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 fairy tales on their heads and putting own interpretations on them and the show early on clearly had a ball. Watched it without fail everytime 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.
Season 6 to me started off very well with three very good to great first three episodes. Was more mixed on "Strange Case" and the next three episodes "Street Rats", "Dark Waters" and "Heartless" underwhelmed. "I'll Be Your Mirror" was a vast improvement, but unfortunately it has gone backwards again with "Changelings". It is not a terrible episode by all means, but there is not enough of what makes the show so good when it's on form and it is a good example of the run out of ideas and lost the magic criticisms. Something that can be seen in the decreasing ratings and the relatively mild critical opinions.
There are definitely good things about "Changelings". As is always the case with 'Once Upon a Time' it is a visually handsome episode, it's photographed beautifully and the settings have colour and atmosphere without being too dreary or garish. The costumes are fine. The music is haunting, ethereal and cleverly used with a memorable theme tune.
From personal opinion, the cast mostly do very well with what they had to work with. Robert Carlyle and Lana Parrilla, especially the former which was important as he features very heavily here, are splendid.
Parts of the story engage. The Rumplestiltskin storyline, despite making Rumplestiltskin a less complex character than he was in the earlier seasons (instead of a conflicted character he comes over as a villain cliché now) is intriguing and has promise. Just as successful is with the Evil Queen and Zelena, that had some tension and emotion and the Evil Queen is an interesting character.
However, most of the storytelling is again messy and there is definitely a sense that the show has run out of ideas. Too over-stuffed and rather rushed, meaning things don't make as much sense as they ought to and too many things are glossed over. Cannot invest in Belle and Gold relationship, not because of Gold but because of Belle being dull and the relationship itself feeling like it's gone beyond its sell by date. The Jasmine and co. subplot belongs in another episode because it felt like a completely different episode with its inclusion.
Other episodes do a much better job at character, development has gone backwards rather than forward excepting the Evil Queen and plot advancing. Plus it is very disjointed, feeling like multiple separate storylines in one episode that don't connect together. The characters have also been more compelling elsewhere and the writers seem to have forgotten what made them great in the first place, when you compare some of them from the earlier seasons to now they are unrecognisable and it's not for the better and the inconsistencies are numerous and glaring. The writing is far too camp and often very melodramatic (especially with Belle and Gold), Belle shows little personality, her relationship with Gold feels very tired and over-stretched here. Was not really impressed with Emilie DeRavin and it is too early days for the Black Fairy to be properly compelling.
"Changelings" on the whole wasn't terrible but it was underwhelming. 5/10 Bethany Cox
