The good folks in Storybrooke have broken away from their spell of forgetting who they really are in life. The curse over the town set by Regina (the Evil Queen) has been lifted thanks to the efforts of a boy named Henry and Rumpelstiltskin, so what is a town to do now?
At the beginning of the second season it’s complete chaos, as everyone wakes up from their false slumber to find confusion and missing people (or not find them, as the case might be). To add to the confusion, the town folk discover that they can’t leave the town of Storybrooke or they will forever forget who they are/were. Led by Prince Charming and Snow White, the residents of Storybrooke must find a way to get out of the town and possibly back to a land that they’ve long forgotten, and that takes some time and ‘magic’. Of course, along the way they must make deals with people who are out to get them (Regina, Rumpelstiltskin, etc.) for their own selfish reasons. The story tips back and forth with these ‘evil’ characters, where they sort of hang in a neutral position towards the end of the second season. And maybe that’s the brilliance of this season; there are no real ‘evil’ characters (outside of Regina’s mom – Cora), just people with their own interests. By the end you really do hit a high note of intensity and unfortunately some major characters are lost along the way (or so we think). The twists and turns of the plot really help to move the show along and create some very interesting storylines. It certainly does a better job with opening up some more storylines for the third season, which you will anticipate when it all concludes.
You ‘never’ ‘land’ where you think you will with this show.
I was skeptical about the second season of Once Upon a Time because I felt like the first season really did show its entire hand and spend all the money it had to suspend the disbelief of its audience. It was a tough sell to take all of these fairytale characters and place them into a real life situation. There were so many questions that the writers of the show left open by the end of the first season that they couldn’t possibly have any sort of direction of where to go when the Storybrooke’s residents woke up from their curse, right?
The second season, at the very least, upped the ante in comparison to the first. It not only hit a home run with writing, storytelling and acting, but it did so in such a way that you’ll be pining for more by the end of the season. I was extremely impressed with how the stories interweaved between each other, and sometimes were way off into left field. Strangely, if not beautifully, the story always seemed to come back together to make complete sense. For example, this season one of the new characters that is introduced is Captain Hook. They place him in the origin story of Rumpelstiltskin and make Hook the catalyst for Rumpelstiltskin’s creation. Stiltskin’s fall from grace also creates the Captain Hook we know and love and gives him reason to go after Peter Pan, which we find out is Rumpelstiltskin’s son. This particular storyline is one of the stronger plot points introduced in the second season, which just keeps on rolling.
One of the stronger portions of the season is how the flashbacks are interwoven into the story. Unlike the first season, when the flashbacks helped tell the overall story, but were overall weak in terms of substance, the second season seems to have matured the flashbacks into something cohesive, and no longer a crutch for the main plot to stand on. Sometimes you’ll actually want to stay in the past in the story because it’s really well done. For example, Rumpelstiltskin’s past is a bit more explained in the show and it is certainly one of the more devastating backstories, but nonetheless beautiful.
Having said all this, this season has some weak elements to it. One of the weaker storylines, which is more about it being interesting rather than a problem with the storytelling, is how Red is explained. While I won’t give anything away, I just felt like her story was a bit stale as a whole. The writers have attempted to make her a complete badass and it comes off as a bit weak. It seemed a bit forced, especially when you get into the deep explanation of ‘why’ with her. I wanted more depth to it, and a bit more scary. Sadly, neither is achieved.
Overall, by the end of the second season you will be frothing at the mouth for the next one. That’s saying a lot for the show’s creators, writers and actors. This isn’t a small world that is under-complicated; rather it’s a big world that is ever expanding. Because the second season shows the depth, dedication and well thought out story, there’s no reason to believe that the third will fail. If you haven’t seen the first season or just finished it, then you’ll be pleased with what the second season brings you.
As for the Blu-ray portion of this film, just like my first review, this is some of the best HD I’ve seen with a show. There are no imperfections in it. The are no issues with graininess, artifacts, compression problems or color banding. It’s quite perfect for a Blu-ray. The only issue, and this is more production value than Blu-ray problems, is that the green/blue screening the production team is doing needs some major chromakey work. Most of what’s done in front of the screens really comes out very ‘outlined’ and ugly. I’m not sure if they need to cut down on their virtual sets or get some prop pieces in there (at least some flooring) to help out, but it really is horribly magnified in HD. Again, this isn’t really an HD issue as much as it is a production problem. That aside, the HD is perfect and gorgeous.
As for the audio, it comes to you in DTS-HD 5.1 and the aspect ratio for the show is maintained at 1.78:1.
Finally, as far as bonus features go, here’s what you’re looking at:
– Good Morning Storybrooke
– A Fractured Family Tree
– Sincerely, Hook
– Girl Power
– Bloopers
– Audio Commentaries
– Deleted Scenes
You actually get some lighthearted and informative features with this season. The Good Morning Storybrooke feature is a parody morning news show for the town of Storybrooke. It features wonderful one-liners and hilarious polls (Peter Dinklage — poor guy). Is it fun and exciting? Eh, but it’s wacky and stupid, so it’s got that going for it.
The Sincerely, Hook featurette is a good focus on one of the new characters from the season, Captain Hook (played by Collin O’Donoghue). O’Donoghue talks about how he got the role and what he was looking for when bringing the character to life. It’s an interesting bit that gives some insight and depth into his one-handed/hook character.
Girl Power is kind of a neat feature that focuses in on all the main ladies in the show. It talks about the writers/producers intentions on making less of damsels in distress and more damsels that can take care of business. It’s a great look into how the female characters in the show were created and how they are portrayed. I can only hope my daughters turn out the way these ladies do.
The final features here are pretty good. The bloopers are absolutely hysterical, though short. The deleted scenes were rightfully cut, though some are interesting. The audio commentaries in the show are good, but not as good as when they’re off. The show is based on the suspension of disbelief, and anyone talking over it really takes that away. Although the commentary is informative.
Overall, you get a solid set of features with this release that will extend, though only briefly, the life of the show.
