Dreamy is an episode that is sure to polarize fans. On one hand it took the show’s premise to an all-out extreme by harpooning us with some of the cheesiest script we’ve seen so far, crossing well over the line into overly cutesy territory and was a far cry from the surprisingly dark material of the past few weeks. On the other, it was unavoidably touching, with some cleverly materialised parallels and managed to further the show’s overlapping story by marrying it with this week’s standalone one. Personally, I couldn’t wipe the dopey (pun not intended, I swear) grin from my face the entire episode; though that could have been the Amy Acker effect.
In ‘Dreamy’ Mary Margaret begrudgingly accepts Leroy’s help to sell candles to raise money for the local nuns. The story of Nova and Dreamy are revealed. Emma investigates Kathryn’s disappearance only to find some startling evidence.
I think the most striking aspect of this episode was how downright silly it was. The first thing we saw was Amy Acker dancing around on a cloud in some ridiculous get up, followed by the all too bizarre idea of dwarves hatching from eggs for God’s sake. Somehow, though, I just loved it. I think a lot of my Disney fandom will make the disgustingly cheesy stuff a lot easier to take than it would for some of you other readers out there, and I have a sneaking suspicion a lot of you were probably gagging at the mouth during this whole thing.
You’ve got to give Amy Acker credit; she does cute like nobody else. Though this role was hardly a stretch for her, I’m sticking by my guns here in saying that she nailed it perfectly. Everything about her performance seemed to permeate that ditzy, curious persona that made Dreamy fall for Nova so much. How quickly fairytale characters fall in love always makes me laugh, though. I mean, you’ve only known them for, like, a day, maybe give it time before you decide to spend the rest of your life with them? That idea seemed to transfer over to Storybrooke quite well, though, with the harsh reality of the world making true love a little more complicated than simply following your heart.
There were a lot of underlying parts of this episode that conveyed just how well the stories we’d seen so far were being brought together. Take Belle’s appearance for example. After learning for herself just how crazy and inexplicable love can be, she was able to impart her newfound wisdom onto Dreamy, someone going through the same struggle, albeit in a starkly different context. Another example was Sidney’s manipulation, which is starting to be felt in other more important stories elsewhere. It’s been a problem that all of the major developments weren’t being carried over into following episodes, but since ‘Skin Deep’ it seems that issue has been well and truly buried.
I’m a little annoyed with how much the love triangle is being dragged out, and the town’s reaction was waaay overblown, but it’s where it’s taken Mary Margaret that’s been the story’s biggest reward. I think this week’s events came at the most opportune time. Now the town pariah, she was able to use her newfound exile to get to know Leroy in a way no other resident could. By stepping down to his level, they were both able to come to the realisation that love isn’t as straight forward as they thought it was; Mary stepped out with a married man, and Leroy is falling for a nun. Talk about doomed. I’m glad that they managed to find solace in each other though, and use that as a way to get themselves out of their respective ruts.
I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of mud-slinging directed at this one, and honestly I wouldn’t hold it against you, but my inner child and sometimes outlandish taste made Dreamy a personal favorite.
9/10
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