What I’m Watching: Once Upon a Time

Once Upon a Time: Season 1, Episode 5 “That Still Small Voice” (C+)

This show continues to be interesting, but I think the lines of good and evil are being drawn a bit too explicitly. Regina being impossibly evil is entertaining to a point, but her extensive demeaning of the newly deputized Emma is getting to be ridiculous, especially after Emma risks her life to save him. There’s only so much crowd control to be done, and Regina needs to cool it occasionally if she wants to maintain any sort of authority in the town without having everyone turn against her. Archie’s efforts to crush Henry’s delusion at the unsubtle request of Regina were harsh and highly unproductive, and I’m glad that he was able to muster up the courage to stand up to her by episode’s end. It’s nice that there are happy endings in Storybrooke after all, and Emma’s presence seems to be drawing the fantasy world ever closer as Regina is unnerved by broken glass seeping through. The events in the fantasy world with Jiminy’s family were downright disturbing, as his parents rivaled Regina in their desire to be as evil as possible, and the effects of Rumplestiltskin’s potion on the conned couple were rather terrifying. The revelation that the little boy was Gepetto was sweet, and it’s good to see such a strong friendship between the two of them in both worlds. Mary and David are spending a lot of time together, and something tells me that if David’s wife Kathryn doesn’t notice an attraction brewing, someone else will soon, and I’m not sure it’s going to end well.