown was awesome.

Mekenna Melvin as Clorinda Tremaine

Episode 4: Strange Case

Hank Harris as Dr. Henry Jekyll & Sam Witwer as Mr. Hyde

Well that was super unceremonious way to end the Hyde and Jekyll storyline. So many questions left unanswered only to answer a question that made Hyde’s story play into Rumple and Belle’s toxic relationship and to get the EQ to be her own character. I did like how their backstory played out but right when you start liking the plotline POOF it’s gone because we have to make way for the Aladdin plot.

Speaking of Aladdin, the b-plot with Jasmine being a teacher’s aid to Snow was SUPER boring. What does Snow White teach? Don’t care, I want to know what Dopey is getting his M.A in, I’m super curious about that. Maybe it’s dendrology, the scientific study of trees? I mean he was a trea. In my head canon that is what he’s studying. I mean if the show’s not going to answer it might as well make something up.

This season seems like a kitchen-sink of plotlines. It’s like they knew there wasn’t going to be a continuous story for season 7 so they had to jam back season 6 but they had already started the Hyde/Jekyll/EQ plot. So while the backstory and ultimately Hyde and Jekyll were interesting in the heart/mind and social politeness vs not giving a fuck about society was interesting, nothing came from it. I mean WHAT WAS HYDE’s PLAN? WHAT DID HE WANT?

Also Rumple got his hair cut! That’s an important plot point OR the actor got sick of the wig.

Not a great episode. Minor points for concluding a story instead of having characters fizzle into the background, Lily and Maleficent. The past section was really good.

Also where are my Avonlea fans at because Jekyll reminds me a lot of Jasper Dale, sans the murder part.

27Jul 2017

Once Upon a Time Season 6 Episodes 1 & 2 Review

by jess

Episode 1: The Savior

Jennifer Morrison as Emma Swan

Wow, this episode has no past section, well except for that Aladdin is a has-been savior and Belle’s dream world but no plot based section set in the past. There was no time to have a past section when there is like 30 story plots going on. Regina being pissed at Zelena while mourning Robin, Zelena pissed at Regina for destroying her dark part as well as not thanking her for destory the man she loved to save Regina, Hyde’s secret evil plans, Belle’s baby, the island of Misfit untold story characters, Emma’s future, Aladdin is another savor, what drinks did the Evil Queen make and what does she want, Robin’s soul, Archie trying to find more patients, Granny trying to make ends-meet after Snow volunteers her place as a soup kitchen, Pongo trying to take a walk in peace, Hyde trying to have enough money in his canteen account, Hook’s new haircut, and Henry trying to get in on all the action while Hook and Emma try to get some action. I’m sure I missed something but there is lots and lots of plot this episode. Hopefully they will all reach a nice conclusion since this sort of is the last season since NEXT season seems to be a soft re-boot with most of the cast not returning.

Was this a good episode? It was alright not good but okay. It did get the ball rolling in many, many directions.

Episode 2: A Bitter Draught

Lana Parrilla as Regina

No thank you I like fruity beers. A bad Beer Joke! And now the review.

I do not get this land of untold story plotline. There is a magical realm where time stops and stories are halted and the people who live there chose to live there so they didn’t have live those stories and YET they all chose to follow Hyde, who is like their leader for some reason not explained, to Storybrooke to play out the stories they didn’t want played out? Enter characters like the Three Musketeers who are just extras, some Bellydancers, Steampunk people, a cowboy and Edmond Dantes a.k.a The Count of Monte Cristo.

So they changed up Edmond’s story for drama so that instead of Mercedes (his fiancÃ©e) marrying Morcerf, Mortcerf kills her and Dantes doesn’t know about Danglar and Villefort’s involvement. And forget about HaydÃ©e, she wasn’t mentioned or Albert. They also suggested that Monte Cristo was a place but it wasn’t, it was a rocky spit of land hence the joke of the title but props to them getting that it’s also a sandwich. I’ll admit it I might be harsher with adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo since Gankutsuou is a near flawless adaptation and one of my favorite anime, go watch that but adaptation is an art since so let’s just look this version of the Count for what it is. ((( also that they did Monte Cristo before Hunchback, am I bitter about that? Yes even if they jacked it up I would still love to see what they do with the story and characters.)))

