Review: Once Upon A Time Seasons 1 and 2

I haven't posted in a long time, and I thought that since I am already on season three of Once Upon a Time, I should do a review of seasons one and two. This isn't going to be an in depth review, it's more going to be an overview... Although it is long.  And I promise I will not fangirl, (to the best of my ability) and use a minimal amount of gifs. (Hopefully)

 I'm sorry Emma.... Yes. I'll make it up in my post of all fangirling...
                Ok, to begin!!!

The Plot: Ok. In a nutshell, the plot of OUAT is that all the fairy tale characters you've ever know, have been cursed by the evil queen, and sent to our world; a land without magic. They live in a little town called Storybrook, and don't remember who they truly are. The savior, Emma Swann has to break the curse, so that all the victims will remember their true selves. More on her in the characters section. (That was season one) In season two, *SPOILER ALERT* the curse has been broken, and the characters find themselves in a number of predicaments. *END OF SPOILER* Also, some of the loose ends from season one are cleared up. Ok, so that was like the bare, bare minimum of the plot. I mean "in a number of predicaments" means tons of confusing plot twists, character appearances, and other CRAZY STUFF!!! I'm really trying not to spoil anything for you!!!

The Setting: Basically, all of it takes place in Storybrook, and the Enchanted Forest, which is the fairy tale world. The majority of the scenes in the Enchanted Forest are flashbacks of the characters lives BEFORE the curse. A few other lands, like Neverland, and Wonderland appear to.

The Characters: Ok, get ready for a lot of pictures, because there are a lot of main characters. I'm going to only highlight the main characters who are in both seasons frequently. I will also show a picture of them from the Enchanted Forest, and Storybrook. Lets start with all the bad characters first, and then the good, alright dearies?

Regina Mills/The Evil Queen: Regina is the queen who cursed everyone. Although she is a cruel and evil villainess, she still does have a heart, and has moments where she is ALMOST good. She is sad, and she thinks the only way she can be happy, is by getting revenge on everyone she hates. She is played by Lana Parilla, who does a fantastic job portraying her!! Oh, and her sense of sassy humor, can be quite funny.

Mr. Gold/Rumpelstiltskin: Mr. Gold is the most powerful man in Storybrook, and the only one, besides Regina who remembers who he was. He is also known as The Dark One, the most powerful magic man in The Enchanted Forest. Since he is known as The Dark One, he is understandably very evil, and dark. He became strong in magic, though, because he is a coward, and hates himself for his past mistakes, made because of his cowardice. (All magic comes with a price, right dearie?) He is played by Robert Carlyle, who is a genius! His acting for Rumple. is amazing!!

Cora: Cora is Regina's mother, the queen of hearts. She is cruel, and evil, and heartless, (literally) and I hate her. Enough said. She doesn't live in Storybrook, because she wasn't cursed. She is mainly in season two.

Ok, are you depressed because of all the evil?? Hopefully I can fix that.

Emma Swann/The Savior: Aww ya, now we're talking! Emma is awesome. End of story. She was sent from the Enchanted Forest as a baby so that some day she could break the curse. It takes her a while to believe that Storybrook really is cursed, but when she does, wheww, lets just say look out to all her enemies. Oh, and did I mention that she has magic in her.. She is tough, and loyal, and awesome! She is hurting and in pain though, because she was abandoned when she was a baby, and as you can imagine, thats not the easiest thing to let go. None the less, she is my all time favorite character, because she is awesome, and yea, I'm fangirling again!! (coughcough) Emma is played by Jennifer Morrison, who portrays her very well. Lets move on.

Henry Mills-Swann: Ok, Henry is Emma's biological son, and Regina's adopted son, because Emma gave him up. (She had him in prison) Henry is the one who brought Emma to Storybrook, and he is the only one who can bring the good in Regina out. (He lived with Regina before Emma came to Storybrook.) Henry is really sweet, and has a way of uniting old enemies, and bringing the good out in people.

Mary Margaret/Snow White: Snow is really an awesome character, she is tough and bold, but good and kind. She is Emma's mother, and is trying to make up for the childhood she missed with Emma. Mary Margaret on the other hand is really demure and unsure of herself. She is gentle and kind, but easily shaken. I find it interesting how Mary M. and Snow are so different. Snow/Mary M. is played by Ginnifer Goodwin, who does a wonderful job!! 

