How To Kill Your Dragon

True story: BEd gave me a lot of time to watch TV and read. When I was on placement, that obviously wasn't true. But when I was at school, I had a lot of free time. I don't really know why. I guess I work quickly? Anyway, I picked up a lot of shows this year. One of them was Once Upon a Time. I think I talked about this once.

I thought the interpretation of the fairytales was really interesting. I liked the way they played into regular life. I liked a lot of the characters and I think the way the story developed in two realms was well thought out. How else would it be possible to watch essentially the same story develop twice in one episode.

Tonight was the season finale. I'll admit, I had pretty high expectations after Henry ate a pastry made of the poisoned apple that originally took out Snow White. Were those expectations met? Meh. I thought there was a lot of build up for how easily the story was resolved. I kept thinking "Thank God Emma's a blonde" (my apologies to blondes) because holy crap was she ever dumb. Had she never seen Walt Disney? He's the racist/antisemitic dude living in the fairy castle. He's friends with a talking mouse? Can't miss him. Somehow he became a staple of childhood?

When faced with a fire-breathing dragon, she decides to ignore everyone's advice and ditch her sword. Instead, she pulls out her gun. Because everyone knows if the princes of yore had guns, they would have turned them sideways a lit shit up. Needless to say, that didn't work out so well. We watched her run around for bit, fire off all her rounds, she acted confused... Oh right, I have that long metal thing scholars often describe as being phallic. What's that called again...? A sword! Perhaps I should use that like everyone told me. She ended up just throwing it and in one shot, kills the dragon. "You beginner luck" says Miagi.

She'll figure it out. She's getting closer.

After slaying the dragon with the correct weapon, she retrieved the potion that had been hidden inside it. The potion was True Love as concocted by Rumpelstiltskin. Gee... where does True Love usually come from in fairytales? It's okay, I'll give you a minute to think about it. A platonic hug? A firm handshake? Yeah... after Henry "dies" she tells her son that she loves him, kisses his forehead and TADA! breaks not only Henry's curse, but the curse that had been affecting the whole town. I'm unsure how that last part worked out. I am however positive that it had to do with Love.

So many problems arose over the course of the season. All of them led back to the evil Queen and Rumpelstiltskin. Neither of those two gets what's coming to them. In fact, they're both happy as a creepy greyish-pink fog engulfs the town. Obviously material for season two. Regardless of future intentions, it was kind of disappointing to see a kiss solve all the problems of the world. I know it's based on a fairytale but really? Emma wasn't the classic heroine. She was the tough, self-reliant chick, an investigator who allegedly had the power to tell when someone was lying. Clearly not Rumplestiltskin, but she had a lot on her mind so I'll let it slide. I was expecting an end that blended traditional fairytale and modern reality. Didn't really get that. It was very traditional, very fast and for me, unsatisfying.

But at least she believes in magic now. It only took a dragon. Clearly I have very high expectations of TV. Expectations that are seldom met. I still like the show. I even liked most of this episode. The thing with the dragon though... God!

Oh! I almost forgot! Happy Mother's Day to the Moms of the world. Yes, the World!

Lauren.