litlover12 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
litlover12) wrote2012-12-02 11:43 pm
litlover12) wrote2012-12-02 11:43 pm
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On a slightly more serious note
. . . about Once Upon a Time. I do enjoy it, though not in the way I thought I would at first. I thought it would be all sweeping and grand and romantic -- instead of which, it's just good hokey fun with an occasional dollop of romance and tragedy. It's never yet successfully pulled off a "surprise reveal" -- in fact, the way it telegraphs its "surprises" has become something of a running joke among the fans. (ETA: No, I'm wrong. They managed to keep the truth about Red Riding Hood and the wolf a surprise. There's an exception to every rule.) Still, there's something appealing, even addictive, about it.
Plus, when Snow insisted that "Good always wins" tonight, I took great pleasure in remembering Dark Helmet's "Evil will always win, because good is dumb." (And Lord knows, some of the good guys on this show tend to bear him out on that.) Any show that reminds you of Spaceballs, unwittingly or not, can't be all bad.
But one of its major weaknesses is far too much use of that tired old "The villains are just misunderstood!!!" trope. I'm about fed up with the bad guys redeeming themselves and then going back to being evil and then redeeming themselves and then being evil, lather, rinse, repeat. It's a cheap and manipulative trick. And unfortunately, judging by the way many fans let themselves get jerked around by it, it works.
Rumple can pull the most awful stunts and get away with it because "Belle sees something good in him!" I'm not denying he's fascinating, not to mention incredibly well acted, but looking at him purely objectively, there's not an awful lot to root for there. I can't help thinking it would be much better to keep him as a love-to-hate character. And even though Regina has killed people and wrecked countless lives, we're supposed to feel sorry for her now because she loves her son and she had a terrible childhood. Yeah, okay, fine, mommy did you wrong when you were a kid. Now you're an adult. Grow up and get over it.
(And do not even get me STARTED on Hook. He actually hit a defenseless woman tonight -- knocked her out cold -- and I'll bet it doesn't make one iota of difference to the fangirls. Because OMG HE'S SO HOTT!!1!1! Ugh, spare me.)
So now Regina's MOTHER is the villain, so I suppose we're going to find out that she had a horrible childhood too. And her mother before her, and her mother before her . . . where does it end? Can't someone ever be just plain evil?
Plus, when Snow insisted that "Good always wins" tonight, I took great pleasure in remembering Dark Helmet's "Evil will always win, because good is dumb." (And Lord knows, some of the good guys on this show tend to bear him out on that.) Any show that reminds you of Spaceballs, unwittingly or not, can't be all bad.
But one of its major weaknesses is far too much use of that tired old "The villains are just misunderstood!!!" trope. I'm about fed up with the bad guys redeeming themselves and then going back to being evil and then redeeming themselves and then being evil, lather, rinse, repeat. It's a cheap and manipulative trick. And unfortunately, judging by the way many fans let themselves get jerked around by it, it works.
Rumple can pull the most awful stunts and get away with it because "Belle sees something good in him!" I'm not denying he's fascinating, not to mention incredibly well acted, but looking at him purely objectively, there's not an awful lot to root for there. I can't help thinking it would be much better to keep him as a love-to-hate character. And even though Regina has killed people and wrecked countless lives, we're supposed to feel sorry for her now because she loves her son and she had a terrible childhood. Yeah, okay, fine, mommy did you wrong when you were a kid. Now you're an adult. Grow up and get over it.
(And do not even get me STARTED on Hook. He actually hit a defenseless woman tonight -- knocked her out cold -- and I'll bet it doesn't make one iota of difference to the fangirls. Because OMG HE'S SO HOTT!!1!1! Ugh, spare me.)
So now Regina's MOTHER is the villain, so I suppose we're going to find out that she had a horrible childhood too. And her mother before her, and her mother before her . . . where does it end? Can't someone ever be just plain evil?
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It's all about taste, really. What I cannot abide is the soap opera storyline. I'll only watch a crime drama if the storyline stays solidly in the realm of the non-soapy. Or if the soap stays far enough to the side for me to sort of pretend it's not there. I couldn't even snark my way through Downton Abbey, despite the beauty of the costume drama aspect, the wonderful acting from quite a few characters, and the degree to which I LOVED the historical things. Because there was just too much soap, even for laughing at.
My mom and dad clearly don't hate it the way I do. :-)