Once Upon A Time -- I'm Still Not Sure If I Want To Watch
It's been a strange TV season so far
I haven't done recaps yet of Revolution or Criminal Minds because I literally forgot the shows new season were starting last Wednesday. As the new season for Once Upon A Time is set to begin Sunday night, I'm still debating if I wanted to subject myself to the mess this show became in its second season. And nothing of what I've heard is going to be going on this season has really done anything to make me change my mind about what a mess I think this show is.
What I loved about this show when it first began was it was an ensemble cast and we were getting different fairy tale stories each week. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line the show runners decided the be-all and end-all of the everything was The Charming Family. It says it all when I realize I would have no problem watching the show if Uncharming, Snow Blight and Emma weren't on the show. But no such luck with that when the show is making the entire show built around these three obnoxious characters.
I still love Regina and Rumpelstiltskin, but in a lot of ways there characters were sacrificed on the altar of the godawful Charmings. Rump plotted and schemed to enact his curse all to find his son, Bae. Two seconds after finally finding his son, the story is taken away from him and made all about Emma and Henry. I wasn't the least bit surprised once they revealed Bae was Neal. I knew that was exactly what would happen.
Regina finally makes peace with her mother and Snow Blight tricks her into killing her all so little Snow Blight will have a dark spot on her pure little heart. One of the spoilers I read is Snow Blight will still be battling to remove that dark spot off her pure little heart. My response to that? Blech! And having to sit through the free pass she got for it was disgusting. It isn't your fault, Snow, you didn't kill her. No, you just manipulated her daughter into doing your dirty work for you because you didn't have the guts to do it yourself. That makes it oh so much better, doesn't it?
Then there's the Imposter Prince. I had to laugh, but it was like the show runners read some of my criticisms of their golden-haired boy and then went to disprove them. I said that once he met his precious Snow he no longer gave a crap about his mother because King George threatened to kill his mother if he didn't go through with marrying Midas' daughter, and he just ran from the castle to be with his beloved Snow. So in season two they showed how he hid his mother in a secret location to protect her from King George. But with what they took away with one hand they gave back with another when they had Sheep Boy all devastated about his mother dying for about two seconds and then he was laughing and dancing two feet from his mother's body because Snow might be growing his seed in her belly, forgetting his mother's body was even there. This is how ridiculous they write this idiot. It doesn't matter how many characters they take down to try and make him look good it's the ridiculous writing for this character that makes you want to smash this cretin in the face.
And they've taken down a lot of characters. In season two they suddenly wrote what a vile monster the will Prince James was, so we all see how better it is The Imposter is pretending to be him. One of my complaints was that Sheep Boy and Snow Blight had no right to steal King George's kingdom and castle from his because they were just a couple of squatters. If they want to go squat in someone's castle, Snow should go after Regina's castle and kingdom, because those were her father's and she has an actual right to them. I don't care what an evil cretin they made the real Prince James, it still doesn't give the imposter a right to King George's kingdom and castle.
In season one Ruby was one of the most promising characters on the show, in season two she became nothing but a lovesick Sheep Boy groupie. I was thrilled when the actress got a job on another show. The Ruby character and her genuflecting to the Imposter Prince every time he walk through the door was nauseating to watch.
I don't know. Maybe if better actors were playing the part of the Charmings it might be easier to take the show being built all around them even though it began as an ensemble show. Josh Dallas plays Uncharming with such an overwhelming pompous and smugness I just want to smash his face in every time he opens his mouth to speak. It's hard watching actors like Robert Carlyle and Lana Parilla have to act like their second bananas to these scenery chewing ham bones. One of the most toxic relationships on the show is Regina and Henry. That kid doesn't give a crap about Regina and it just brings her down trying to placate this ungrateful Charming brat. And the whole thing about Emma wasn't special enough when she was The Great White Hope to break the curse, but now she has magical powers because she was born of true love. Gag me with a spoon.
I had a hard time getting to the final episode of the show last season. Pretty much every recap I wrote was dripping with acid and put-downs on the show. And every time I see some promo with the Uncharming Four I feel nothing but disdain. So am I going to try and watch this show for another season?
If I do watch it'll be Monday morning on the computer, as I'll be watching The Amazing Race live. I could DVR the show, but I don't want to waste the disk on something I know I won't have any desire to watch again once I manage to sit through the episode.
I guess what says it all about this show and what I'm still ticked off about is we saw the beginning of the Phillip and Aurora story when he sacrificed himself, but when didn't see the end when Aurora and Mulan saved Phillip and brought him back to life. Why? Because it was considered too unimportant because it might take the focus off The Charmings for too long. And that's the essential problem. All the other characters and fairy tales are getting the short shrift because the show runner's obsession with the four worst characters on the show.