4 x 01 TALE OF TWO SISTERS — FAVORITE AND LEAST FAVORITE MOMENTS

The door scene with Regina and Emma was good. I think indirect references such as this work best.

At 0:56 there was a “happy endings” joke, in the nudge-nudge-wink-wink kind of way. Frozen had a few of those; it’s the plausible deniability that makes them funny.

I really  liked this episode, not perfect I;d give it a 3.5/5

I really liked the Frozen stuff I liked the actors, acting and setting. Anna is really cute and fun and Elsa is great.

I really like the few Rumple and Belle scenes could have used more but again only first episode

My only grips is that the plot points feel a little too separated out for my own taste, but it still the first episode so I won’t judge the overall story just yet.

Oh and also FANTASIA REFERENCES! and the BOOK YAY!

Least Favorite:

– I have to put my least favorite first this time because I feel…disgusted… I simply hated the graveyard scene. Never have I heard such a cold and selfish monologue. I expected this to be a tear-jerker. I expected Rumpel to act even an ounce like the Rumpel in every previous season, but he did not. There were no kind words for Baelfire, and what a good son he was, or the father to Henry he could have been. Rumpel spoke of what Baelfire made him feel, what his future plans were for himself, then pretty much said, “I’m better now, though. Bye!” Gone is the man who would have ended himself at the thought of losing his boy. The boy he destroyed worlds for. Rumpel wasn’t a father at his son’s grave, he was a writer, tying loose ends. He’s now suffering from the same disease that ONCE injects into every other character and plot point: Shiny Toy Syndrome, a sickness that makes characters on this show forget that they are supposed to feel in favor of moving the plot. This show had weight, meaning and symbolism, and season after season was slowly purged of every scrap. I know that some didn’t like Neal, but he was also Baelfire, and he was Rumpel’s happy ending. He was the purpose of all events in the show, and his life was a perfect and seemingly deliberate set up to be a modern fairytale of mind blowing proportions. ONCE gutted this potential with his death, and cleaned the body out with this scene. They took all possibility and innovation and tossed it like debris on the street. They scraped every last bit of season 1 from this show in that scene alone. This tripe was ONCE’s conclusion to the search for a child that spanned centuries and worlds. I don’t know how to feel about this show now. Every bit of potential it once had to be smart, touching and meaningful has waned to nearly nothing, if it hasn’t gone already. ONCE is starting to look more and more like a fitting name for this show, as it ONCE was many things. I apologize for the rant, but that was eye-gouging-ly  torturous to watch, and I’m not even a huge Neal fan.

– I’m still not sure about this Frozen thing. It’s going a bit better than I would think, but I still don’t know.

– Methinks Ana doth ramble too much. I was never a big Frozen fan, but even I never characterized Ana as being that…well, ditzy.

– This episode as a whole underwhelmed me, especially as a premiere…

Favorite:

– Pabbie had some surprisingly good CGI, as did Marshmellow. Though, I think it’s distracting for them to both look so much like the films versions.

– The situation between Regina/Marian/Robin is being handled better than I thought it would. From the beginning, I thought the show was just going to demonize Marian (because shipping, of course). To my eternal satisfaction it does not seem to be going that way. Marian is actually shown as being justified in her emotions (And she completely is. I also hope the shows intent was to make  her seem understandable, instead of this just being a botched demonizing of Marian.).

– I’m beginning to wonder if this arc is going to come to the villains finally realizing that they must earn their happiness, and strive to change even in the face of adversity. Also, it makes me feel as if there is finally going to be a true investigation of what a happy ending is and is not.</li>

– Regina is not handling things the best way that she could, but it’s a lot more sensible than she would have in the past. I saw her growth here, even though she was backsliding.

– Regina’s interactions with Sidney were amusing sometimes. It was refreshing to see Sidney back.

-Despite my feelings of horror over Rumpel’s cold attitude at the graveyard, I did have happy, dorky feels for the dance, and Belle’s invoking of squatter’s rights on someone else’s house.

Missed opportunity:

Freezing a lock makes it harder to open. Elsa fails to get into the pawn shop, sighs, and a moment later has the big snowman put a fist through the door. I think this would have been a better use of CGI than the drawn-out snowman scenes we got.