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.
"It's Not Easy Being Green" is one of the best episodes of a solid Season 3 where the lesser episodes up to this point have not been less than decent and the best episodes have been wonderful ("Going Home" especially was something of a special episode). It's occasionally a bit over-the-top, but that is pretty much the only thing that was noticeably not quite so strong about "It's Not Easy Being Green".
Am continuing to love the character of Zelena/The Wicked Witch, who made a very big impression when she was first introduced, she is a very interesting and well written character. Peter Pan left very big shoes to fill as the villain of the first half of the season, Zelena/The Wicked Witch fills them pretty brilliantly. With "It's Not Easy Being Green" being centred mainly around her, she is the most interesting she's been so far and the episode achieves a fine balance between her villainy and how she came to be that way, she is very believable as a villain but it's not hard to see how she came to be the way she is and sympathy even is felt for her. The fairy-tale flashbacks are among the most illuminating and character advancing of any flashback of the show up to this point.
Love the character relationships, especially between Zelena and Regina, one that is not as one-dimensional as one would think, and Zelena and the Wizard of Oz (another character the episode does a particularly good job on, quite a surprising twist on his character). Regina is fantastically written here, not just with Zelena (but especially) but also with Robin Hood. Rumplestiltskin has a mini-monologue that resonates emotionally.
Have no qualms with the acting, with the obvious standout being a spell-binding Rebecca Mader. Lana Parrilla is a very close second, while Christopher Gorham, Robert Carlyle and Sean Maguire make strong impressions.
Furthermore, "It's Not Easy Being Green" 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 main theme.
Writing has the right balance of humour, pathos, mystery and intrigue. Zelena, Wizard of Oz and Regina especially.
All in all, wonderful. 9/10 Bethany Cox
