Faced with unexpected free time during my current "dry dock" in Palermo, now I suddenly have opportunity not just to walk around the town until my feet hurt and discover previously unknown parts of Palermo but also to check my collection of goodies collected during previous vacation - I browsed the titles and decided to give a shot to something produced by same team who created "Lost". I see the similarity in approach - though the story is completely different this time, it also has hundred-and-one character and episodes are tailored so to give many flashbacks to all of them, turning soap bubbles forever.
"Once Upon a Time" is happening in fictional town of Storybrooke where all the citizens have no memories of their lives and time stands still. Nobody ever arrives here, nobody ever leaves and no one finds it strange. Until adventurous and kick-ass Emma Swan arrives and gets stuck here, meddling in plans of evil city mayor Regina Mills - unbelievably as it seems, it turns that all the people here are fairy tale characters who don't remember anything about their previous lives. We encounter Snow White, Prince Charming, Huntsman, seven dwarves, Rumplestiltskin, Jiminy Cricket, Pinocchio, Red Riding Hood and many others who don't remember anything about themselves because of the dark curse laying upon the town - it all start to slowly change with arrival of Emma, who naturally don't believe in any of this. In fact, her little son (given to adoption long ago and living here) is the only one who knows and passionately believes in this - his fairy tale book is called "Once Upon a Time" - I must admit that little boy often appears deranged and the whole plot is stretched really far beyond belief.
I guess series writers just assumed viewers would take this as a fantasy fiction and leave it at that. While "Lost" was happening in present time and at least had a pretence at something realistic, here we have pure escapism with witches, evil queens and fairy tale characters so reality goes out of the window. Take it or leave it. It took me forever to actually get into this, because I watched it with disbelief and was often tempted to switch it off completely - but it was entertaining in a silly, fluffy way and I did get a kick out of some script ideas (Snow White being quite Amélie-like, clumsy little cutie pie who enjoys a drink with girls and even has one night stand with someone) while plot is of course very professionally tailored with cliffhangers, excellent production and special effects. I am halfway the first season now and glued to the screen completely but I can see where it all leads - to more and more bubbles, more flashbacks of more fairy tales characters that suddenly appear out of nowhere so this can go on forever until the end of my life. I will watch complete first season but I promised to myself not to fall into the trap and not to follow any more seasons, because it just makes me feel silly. One really good thing in here is actress Lana Parrilla who is main antagonist and not only she is really good (strangely human in a basically fairy tale wicked queen role) but she is stunningly beautiful woman to watch and I just love every time she is on the screen. She holds the whole town in her claw and everybody is afraid of her power, which naturally impresses me immensely.
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