Once Upon a Time 2.13: Tiny

I like that Once Upon a Time isn’t not all about the big stuff, all the time. I like that it takes time to flesh out its characters, and not bombard us with as much craziness as we can tolerate. I like that it specialises in those special moments in between. I even like the tacky CGI! What I don’t like is when the show fails to decipher between the necessary, and the unnecessary.

That’s what Tiny suffered from most. I enjoyed Jorge Garcia’s reappearance here. I think he’s adorable as much as the next Lost fan, but come on! We’ve only seen him for, what, 10 minutes of screen-time before now? What makes the writers think we want to side step and see his life story so soon?

Think about how Aurora and Mulan came about. When we first met them, it was under different circumstances that your standard flashback. The curse had been broken, and the show’s greater narrative was up in the air. When Snow and Emma arrived in the Enchanted Forest, we saw them join the bigger part of our story. They never took over the lime light completely only falling into line behind the show’s hierarchy. Even Belle took almost half a season to get her own flashback so what makes Tony so deserving?

Probably because of name dropping and fan service. Which is fine to an extent, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of decent writing, something that this episode definitely had. The shout-out to Charming’s twin brother was welcome after he’d been ignored for almost a whole season. He even made Charming look reasonable by comparison, not an easy job! Rumple’s travel trauma was also welcome, something I’m sure we’ll see a lot more of next week. Will he hang on long enough to find Bae?

What wasn’t as welcome was Regina’s backtrack to queen bitchdom. I like her tormented, and brooding, fighting her own darkness. It seems like she’s fallen back into her old ways too easily, after a well drawn path to recovery. I even hoped she’d turned into Cora, and all her meddling here wasn’t actually her at all, but no such luck.

Part of me wanted to love this episode, (who can turn down the opportunity to see Cassidy Freeman in ye olde gear?!), but I just couldn’t. It wasn’t the very worst it could have been, but there was a lot the show missed out on, let’s hope things go back to regular size next week. Lay off the magic mushrooms writers...

6/10

Plus

The Giants were the most ridiculous group, weren’t they?

The biggest example of Disney placement: the Dwarves whistling.

It was nice of them to initiate Tiny into their group, especially after he totalled more than a few cars in town.
What’s new guy up to? Looks like the town will have a full scale infiltration on their hands if he doesn’t stay quiet.

Fairytale fashion: Ruby’s jacket doesn’t exactly scream small town attire, does it?

He Said, She Said

Hook: “You didn’t even ask me about my recovery.”
Snow: “How are you feeling Hook?!”
Hook: “Come closer and feel for yourself...”

Tiny: “I’m better off alone. I’m not too good at fitting in.”
Leroy: “You’re in the right place.” 

Leroy: “Work is work, it’s what we do.”


Also posted at Doux Reviews

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