Once Upon a Time Season 7 Mid Season thoughts

by
Dania Ramirez as Cinderella & Andrew J. West as Henry Mills Once Upon a Time Season 7 Episode 1 Hyperion Heights picture image picture image

Dania Ramirez as Cinderella & Andrew J. West as Henry Mills

So now that season 7 is on hiatus, I thought it would be a good time to reflect a little on this season. The season has a ton of problems, some are the story itself and other are more on the production level. For instance I can not buy into Jacinda/Ella and Henry’s romance and it’s weird that the actors have no sense of chemistry with each other. I’m pretty the only reason Hook and Emma were even a couple was because of the chemistry of the actors so you would think the casting would have had a chemistry test since Henry and Jacinda/Ella are a core emotional plotline. I mean does anyone care about their romance?

But there is more to just not caring about the curse and breaking the curse. It does seem like a null and void scenario since there is a potion that can just get people to wake up. Tilly was awoken a little while, Rumple is woke up, Regina and Zelena woke up. Gothel, Druzilla, Rapunzel and Anastasia were never impacted as was Lucy. So that just leaves, Henry, Ella/Jacinda, Tiana/Sabine, Wish/Hook. Nick/who knows and Tilly/Alice again. They only character that were don’t know the location of is Robin/Tilly’s ex. So breaking the curse doesn’t see like a BIG feat when MOST of characters are not really affected by it. Does Henry plot poison still work if he takes that potion to wake up, the curse is still in play to extent so what are the magical rules? Doesn’t feel like there are any real stakes. Regina can just wake people like she did with Zelena so why doesn’t she just wake people up?   

The other issue is that is cast feel small. Since this season is analogous to season 1 where it was whole town of cursed people, it felt bigger. Now it’s a neighborhood and people can leave. Is the whole of Hyperion Height populated with Enchanted Forest B character’s or is it a mix of Seattle people? I seem to recall the characters couldn’t leave Hyperion Heights expect when they do. What is this curse beside more amnesia which is Once Upon a Time dramatic crutch?   Five plotlines in sevens seasons.  It’s high but lower in you think of each arc per season which is 12 arcs per seven seasons  and there 5 major arcs with amnesia, though more if you count Belle and that dwarf losing their memories so let’s round that up to 6, since the risk of leaving Storybrooke in season 2 was big plot point but not part of the larger story till Hook knocked Belle out and she got amnesia and they she was awoken as Lacey but reverted back to Belle fairy quickly. So half the show is about amnesia.     

Okay that was a tangent, but my point is the curse is really affecting a handful of people and they only two that any emotional resonance which would be Rogers/Hook and Tilly/Alice. They are so the more emotional part of this season. Not Henry, not Ella/Jacinda and not Lucy. All their interaction feel hollow. So this season lacks emotion and  the stakes of season 1.

Also it’s very annoying that this show which gives every character dual identity could not be bother to give a proper name to the realm. It’s called The Other Enchanted Forest, the stupid Wish Realm has better name. The Enchanted Forest even got a second name for no reason in season 4, Misthaven.  

Once Upon a Time Season 7 Episodes 7 & 8 Review

by

Got two this time and I’m also a week late but I’m a very lazy person so that’s a good enough reason.

 

Episode 7: Eloise Gardner

Meegan Warner a Rapunzel & Colin O'Donoghue as Wish Hook Once Upon a Time Season 7 episode 7 Eloise Gardner picture image

Meegan Warner as Rapunzel & Colin O’Donoghue as Wish Hook

I do love Fairy-Tale Procedurals!

So according to someone on reddit the reveal of Alice being both Tilly  AND Wish-Hooks daughter was obvious and yeah it was, I mean I caught onto it BUT I never saw anyone mentioning it prior so maybe it was in your face that one needed to mention it, I’ll leave it at that. And yet I was off on Gothel being Eloise Gardner, I think or she posing as Eloise Gardner for  dramatics.

