Once Upon a Time (ABC) - Series Premiere: Synopsis and Review
On Sunday October 23 the new fairy tale drama series ‘Once Upon a Time’ premiered on ABC at 8/7c. The series is about famous fairy tale characters like Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin), the Evil Queen (Lana Parrilla), Geppetto (Tony Amendola), Rumpelstiltskin (Robert Carlyle), and many others. These characters were living quite happily in their own realm when one day, the Evil Queen cursed them all. This curse takes them to “a horrible place”; present day Storybrooke. At first glance Storybrooke seems to be an average small town, there is nothing unusual with the residents, but looks can be deceiving. Not only is time frozen in Storybrooke, no one can remember who they were in their past, let alone their fairy tale names.
Knowing the curse was coming, Snow White and Prince Charming (Joshua Dallas) asked Rumpelstiltskin what they could do to prevent the tragedy that was about to strike them. He told them their unborn daughter would one day save them all in some sort of epic fight with the Evil Queen. So when the Evil Queen and he henchman came, Prince Charming put their newborn in a special closet, and she disappeared from their realm. Only a few seconds later, Prince Charming was stabbed and the curse hit the fairy tale kingdom. Everyone was transported to Storybrooke and their memories were wiped out.
28 years later, Henry (Jared Gilmore), a little boy from Storybrooke, knocks on Emma Swan’s (Jennifer Morrison) door in Boston. Henry claims to be Emma’s son, who she gave up for adoption 10 years ago. He wants her to come home with him, to Storybrooke. It seems that little Henry is the only one who knows what is going on in Storybrooke, thanks to his fairy tale book. Emma thinks he just has an overactive imagination, and decides to drive him back home. After an awkward encounter with Henry’s adoptive mother, Regina Mills, who turns out to be the Evil Queen, Emma wants to leave Storybrooke. Upon leaving the town, Emma almost hits a wolf, and drives into the town marker.
After her crash, Emma decides to stay in Storybrooke for one week. She does not yet realize that she will not be able to leave anytime she wants. The moment Emma booked her room in ‘Granny’s Inn’, time start ticking again in Storybrooke. Before long the final battle against the Evil Queen/Regina Mills will begin.
Even before airing ‘Once Upon a Time’ the public responded positively to the trailer. Many people were looking forward to the premiere of the show and they were not disappointed. The pilot episode of ‘Once Upon a Time’ attracted almost 13 million viewers. This is an impressive number for an hour-long drama series. The viewer slowly gets submerged in the story, unveiling the events step by step as Emma discovers more about this peculiar world.
What did you think about 'Once Upon a Time'?
Overall, this series is everything they promised it to be. This is definitely a show to keep on watching, if only to find out what this epic battle between the Evil Queen and Emma will be. It's also interesting to find out how they will transform a typical movie storyline into a series without it becoming boring or tedious. Next weeks ratings will show if this series is as popular as this weeks ratings suggest, or if they were just the result of a hype.
