Once upon a time (Season 1)

[Fenril]

Just finished the first season of this ABC show on DVD.

The premise: a small town in Maine, Storybrooke, is populated by incarnations of popular fairytale characters, currently unaware of their magical nature and living as regular humans (Jiminy Cricket is now a child psychologist, Snow White is a grade school teacher, Red Riding Hood runs a diner with her grandmother and so on). But one day the mysterious Emma Swan enters the town and things change: a dead clock runs again and magic starts creeping back...

Oft compared to the comic book "Fables", this has more in common with "Lost" (in fact, it's from the same headwriters and uses a very similar narrative structure), through the premises are suspiciously similar [the key diference is that "Fables" is specifically drawn from the original source folklore, whereas this show mostly uses Disney interpretations --at one point, Pongo from 101 Dalmatians shows up, in a non-speaking cameo].

Of the many, many "high concept" shows that spun off from Lost's sucess, this and "Heroes" have been the most sucessful so far, in that they have managed to last beyond one season and that there at least seems to be an overall plan.

I guess I enjoyed this fantasy / mystery hybrid enough to be interested in the second season, through it did get a little too cute now and then and in some cases the way all famous fairytales (and some much more modern tales) are woven together got a tad irritating [in particular Snow White and Pince Charming's interminable "epic" love story]. On the plus side, the first season was overall balanced (they do exactly what they promised to do and then build a new and interesting status quo), it has a gorgeous theme, and the cast is pretty good (it irks me a bit that this is yet another show with all-white leads and one token evil character of color, through I'm told they fix this a little bit in the second season).

All in all: Watchable and very entertaining, through not one of my favorites.

[Fenril]

Season 2:

Immediately after breaking the curse on Storybrooke, Emma Swann finds herself transported to her birthplace –a magic land where dangerous enemies roam everywhere. Back home, her son Henry tries to keep his hometown as safe as he can, as several dangers, both internal and external, approach.

The easiest way to discuss the overall second season is to compare it to the pros and cons of the previous season:

Pros: The gimmicky yet amusing premise of seeing fairytale characters by way of popular interpretations (usually Disney, but there are subtler elements at work here, too) interacting on a slightly darker than usual fantasy /action combo. Well plotted season arc. Fairly well constructed, through hardly sympathetic, villains and heroes.

This season: Same gimmick, a bit more restrained this time around –the major additions are the villains Captain Hook and Cora (The queen of hearts) and the hero Mulan.. The action and fantasy elements are kept, through the relationships drama aspect has been toned down (but that fits the plot, so it’s okay). I thought the season arc worked pretty well and knew not to overstate certain plots, but it seems a good portion of the show’s fandom disagrees [then again, a show’s fandom doesn’t really represent the majority of its’ viewers]. The characters are… actually, this one slips. If a given character is the villain of a certain episode, he or she is presented as an irredeemable asshole. If they are the focus of the episode, everybody else is a jerk to them and so we apparently have to be sympathetic to their actions. Basically, this show needs more nuance.

Cons: Yet another show with an all-white cast and a token black villain. For that matter, yet another “minorities in real life are minorities in fantasy land, too” story. Gets way too cute at times. Interminable focus on designated major characters (Snow white and her Prince charming) to the detriment of far more interesting minor characters [to be fair, tv can rarely afford to do true ensemble cast stories, for the simple reason that actors have contracts].

This season: There is sort of an intention to bring more people of color this time around: Mulan, Lancelot (here African-american, and the actor actually was present in the background of several flashbacks in season 1, so that’s a plus), “The dragon” (no name given, but you probably know who this is meant to be), Tamara (impossible to describe without spoiling the season ending), and they get rid of Sidney Glass with no real explanation*. Queer characters continue to be non-existent in this show, in both fantasy and “real” world**. They tone down the Disney cameos this time around and use more creative references –a character called “Dr. Whale” initially thought to be the whale from “Pinocchio” is actually Dr. Frankenstein, his other name being a reference to director James Whale [Note: The third season, currently airing, goes back to this problem]. The cast is a bit more reasonably spread this time around –in addition to Glass, several other minor characters pretty much disappear from sight, but since their arcs had all been solved, that’s not so noticeable a problem.

EDIT: Actually, there are a few characters played by Latino (or at least half-latino) actors, such as Tiny (Jorge García) and Regina (Lana Parilla). So let's say they show has improved on this front. Aditionally, there are several background characters of color --background being the keyword.
Basically, yes, they avoid the "everybody in fantasy land" is white idea that several movies have run into, but it could still use work.

EDIT 2: Early in the third season Mulan is revealed to be bisexual, but that's about it so far.

*= An old trick from the writers of this show, part of the team behind “Lost”. I HATE this thing –even when the actors have to leave the show, it can’t be that hard to at least invent a reason the character is no longer around. I especially dislike the “forget character X ever existed” anywhere in fiction.

All in all: I think it’s about as good (and bad) as the first season.