This episode explain how who is Alice’s mother and how she became cursed. Wish-Regina infoms Wish Hook that she is out of magic, so he goes to a tower to find some. Rapunzel is there and she tells him she needs a flower petal to ecape so he gets a flower and then they share an “enjoyable night.”  However  Hook is trick by Mother Gothel  who was posing as Rapunzel who had in turn trapped her in the tower and she needed a someone with her blood to be trapped in her to escape. Gothel is also the witch trapped by Ivy and Victoria and she also poses as Eloise Gardner too just throw off Rogers because Eloise Gardner is the missing teeangers who saved Rogers but the OUAT wiki says Gothel is Eloise, more confusion. This backstory does make things a little more problematic.

First thing, I did not HATE this backstory BUT there big big problems. FIRST ONE, The Tower itself.  So wish realm Hook goes to the OTHER Enchated Forest with no issue? We know it’s in that realm because we saw it when Regina trained Ivy. The realm hoping and time line are just in shatters for a show that’s WHOLE first center around it. Remember Rumple orchestrating the Dark curse to find his son? Remember? How Realm  hopping is child’s play and easy EXCEPT when it’s not. So Wish Realm Hook had a baby with another realm witch? Is he real and that makes Real World/Enchanted Forest/MistHaven Regina a murder and that begs the question What Happen to Wish Realm Regina? Also How old is Alice? She is conceived  after Regina failed the Dark curse so she has to be Emma’s age but time seems to move faster in the other enchanted forest. How old is she?  I”M CONFUSED NOW!  

Ok, the OTHER problem with this backstory  is the one most people are talking about with is OUAT penchant for rape with magic. This is not the first time a character has engaged in sex with someone who is in disguise, in essence the person did not consent to sex with that person. THis happen with Zelena in season 4 posing as Marian and getting pregnant with Robin. And now again with Wish Hook and Gothel posing as Rapunzel.  But wait there is more, Graham from season 1, remember him, he was Regina sex slave because he had his heart and then she murders him. Emma dates a flying monkey who is technically in his real form as Walsh/Oz but still was misleading as well as Emma and Neal because she still a minor when Henry was conceived. So this show has issues! Like big issues

Colin O'Donoghue as Wish Hook Once Upon a Time Season 7 episode 7 Eloise Gardner picture image

Colin O’Donoghue as Wish Hook

So the rest of the episode was Roger tracking down Eloise and finding Gothel and Victoria gets locked up for it as by Ivy’s design.

The there is the food truck plot which what I’m calling the Jacinda Henry Lucy stuff. It’s just not interest. Basically Regina in order to protect Henry from whatever it was Ivy did is blocking Hnery and Jacinda for dating. This should more dramatic emotional thing but who cares. Henry has more chemistry with his mix tapes and in turn Jacinda has more chemistry with her truck’s engine. Does ANYONE CARE?     

Despite the issue with this episode it was fine. It’s nice to see the OUAT writers learn what a set-up is because the Hook dark one arc was stupid and I’m not over it, also Tilly might be one of the more interesting new characters, her and Ivy .  

 

Episode 8: Pretty in Blue

Rose Reynolds as Alice & Dania Ramirez as Ella Once Upon a Time Season 7 episode 8 Pretty in Blue picture image

Rose Reynolds as Alice & Dania Ramirez as Ella

Oh Show why did you bring up Catherine Nolan? I still want to know happen with Frederick? Did Catherine go to law school, I mean Dopey got a master’s degree so why not her? Oh this show and dropping people and characters.

Anyway this episode, groans.

So Alice and Wish Hook have this curse on then where Hook’s heart is poisoned so they CAN’T be together. That is a thing now and WHY?  Why on them? And who cast it? Anyway long and short of it is this poisoned Heart was on Ella’s (Cinderella) mother and father but Ella thought her mother abandoned her family and Ivy tried to it  to Henry’s heart but gets stopped and something with pendants showcasing Henry and Ella are true loves. The pendants have to show it because the actors do not. Also Alice can make portals appear, like that’s her thing.  

And apparently it’s not fully the actors’ fault because they have chemistry with other characters. Henry and Ivy and Jacinda and her baby dad, Nick. Lucy’s theory is that Nick is the Catherine Nolan of Hyperion Heights. Nick is a lawyer and a cool dude. But what is happening? Why do Henry and Ivy and Jacinda and Nick seem more like the pairing direction than Henry and Jacinda who the show trying to force true love on. We know it’s true love with them since it’s thier kiss that will break the curse because Ivy set it up and she making sure Regina blocks them. But what is the curse? Ivy or rather Drizella set it up to make her mother suffer but also to get magic from Anastasia? It’s all more convoluted than Regina’s or Snow’s or Hook/Nimue’s.