It’s not a terrible re-work of the Count since his deal his how revenge isn’t as sweet as previously thought much like Regina but Edmond’s story is a means to an end since he died as a point from EQ (Evil Queen) to Regina. It just seemed more of a waste since all his actions were because of EQ had his heart. And apparently people can just say when someone has their heart. Well then why didn’t Hook say that to Emma in season 4 when Rumple had his heart? There are no real magic rules anymore. EQ used a magic damping spell and messed up Henry’s phone. What price did she pay for that?

Speaking of nitpicks, the show needs to do a better job styling the double’s hair on Regina. Regina has this flair out layer that is missing on the double when Lana Parrilla is playing the EQ in the stand-off scene. Also how did Regina get to Edmond’s Dantes/Dumas world? Was it the Hat? Realm hoping isn’t an issue since season 3.

Also gotta love Disney lack of self-awareness when talking about how sequels are more “involved” than the original. It’s funny given their terrible record for Disney sequels as well as recent remakes, which are more misguided.

This episode has like three balls in motion although one is dividing. You have the EQ’s machinations which involves Regina, Zelena and David. There is the untold story characters which might just be episodic stories used to move the main plots forward whatever that turns out to be, and Emma’s issue with being A savior and her death by cloaked figure in the future. Oddly Hyde was absent in this episode. Guess no time when the EQ tricks Edmond Dantes to teach her other-half lesson and how did Regina use Edmond to get her revenge in the past? Like how did she know Villefort and Dangler involvement? Magic? Seems like the Count of Monte Cristo should have been smarter but that’s adaptation for you.

Meh episode but it’s still set-up for the season.

24Jul 2017

Once Upon a Time Season 5 Episodes 21- 23 Review

by jess

Episode 21: Last Rites

Sean Maguire as Robin & Lana Parrilla as Regina

Ok, so Hades’ plan this whole time and the real reason he gave up on the time travel thing to switch places with his brother and focused on Zelena was because Zeus broke the Olympian Crystal and Hades couldn’t repair it with his heart stopped in addition to not being able to leave the underworld. Also it seems like Hades wants it all, Storybrooke, Olympus, no-calorie cookies and power. Now the Olympian Crystal is the only thing that can kill or end a god. This the same plot device the show uses a lot towards the end of each arc, some magic thing that either saves everyone or doom everyone, like season 2 it was that fail-safe trigger, or is season 4 with that necklace. Or how a cut from Excalibur just murders you.

Trouble is Hades he can, like everyone else, can snap a person’s neck with magic, so why not just do that? He did it with Arthur. Why really do you need the trouble of forging your only murder weapon, even if they do-gooder don’t know about it? Why bother?

Except Arthur and Hook found the pages about Hades and the crystal and they put in the book and TA-DAnce, pages in the Storybrooke version for Emma to see. But it is Zelena who kills Hades after he obliterates Robin’s being and lies about this schemes. Hades did love Zelena though he just fell victim to being a villain and wanting to have it all. Power, love, family, power, a kingdom to rule, power and more power. He didn’t explicitly say it but he probably wanted to kill Zeus with the crystal. Anway Zeus restores Hook to life because he was a good boy. So Hook stayed officially dead for like one episode. Arthur is cool with being in the underworld since he now knows Camelot wasn’t the kingdom that he was prophesied to repair, it was UnderBrooke. Looks like Cruella is going to have some opposition.

It does suck that Robin’s existence has been wiped out, like his soul is gone. It was a noble sacrifice for Regina. It might have been sadder if he wasn’t being such a douche about his daughter, how Zelena was dangerous and how Regina shouldn’t trust Zelena.

This conclusion to the arc felt very underwhelming. Robin’s death is only going to cause more drama for Regina because this show loves its drama. Girl can’t be happy because that’s not dramatic.

All in all this was an arc of cameos and call backs.

Episode 22: Only You

Jared S. Gilmore as Henry & Olivia Steele Falconer as Violet

Remember in season 2 when Henry tried to destroy magic? Well he’s at again though with more teenaged angst. He thinks magic is the root cause of all the suffering in Storybrooke expect Storybrooke is made of magic so when Rumple steals a piece of that Olympian Crystal and tethers Storybrooke’s magic to it after Belle’s father refuses to wake her, Henry using his author powers steals the crystal and goes to New York to destroy it and Violet goes with him. At a library they find other Once Upon a Time books like one has Don Quixote and Paul Bunyan, not sure why they are in the same book. Violet also sees a “twin” of the Holy Grail which they conclude can destroy magic. Why is it in the Mid-town library? Rumple however shows up and takes the Crystal before Emma and Regina can get there.

