The Dark Swan
- Episode aired Sep 27, 2015
- TV-PG
- 44m
IMDb RATING
8.4/10
1.8K
YOUR RATING
With Emma now facing the nature of the Darkness in herself, she encounters Merida. Her family and friends go to extreme measurements to find Emma and bring her home safely.With Emma now facing the nature of the Darkness in herself, she encounters Merida. Her family and friends go to extreme measurements to find Emma and bring her home safely.With Emma now facing the nature of the Darkness in herself, she encounters Merida. Her family and friends go to extreme measurements to find Emma and bring her home safely.
Jared Gilmore
- Henry Mills
- (as Jared S. Gilmore)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe "voice" of Rumplestiltskin in Emma's head makes a comment about the incomprehensibility of Merida's thick Scottish accent. Robert Carlyle is Scottish himself and has his own heavy Glasgow accent.
- Quotes
Rumplestiltskin: [about Merida] What's she saying? Accent's a bit much, no?
- Crazy creditsThe opening sequence shows Granny's Diner.
- ConnectionsFeatures The Sword in the Stone (1963)
Featured review
Darkness and humanity in this swan
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.
Season 5 had a lot to live up to after Season 4 being as impressive as it was. As far as Season 4's episodes go, they were all decent to brilliant with the only small dip being "Family Business" (though "Heart of Gold" was uneven) and the best being the "Smash the Mirror" two parter, "Best Laid Plans", "Mother" and the first part of "Operation Mongoose". So was expecting a good deal from Season 5 and "The Dark Swan" is only the first episode and already there is a lot of potential.
"The Dark Swan" was a brilliant season opener for Season 5, and one of 'Once Upon a Time's' best season openers. Also a high point of the season itself and certainly one of the most interesting and most emotionally investable. It basically sets things up and starts to put things into place, but does this superbly. It does so also advancing the characterisation and the story.
Particularly notable is seeing in "The Dark Swan" how the maturity and confidence has grown so much. Really loved the dark tone of the episode, definitely one of the show's darkest as far as this and the previous episodes go. Also its humanity, advancing the characterisation without softening any characters or making them standard archetypes and not losing what made them work.
Also notable is the development to Emma. Instead of the overwrought and passive character she could be in earlier episodes, the character has come on such a long way, as has the writing and the tone, the way she's written is like the episode itself, dark and human. There is a good deal of emotional investment and found myself connecting to Emma and the story. The episode wastes no time in going straight into the main story without anything padding it out or distracting.
All the acting is strong, especially from some first class work from Jennifer Morrison, giving one of her best performances of the show. She is advantaged by her material being some of her meatiest and most mature up to this point of 'Once Upon a Time' and indicative of the vast size of Emma's progression as a character.
Furthermore, "The Dark Swan" 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 music is haunting, ethereal and cleverly used with a memorable theme tune.
Writing has the right balance of humour, pathos, mystery and intrigue, or corn or cheesiness here. This aspect has come on such a long way since when 'Once Upon a Time' first started, much more complexity and nuance.
Overall, brilliant. 10/10 Bethany Cox
Season 5 had a lot to live up to after Season 4 being as impressive as it was. As far as Season 4's episodes go, they were all decent to brilliant with the only small dip being "Family Business" (though "Heart of Gold" was uneven) and the best being the "Smash the Mirror" two parter, "Best Laid Plans", "Mother" and the first part of "Operation Mongoose". So was expecting a good deal from Season 5 and "The Dark Swan" is only the first episode and already there is a lot of potential.
"The Dark Swan" was a brilliant season opener for Season 5, and one of 'Once Upon a Time's' best season openers. Also a high point of the season itself and certainly one of the most interesting and most emotionally investable. It basically sets things up and starts to put things into place, but does this superbly. It does so also advancing the characterisation and the story.
Particularly notable is seeing in "The Dark Swan" how the maturity and confidence has grown so much. Really loved the dark tone of the episode, definitely one of the show's darkest as far as this and the previous episodes go. Also its humanity, advancing the characterisation without softening any characters or making them standard archetypes and not losing what made them work.
Also notable is the development to Emma. Instead of the overwrought and passive character she could be in earlier episodes, the character has come on such a long way, as has the writing and the tone, the way she's written is like the episode itself, dark and human. There is a good deal of emotional investment and found myself connecting to Emma and the story. The episode wastes no time in going straight into the main story without anything padding it out or distracting.
All the acting is strong, especially from some first class work from Jennifer Morrison, giving one of her best performances of the show. She is advantaged by her material being some of her meatiest and most mature up to this point of 'Once Upon a Time' and indicative of the vast size of Emma's progression as a character.
Furthermore, "The Dark Swan" 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 music is haunting, ethereal and cleverly used with a memorable theme tune.
Writing has the right balance of humour, pathos, mystery and intrigue, or corn or cheesiness here. This aspect has come on such a long way since when 'Once Upon a Time' first started, much more complexity and nuance.
Overall, brilliant. 10/10 Bethany Cox
helpful•312
- TheLittleSongbird
- Jun 18, 2018
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