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Once Upon a Time: Snow Falls

Charming: “You're a... girl.”
Snow White: “Woman.”

Whew! I was worried all the flashbacks in this show would concern the time between the wedding and the curse, as was the case of the first two episodes. That would get old fast. Thankfully, they got out of that rut before being stuck in it, and delivered a somewhat unconventional meet-cute.

We were taken to the time when Snow White was hiding from the Queen. However, contrary to what Disney says, she wasn’t living under the protection of the dwarves. This is a Snow White who knows how to handle herself. A self-proclaimed woman. That’s who Prince Charming (I’m sorry, James) meets, when she’s stealing from him.

James proves to be quite a ranger, finding Snow more than once, and a fighter, saving her from danger. And knife thrower. And archer. Man, he’s charming and skilled. No wonder she falls for him.

The good part is that she also saves him from danger. And they both used cunning to have the upper hand on each other. They were, from the start, equals; which I think is a good sign of a healthy relationship. She also got his attention the fastest way, grabbing his family jewels.

Interestingly, Mary in Storybrooke and James in Fairy-tale-land started the episode in a similar situation, looking for love in the wrong places, i.e., obnoxious people, while on the other timeline they were vanished to the world. They just needed to find each other.

That would be heartwarming if it weren’t heartbreaking, because in both timelines he gets back to the no-good wife/fiancĂ©e. Can Regina shape the reality as things go? Anyway, it wasn’t that big a surprise, since things wouldn’t be resolved this early in the game. The scene where Snow tries the ring on was really awkward, though. Ginnifer Goodwin nailed it.

Besides establishing that they’ll fill in the blanks in the fables we know, not only what is directly involved with the curse, this episode made me finally like Snow/Mary and see her as a person (or a character, depending on how grounded to reality you consider me), and like her. I’m invested in her as well.

Bits and pieces

- Always nice to see David Anders pop up in a show, especially as a villain of sorts.

- I don’t think this is the first date Ruby ruins, if she always dresses like that.

- How many pages are there in Henry’s book? There is detailed info on every fairy tale, huge illustrations and the space between lines is enough to write another book.

- Emma’s look when Mary told her John Doe had woken up was priceless.

- Isn’t it amusing that David literally wandered into the woods immediately after drifting out of the woods metaphorically?

- It looks more and more like the Sheriff is the Big Bad Wolf (he is good at tracking in the woods). I’ll be very disappointed if he is, because that would be in fact ripping off Fables, the comics.

- Troll Bridge X Toll Bridge. Get it? Wink wink nudge nudge.

- Hollywood writers don’t know CPR is very different from a kiss.

- Sleepy and Grumpy work at the hospital.

Quotes

James: “So... what did you do to incur that much wrath?”
Snow: “She blames me for ruining her life.”
James: “Did you?”
Snow: “Yes.”
I can’t wait to see what she did.

Mary: “Isn't finding people your thing, too?”
Emma: “Sure. Just... People I find usually run to places like Vegas. Not a lot hit the woods.”

Regina: “Do you know what insubordination means? It means you're grounded.”
She should buy a dictionary.

Snow: “Good-bye, Prince Charming.”
James: “I told you, it's James.”
Snow: “Nah. Still like "charming" better.”
I like that this was not his name, and that she was the one who gave him the nickname. I wonder if her name is really Snow White.

Three out of four sleeping hospital guards.

13 comments:

  1. I think the Sheriff could be the queen`s huntsman, who took pity on Snow White and only pretended to have killed her. Or was someone already revealed to be that person and I missed it?

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  2. I vote for the Huntsman too! If only because I'm really starting to like the guy and so hope he's not the big bad wolf! :p

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  3. That's good theory. Much better possibility than the BBW. I vote for it, too, and hope it's true.

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  4. The hubby and I just started watching this series, and have only gotten through Ep. 2 so far. But last night we were speculating about who the Sheriff might be, and settled on "We hope he's the woodsman" because we are kind of liking him and that would give him the chance to be more than an evil henchman.

    Interesting to see that others are leaning in that direction, too.

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  5. I'm shocked at how much I'm loving Jennifer Morrison in this show! I know this wasn't her episode, and Snow White was a total badass, but still! She really rubbed me the wrong way on House and in pretty much everything else I've seen her in, but her character is the main reason I'm sticking around in this show. She's playing strong yet sensitive no-nonsense chick so well. I love it.

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  6. She also shares my name- just another plus!

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  7. I've assumed the Sheriff was a leprechaun. Is that racist?

    "How many pages are there in Henry’s book?" Gus, that is a fascinating ontological question.

    This was a wonderful review, by the way. Family jewels, he he. Nice work!

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  8. Emma, I completely agree. I thought she was bland at best in House. A good character makes a good actor/actress bloom. And Emma is a pretty name, in my opinion.

    Josie, there are no such things as leprechauns. And I was not sure I was going to put the family jewels joke, fearing it would be too crass. Glad it worked.

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  9. Too crass? For this site? Nonsense.

    And I know that leprechauns are real, because my cats have started leaving candy in the litter box.

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  10. I'm enjoying this show as well but starting to worry about the effect it is having on some of the writers and their tenuous hold on reality :). Gus, your review was a lot of fun. You have a great sense of humour. I also vote for the sherrif being the woodsman.

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  11. Doc, you've made one of the greates compliments one could make. I try, most of all, to be funny. I think it's great that you get it. Thanks a lot.

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  12. I think the Big Bad Wolf is simply that wolf we saw run Emma off the road in the first episode. Remember that one of the main features of the curse is that the magic is gone. So the wolf, if he was a shapechanger in Fairy Land would just be a wolf here.

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  13. One of the things I have most enjoyed about modern re-telling of fairy tales is that the heroines are actually fairly strong women who can take care of themselves (think Drew Barrymore in Ever After from which this meet-cute was taken almost verbatim). It makes the characters more interesting and it makes me more likely to want the young girls in my life to emulate them.

    I did find it intriguing, however, that Snow seems to be much more badass than Mary Margaret. Interested to see where they are going to take the latter character.

    I do love the BFF vibes between Mary Margaret and Emma. I know I will just weep when the truth comes out...

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