This blog entry is brought to you by the writers of LOST. Just kidding (I wish). Anyway, this show has been much-hyped, and there have been equal amounts of anticipation and skepticism surrounding its premise. However, the pilot is absolutely stunning, a great start to a story I can't wait to experience.
This is a fantastic pilot for the balance it strikes. It's got mystery without being confusing, a certain degree of dazzle without being over-the-top, and characters who are equal parts fantastical and realistic (thanks surely in part to the fact that most of them have fairy tale alter-egos).
We start off in the fairy tale world with Snow White and her Prince, and the Evil Queen who vows to subject them to suffering in a world more terrible than any they can possibly imagine-- ours. Cut to Jennifer Morrison's Emma, a bail bondsperson who is fiercely independent and "kind of a loner." She's busy celebrating her 28th birthday all by her lonesome when who should knock at the door but a ten year old boy who says he's the son she gave up for adoption. He, naturally, wants her to accompany him to one Storybrook, Maine where, we will soon learn, all of our favorite fairy tale characters are living, completely unaware of their true identities.
ABC is taking full advantage of the ease with which they've been able to link this show to the fan base of shows like LOST. For one thing, throughout the episode we see numerous fun little references to the show that launched a million theories, as well as many similar elements of mystery. After all, the pilot already brought us a prophecy (not to mention the creepy, inscrutable Rumpelstiltskin, who made it), magical memory loss, several ambiguous characters who may prove to be either friend or foe, and a love story between two characters who've been separated by the Queen's spell. This show definitely has the potential to emulate LOST's weekly cliffhanger/boatload of unanswered questions design as well, and with maybe even a little more mass appeal (because much as I love the show in question, not everyone shares my fascination with things like time travel and polar bears well outside their natural habitat). I'm already excited to go back and look for details I missed before, and speculate wildly on the meaning they might hold.
The vote is generally split on Jennifer Morrison as an actress-- some people like her, others can't stand her. I think her performance here is a lot more dimensional than I was expecting, and I think I can definitely get on board with her as our heroine. The rest of the cast fits their respective roles just about perfectly-- Ginnifer Goodwin is particularly adorable as a princess-turned-schoolteacher. Everyone brings their absolute best, and it is a trend I hope will continue throughout the season.
I also really love the emphasis the pilot places on the importance of stories. One of my favorite scenes in the pilot features Emma and Snow White's schoolteacher persona in a conversation about the power of fairy tales to take us out of our own reality, particularly if that reality is a disappointing one. Not only do I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment, I have a sneaky suspicion that this show may just have the power to play the same role for those who watch it.
What can we expect to see this season? Well, apart from trying to solve the mystery of everyone's fairy tale identities, I'm already wondering what the Queen's deal is (she's got to have more to her than simply wanting to punish everyone, especially going to the length of inserting herself in Storybrook with them), as well as what, exactly, Rumpelstiltskin is up to, and how Emma becomes more active in the events with which she is prophesied to be involved.
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