Regina is once again go through the fine line of being good and suffering and following her impulse and be evil which means she would lose everything and everyone. This was an emotionally charged scene and the best of the episode.

Speaking of the balance of good and evil we have Jekyll and Hyde now. Because of the impending Doom, there is an evacuation of Storybrooke. Before Zelena can close the portal it goes crazy and her, Snow, David and Hook are pulled to somewhere. With the wand broken they captured and are the prisoners of Mr.Hyde. Hyde is not a fan of the Dark one. Jekyll repairs the wand but is caught and Hyde allows the plan to continue as he wants everyone in the steampunk zepplin land to go to Storybrooke too. Hyde also steals Belle in pandora’s box from Rumple. Rumple actually picks to save the power object over his love. Classic Rumple. Don’t feel bad for him. Hyde does this for leverage.

Here’s a thought, couldn’t Henry, as the author, just write that everyone loses their magic? Then no more magic. Or is that not dramatic enough? He just uses his author power to steal the magic but not remove it from people.

This episode is more of the same just upcycled. We have seen Regina’s struggling with her darker self and now there the Jekyll and Hyde plot. Henry wants to destroys magic again, people trapped in a weird land again. Rumple wants power for love but choice power again. This episode reverts to it’s old patterns and just repackages it. Characters don’t get arcs they grow a little bit and then a setback happens and people accuse them of following back to their old patterns, just like the show. That maybe how real life goes but it’s not interesting in a show about how gray fairy tale characters are and redemption arcs.

This episode is serviceable as the first part of the two part finale. On a plus side the violin music at the end was amazing. It had a Phantom of the Opera vibe. Do Phantom of the Opera Once Upon a Time. Or Hunchback. I don’t really want to think those curiosity were a weird Hunchback reference, I’d rather be reading too much in their extra choices.

Episode 23: An Untold Story

The Land of Untold Stories

This episode is the 2nd part of the finale. Zelena, Snow, Hook and David find out the identity of the Good Gardener/Doctor and the Warden and they try and flee Mr.Hyde who has been separated from Jekyll. Turns out they are in the Land of Untold Stories which is full of Outcasts, show’s own words, so high hopes for Hunchback. To be fair yet another extra looks like Esmeralda.

Meanwhile, Henry successfully destroys the magic of Storybrooke with the Dark Grail only to find out that most of his Family is trapped in another realm. They meet the Dragon, who isn’t dead and he tells them that magic is everywhere. They go a fountain and make wished which charges the crystal but it’s not enough. Henry makes speech about magic and belief which is enough to restore the crystal and open a portal which brings back Zelena, Snow, Hook and David along with Jekyll. Rumple slips through the portal to save Belle. The New Yorkers then think it was a act. Regina then uses Jekyll’s serum to remove the Evil Queen and crushes her heart. However Evil Queen isn’t dead, she on the war path for the next season.

Rumple and Hyde come to some deal and Rumple gives Hyde Storybrooke and Rumple gets intel on saving Belle. Hyde brings all the untold story people to Storybrooke for next season shenanigans

Also Violet’s dad was from the Twain’s story, A Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. Funny didn’t he chastised Henry for not being a knight. But they did say his name was Sir Morgan so might have been planned that way.

This episode has the flaws of the last episode but it have lot more set-up for next season with three plot threads, Regina versus Evil Queen in the flesh, no subtle internal struggle anymore, the show will eats its cake dammit, The Untold Stories featuring Hyde and Jekyll, and Rumple saving Belle which more than likely will get wrapped up quickly but it’s still a plot thread.

Henry flip-flopping on magic was annoying and his speech was awkward.

There was a heavy-handed foreshadowing when Emma tells Hook she loves him without being in peril there is a wedding gown positioned in between them in the background. What could happen next season???

So on to next season. Will there be Hunchback? Feel like I would have heard if there was by now since the season has ended. That extra might be it but she looks more like Esmeralda than the underworld waitress. Do you guys think that is Esmeralda?

Another Curious Extra or maybe Esmeralda

20Jul 2017

Once Upon a Time Season 5 Episodes 19 & 20 Review

by jess

Episode 19: Sisters

Lana Parrilla as Regina & Rebecca Mader as Zelena

Regina wants to get in the way of Hades and Zelena because Hades is a Villain and the God of Death and therefore cannot be redeemed. Evil Queen, Sure. Dread Pirate Hook Hand, you bet. Snow Queen, sort of. Rumple, jury is still out on that one. But the God of Death is beyond that even though Death is the ultimate equalizer.

