Last October, writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz put my faith back into ABC with the show Once Upon A Time. From the very first episode, I was hooked and found myself tuning in every Sunday night to see what other one of my favorite childhood fairy tales the Evil Queen Regina inserted herself into. The story takes a Disney's Enchanted approach by placing all of the classic characters into the real world with an individual curse. Somehow, each and every one of them has angered Snow White's step mother and has found themselves victim to her vengeful rage. Every episode jumps from their fairy tale pasts to their current mundane townspeople state, pinpointing and explaining all of their history and what they did to earn a spot on the Queen's hit list.
The curse allows Queen Regina and her partner in crime, Rumpelstiltskin live powerful and comfortable lives, while the remainder of the townspeople are subject to their will. Jiminy Cricket from Pinocchio is a qualified psychiatrist, Snow White is an elementary school teacher, and Red Riding Hood runs a diner with her Granny. None of which are aware of their past lives and identities.
Every story has to have a happy ending, and every curse can be broken - which allows Emma, the daughter of Prince Charming and Snow White, to be the impetuous savior of the beloved characters.It's absolutely extraordinary how in depth this show went into twisting every story so that they merged into one great fairy tale, a great fairy tale composed in a large storybook that only the young Henry believes to be true. Henry is Regina's adoptive son, and the actual son of Emma. When Henry brings Emma to Storybrooke to save everyone, the curse begins to slowly unravel and the status quo of The Queen's perfect world is altered.