What I’m Watching: Once Upon a Time

Once Upon a Time: Season 1, Episode 9 “True North” (C+)

There’s a certain point in each episode where it becomes abundantly clear just which famous fairy tale is being retold, and that does allow for a certain amount of satisfaction on the part of the viewer in terms of being able to put the pieces together. What’s often equally puzzling is why this fantasy series is the new destination for old sci-fi actors like Nicholas Lea, best known as Alex Krycek from “The X-Files” and recently seen on “V.” Perhaps it’s just my frustration with the fact that this show, while continually intriguing, never quite delivers on the level that I would hope it might. Figuring out that the Evil Queen was trying to get the apple that would later tie into Charming and Snow White was a strong moment, but sometimes the path there just doesn’t cut it. Having Hansel and Gretel’s father be a mechanic was awfully convenient, and that’s where this show sometimes blurs the line between coincidental and corny. Emma so casually offering up the fact that Henry thinks that Snow White is her mother is definitely going to get Mary Margaret thinking, setting her right back into the mind frame that maybe Henry isn’t so far off in his theories. Mr. Gold’s manipulation of Emma seems to be put on hold for the moment as he does her a favor without asking anything in return, but this show does have a tendency to forget about some of its subplots, only to randomly revisit them later.