Once Upon a Time 1.02 'The Thing You Love Most'

Strong characterisation and teasingly brilliant plot development helped to keep ‘second episode curse’ firmly at bay during this outing. All of the wonderful aspects from the pilot were still present during this episode and it was just as entertaining. I’m not going anywhere anytime soon, that’s for sure.

In the second episode ‘The Thing You Love Most’, the Evil Queen’s motives behind the curse are revealed. Emma faces Regina’s wrath when she decides to stay in Storybrook.

What a brilliant follow-up to fantastic pilot. Everything works for this series, and it feels like there’s still so much left to come. They’ve cleverly avoided the major work of getting Emma to believe Henry’s story; she believes that he believes. One of the best parts of this episode was the family ties that were established between not only Emma and Henry, but between Emma and Snow. I really think she believes him a lot more of what Henry is telling her than she lets on; how telling was her reaction to Mary’s fairytale identity?

Regina is a terrific villain. This episode outlined her motives and what happened to turn her into such an evil woman masterfully. Her sacrifice was so painful to watch, and though it's easy to hate her, I still feel like the series has painted her so skillfully since it's hard not to pity her either. I really love all her interactions with all of the other residents too, her power is so evident during those confrontations, particularly with the weaker ones.  With her place in the series now perfectly defined, things can only go up from here. Also, I started to see some major longevity in the series; once she meets her end I think it’s obvious who may become a major player...Regnia and Emma's rivalry was pretty amazing too; I'm really starting to fall for Emma as the hero of the story.

I still adore how they tackle the fairytale world. All of those sequences are so well done and though they’re a little corny, they work so wonderfully in this context. The entirety of the Queen and Witch’s meeting was superbly done, and seeing Kristen Van Bauer was definitely a bonus, she’s amazing. All the little fairytale hints throughout the episode are also wonderful; the poison apple thing was quite cute.

I think I’m in love. I don’t remember liking a series this much in the beginning since ‘Heroes’. Although, we all know how that ended up...Uh-oh...

9.5/10