Hades’ plan is now to go to Storybrooke with Zelena and have a life but leave the heros in UnderBrooke so they don’t get in the way so he puts all their names on tombstones for good measure. Regina then enlists Cora to make Zelena forget Hades. Zelena sees through this but in the end Cora makes them remember an incident from their past a kids where the met and liked each other but Cora made them forget. The sister reconcile and Cora moves on to Olympus. Regina tells Zelena that maybe she can change Hades but before she gets to him, Rumple and Pan kidnap her.

The B plot is about James and David. James’ real motivations for hating David is that David stole his glory. That is so dumb. In the end James take the plunge into the River of Lost Souls. This side plot has yet another case of Emma being lied to and not picking up on it.

The hero are acting dumb about Hades and Zelena. Maybe if they convinced them that they WON’T get in the way of their happiness, he might let them go home. Hades just seems to care about Zelena right now. Maybe Hades is up to no good but if he is up to some nefarious scheme he hiding with well with all his wooing of Zelena.

The emotional crux of Regina and Zelena was good towards the end of the episode. The emotions landed well. Having the sisters meet as children was weird as it retconned them and led to a quick reconciliation, guess they had to expedite things. The B plot was dumb, Cruella was the only good part. Hades proposal was cute, asking to make chaos with Zelena. So sweet. This episode was about a B.

Episode 20: Firebird

Jennifer Morrison as Emma Swan & Colin O’Donoghue as Captain Hook

There is a lot going on in this episode.

Hades goes to the Heros for help to save Zelena from Rumple and Pan. In exchange he offers to take their names off the graves. Hades compiles with Rumple and tears up the contract and frees Zelena. They kiss and presto, True Love’s Kiss awakens Hades’ Frozen heart. Apparently Hades knew it was true love. Hades triggers a portal to open but it will be open for a limited time only and Emma can’t split her heart to give to Hook as he’s been dead too long. Hades tells them about Orpheus and Eurydice and a rumor that could bring hook back. Hook and Emma descend into a low level of the Underworld to try and get some ambrosia which will bring Hook back but Hades cut it way long ago, thus tricking the heroes. Hook convinces Emma to let him go and go back without him. It’s a very sad scene, actually.

While that is going on. Henry tries to complete Operation Firebird which was to help people of the Underworld move on using his author powers. Too bad he didn’t think of this idea ages ago instead of whining. Cruella and the Blind-witch halt this by trapping them with a spell of Hades gave them in the library. Hades tricked them again. Meanwhile Rumple tricks Pan by saying he got a living heart but it was that river of lost souls AGAIN. Pan’s plan wouldn’t have worked anyway. Tricked AGAIN.

While all the heros are getting tricked Hades, Zelena and the baby leave. Just some backstory that I missed, Hades can only leave the underworld when true love’s kiss makes his heart beat again. Zeus stopped it for reasons. His heart “fluttered” when he was with Zelena, so he knows it’s True Love with her. He did have plan to go back into time so he could be the one on Mt Olympus but dropped the plan because he wanted Zelena. If they have kids, they will have red hair and be very snappy dressers.

The past section deals with Emma getting caught by a bail bonds person and how she got her leather jacket or her armor. The final part of that plot was very emotional.

So true love is apparently easy to find and hard to keep. The scene with Hook and Emma was very emotional and done well. Hades should have just done nothing. The heroes would have left him alone but he ruined with this scheming. He should have done nothing, unless he really does have some grand master plan that has yet to be hinted at. His plans so far have been go back in time, keep souls and be with Zelena.

This episode had some winky meta moments. Like the ticking clock that is the portal out of the underworld is an actual clock. And the bails bond lady telling Emma Phoenix isn’t hell, which is where she pretty much is now.

This episode was alright. It had some great emotional moments but again Emma didn’t notice a lie. Will we see Hook again? Maybe not but who knows. Glad to know Cruella got a bit of a happy ending. Cruella is going to run the Underworld now, good for her.

17Jul 2017

Once Upon a Time Season 5 Episodes 17 & 18 Review

by jess

Episode 17: Her Handsome Hero

Emilie de Ravin as Belle & Wes Brown as Gaston

Not one for mixing references but they could have given Gaston the surname of Leroux but instead they went with LeGume as in a bean. Is Gaston’s Kingdom in bean trading? Or they COULD have made it Avenant from the 40’s version as it was name originally considered for Gaston.