I did like Regina trying to gauge Weaver/Rumple, don’t why he would fake it. Anyway next time Regina and Henry are off to San Francisco to get someone.

Didn’t enjoy this episode as much it was all over the place.            

Tis the season for ugly x-mas sweaters

 

Once Upon a Time Season 7 Episode 5 Review

by

Greenbacks

Dania Ramirez as Jacinda and Mekia Cox as Sabine Once Upon a Time Season 7 episode 5 Greenbacks picture image

Dania Ramirez as Jacinda and Mekia Cox as Sabine

 

Aside from Ivy, this episode was a groan, a massive groan! It focused on Tiana/Sabine which would be okay if I wasn’t so confused. Tiana is a princess who is getting taxed by a King? Seems like the Tiana and her mother retained their rule but are getting taxed by another King? Did anyone proofread this?

Then Victoria is on the path to gentrified via to break Lucy’s faith to bring back her daughter with some witch who is really in league with Ivy who is really the Palpatine to Victoria’s Vader but for whatever reason she needs Roni and Henry to trust her. Point is Ivy knows what is up.

And Rogers is hunting some case which a missing teenage girl name Eloise Gardner, though if I RECALL from episode two Eloise seemed to do what Emma did when s Wish-Hook (a.k.a Rogers a.k.a this version of Hook) was dying but there is a  WHOLE to do with the backstory involving the missing girl and Rogers maybe I’m not remembering correctly. Anyway there is a plot with the missing girl made more clear by episode 7 titles “Eloise Gardner.”

Speaking of remembering, Roni finds a picture of Henry and Regina from Storybrooke that the witch had, so more memories.

The big take away from this episode is Jacinda and Sabine are starting a food truck and that fried chicken place DIDN’T have a fire extinguisher.    

This episode was much weaker  aside from Ivy. Evil or not she is the most interesting character.  

Also Pictyourthis!

Once Upon a Time Season 7 Episode 3 Review

by

The Garden of the Forking Path

Dania Ramirez as Cinderella, Andrew J. West as Henry Mills & Lana Parrilla as Regina Once Upon a Time Season 7Episode 3 The Garden of the Forking Path picture image

Dania Ramirez as Cinderella, Andrew J. West as Henry Mills & Lana Parrilla as Regina

As a fan of “The Good Place” I must laugh at the title since “fork” is how that show says the F-word, it’s self-censorship for humor. Anyway on with this episode.  

So we get more plot and the show pretty much rehashing the episode from season 1 where Henry goes into the mines where Snow White’s coffin was. The only difference is that Lucy didn’t find a coffin with Henry but part of Cinderella’s shoe and in weird try at a twist it turns out Victoria dug up the gardens to FIND a coffin which is her daughters Anastasia. Speaking of rehashing, this Cinderella is ALSO a single mother like the previous verson.  

In the past Cinderella joins up with the resistance lead by Tiana. Somehow I just can’t take this seriously. First why? There is so far nothing on why there is a resistance and what makes Lady Tremaine so forminable that there NEEDS to be a resistance against her?  Also Why Tiana? Like why her as a character? It just seems like a random pick and I really can’t help but think that Esmeralda the way Disney made her out to be would have been better since she was all about social justice but whatever the show is really hit-and-miss when taking cue from the Disney movies so Tiana is Leia.

Anyway, we learn some nuggets of info like Anastacia’s death is somehow Cinderella’s fault making Victoria’s motivations reviving her daughter. ERGO her motivates are akin to Rumple’s but that also diminishes her menace. But to bring up the menace again, she needs a Heart.

Here is some confusion, Lady Tremaine in the past needs Henry’s heart which is The Heart of the Truest Believer. So the writers remember that plot from season 3 but FORGOT that there is a protection spell on it so no one can take it. BUT in the world without magic (except when there is) Victoria needs to break Lucy’s faith to revive Anastasias. What? At least I think that is the plot.

