Blogcritics The critical lens on today's culture & entertainment
More than six million people tune into ABC’s Once Upon a Time each week. The series has veered from its mashups of classic fairytales, legends, and myths along with modern-day Maine to incorporate Disney movies that have no grounding in generations-old tales.
The classic Norse story of the Snow Queen, the Frozen angle certainly has the most obvious Disney stamp of all the series storylines thus far. After the mid-season break, Cruella DeVille and the 101 Dalmations story (another Disney story) will make their mark on Storybrooke.
In addition to the bit of Disney-fication the series has embraced, character narratives have changed, been put on the back-burner, or swept under the carpet to make room for new characters and new stories. To many, these changes are a welcome shakeup to the story; other longtime fans of the series are not happy with the direction of the show. I’ve made little secret of the fact that this season has been disappointing for me.
I feel the Frozen story line (except for the Snow Queen, herself) has shuttled to the side stories of too many characters, and the out-of-left-field changes to the character of Rumplestiltskin has me completely bewildered. To me it feels contrived to make Rumple a out-and-out villain, without the complexity and nuance that has always characterized his actions. But I’m, as I’ve also said, completely convincible. Right now, my hope lies with next week’s episode, “The Fall,” written by, arguably, the show’s best scribe, Jane Espenson.
I’d like to know where you stack up in the debate being had on blogs, in forums, on Twitter, Tumbler, and every other social media outlet on the Internet. I’ll keep the poll open until a week after the mid-season finale and report back to you, my dear readers. So vote, get your friends to vote (wherever you stand), and spread the word as Once Upon a Time heads towards the climax of its Frozen story arc!
And as a bonus, I’ve included a separate poll that lets you vote on your favorite Once Upon a Time relationship! Once Upon a Time returns to ABC November 30 with “The Fall.”
[amazon template=iframe image&asin=B0058YPL66,B00NYYQH7O,B00KS9V6EC,B009RX85N0,B00NDAAM3O,B00FS9PPR6]