David/Prince Charming: Charming is Snow's husband and Emma's dad. He is charming, (hence his name) loyal, and brave. He is wholeheartedly committed to Snow, (when he remembers who he is) which is nice to see. On the other hand, David is unsure of himself, confused, and his heart is in two different places. Charming/David is played by Josh Dallas, who once again, does an amazing job.

Ok, so those are some of the main characters, so now I am going to just show pictures of other more minor characters. I not going to do a full wright up on each of them, just so this doesn't become the world's longest post.

Belle

(Belle was also known as Lacey for a bit.)

Granny (Little Red Riding Hood)

Ruby/Little Red Riding Hood

Mulan

Aurora 

Neal/Bael-Fire

Captain Hook

Jefferson/The Mad Hatter

August/Pinnocchio

The Blue Fairy/Mother Superior

Ok, so now you know some of the basic characters... On to the rest!

Content: Ok, so coming in to this show, you have to realize, there is going to be a lot of magic. And I mean, A LOT. Some of it is good magic, some is evil. Most of the magic is evil, so beware of that. I have to warn you, that the most dark bit of magic is when one of the villains rips their victim's heart out and squeeze it, thus killing them. Yea. It is not gory, or graphic, but naturally, that is a very dark concept. Also, there are plenty of spells, charms, curses and the like. There is fighting with magic, sword fighting, a little bit of fist fighting, and a small amount of gunfights. Ogres, dragons, mirmaids, and the like appear. A wraith,or a soul-sucker (as they sometimes call it in the show) appears. There is also a shadow that is pretty creepy, since it will tear your shadow from you. Some scenes are a bit dark, because of the magic and all that. There is the odd childbirth scene. There is a little bit of language, but not a terrible amount. As for umm, shall we say, objectionable romantic content, there is actually not that much!! There are a few suggestive scenes, but they switch before anything happens. A little of it is between Snow and Charming, but their married, so it doesn't bug me as much. Of course there is your every-so-often-kiss scene to. Captain Hook will often make crude jokes, but other than that, this show is pretty clean. (We have never had to fast forward any of these scenes.)

CGI, Graphics, and Acting: The CGI isn't the best I've seen, but often your to caught up in the show to notice. They do a good job making the scenes with magic believable. As for the acting, WOW!!! I feel that everything was casted wonderfully! All the actors are extremely talented, and are able to pull of the side of their character in Storybrook, as well as their Enchanted Forest Counterpart. Even the  actors who played the younger versions of some of the characters were amazing. I mean the girl who played young Snow... I swear she studied how Ginnifer Goodwin delivered her lines... She sounded just like her sometimes. I can't praise their skills enough.. Its kinda like the satisfaction you feel when you watch Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth in P&P'95, except your watching Once... ANYWAY, Bravo to whoever casted this show....

Costumes: Yes, finally the costumes!! First I am going to give a huge shout out to Eduardo Castro, the costume designer for Once... He is amazing, and you'll see why soon.
I feel like costumes need to reflect the characters personality, let you see another side of them. All I can say, is that these costumes do just that.
I don't really know how to describe the style, it defiantly isn't your classic princess/medieval outfits. I find the women will often wear pants... With a longer tunic... It's really interesting. I think the best way to describe it is to now show a bunch of pictures.. But I have one more thing to say. There is a lot of cleavage. A horrible amount. I mean, like,

That's the only thing I DON'T LIKE about the costumes. Ok, thats cleared up, on to the pictures. 

Ok, Snows costumes.... WOW!!

 Aren't they awesome!! Ok, on to Regina.

 I know she is evil, but I mean, come on! You have to admit that these are crazy costumes. This is the only good one of Rumple, but his are really crazy to.. Lots of feathers, skins and the like. I'm thinking of doing a more in depth look at the costumes, and normally I won't show this many in a review, but they are so amazing, and enough said.

Over All: Over all, I LOVE LOVE LOVE this show, and I would recommend it to anyone. It has intriguing plot lines and awesome characters, and amazing actors, and costumes.. Well, lets just say I'm biased, alright! But I will say this to anyone who thinks Once Upon A Time is boring...

Hee hee, that was a joke!!! But seriously, you need to try Once!!

-Abigail