Once Upon a Time: Season 1, Episode 4- The Price of Gold

 "All magic comes at a price!"

Once again we get a very nice little deconstruction, this time of Cinderella. Once more we start in the fairytale world and events play out as we expect... except that Cindy's Fairy Godmother is killed and replaced by Rumpeltilskin, who extracts a price. And that price is Cindy's firstborn. Oh dear.

In Storybrooke, meanwhile, our Cinderella is a single pregnant teenager who, as we’re told with not a lot of subtlety, very much echoes Emma at her age- but decides to keep the baby. Interestingly, the baby’s father steps up at the end but is heavily encouraged to dodge his fatherly duties by his own dishonourable prick of an arrogant father.

Modern day, teenage pregnancy, boyfriend father a dishonourable dick. Henry connecting with Emma.  Seeming negotiated victory- but Emma owes Gold a favour. We know this will haunt her.

The structure of this episode is awfully clever, in both realities and how they echo one another. Cinderella’s attempt to magically trick Rumpel out of her firstborn by imprisoning him leads to the disappearance of her himbo husband and the end of her happiness. This makes us fear for Emma. There will, I know, be more to this.

All this, and Emma continues to bond with Henry. And the plot thickens- Emma is offered a police job by the sheriff, and eventually takes it... only for the final revelation that Regina is having Saturday sexy shenanigans with said lawman. Well then.

Again- nice plot, nice metatextual subtext, nice acting, nice realisation although inevitably with a bit of dodgy CGI... but the dialogue continues to be a bit lacking.

Once Upon a Time: Season 1, Episode 3- Snow Falls

 "There's no such thing as love at first sight..."

This episode gives us, in the fairytale flashback scenes, a fascinating deconstruction of the Snow White story. After offending the Evil Queen, Snow White has been framed and outlawed, which is ho he ends up meting ad connectng with Prince Charming (James!) in an exciting adventure involving a bridge ad some trolls. They ens up parting but clearly like each other; there's more of this story to tell. And I like how Snow White is revealed to be a kick-as hero with loads of agency, not a simpering, passive princess who just stands around looking pretty and incubating babies. That matters.

The present day scenes riff nicely on this, as the Prince Charming figure (David?) is in a coma, thus parted from Mary Margaret. And, despite Henry's plan to bring the lover together, Regina rather cleverly improvises and finds an apparent wife, who may well be the girl he was about to marry in the fairytale scenes. All this is done with the collusion of the local doctor, played by Blaine off of iZombie.

This is clever, both at the level of Storybrooke presumable being intended by the Evil Queen as a hell, and as a nicely meta litte deconstruction both of the Snow White myth and of love and first sight. If only the dialogue was as clever as the plotting. But I'm still very much enjoying this.

Once Upon a Time: Season 1, Episode 2- The Thing You Love Most

 "Since when were apples a threat?"

This second episode makes it increasingly fascinating where all this is going, as our protagonist Emma digs her investigative claws further into Storybrooke, not so much discouraged but encouraged by Regina's constant harassment, while the fairytale scenes add a little depth and detail to the backstory. Is this going to be the format?

Regina seems perturbed to see the Storybrooke clock move, and time start to move forward. Does this make her suspect who Emma may be? Certainly the constant framings and harassment, which begin to stretch even the patience of sheriff Christian Grey (using Jamie Dornan's native Norn Iron tones) indicate she's beginning to be somewhat concerned, and that's before we get to the fascinating final scene with the enigmatic and charismatic Mr Gold- who seems to enjoy exactly the power and prestige that Rumpelstiltskin was promised in the fascinating fairytale scenes.

There's a constant dance between Emma, Regina and Henry, but is Emma starting to believe? It's ambiguous at this point, but I suspect her investigative nature can't help but add to her suspicions. Not only this, but does she have some sort of power to detect lies?

The flashback scenes are more the focus for this episode, though, as we see the steps the Evil Queen had to take in order to acquire the curse in the first place. So we meet Maleficent, and Rumpelstiltskin tells the Queen the true cost of the curse, which will in any case leave her forever "empty"- she must kill the person she loves most. And that's her doddery old man, who gets a scene to establish he's an awfully nice old chap before the Evil Queen stabs him brutally with her knife. Lovely. Now we know just how ruthless she can be- presumably in both realities.

This is clever, and the characters are likeable. There's perhaps a lack of sparkle in the dialogue, but I'm enjoying this.

Once Upon a Time: Season 1, Episode 1- Pilot

 "What do you think stories are for?"

Yes, I know, I have all sorts of stuff on the go, but this is something Mrs Llamastrangler has been obsessed with over the last few months, and marathoning it again with me is something we can do together while she's ill and bedridden. I see there's rather a large number of episodes. Gulp.

Obviously I've seen a fair few Disney films (Little Miss Llamastrangler is five) but I'm very far from being a hardcore fan and no doubt will fail to get all the references that no doubt lurk within each episode. First impressions, with the introductory bit of text, are nicely metatextual as we join Snow White and Prince Charming (was he some kind of bigamist or something, with Cinderella too?) at the end of their tale as they are married... and then cursed by the delightfully evil, and sexy, Evil Queen. I love the way sh's simply referred to as that. Lana Parilla is superb here, managing to convey the right level of cartoonishly evil without overdoing things.

And then we switch to the real world, in contemporary (well, 2011, before all that unpleasantness with Brexit and Trump) Boston, as we meet private investigator Emma in a particularly cool introduction, as the bloke she's on a date with turns out to be a fugitive, and her quarry. And then up pops Henry, the son she gave up for adoption ten years ago.

Henry is an interesting and resourceful kid, played by a good child actor... and his adoptive mother Regina- the major of Storybrooke, Maine- is somehow the same person as the Evil Queen, which gives some credence to Henry's insistence that the whole town is stuck in time, and populated by fairytale characters who know not who they are.

Back to the fairytale world- it's clever how the cinematography and lighting subtly distinguishes the two realities- Snow White and the Prince are off to get a prophecy from the imprisoned Rumpelstiltskin, played with show-stealing aplomb by the ever-magnificent Robert Carlyle in a part very different from his usual fare. Begbie this is not, but a cunning, eccentric faerie creature that dominates the screen and is compulsively watchable, whether as Rumpelstiltskin or Mr Gold.

The royal couple learn that their future is bleak but that there is hope in the form of their soon-to-be-born daughter... Emma. And we instantly know, by the iron law that TV dramas never feature multiple characters with the same name, whom that is.

The moment of the birth sets off the terrible CGI curse, but baby Emma gets away, following a swordfight by the Prince where he holds his newborn daughter with his other hands, sends her away- and is promptly killed. Snow White now has nothing- and is about to be sent "somewhere horrible" by the Evil Queen. And in Emma and Henry we have two generations given up by their parents.

This may not be top tier telly, perhaps, but so far it's certainly grabbed me.