Lee Arenberg, Jeffrey Kaiser, Michael Coleman, Faustino Di Bauda, Geoff Gustafson and Gabe Khouth in ONCE UPON A TIME - Season 1 - "Dreamy" | ©2012 ABC/Chris Helcermanas-Benge

Stars: Ginnifer Goodwin, Jennifer Morrison, Robert Carlyle, Lana Parrilla, Jared Gilmore, Josh Dallas, Raphael Sbarge
Writer: Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz
Director: David Solomon
Network: ABC, Sunday nights, 8 p.m.
Original Telecast: March 4, 2012

Did you know Grumpy’s original name was Dreamy? I don’t know why all the Disney references in ONCE UPON A TIME are so jarring, but they really go overboard in this episode called, appropriately enough, “Dreamy.” And you know it’s a key one because it’s written by the show’s creators.

In Storybrooke, we’ve got Mary Margaret (Ginnifer Goodwin) still reeling from the effects of the town’s gossip over her relationship with David (Josh Dallas), which never really happened, but still caused the break up of his marriage to Kathryn (Anastasia Griffith), who disappeared at the end of last week’s episode. We have town drunk Leroy (Lee Arenberg) commiserating with her during the town festival Miner’s Days. And we have Emma (Jennifer Morrison) investigating Kathryn’s disappearance and her abandoned wrecked car.

In the fairy tale world, we have a dwarf hatching after some magic fairy dust landed on his egg. You see, since there are no women dwarves and dwarves don’t/can’t fall in love (which might actually be a reference to the works of C.S. Lewis, who frequently used dwarves as symbols of stubborn pride and lack of feeling), new dwarves have to be hatched. Each dwarf is then given a magic ax which reveals his true name, all of them appallingly familiar, except one. Leroy’s fairy tale counterpart is a dwarf named Dreamy.

Yeah, well, we know how that ends, but in the meantime, he meets up with this young fairy named Nova (Amy Acker), who has dreams of becoming a fairy godmother. Turns out she’s the vision Dreamy saw in his shell just before he hatched. She, for her part, is charmed and encourages Dreamy to join her on the hill to look at fireflys.

Back in Storybrooke, Emma’s looking for evidence when Sidney Glass (Giancarlo Esposito) comes along to “help.” Since we know, but Emma doesn’t, that Sidney is still in Regina’s (Lana Parilla) clutches, it comes as no surprise to us that Sidney gets Kathryn’s phone records from Regina. Emma also questions David – and Emma can always tell when someone is lying – and finds out that he didn’t speak to her for a whole day before she left. Funny, the phone records show that David had an extended phone call with Kathryn right before she disappeared.

Also, Leroy meets up with St. Astrid (aka Nova), of the local convent, which is trying to raise money to pay the rent on their building. Gee, funny how it is that Mr. Gold (Robert Carlyle) just happens to own it and is perfectly happy to evict the nuns. So Leroy promises to sell all the candles, enlisting Mary Margaret’s help. They go door to door and don’t sell a thing. The Leroy tries to sell his boat to Mr. Gold, and that doesn’t happen, either.

Something else funny/strange turns up in the fairy tale world – Belle (Emilie De Raven), who really has no reason to be there. But there she is, sulking in an inn, and counseling Dreamy to go after Nova. He does and the two plan to run away. But the then Blue Fairy (Keegan Connor Tracy) intervenes, insisting that neither Dreamy nor Nova can become the dwarf or fairy they were meant to become and bring joy to the world if the two run off together. So Dreamy breaks it off with Nova and returns to the mine, breaking his ax. He gets a new one and the name Grumpy turns up.

Leroy, on the other hand, manages to take the drastic step of trashing the town’s electricity and sure enough, the candles sell out. Astrid is grateful, but being a nun doesn’t really have the option of going with him. But Leroy seems content for the time being. Emma, on the other hand, decides it’s time to take David in for questioning, which Mary Margaret sees happening from a distance.

You have to hope the writers of ONCE UPON A TIME know where they’re going with all of this. As an episode, it’s relatively bland, but the show creators – there has to be something significant going on here. Like Belle showing up, for instance. She doesn’t seem to have a Storybrooke counterpart and her place in the script doesn’t make sense – anybody could have given Dreamy/Grumpy the same advice. At the same time, with Kathryn gone and knowing that no one from Storybrooke can actually leave, there’s really something odd happening, since she was alive and well at the end of last week’s episode.

We’ve got the Red Riding Hood story teased for next week and whatever happens, it will not unfold quickly. That much we know.

AGREE? DISAGREE? LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD – COMMENT BELOW

Related Link: Exclusive Interview with ONCE UPON A TIME star Raphael Sbarge
Related Link: Exclusive Photos from the PaleyFest 2012 event for ONCE UPON A TIME
Related Link: TV Review: ONCE UPON A TIME – Season 1 – “Red-Handed”
Related Link: Exclusive Photos from the PaleyFest 2012 event for ONCE UPON A TIME
Related Link: TV Review – ONCE UPON A TIME – Season 1 – “Whatever Happened to Frederick”
Related Link: TV Review – ONCE UPON A TIME – Season 1 – “Skin Deep”
Related Link: TV Review – ONCE UPON A TIME – Season 1 – “Fruit of the Poisonous Tree”
Related Link: TV Review – ONCE UPON A TIME – Season 1 – “7:15 A.M.”
Related Link: TV Review – ONCE UPON A TIME – Season 1 – “True North”
Related Link: Exclusive Interview with ONCE UPON A TIME showrunner Adam Horowitz
Related Link: TV Review – ONCE UPON A TIME – Season 1 – “Desperate Souls”
Related Link: ABC talks about the success of ONCE UPON A TIME
Related Link: TV Review – ONCE UPON A TIME – Season 1 – “The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter”
Related Link: TV Review – ONCE UPON A TIME – Season 1 – “The Shepherd”
Related Link: TV Review – ONCE UPON A TIME – Season 1 – “That Still Small Voice”
Related Link: TV Review – ONCE UPON A TIME – Season 1 – “The Price of Gold”
Related Link: TV Review – ONCE UPON A TIME – Season 1 – “Snow Falls”
Related Link: TV Review – ONCE UPON A TIME – Season 1 – “The Thing You Love Most”
Related Link: TV Review – ONCE UPON A TIME – Season 1 – “Pilot”

Follow us on Twitter at ASSIGNMENT X
Fan us on Facebook at ASSIGNMENTX

Article Source: Assignment X 
Article: TV Review – ONCE UPON A TIME – Season 1 – “Dreamy”

Related Posts: