No Happy Ending – a farewell to the show

[Myril]

Have not much hope, but who knows… Never say never again.

And on a not so serious note, maybe something for an upcoming extra season (and eventually something to get me more interested again):

Cell Block Tango – a Disney version

http://youtu.be/cpytcFnCyAY

[HappyEndings]

That is a cute video loved the Evil Queen the best 🙂

[once_dude]

I really think that all the characters are being developed in season 3. David had no real plot of his own in season 2, but in season 3 he does have one. emma confronts the fact that she is an orphan, and has to decide whether she is ready for love. Snow has to decide what she wants for her life choosing her husband over her daughter was not the right choice in my opinion but it was soem development. Aurora gets her happy ending but Mulan does not, thus proving that this show is not exclusively about true love. Regina is given a second chance something I did not think she would have. She is really developing into becoming a redeemed character, and I think this change will stay and in time perhaps she and snow can find some common ground. I see nothing but good things from this season, and I think your argument about Rumplestiltskin though it may be trite that the same abandonment happened over 2 some would argue three (but I don’t count Neal since he did not know of Henry) may be trite but also is true in a way because families often decline in this fashion.

Magic always comes with a price, so I pay with visa.

[Myril]

Agreed, other characters besides Rumple got development, or story plots in this season so far too, but that is not my point. The question for me is, who is at the center of the show.

They have quite a big regular and recurring cast, and of course they have to do something with them (although Red, Meghan Ory, was a regular in season 02 and they very much failed to do something with her character). Having a plot as character and character development are not the same thing though. Charming had a plot, but that was no character development, he had been the heroic, noble, protective and ready to sacrifice himself for the greater good and love man since we know him. Wouldn’t even say that Rumple got much character development, not in the present time. Like pretty much every character, he developed more in the past but barely in present time. At least Rumple has still more development than everybody else, past and presence. Exception Emma, she has not much past development, more present, but her character plot and development was drowned in the second half of second season by the rush they had to leave at the end of season for Neverland. Right, Pan forced Emma to admit she still feels like an orphan and that she wished Neal were dead (so she would have to confront her conflicting feelings about him, I guess) – but, I don’t know how it was for others, I couldn’t really feel these moments. “Show, don’t tell” – something every professional writer sure has heard of. It was the biggest problem I had with the Echo Chamber of Dark Secrets, they all were just talking.

One can say they try what classic fairy tales sometimes did, have a message or moral, with filling this season so far with plots bringing up the issue of believe in variations , but that is not the center of the story either, it’s maybe the message.

There were plenty of discussions and speculations about Pan, who he might be, what he needed Henry for, what he was doing. It didn’t even take much screentime to put him in the center of attention. And quite obvious the big thing of the first half of the season was for the show to answer that and build up for the finale moment, when they’re going to safe Henry (and the rest of the season they can deal with Henry doubting himself then, with his heart tainted by the narcissistic black soul of his great-grandfather). That puts Pan very much into the center of the story, as big mystery (more or less) and big bad. Even before it was out, that Pan is Rumple’s rejuvenated father, it had been established, that there was some bigger history between Rumple and Pan and that there was the possibility of Rumple’s undoing in some connection with saving Henry from Pan. It could have been something different if Pan had been just some very evil guy, wanting to suck the life out of the heart of the truest believer to become some truly immortal, never full grown up, forever young guy with endless powers, but no, they choose to make him Rumble’s father and turn Rumple’s story even more into a sob story than it already is. Didn’t help that they tied in the Pied Piper in this the way they did – I know many liked it but I found it was a total waste of an interesting story (btw a legend not a fairy tale). I seriously began to wish not Disney / ABC would have been interested in this show idea but HBO, although there they tend to drown stories in graphic sensationalism.

It is not per se bad story telling (although admittedly think they could do better). It’s just that I thought they were telling a different story, and the one they are telling isn’t that interesting for me. It has a different focus, it has become very soap opera like, and they try to play that action figure style so to speak. The later could work, if they would take the show a lot less serious and become campy, but a) is ABC perhaps not the right network for that, b) at least not for Sunday primetime, and b) is there already a show taking that niche on TV market, and I doubt there is place for more of that kind.

¯\_(?????? ?)_/¯

[Author]

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