Well, that was a crowd pleaser.
‘Kansas’ brought together a number of different themes and character arcs that have been building throughout the season, but still kept things open ended in anticipation of the upcoming finale.
The new narrative was taken full advantage of this week as the race to the season finale really started to pick up.
Exposition was the name of the game this week, but the information overload was softened by focusing the history of one character and the effect it has had on one of the show’s most complex relationships.
I liked this episode a lot. It was a relatively low key episode that didn’t start out as something radically important to this season’s arc, but finished as one of the more pivotal moments in the season so far.
This episode straddled the line between fun and silly, but was rounded out well by some great character work elsewhere.
This episode made terrific use of several core relationships, while still maintaining the strength of the show’s new narrative, though some aspects fell a little flat.
Hanging an episode on a character that’s, on his best day, dull and unlikable was to the detriment of ‘The Tower’, but the reset of ‘Going Home’ is still keeping things fresh and enthralling for now.
So far those behind this new arc have done a fantastic job of making sure that it’s been fresh and exciting, and have avoided it becoming a weak attempt at recycling used plots. Everything here feels different and my renewed enthusiasm for Once didn’t falter during ‘Witch Hunt’.
The reset of ‘Going Home’ has breathed new life into the series in a way that I never thought it could. The characters’ new circumstances make everything feel fresh and exciting, and the restructuring of the show’s mythology makes the total failure of this season’s opening arc nothing more than a painful, and incredibly boring, memory.
It’s ridiculous that after half a season of hit and miss plots, Once Upon a Time has completely turned the page and shown just how incredible it can be when there’s nothing holding it back.
Being less concerned with the big rescue mission, and focusing on the characters made this episode one of the strongest of the season. Having said that, it’s great to see this arc come to a head and bring with it a new twist that actually bears some sense of danger.
Despite what last week promised, ‘Save Henry’ was less of a major conclusion, and a lot more character driven than I thought it would be. I think Regina’s feelings for Henry were always a bit of a mystery, even though we saw how strongly she felt about him over the course of the series. ‘Save Henry’ was exactly what we needed to understand where those feelings came from, and how they made her throw her evil past behind her and start again.
Sometimes I get frustrated when I’m watching a show like Once and things are resolved so easily that it sucks the fun out of everything. But then this whole Neverland thing happened, and I find myself hungry for a quick finish.
I am so sick of Peter Pan, but maybe that’s a good thing. Rooting this hard for a villain to bite it is getting me more invested in this story’s outcome. If only we didn’t have to endure Robbie Kay and his eyebrows anymore.
I really wish this episode had come a lot sooner in the season. After the stand still of the past few weeks, ‘Ariel’ started the first major movement towards the conclusion of the Neverland story, which is something that should have started two or three episodes ago. And though it lacked cohesiveness at first, it was still the strongest episode of the season since the premiere.
Hook has always been a largely interesting character since he first set foot onto Once Upon a Time. His motives are never 100% clear, he’s wickedly snarky, and his chemistry with the cast was incredible from the get-go. ‘Good Form’ was our long awaited look-see into his past and what shaped him into the pirate that helped Cora wreak havoc in Storybrooke, a flashback that’s been long overdue, and it was definitely the first completely necessary one this season.
Like ‘Quite a Common Fairy’ and ‘Second Star to the Right’, ‘Nasty Habits’ was an attempt to tie Neverland in with pre-established arcs and character transformations, and subsequently working in this season’s big bad as a villain who has had run-ins with a lot of the familiar characters. Doing this is probably the only thing that’s giving him any bit of clout as a convincing bad guy.
“Snow White – that’s her name? Even I think that’s a bit precious and mine’s Tinkerbell.”
I’m getting the need for the history of the new Neverland recruits, and I like that they have ties to the familiar Storybrooke crew, but I’m starting to notice that something is seriously lacking this season.
It’s an interesting parallel that this identity crisis that Emma’s been facing is very similar to Snow’s past struggle with her role as the leader of her father’s kingdom. So far it seems as though this trip to Neverland has been less about a rousing adventure and more about the journey and personal struggles that these characters will be facing while trying to save one of their own.
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