Even though this show is in it's second season I feel like I should talk about it. This show reminds me of that really nice guy that has a crush on you but you just don't feel it. You want to, he has everything you're looking for, and you keep going out with him, hoping something will spark, but you just can't help seeing all his flaws and laughing about him to your friends behind his back. That's how I feel about Once Upon A Time. It has everything I like, action, adventure, fairy tale stories, but there's just something about it that holds me back from calling it a great show. I've thought about why exactly that is and it's mostly because of the huge plot holes I see in nearly every single episode. I find myself raising my arms and rolling my eyes saying out loud (which is weird because I live alone) "Why would she say that? Why is he doing that? Why? WHY????"
Let's for a minute suspend our disbelief. Snow White and the Queen fight so much that the Queen sends an entire kingdom (a whole kingdom!) into a small town of what couldn't be more than a few thousand people. Then, their lives are suspended for 28 years while the outside world ages, giving Snow White and Prince Charming's daughter time to age. While she's aging she has a baby who gets adopted by the Queen and raised in this town where no one ages except the kid. And don't forget, there are other children in this town who are from the kingdom (the Mad Hatter's kid) who are supposedly not aging either while Snow White's grandkid is aging like any normal kid. Also, the town gets supplied with everything it needs, gas, electric, food, supplies, from some unknown source that has never been addressed. And I don't mean that in a sinister, there's someone behind the curtain, way. I mean it in, it's never properly explained way. They make a big deal about strangers not coming into Storybrooke, that they literally can't come in or the whole order of things is messed up, but never address how they get everything they need. Magic wasn't used for the whole 28 years, up until the past few episodes, so it's not like the Queen is bippipy boppity boo'ing everybody the latest fashions and supplies.
Are you still with me?
Despite all of that (and more) I stick with it, it's pretty entertaining if you don't let your mind wonder too much and think about all the plot holes. Most of my love stems from wanting to know what kind of ridiculous crazy stuff will they think of next. Half of it doesn't make any sense, and sometimes a huge circle is weaved through the storytelling that gets you right back to the beginning, ie when Cora, Hook and Mulan appeared in season 2, not in Storybrooke, and you wondered how they got around the curse. Come to find out, in like the tenth episode of the season, Cora put up a protective wall over the island she was on with Hook that kept Mulan and a lot of other people protected from the curse. That was a cool moment, but it took ten episodes of me going 'WTF' for it finally to be revealed.
One more gripe, the special effects. They're awful. I wanted to use the argument that this is Disney, they should be able to afford good special effects, but then I remembered this is Disney, and they don't do special effects, they do cartoons.
So my overall assessment of the show is that it's worth watching. It's fun and goofy and entertaining, you just have to know what you're getting. And occasionally a hot guy will show up (and then promptly die or turn bad) which is good. But don't expect any of it to make much sense.
