So what now? Well, I, still very much in tune with my inner 14 year old who spent the summer of 1998 obsessing over the Drew Barrymore flick, Ever After, have once again become engrossed in tales of princes and princesses and… Sexy Irish Huntsmen.
Why yes, allow me introduce you to Graham, The Huntsman played by dreamy Jamie Dornan. I’ll get back to him in a moment.
In yet another excuse for us (sort of) grown-ups to indulge in fairytales, Once Upon a Time is about story book characters who are trapped in small-town Storybrooke, Maine thanks a particularly potent curse by the Evil Queen in an attempt to finally get her own happy ending. I know it sounds a bit trippy, but I promise it somehow works in that way that all beloved Disney movies somehow work, despite the inevitable cheese. The show bounces between flashbacks of the pre-cursed Fairy Tale Land and present-day Maine. It has its sickly-sweet moments: Snow and Charming are constantly repeating their mantra, “I will always find you.” The children on the show can be irritatingly more perceptive and mature than the adults and there’s non-stop drama, sometimes with way too many loose endings that never seem to be tied up (go figure: the show’s creators are Lost alum).
But I’m willing to forgive all that, because escaping into OUAT allows my almost-30-year-old self who’s still bitter over having never received a letter from Hogwarts to believe there’s still a chance to live in a magical world.
Oh, and this.
Other reasons I can’t keep my eyes off this show?
1. Fairy tales are hot. Prince Charming and Captain Hook in leather pants and tight jeans… and of course, there’s our beloved, strapping yet sensitive Huntsman, aka. Sheriff Graham in
Storybrooke. And the charged relationship he has with sultry Queen Regina makes up for all those Snow White movies from last year that fell flat. Prepare to develop a few girl crushes, too: the women are sassy, smart, strong leaders, can handle a bow and arrow and stave off dragons, and make a mean lasagna to boot.
2. The twists on classic characters keep me guessing. Red Riding Hood? Not really who you’ll think she is. The show isn’t quite as edgy as some other fantasy series covered here on That’s Normal, but it’s comforting in that all of the characters feel vaguely familiar.
3. Some seriously good acting on the part of Lana Parrilla, who plays the Evil Queen in Fairy Tale Land and Storybrooke’s Mayor Regina Mills. I mean, the way she delivers her Evil Queen lines, such as “I shall destroy your happiness” and (literally) rips people’s hearts out is delightfully over the top, and yet as Mayor Mills, she manages to evoke ridiculous amounts of my sympathy as she struggles to connect with her son and attempts to control her destructive magical impulses. Speaking of which,
4. “Evil isn’t born, dearie, it’s made.” The Evil Queen didn’t exactly start out as evil: she began her days idyllically riding horses and clandestinely meeting with the stable boy, until a young Snow White ruined her life. A blood feud between the two ensues. Meanwhile, adult Snow White, who purports to be good, doesn’t always play nice – sometimes even moonlighting as an assassin. In short, you have permission to root for the bad guys girls on this show.
5. The guyliner, rocked by none other than the Mad Hatter and Captain Hook. And the costumed balls back in Fairy Tale Land, which provide some serious eye candy.
6. Rumplestiltskin, his star-crossed love affairs, his delightfully impish mannerisms and array of childish voices, and all the devious ways in which he manipulates everyone, including his own family, portrayed by (another Scot) Robert Carlyle.
7. The show has an insanely large ensemble cast, but I like that the show’s three central leads – Regina, Snow White, and Emma – are all women. I don’t mean that in a “rah-rah, yay, girl power” kind of way; I just think it’s a refreshing angle in a primetime drama/action/adventure.
8. It feeds my social media addiction. Many of the writers, producers and actors regularly interact with fans on Twitter. I tend to fangirl the most over Jane Espenson, one of the writers who’s also been behind Buffy, the OC, and a host of other television classics.
So where will I go after this? I don’t yet know what I’ll find to feed my insatiable addiction for whimsical fantasies, charms, spells, and star-crossed lovers a few years from now, but until then, I can be found Tweeting and Tumbling way too late into the night about the OUAT world, waiting to see who gets their happy ending.
Do you watch OUAT? What show/book/movie is your current escape from every day life?
Guest Post by Amanda
Amanda’s Current Obsessions: Mythology. Venti iced lattes. Street art. Etymology. Men in kilts. Dulce de leche brownies. Pen and ink drawings. Blue shoes. Tumblr at 2 am. Twitter friends who help you figure out what your obsessions are.
