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Once Upon A Time 3.14
In which Disney's acquisition of Star Wars pays off, as David visits a cave in Dagobah.
This one wasn't as good as the preceding ones and felt a bit like a filler, though I loved several of the character scenes - David's dream/nightmare of Emma-as-she-would-have-been complete with parental guilt for giving her up, heightened all the more by Snow's new pregnancy, Zelena's conversation with Rumple (more about that in a moment), Emma's talk with Hook (her not believing he just idled the year away on the Jolly Roger intrigues me and makes me speculate we'll get some surprise flashback there, too), Regina's with Henry. But while the twist on the Rapunzel plot is sound psychologically - the witch is a manifestation of her own fears holding her captive, and as soon as she faces them, she can leave the tower - it also happens to be the most overdone thing since Luke went into the cave in Dagobah and faced a Darth Vader hallucination who turned out to be really himself. Ditto for the same thing happening to David. (Btw, how come no one mentions David literally had a doppelganger, Prince James? Considering David already speculated last season what he would have been like had George raised him, whether he wouldn't have been exactly like James, wouldn't it have made more continuity sense if David's fears manifested as James?) Yes, it worked in The Empire Strikes Back. And every other tv show after whose scriptwriter really liked that sequence. (Including Alan Ball who used it memorably for David Fisher in Six Feet Under.) I just wish scriptwriters would give it a rest.
And while I'm being cranky: Tangled not withstanding, original Rapunzel was not a princess. She was the daughter of poor parents who was sold by her father to the witch in exchange for a salad dish for his pregnant wife. Why can't an adaption use that?
re: the Zelena and Rumplestilskin scene: while the father who raised her doesn't necessarily have to be her biological father (certainly not on this show!), I am now doubting my Rumple theory because otherwise it would mean Disney greenlighted incestous overtones. (Speaking of which, I must admit when Zelena described her father as a drunk who couldn't shave himself my mind inevitably went to the unshaven drunk whom we actually know young Cora lived with pre-magic and pre-power, to wit, the Miller, Cora's father. But again, I can't see the House of Mouse going Chinatown on us.) Anyway, Zelena talking about their inner rottenness manifesting in FTL and Oz via their exterior but not here, in this world, hints at considerable self loathing which her gleefulness otherwise masks. Very interesting. Also up to debate: how mad is Rumplestilskin, and how much is he faking it? Because those broken locks at the end looked like some broke out, not in, to me.
Also: liked that the one who figured out the person who was kept prisoner had to be Rumplestilskin by virtue of finding the golden straw was David. Because Rumple was separated from the rest of the ensemble in Neverland, we never got more interactions between the two of them which I had hoped for, though then again, we got the David-Hook bonding by bickering and life saving instead. And speaking of Hook, he shows his smarts by keeping Emma from rushing into some magic person's lair and pointing out it makes more sense to call Regina for magical back up first. I must admit this entire season has made me very fond indeed of Hook, which until the last two eps of s2 I had certainly not expected.
This one wasn't as good as the preceding ones and felt a bit like a filler, though I loved several of the character scenes - David's dream/nightmare of Emma-as-she-would-have-been complete with parental guilt for giving her up, heightened all the more by Snow's new pregnancy, Zelena's conversation with Rumple (more about that in a moment), Emma's talk with Hook (her not believing he just idled the year away on the Jolly Roger intrigues me and makes me speculate we'll get some surprise flashback there, too), Regina's with Henry. But while the twist on the Rapunzel plot is sound psychologically - the witch is a manifestation of her own fears holding her captive, and as soon as she faces them, she can leave the tower - it also happens to be the most overdone thing since Luke went into the cave in Dagobah and faced a Darth Vader hallucination who turned out to be really himself. Ditto for the same thing happening to David. (Btw, how come no one mentions David literally had a doppelganger, Prince James? Considering David already speculated last season what he would have been like had George raised him, whether he wouldn't have been exactly like James, wouldn't it have made more continuity sense if David's fears manifested as James?) Yes, it worked in The Empire Strikes Back. And every other tv show after whose scriptwriter really liked that sequence. (Including Alan Ball who used it memorably for David Fisher in Six Feet Under.) I just wish scriptwriters would give it a rest.
And while I'm being cranky: Tangled not withstanding, original Rapunzel was not a princess. She was the daughter of poor parents who was sold by her father to the witch in exchange for a salad dish for his pregnant wife. Why can't an adaption use that?
re: the Zelena and Rumplestilskin scene: while the father who raised her doesn't necessarily have to be her biological father (certainly not on this show!), I am now doubting my Rumple theory because otherwise it would mean Disney greenlighted incestous overtones. (Speaking of which, I must admit when Zelena described her father as a drunk who couldn't shave himself my mind inevitably went to the unshaven drunk whom we actually know young Cora lived with pre-magic and pre-power, to wit, the Miller, Cora's father. But again, I can't see the House of Mouse going Chinatown on us.) Anyway, Zelena talking about their inner rottenness manifesting in FTL and Oz via their exterior but not here, in this world, hints at considerable self loathing which her gleefulness otherwise masks. Very interesting. Also up to debate: how mad is Rumplestilskin, and how much is he faking it? Because those broken locks at the end looked like some broke out, not in, to me.
Also: liked that the one who figured out the person who was kept prisoner had to be Rumplestilskin by virtue of finding the golden straw was David. Because Rumple was separated from the rest of the ensemble in Neverland, we never got more interactions between the two of them which I had hoped for, though then again, we got the David-Hook bonding by bickering and life saving instead. And speaking of Hook, he shows his smarts by keeping Emma from rushing into some magic person's lair and pointing out it makes more sense to call Regina for magical back up first. I must admit this entire season has made me very fond indeed of Hook, which until the last two eps of s2 I had certainly not expected.