Once Upon a Time (TV Series) The Stable Boy (2012) User Reviews

An emotionally compelling back-story to the Evil Queen

[gavin-thelordofthefu-48-460297 · 10/10 · 1 May 2016]

The Stable Boy is another classic episode in the first season of Once Upon a Time next to That Still Small Voice which did a great job exploring the back-story of Jiminy Cricket/Archie in Storybrooke. This does a great job in giving a really sympathetic back-story to how the Evil Queen came to be. She fell in love with a stable boy named Daniel who works with her mother, Cora Mills, and father, Henry Mills before she met the young Snow White.

This episode is beyond flawless and there's no problem I have with it. The story and script are very well-written and excels in the emotional moments where Cora kills Daniel, thus breaking Regina's heart and it made me feel sad. Also, it does a fine job continuing where the Mary Margaret subplot left off. The pacing's much tighter, the directing's more sharper, the music score from Mark Isham is fantastic and excels in the episode's emotional moments, and the performances are still solid especially Lana Parrilla who shines with her heartbreaking performance when Daniel dies. So, overall, another episode that is the best of the entire season. :)

The not so Evil Queen

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 1 January 2018]

When 'Once Upon a Time' first started it was highly addictive and made the most of a truly great and creative premise. Really loved the idea of turning familiar fairy tales on their heads and putting own interpretations on them and the show early on clearly had clearly had a ball. Watched it without fail every time it came on and it was often a highlight of the week. Which was why it was sad when it ran out of ideas and lost its magic in the later seasons.

Of a solid, from personal opinion, first season, "The Stable Boy" is among the best episodes. If there is a gripe, everything about Daniel (the acting of Noah Bean, the writing and the character) just screams of flaccid compared to the rest of the cast/characters. This is a shame because "The Stable Boy" is flawless otherwise and contains one of the season's best and most interesting character arc.

Although The Evil Queen was always one of the most consistently scene-stealing and stronger characters, it was "The Stable Boy" at this early stage of 'Once Upon a Time' where one sees much more to her than a "stock villain" (not that she ever was in a way, it's just that it would have been so easy to not do anything with her character). Here in "The Stable Boy" she has a sympathetic and conflicted edge where one sees how she came to be the way she turned out, and it is very hard to not feel sorry for her.

Lana Parrilla knocks it out of the park here, injecting more nuance than seen before and she was always one of the best performers on 'Once Upon a Time'. Ginnifer Goodwin is charming and one roots for her and her increasingly dire situation in the Storybrooke scenes, while Jennifer Morrison continues to grow.

Visually "The Stable Boy" is a very handsomely mounted episode, settings and costumes that are both colourful and atmospheric, not too dark or garish and never cookie-cutter. The effects are also above average, not exceptional but not bad. It is photographed beautifully and there is some make-up that suited the characters perfectly. The music is haunting, ethereal and cleverly used with a memorable main theme.

Regarding the writing, "The Stable Boy" shows that it really has come on a long way. There is far less corn and instead the humour, emotional and tense elements and the balance between them are getting stronger. The story is absorbing, with a tragic scene being quite heart-breaking. The parallel between fantasy and real life is as ever handled beautifully, both the present day scenes and fantasy flashbacks are intriguing and well-balanced.

Overall, fine episode. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Good Arc

[danajs24 · 9/10 · 19 August 2016]

A very good character arc featuring Regina, doing very well to explain why she hates Mary Margaret. Unfortunately the writing and acting by her love, Daniel, leaves something to be desired, Regina is quite believable as a young girl in love. The introduction of her mother seems to be a jumping point for a featured role as well. Good development of the story with Catherine returning at the end, anxious to see what happens in future episodes. Unfortunately, Swan and Mary Margaret are still bugging me and I can't seem to get past it. Hopefully Gold continues to have a "House" effect and is seemingly 3 steps ahead of any other character in the show.

Regina's revenge is stupid

[Hlaclaes888 · 7/10 · 26 April 2021]

This is a good episode showing that Regina's mother is a terrible parent who just wants to fix her own life by using her daughter to get the things she never could have.

But the main reason why I don't like Regina's character at all is because she has sworn vengeance on a 10 year old girl for spilling a secret that she was kind of manipulated into telling because she lost her own mother. To hate a child for something they don't truly understand and to make their entire existence and everyone's around them a living hell is just plain stupid and horrible. Regina deserves everything she gets for the above reasons.

And now I stop my ranting and continue binging the rest of Once Upon a time for the millionth time.