Once Upon a Time

Photo Cred: https://www.facebook.com/OnceABC?fref=photo

So in hour of the two hour season finale of Once Upon a Time this week's blog is devoted entirely to one of my favorite shows on TV! And I really do mean favorite, do not bother me between 8-9pm on a Sunday night because it is likely I will either snap at you or ignore you completely. Unless of course you are also partaking in that amazingness that is ABC on a Sunday night. If you are watching as well then by all means; text me, tweet me ... especially tweet as I do spend a majority of the episode live tweeting it because I usually cannot contain myself during these episodes.

For those of you that follow me on Twitter and suffered through my endless, or seemingly endless, rants on Twitter during a brand new episode this all began when I really only knew of one other friend watching the show as well. Now due to scheduling and our lives we didn't always get to watch them as they premiered, so it was difficult for me to express what I was feeling with someone going through the same thing. So I took to Twitter where dozens upon dozens of fans could share in my emotions and what I was feeling in that particular moment of time. Now I've since learned that I have several other friends that enjoy the show and watch as episodes premiere, but that does not mean the Twitter rants will be ending anytime soon.

But let's talk a little bit about the twist at the end of Sunday night's finale ... namely ... FROZEN! Frozen is coming to Storybrooke, Elsa has come to Maine. I personally really enjoyed this twist of events because up until that moment in the show everything was happy-happy joy-joy, now after everything the citizens of Storybrooke have endured in this past season a happy ending was long overdue at least for a few of them. But I was feeling the definite lack of a cliffhanger that would make me itch for season 4 to start ... well ... NOW! Elsa gave me that cliffhanger, she left me with a lot of questions such as; Why did Rumple have her imprisoned? Will she be the evil Ice Queen from which her tale stems? Will she be the misunderstood Disney character we've all grown to love? How does she know Rumple? So many questions that I want answered!

That being said though I also have issue with this whole Maid Marian twist. My issues with her started from the moment Emma saved her from the Evil Queen's dungeon and ultimately changed the past. We didn't know it at the time but that was Robin Hood's wife, Regina's soulmate and now his wife is back putting all parties involved in one hell of a love triangle. My heart breaks for Regina, she'd finally found happiness after years of being miserable. And she was miserable, not entirely unjustified, but still she was sad and I for one wanted to finally her happy. Now Maid Marian is back and not only does this enrage Regina, but let's not forget about the fact that Robin is now in an awkward position. We're all heartbroken for Regina but what of Robin Hood? He has his wife back, Roland's mother, but he also clearly cares very deeply for Regina! How will he deal with this particular turn of events? Yet another question that I need answered by the upcoming season 4 premiere ... in the fall ... ughh!

And finally let's talk a little bit about Disney. I can't really, in good conscious, end an OUAT blog post without delving into the Disney aspect. Because while Disney is fabulous and there are a lot of iconic aspects (the wardrobe mostly) that made it into the show Disney is not the be all and end all of OUAT. We all have to remember that all of these fairy tales ... ALL OF THEM ... come from much grittier, much darker and much dirtier fairy tales that were around long before Walt Disney waltzed onto the scene. That being said we have to remember that while Frozen is Disney's latest hit, and it is a HIT, it wasn't always about a misunderstood queen and a singing snowman. Olaf is amazing, let's just get that out of the way, but he wasn't exactly something Hans Christian Andersen had in mind when he penned the original tale. 

Guys we all have to remember that Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm didn't exactly end their stories with "... and they lived happily ever after." In fact many of these princesses that we grew up with ended up maimed, abused, beaten or even dead by the end of the story. My all time favorite Disney princess is Ariel, I've loved The Little Mermaid since the first time I saw that movie but the reality is The Little Mermaid is the sanitized version of The Brothers Grimm. Spoiler alert: Ariel does not in fact end up with her prince, but committing suicide at the end. Yeah I guess that part is somewhere on the cutting room floor back at Disney studios.

From the Producers

The reality of this show is that the producers have watered down the original fairy tales, but not sanitized them the way Disney has. And while I find it amazing that the creators of this show have found a way to work in conjunction with the good folks at Disney, they've been able to keep a lot of the iconic aspects of the princess movies there are still many fairy tales that Disney hasn't touched. The Wizard of Oz? That's Warner Bros. guys, I do not recall a version of Rumplstiltskin from my childhood and the only Hansel and Gretel I feel worth remembering is the more recent version featuring Jeremy Renner & Gemma Arterton. As many, if not all of us, know Disney has the mother of all copyrights! And I find it commendable to the creators and producers for finding a way to incorporate these things into their show that will bring the viewers right back to childhood but keep them interested thanks to the reimagined aspect of the show. It's really amazing that Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis had the vision and determination to not only figure out a way to incorporate the movies/stories that we all know and love, but give them a new twist while still respecting what's already been done to them.

So Season 4 ... I really cannot wait for you!