2011
Watch Once Upon a Time Online Now (Right Now): 5 Surprising Reasons You Will Fall in Love with this series despite it’s ridiculous premise
Once Upon a Time is hands down one of our favorite new shows.
Recently we convinced a reluctant friend to watch the series. She, like many people, was turned off by Once Upon a Time’s premise. Now said friend is addicted to the series and sends us text messages about how we should look into how to become huntsmen.
Once Upon a Time’s premise (“Henry locates his birth mother, whom he believes can save Storybrooke, which is a town of fairy tale characters that do not remember their lives in the fairy tale parallel world”) is ridiculous; however, the series is, as Mark Perigard at Boston Herald puts it, “bewitching.”
Recently ABC made all 7 episodes of Once Upon a Time available online at ABC.com. During our winter vacation we’ve managed to watch all the episodes again and we have to admit, the series is just as good the second time around as it was the first.
Here’s what we love about ABC’s Once Upon a Time.
Here are the 5 Surprising Reasons You Will Love Once Upon a Time:
1. The Evil Queen: As we said in our review of the pilot episode of Once Upon a Time, “Lana Parrilla is spell binding. As the Evil Queen during the flashbacks she is mesmerizing, as the modern day Evil Queen aka Mayor she is captivating. Her performance alone is reason enough for us to commit to this series for the remainder of the season.”
2. It breaks all the fairytale rules: Once Upon a Time may be based on fairy tale, but that does not mean it plans to stick to the rated G Disney movie script. Fathers, Huntsmen, even Fairy Godmothers are not safe. Once Upon a Time pushes the boundaries. Don’t be surprised when you leave an episode of Once Upon a Time saying “did they just do that? Are they allowed to do that? I thought in the fairy tale version… ”
4. It’s not Lost and yet, it is: What we love about Once Upon a Time, which was conceived by one of the writers of Lost, is it has some of the same elements which drove fans to Lost in the first place but it manages to stay true to itself.
Watching Once Upon a Time in it’s early stages gives us the same tingly feeling we used to get when we watched the early seasons of Lost. There was something so completely enchanting about Lost during the early seasons and even in it’s heyday. Every week you felt compelled to check back in on Jack, Sawyer, Kate, Jin, Sun, John, Sayid, Ben…etc.
Once Upon a Time is equally enchanting. Even when you are not wrapped up in the world of Storybrooke, you are thinking about the characters, what will become of them and the impact the plot will have on who they are and who they wil become.
Lost may have missed the mark when it came to it’s season finale for some of it’s viewers, but there is no denying the series was one of the best dramas of our generation.
There are a lot of similarities between Once Upon a Time and Lost. Once Upon a Time rests it’s foundation on the idea that time is a human construction and there will always be a struggle between good and evil. In addition Once Upon a Time’s reliance on flashbacks and narration through the eyes of multiple characters rather than one main character is very Lost reminiscent.
However; Once Upon a Time is not Lost, trying to be Lost or trying to fill Lost’s void. The series manages to employ some of the same elements that made Lost great and still manages to be unique, original, daring, bold and, at least at this stage, full of promise.
5. It tells a story, rather than giving into to the whims of it audience: Once Upon a Time will frustrate you. Just when things seem to be falling right into place, just when you think the writers of Once Upon a Time are going to give you what they want, the rug will be pull from underneath you and all of the characters living in Storybrooke.
We have to respect a drama which is committed to telling a compelling story rather than giving in to the whims of it’s fans. Once Upon a Time does not always give the audience what it wants, but it does give the audience what it needs.
Once Upon a Time‘s writers have respect for their audience. They don’t take the audience down the same predictable path and they do not use cheap thrills or party tricks to entice the audience into watching the series. Once Upon a Time is one of the few dramas left on television committed to telling a story and letting it unfold in an organic way.
Once Upon a Time is not going to be great, it is great. In 7 episodes Once Upon a Time has managed surpass most of dramas on television in it’s ability to develop characters, move forward plot and keep it’s audiences attention.
Once Upon a Time is one of those special dramas that comes around every once in a while that makes you believe in the power of television again. If there is one thing we are grateful for, it’s that in 7 episode Once Upon a Time restored our faith in television and made us believe it was evolving rather than devolving.
