What would you do if you suddenly found yourself among characters normally only found in fairy tale stories? And what if you then found out that you were the one destined to save them all from the feared Evil Queen?
That is exactly the problem that faces Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison) from ABC’s hit series Once Upon a Time.
Supposedly abandoned at birth, Emma finds out on her 28th birthday that she is the daughter of Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Prince Charming (Josh Dallas), and that she was sent away to our world when she was born in order to save her from a curse the Evil Queen, Regina (Lana Parilla) was enacting on Fairy Tale Land (FTL). This curse brought all the fairy tale characters to our world and gave them new identities; none of them remember who they were in their past lives.
In season one, the show dealt with Emma trying to come to grips with the fact that this was, in fact, real and not some elaborate hoax created by the son she gave up for adoption ten years ago (and who had been adopted by Regina). As any normal, sane person would be, she was undoubtedly skeptical, until her son ate a poisoned apple turnover meant for her in the finale this past May, causing Regina to confess that the curse is real.
At the end of the finale, Emma had just broken the curse, causing all the characters to remember their past lives. However, they were all still stuck in the “real world,” and to make matters worse, magic was released upon the world, causing who knows what chaos on the sleepy town of Storybrooke.
Like all the fans of this show, I spent the summer counting down the days until September 30. I was especially eager for the reunion between parents and child now that Snow White and Charming knew who Emma really was.
Their reunion, while not the tearful (okay, there were some tears) mushy fluffiness that you would expect from people who hadn’t seen each other for 28 years, was skillfully handled.
Emma is awkward, not used to having parents and still battling feelings of abandonment. Her parents are confused as to why she doesn’t seem too happy to find them, but Emma points out that she just needs more time to adjust to the shock.
To me, this is much more realistic than tears and mush. Hell, in the past 24 hours, Emma has found out she is the daughter of fairytale characters, battled a dragon and saved her son’s life! I commend her for not simply passing out from shock. I know I probably would have.
However, there is no rest for the weary. Dark forces are gathering, both in Storybrooke and FTL. Wraiths are appearing in the streets (think of dementors, except with glowing red eyes — they even suck your soul out!) and going after Regina, and in an accident, Emma and her mother are sent to what is left of FTL.
Meanwhile, we find out that part of FTL was not touched by the curse, although no one knows why. The dementors...I mean, the wraiths are at work there too, sucking the soul out of Prince Phillip, leaving behind a grieving Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) and surprisingly, Mulan.
Overall, the episode was quite good, although not exactly everything I had hoped for. I suppose part of that fault lies with me, since I shouldn’t have built up sigh high expectations. I wish that the show had focused more on the Charming family reunion rather than cutting back and forth between Storybrooke and FTL.
While Mulan is quickly becoming a favorite with me, it would have been nice if they had waited to introduce her and Aurora. It felt like the writers tried to cram too much new stuff into the episode, especially with all the loose ends from the finale that still had to be tied up.
On the topic of the Charming family, I had wanted more time for Emma to come to grips with her parents before being thrown into a new adventure. It would not have gone amiss if they had waited an episode for her and Snow to get sent to FTL, since then, we could get a better sense of Emma’s reaction to the real world clashing with fiction.
While Morrison, Goodwin, and Dallas are all amazing actors and bring the characters to life, the award for Best Once Actor consistently goes to Lana Parilla. It would be so easy to play the Evil Queen as a villain hellbent on destroying everyone and everything in her path, but Parilla plays her as a grey character with weaknesses and fears. She manages to go through so many human emotions within an episode that Regina is probably the most nuanced character on the show and constantly a fan favorite. Her love for her son battles her need for revenge against Snow White, and her love continues to stop her from going too far. I look forward to seeing how Regina’s character continues to develop as new episodes come out.
Broken was by no means a bad episode. I’m very glad that they didn’t drag out Emma’s denial of the curse, and now that the curse is broken, there are so many more stories to explore.
And my personal wish? I really want a Big Bad to appear, forcing Regina to have to work with Emma and her parents and perhaps clearing a path for reconciliation.
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