Honestly I can’t put my head around this episode.  We have Victoria formerly  Lady Tremaine who knows about the curse or as the show puts it, is awake, digging up a community garden and shelling out 5 dollars bills to get permit to do it so she can bring back her child from somewhat death. And we have Cinderella making speeches to save the community garden and that makes her the hero she was?  

Then we have to  wonder about the graves Henry saw that allude to his wife and child. Are they real or is this another wish-version doppelganger or part of the curse. Speaking of said curse last season Lucy was TOLD by Tiger Lily to find her father. So how is going to resolve the end of last season with this season. Did Lucy escape the curse but Cinderella still remembers her.

I just didn’t’ care for this episode aside from some plot exposition that is just adding to confusion  it was boring. Because watching a Fairy Tale character with amnesia talking about building codes to save a community gardens from a greedy builder is just want I want in a convoluted Fantasy drama.       

 

Also Jacinda did a Tom Jane from  Arrested Development

 

Once Upon a Time Season 7 Episode 1 Hyperion Heights Review

by

Season 7 Episode 1 Hyperion Heights

Once Upon a Time Season 7 Episode 1 Hyperion Heights picture image

Dania Ramirez as Cinderella & Andrew J. West as Henry Mills

And we’re back at this. Why? I don’t know. Let’s just say I was inspired by Hulu show Difficult People. There was an episode where the main character was doing community service by teaching inmates about recapping TV Shows and how that it’s not really about the recap it’s the person doing the recap. So here we go, Season 7 of Once Upon a Time.

Basically they Disney Straight-to-Video-Sequeled  it! What does that EVEN mean? You know how one model of Disney sequels is the protagonist’s kid doing the same thing? Well that is what is happening here extensively. Henry’s daughter is getting Henry to fix a curse which he does not believe. Henry is Emma and Lucy is Henry. However in this version Henry is cursed and Storybrooke is  Hyperion Heights a neighborhood in Seattle. Seattle is probably also going to play the role of Boston and New York City. Sorry Portland Maine,   Once Upon a Time forgot you exist but maybe Portland Oregon will get a Shout-out.  

It’s all a soft reboot, doing the same thing Once Upon a Time has always done, Amnesia Curses. However there are different people at play, maybe and different people affected, maybe. We know Regina is affected as she now goes by Roni, a bar owner and Hook is a cop named Rogers. Rumple goes by Weaver but who knows if he affected.  So they all get new names to go by which these reviews extra fun…  I hope you all get the puns here. Hook is Roger because of the Jolly Roger and Rumple weaved Straw into Gold. It’s all very clever. Not sure where Roni comes from.   

The new players are Lucy, Henry and Cinderella a.k.a Jacinda’s daughter. She knows about the curse. Cinderella is Jacinda a single mom working a some chicken restaurant.  There is Victoria the new Regina a.k.a The Wicked Step Mother and her daughter/ assistant Druzilla. Her name is credited a Ivy. There is also Alice and Tiana. Tiana has a bit part in this episode declining Frog legs at the ball because oh you get it but she to be a recurring character. Also I’m confused on the subject of custody with Lucy vis-a-vis Jacinda and Victoria. Does a stepmother have rights to custody over her step-daughter’s daughter? Guess it would depend on if Jacinda was minor when she has Lucy. Don’t know but it’s not like Once Upon a Time was ever hazy in custody details  before, oh wait, it was for like three seasons.  

While Once Upon a Time did do Mystery well in the first season, it never  managed to since the that opening season, it does do twists well because it withholds vital information to make the twists happen. Like for example Hook being the/a Dark One, there was no set-up just the reveal. Sure, it makes for a twist but not one that was set up or hinted at. It’s hard to see how this season will stack up to the other seasons since it trying to a lot at once.  

Is it bad? No. Was the premiere a rehash? Oh boy was it! Do I hope it does its own thing and is compelling? Yes, am willing to give it a try especially when without Emma we don’t have her whiny savior moping, no hope speeches from Snow White or toxic Belle and Rumple. Though it does seem like Regina/Roni will get the hope speeches this season.

I feel like I shouldn’t question the logic of this show since it’s a slippery slope that leads to head implosions but other Realm Cinderella can drive a motorcycle having only ever before operating a horse-drawn carriage? Stop trying to make How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days more realistic!