This is a Belle heavy episode and she puts her foot down on Rumple using Dark Magic. Hades enlists the help of Gaston to get his revenge on Rumple for his death. Hades does this since he knows Belle will insist that Rumple not hurt Gaston. Hades also makes Belle a deal that if Gaston or Rumple knock the other into the River of Lost Souls, her baby is safe. Belle tries to save Gaston but ends up pushing him into the water to save Rumple. Oops and it doesn’t free the child from the contract.

The reason for this is supposedly souls make Hades more powerful and he doesn’t like the hope going around town as flowers are starting to grow. Flowers growing from hope is super sappy. Hades, you seem like a god of moderate intelligence, why not just let Hook and everyone go and count your loses? Sure your down some souls but there is no hope floating around. Sounds like a win-win. Instead he does more antagonist stuff and pines for Zelena.

Past plot was Gaston is a jerk who doesn’t like ogres but does like Belle. Gaston is a nicer rendition of his Disney-self. Was it just me or did the ogre looks similar to Quasimodo? Especially in the opening sequence. Oddly Her Handsome Hero sounds like Star Wars. As it’s a story about compassion and forgiveness, though lots of stories are about that. And LeFou got a name drop, which is more than Olaf got in season 4.

B plot is simple. Emma has a scary dream and it turns out to be Ruby/Red.

This episode was alright. Not a huge fan of Belle and Rumple anymore. Rumple did make a point about dark and light being a point of view. As Belle was ok with stealing property to help someone even though that didn’t happen.

Episode 18: Ruby Slippers

Meghan Ory as Red/Ruby & Teri Reeves as Dorothy

Is some ways this is a filler episode as it takes focus off the Hades’ plot, which is fine, but it does somethings to move things a little bit. The theme of this episode it to take the risk on love. Zelena does it with Hades and Ruby does it will Dorothy.

Ruby and Mulan’s quest leads them to OZ to find Ruby’s pack. They get there just as Zelena returns and they meet up with Dorothy as Zelena dog-naps Toto in exchange for the slippers. Other than hating Zelena, there was no point in Dorothy keeping the shoes. The crew’s plan is to put Zelena to sleep with the poppy sleeping potion. Dorothy and Ruby bond while getting the poppies and Ruby crushes hard on Dorothy. After the potion is made Dorothy goes off on her own and Zelena puts her in a sleeping curse and takes the slippers. As Dorothy just has the love of OZ she doesn’t have true love.

Ruby follows Zelena to UnderBrooke and hijinx ensue. Mainly they want to get Aunty Em to blow a kiss into a bottle but Hades liquidates Aunt Em to make Zelena happy. While that is happening the Haunting booth is removed and Snow begs David to leave with Ruby with the slippers that Zelena did give back. Snow can’t leave because her name is on the headstone BUT Hook crossed her name off so David stays for her. Hades enchanted his Hook so he could engrave names on the stones. So Snow leaves with Ruby. Ruby kisses Dorothy and she wakes up and Snow goes back to Neal. Also Belle figures she doesn’t have nine month to save her child so she puts herself under a sleeping curse, that Zelena gave her. Not sure if that was a great plan.

Let’s just unpack Belle’s plan. The Sleeping curse on her was practical matter by the show as Belle’s actress was pregnant hence the big red coat she wears. You can see her abdomen sometimes. So this was just a necessity. If you look at in the context of the show, sleeping curses do stop aging but does that apply to an embryo? Shrugs. Doesn’t seem like a great plan but not sure how much Hades REALLY cares about Belle and Rumple’s kid, he just likes the leverage and deals.

Then there is the crux of this episode Mulan is all still alone. Ruby and Dorothy are true loves because I guess they both felt like outsiders and liked dogs. Not a bad start to things. I hope Mulan will finds someone too. She was cute with Ruby but I guess they were just friends on a mission to find Ruby a place in the world, and she did. To be fair, I don’t know what’s up with Dorothy. I don’t mean her character but her costume. Can’t quite put my finger on it but it looks like something out of steampunk. With two patterns going on. Warrior grab with a gingham skirt? NOT sure hot to feel about that one other than confused. The pairing on Ruby and Dorothy was ok but it was contained to one episode so while there is an attachment to Ruby and Mulan, there isn’t one to Dorothy as show depicts her.

Another curiosity in this episode is the guy removing the Haunting Booth is named Claude. I do feel like I’m being mocked here. First the lady at the dinner, then the ogre now a random dude named “Claude.”

This episode was fine. Ruby and Dorothy got their happy endings while the others are in Hell. Still not bad not amazing but it was ok episode.

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