So as of writing this the show is 3 seasons 10 episodes in. and its some of the worst writing I've ever seen.
Early on in the show we find out that Emma Snow, one of if not THE main character has the ability to tell whenever someones lying. I wont spoil the specifics but a few episodes later, and up until the current episode she literally never uses that ability again. Its the most blatantly discarded plot devise I've seen in years.
The acting in general, but especially amongst the younger actors, is wooden and unconvincing. However thats a sliver of a shadow in comparison to the inconsistencies and laziness the script exhibits.
The show features subplots of the fairy-tale land that was before a curse took everyone's memory and dumped them in a discreet part of America. These subplots are seldom anything more than blatant filler content, as we know how the story more or less ends (with the curse and Storybrook) but they usually have the decency to use the time to flesh out the backstory of characters. It's normally fairly inane, one character threatens another, but we know they end up alive and safe in the present day so the emotional pulls are almost nonexistent. But occasionally (as with todays episodes, s3 e10) its purely a retelling of a classic fable or myth.
In this case one character (trying not to spoil, even though the show is garbage) heard rumours years ago about a mythical creature that can defeat her enemy. The creature disables a person and the effect can only be reversed if the creature dies. The creature then casts its spell on the loved one of the character whose idea this was, and through a hasty butchering of the classic legend she turns the creatures power on itself, NOT killing but disabling the creature. The spell on her loved one is then broken, the creature is no longer useful for the intended purpose of defeating her enemy, and the lovers walk away. The entire subplot had no purpose. It was relevant in absolutely no way other than to butcher a classic Greek myth and soak up time, and it also destroyed the consistency it established only minutes ago, when we were lead to believe that the creature was immortal in every possible way, and its spell could only be reversed upon its death. It doesn't die, but its spell is lifted anyway, with never a mention of the failure to live in the universe the story created.
I consider this show probably the weakest of the supernatural shows currently airing, and that's saying something. Its filled with black and white morality, based upon watered down children's stories not the vivid originals, it throws together all kinds of completely unrelated, sometimes incongruous legends and stories in the most banal uninspired way that on an intellectual level its offensive. It's the type of show where the protagonists are perpetually in life threatening situations but "through the power of love" or "belief" or some other romanticised nonsense its inevitable they will prevail. Every season sees at least 5 or 6 main characters in certain fatal peril, but nevertheless no one dies and everyone gets forgiven.
Its so bad its almost good. But its not.
Early on in the show we find out that Emma Snow, one of if not THE main character has the ability to tell whenever someones lying. I wont spoil the specifics but a few episodes later, and up until the current episode she literally never uses that ability again. Its the most blatantly discarded plot devise I've seen in years.
The acting in general, but especially amongst the younger actors, is wooden and unconvincing. However thats a sliver of a shadow in comparison to the inconsistencies and laziness the script exhibits.
The show features subplots of the fairy-tale land that was before a curse took everyone's memory and dumped them in a discreet part of America. These subplots are seldom anything more than blatant filler content, as we know how the story more or less ends (with the curse and Storybrook) but they usually have the decency to use the time to flesh out the backstory of characters. It's normally fairly inane, one character threatens another, but we know they end up alive and safe in the present day so the emotional pulls are almost nonexistent. But occasionally (as with todays episodes, s3 e10) its purely a retelling of a classic fable or myth.
In this case one character (trying not to spoil, even though the show is garbage) heard rumours years ago about a mythical creature that can defeat her enemy. The creature disables a person and the effect can only be reversed if the creature dies. The creature then casts its spell on the loved one of the character whose idea this was, and through a hasty butchering of the classic legend she turns the creatures power on itself, NOT killing but disabling the creature. The spell on her loved one is then broken, the creature is no longer useful for the intended purpose of defeating her enemy, and the lovers walk away. The entire subplot had no purpose. It was relevant in absolutely no way other than to butcher a classic Greek myth and soak up time, and it also destroyed the consistency it established only minutes ago, when we were lead to believe that the creature was immortal in every possible way, and its spell could only be reversed upon its death. It doesn't die, but its spell is lifted anyway, with never a mention of the failure to live in the universe the story created.
I consider this show probably the weakest of the supernatural shows currently airing, and that's saying something. Its filled with black and white morality, based upon watered down children's stories not the vivid originals, it throws together all kinds of completely unrelated, sometimes incongruous legends and stories in the most banal uninspired way that on an intellectual level its offensive. It's the type of show where the protagonists are perpetually in life threatening situations but "through the power of love" or "belief" or some other romanticised nonsense its inevitable they will prevail. Every season sees at least 5 or 6 main characters in certain fatal peril, but nevertheless no one dies and everyone gets forgiven.
Its so bad its almost good. But its not.