OUaTiW 1x03: Forget Me Not
Jul. 6th, 2020 10:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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tori_reviewsOUaTiW 1x03: Forget Me Not
I didn't like this one as much as the last one, found it a lot more meh. Some of that is because, as discussed last time, I feel less invested in Will, so an episode focused on him has less appeal to my interests. But also I think the problem has a lot to do with falling into the OUaT style story; always finding ways to connect as many fairy tale/legendary characters as possible. And, weirdly enough, that's something I...maybe not liked but got some fun out of on OUaT, but here I think it weakens the story.
I also found myself trying to recall who had been introduced on OUaT before this. I don't remember if this was the introduction to Robin Hood or if this was done as an almost expected thing to link back to the parent show. I feel like the guy in the carriage at the start was meant to be someone we recognize from a previous meeting on the other show. And probably some Easter eggs in the castle but that was a little less distracting.
Maybe it's more distracting here because it adds yet another level of coincidental connection even beyond things that happen on OUaT. Not only are we expected to buy that Robin Hood lived in the same area as all these other fairy tales (even though Robin Hood is rarely a magical story) but it's conveniently intersecting with the reimagined versions of the characters from a different show. Some of that was unavoidable; the characters who had already been put into Wonderland (the Hatter, I think they do eventually explain what happened with Cora) but they keep adding more. I might have been more into it when I was also watching the main show, which would also mean it was before this kind of thing was part of what drove me away from the show (also, I hated Hook and the show would not get rid of him).
And, I have to admit, that same thought may have been part of why OUaT chose to (I believe) ignore this backstory when they brought some of the characters (I know Will, can't remember if any others; Robin if this was where he was introduced, but it probably wasn't) back to the parent show. Of it's already potentially too many levels of suspension of disbelief, trying to make it backwards compatible (from their perspective) would have been even more likely a step too far,
Back to this episode, the action was bland and all the 'twists' fairly predictable, and these meh aspects took up a lot more time in the episode than they needed too. My lesser interest in Will is not the primary component of my disinterest in either time-frame of the plot, but it is the unifying factor as it's part of both. The Wonderland plot just dragged, and the flashbacks had nothing very interesting about them.
I don't remember if I was surprised by the Anastasia reveal when this first happened, and since I wouldn't have been this time I can't judge. I'd forgotten it came this early, but since it's a short season I'm not surprised to relearn that fact. I don't think I saw it coming, but considering that I find the Queen fairly grating I hadn't exactly given a lot of thought to it either. In fact at the time I was probably spending more time wondering where Cora fit into things.
But because of that lack of surprise this time, I can do a little analysis of the way it's done. And it sort of comes back around to the acting, and that Will and Ana seem at cross-purpose. We don't do much with Ana in this one, so I could be proven wrong as we see more, but the actress seems more comfortable in that role. And, weirdly, in a way that makes sense in character; if we are to believe that Ana is who she really is and the Queen in the dark side, then even in character she's playing up the...caricature of evil rather than it being her natural state. But the actor playing Will doesn't seem very comfortable in the flashback scenes; he was cast to play present-Will not past-Will (I probably need to work out a name distinction for him too) and doesn't seem to quite know how to pitch the flashbacks. He seems like he's still the asshole who screws over anyone in pursuit of what he wants, it just happens to be that what he wants is to make Ana happy. So his happy scenes have a falseness to them, I don't buy him having any bond to the Merry Men, nor do I buy him as young and naive which would certainly have been one way to go with pre-heartbreak Will.
And that in turn makes the final piece of the episode ring false. Is he finally listening to Robin's advice? What about this convinced him to do that? If I believed he once had these morals and something reminded him of that, it would be closer to working; but I don't believe he had morals to start with. Plus he's been going along with Alice all this time, above and beyond what really makes sense even for a wish, so he's already showing his moral code and his ability to care about someone else. Maybe they could have leaned in to his lack of chemistry with the Merry Men and said he *didn't* really absorb his morality from them, but he does learn to have faith in Alice's goodness; except that I'm not sure how much Alice would really mind them both getting something out of this adventure.
Speaking of, posing the question to her about what she would do to have forever with Cyrus is kind of the most interesting part of the episode, because it's always kind of the question in immortal/mortal relationships. And the fact that she's evasive about the answer is maybe the most interesting answer she could give, at least from a narrative perspective. It gives the impression that she knows but is in denial about how complex that question and answer are; while at the same time not signposting that it's something the story will have to deal with. I don't remember if it figures into how the show wraps up, but it feels like something that ought to come up down the line.
For the record, I take immortal/mortal ships on a case by case basis. It's not always right to say they should both be immortal or mortal or just let life play out with their different life spans, it depends on the relationship. And in this case, I don't see how Cyrus would deal with living forever without Alice, so I think it needs to end with them on the same time scale, whichever way it ends up going.
