Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Once Upon a Time - The Black Fairy


"The Black Fairy" is, like much of the past couple of seasons, both intriguing and frustrating. After six seasons to be able to make a revelation about a major character is a huge accomplishment. The latest episode not only reveals the origin story of the Black Fairy (Jaime Murray) but also a rather important piece of information about Rumpelstiltskin (Robert Carlyle) and his destiny. As in a previous season where the show separated the Dark One from the dagger and toyed with the idea of making one of the show's major villains into a hero, "The Black Fairy" reveals the man he was always meant to be. And then, after such a set-up, the show once again shelves the possiblity for truly interesting character growth as Rumpel chooses the dark path once again (this time against his own best interests).

While much of the episode is devoted to exploring the past of Rumpelstiltskin and his mother, the episode also pushes forward with Emma (Jennifer Morrison) and Hook's (Colin O'Donoghue) wedding setting the stage for the show's musical episode next week. While I'm interested to see just what will happen on the big day, musical episodes are pretty well played out at this point and the threat of the Black Fairy looming over everything (unbeknownst to our heroes) doesn't sound like the right recipe for a truly "magical" episode.

No comments: