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.
"In the Name of the Brother" and "Tiny" were disappointing, and lost what made "Queen of Hearts", "The Cricket Game" and "The Outsider" as great as they were. "Manhattan" fared much better and very nearly corrected, if not completely, the mistakes made in those two episodes. "The Queen is Dead" managed to be the best episode by far since "The Outsider" and in the top half of the second season. After the worry as to whether the season and show had lost it, they are revived by "The Queen is Dead".
My only small complaint of an otherwise great, and near-perfect, episode is Neal being slightly bland. Everything else is magic. All the faults that were in "In the Name of the Brother" and "Tiny" are corrected, there is a more than welcome return to the depth-filled characters and plot lines and motivations being advanced and built up.
There is none of the excessive repetition seen in some of "Manhattan", and "The Queen is Dead" even corrects something that was a pitfall in a generally solid season otherwise, in that it focused less on the new character and introducing new ones with Disney and classic literary influences and more on the older characters seen from the beginning, something that was what 'Once Upon a Time' was about when it first started.
All the performances are fine, with top honours going to Ginnifer Goodwin, Bailee Madison and Rena Sofer. Really liked that "The Queen is Dead" was largely focused on Snow White, who is the most interesting she's been since the season opener, and that the episode introduces an aspect of Snow White's past that has a very pathos-filled heart rather than reiterating what is already known. The chemistry between Goodwin and Madison is truly genuine and provides a lot of emotion.
Furthermore, "The Queen is Dead" is a very handsomely mounted episode visually, the settings and costumes are both colourful and atmospheric, not too dark or garish and never cookie-cutter. It is photographed beautifully too. The effects are not as sloppy here. The music is haunting, ethereal and cleverly used with a memorable main theme.
Writing has the right balance of humour, pathos, mystery and intrigue, with the corn present in "In the Name of the Brother" and "Tiny" not present.
In summation, truly impressive in almost every aspect. 9/10 Bethany Cox
"In the Name of the Brother" and "Tiny" were disappointing, and lost what made "Queen of Hearts", "The Cricket Game" and "The Outsider" as great as they were. "Manhattan" fared much better and very nearly corrected, if not completely, the mistakes made in those two episodes. "The Queen is Dead" managed to be the best episode by far since "The Outsider" and in the top half of the second season. After the worry as to whether the season and show had lost it, they are revived by "The Queen is Dead".
My only small complaint of an otherwise great, and near-perfect, episode is Neal being slightly bland. Everything else is magic. All the faults that were in "In the Name of the Brother" and "Tiny" are corrected, there is a more than welcome return to the depth-filled characters and plot lines and motivations being advanced and built up.
There is none of the excessive repetition seen in some of "Manhattan", and "The Queen is Dead" even corrects something that was a pitfall in a generally solid season otherwise, in that it focused less on the new character and introducing new ones with Disney and classic literary influences and more on the older characters seen from the beginning, something that was what 'Once Upon a Time' was about when it first started.
All the performances are fine, with top honours going to Ginnifer Goodwin, Bailee Madison and Rena Sofer. Really liked that "The Queen is Dead" was largely focused on Snow White, who is the most interesting she's been since the season opener, and that the episode introduces an aspect of Snow White's past that has a very pathos-filled heart rather than reiterating what is already known. The chemistry between Goodwin and Madison is truly genuine and provides a lot of emotion.
Furthermore, "The Queen is Dead" is a very handsomely mounted episode visually, the settings and costumes are both colourful and atmospheric, not too dark or garish and never cookie-cutter. It is photographed beautifully too. The effects are not as sloppy here. The music is haunting, ethereal and cleverly used with a memorable main theme.
Writing has the right balance of humour, pathos, mystery and intrigue, with the corn present in "In the Name of the Brother" and "Tiny" not present.
In summation, truly impressive in almost every aspect. 9/10 Bethany Cox
