When 'Once Upon a Time' first started it was highly addictive and made the most of a truly great and creative premise. Really loved the idea of turning familiar fairy tales on their heads and putting own interpretations on them and the show early on clearly had clearly had a ball. Watched it without fail every time it came on and it was often a highlight of the week. Which was why it was sad when it ran out of ideas and lost its magic in the later seasons.
"Lady of the Lake" is a slight disappointment compared to the great previous two episodes, but is nonetheless very good all the same. It continues with the very promising, richer and more settled new direction 'Once Upon a Time' headed in the second season, new characters continue to impress and it is always good to see existing characters and plot lines expanded. For example there is more of Emma and Snow White, building upon what was shown in "Broken" and missed in "We are Both" and this is developing the two characters and their bond so well.
As to be expected, "Lady of the Lake" is a very handsomely mounted episode, with settings and costumes that are both colourful and atmospheric, not too dark or garish and never cookie-cutter. It is photographed beautifully and there were some make-up that suited the characters perfectly and pretty good effects work. The music is haunting, ethereal and cleverly used with a memorable main theme.
Humour, mysterious intrigue, charm and pathos are beautifully balanced, any signs of corniness that crept in here and there in the previous season are nowhere in sight here. The parallel of the two worlds is as ever seamlessly done, as is the balance of fantasy and human emotion.
Really enjoyed Lancelot's contribution here and Mulan, already a good character before, is getting stronger all the time. The existing characters, especially Snow White and Regina, continue to delight. The acting is very good, with only Sarah Bolger's still somewhat bland Aurora disappointing a little, then again this is very early days for the character and she needs more interesting material to shine properly.
For all the many great things that "Lady of the Lake" has, it is the first Season 2 episode to feel over-stuffed. Atmosphere is perfect, the fantasy elements are imaginative, the human drama is both funny and touching and there is not a dull moments, but there was too much going on in a short space of time.
Meaning that a couple of dramatic stretches were a little under-cooked. Would have put a little more thought into a few of the Storybrooke scenes, still interesting and entertaining but episodes before and since have done, and do, better jobs at having a great idea, with the master plan here, and advancing it forward. This wasn't quite done enough here.
Overall, beautiful and very well executed but would have been even better if it tried to do a little less. 8/10 Bethany Cox
"Lady of the Lake" is a slight disappointment compared to the great previous two episodes, but is nonetheless very good all the same. It continues with the very promising, richer and more settled new direction 'Once Upon a Time' headed in the second season, new characters continue to impress and it is always good to see existing characters and plot lines expanded. For example there is more of Emma and Snow White, building upon what was shown in "Broken" and missed in "We are Both" and this is developing the two characters and their bond so well.
As to be expected, "Lady of the Lake" is a very handsomely mounted episode, with settings and costumes that are both colourful and atmospheric, not too dark or garish and never cookie-cutter. It is photographed beautifully and there were some make-up that suited the characters perfectly and pretty good effects work. The music is haunting, ethereal and cleverly used with a memorable main theme.
Humour, mysterious intrigue, charm and pathos are beautifully balanced, any signs of corniness that crept in here and there in the previous season are nowhere in sight here. The parallel of the two worlds is as ever seamlessly done, as is the balance of fantasy and human emotion.
Really enjoyed Lancelot's contribution here and Mulan, already a good character before, is getting stronger all the time. The existing characters, especially Snow White and Regina, continue to delight. The acting is very good, with only Sarah Bolger's still somewhat bland Aurora disappointing a little, then again this is very early days for the character and she needs more interesting material to shine properly.
For all the many great things that "Lady of the Lake" has, it is the first Season 2 episode to feel over-stuffed. Atmosphere is perfect, the fantasy elements are imaginative, the human drama is both funny and touching and there is not a dull moments, but there was too much going on in a short space of time.
Meaning that a couple of dramatic stretches were a little under-cooked. Would have put a little more thought into a few of the Storybrooke scenes, still interesting and entertaining but episodes before and since have done, and do, better jobs at having a great idea, with the master plan here, and advancing it forward. This wasn't quite done enough here.
Overall, beautiful and very well executed but would have been even better if it tried to do a little less. 8/10 Bethany Cox