I didn't like this one as much as the last one, found it a lot more meh. Some of that is because, as discussed last time, I feel less invested in Will, so an episode focused on him has less appeal to my interests. But also I think the problem has a lot to do with falling into the OUaT style story; always finding ways to connect as many fairy tale/legendary characters as possible. And, weirdly enough, that's something I...maybe not liked but got some fun out of on OUaT, but here I think it weakens the story.
I also found myself trying to recall who had been introduced on OUaT before this. I don't remember if this was the introduction to Robin Hood or if this was done as an almost expected thing to link back to the parent show. I feel like the guy in the carriage at the start was meant to be someone we recognize from a previous meeting on the other show. And probably some Easter eggs in the castle but that was a little less distracting.
Maybe it's more distracting here because it adds yet another level of coincidental connection even beyond things that happen on OUaT. Not only are we expected to buy that Robin Hood lived in the same area as all these other fairy tales (even though Robin Hood is rarely a magical story) but it's conveniently intersecting with the reimagined versions of the characters from a different show. Some of that was unavoidable; the characters who had already been put into Wonderland (the Hatter, I think they do eventually explain what happened with Cora) but they keep adding more. I might have been more into it when I was also watching the main show, which would also mean it was before this kind of thing was part of what drove me away from the show (also, I hated Hook and the show would not get rid of him).
And, I have to admit, that same thought may have been part of why OUaT chose to (I believe) ignore this backstory when they brought some of the characters (I know Will, can't remember if any others; Robin if this was where he was introduced, but it probably wasn't) back to the parent show. Of it's already potentially too many levels of suspension of disbelief, trying to make it backwards compatible (from their perspective) would have been even more likely a step too far,
Back to this episode, the action was bland and all the 'twists' fairly predictable, and these meh aspects took up a lot more time in the episode than they needed too. My lesser interest in Will is not the primary component of my disinterest in either time-frame of the plot, but it is the unifying factor as it's part of both. The Wonderland plot just dragged, and the flashbacks had nothing very interesting about them.
I don't remember if I was surprised by the Anastasia reveal when this first happened, and since I wouldn't have been this time I can't judge. I'd forgotten it came this early, but since it's a short season I'm not surprised to relearn that fact. I don't think I saw it coming, but considering that I find the Queen fairly grating I hadn't exactly given a lot of thought to it either. In fact at the time I was probably spending more time wondering where Cora fit into things.
But because of that lack of surprise this time, I can do a little analysis of the way it's done. And it sort of comes back around to the acting, and that Will and Ana seem at cross-purpose. We don't do much with Ana in this one, so I could be proven wrong as we see more, but the actress seems more comfortable in that role. And, weirdly, in a way that makes sense in character; if we are to believe that Ana is who she really is and the Queen in the dark side, then even in character she's playing up the...caricature of evil rather than it being her natural state. But the actor playing Will doesn't seem very comfortable in the flashback scenes; he was cast to play present-Will not past-Will (I probably need to work out a name distinction for him too) and doesn't seem to quite know how to pitch the flashbacks. He seems like he's still the asshole who screws over anyone in pursuit of what he wants, it just happens to be that what he wants is to make Ana happy. So his happy scenes have a falseness to them, I don't buy him having any bond to the Merry Men, nor do I buy him as young and naive which would certainly have been one way to go with pre-heartbreak Will.
And that in turn makes the final piece of the episode ring false. Is he finally listening to Robin's advice? What about this convinced him to do that? If I believed he once had these morals and something reminded him of that, it would be closer to working; but I don't believe he had morals to start with. Plus he's been going along with Alice all this time, above and beyond what really makes sense even for a wish, so he's already showing his moral code and his ability to care about someone else. Maybe they could have leaned in to his lack of chemistry with the Merry Men and said he *didn't* really absorb his morality from them, but he does learn to have faith in Alice's goodness; except that I'm not sure how much Alice would really mind them both getting something out of this adventure.
Speaking of, posing the question to her about what she would do to have forever with Cyrus is kind of the most interesting part of the episode, because it's always kind of the question in immortal/mortal relationships. And the fact that she's evasive about the answer is maybe the most interesting answer she could give, at least from a narrative perspective. It gives the impression that she knows but is in denial about how complex that question and answer are; while at the same time not signposting that it's something the story will have to deal with. I don't remember if it figures into how the show wraps up, but it feels like something that ought to come up down the line.
For the record, I take immortal/mortal ships on a case by case basis. It's not always right to say they should both be immortal or mortal or just let life play out with their different life spans, it depends on the relationship. And in this case, I don't see how Cyrus would deal with living forever without Alice, so I think it needs to end with them on the same time scale, whichever way it ends up going.
