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.
Season 5 had a lot to live up to after Season 4 being as impressive as it was. As far as Season 4's episodes go, they were all decent to brilliant with the only small dip being "Family Business" (though "Heart of Gold" was uneven) and the best being the "Smash the Mirror" two parter, "Best Laid Plans", "Mother" and the first part of "Operation Mongoose". So was expecting a good deal from Season 5 and "The Dark Swan" didn't disappoint at all. All the episodes between that and this ranged from decent to brilliant.
"Broken Heart" is one of the very good ones, have to respectfully disagree with what has already been said. It's not a high point of the show or of the season and could have been better, but there are a lot of very good to great elements.
Personally did find that parts of the episode were a little jumpy which made some elements not explored enough and at times convoluted.
Also found the story with Emma and Hook rushed, the whole stuff with the dark side and Emma particularly which would have been more believable if Hook's fall took more time.
The Camelot arc however is attention grabbing and shows potential and the characters introduced at the start of the season are already intriguing. The old existing characters generally have not lost what made them so great and interesting, and are generally true to character. The character interaction between Regina and Zelena and Henry and Emma (which sees the most touching part of the episode). The most striking assets are the character interaction, the development of Hook and his vengeance against Rumplestiltskin (still a great character, one of 'Once Upon a Time's' best).
Lots of evidence of forward momentum and character development advancing, with some answers provided particularly with what happened in Camelot. The story generally is absorbing and balanced with assurance and coherence on the whole.
All the acting is strong, especially from Robert Carlyle and Colin O'Donoghue.
Furthermore, "Broken Heart" is a very handsomely mounted episode visually, the settings and costumes (the latter especially here) are both colourful and atmospheric, not too dark or garish and never cookie cutter. It is photographed beautifully too. The music is haunting, ethereal and cleverly used with a memorable theme tune.
Writing has the right balance of humour, pathos, mystery and intrigue, little corn or cheesiness here. This aspect has come on such a long way since when 'Once Upon a Time' first started, much more complexity and nuance.
Overall, very good. 8/10 Bethany Cox
Season 5 had a lot to live up to after Season 4 being as impressive as it was. As far as Season 4's episodes go, they were all decent to brilliant with the only small dip being "Family Business" (though "Heart of Gold" was uneven) and the best being the "Smash the Mirror" two parter, "Best Laid Plans", "Mother" and the first part of "Operation Mongoose". So was expecting a good deal from Season 5 and "The Dark Swan" didn't disappoint at all. All the episodes between that and this ranged from decent to brilliant.
"Broken Heart" is one of the very good ones, have to respectfully disagree with what has already been said. It's not a high point of the show or of the season and could have been better, but there are a lot of very good to great elements.
Personally did find that parts of the episode were a little jumpy which made some elements not explored enough and at times convoluted.
Also found the story with Emma and Hook rushed, the whole stuff with the dark side and Emma particularly which would have been more believable if Hook's fall took more time.
The Camelot arc however is attention grabbing and shows potential and the characters introduced at the start of the season are already intriguing. The old existing characters generally have not lost what made them so great and interesting, and are generally true to character. The character interaction between Regina and Zelena and Henry and Emma (which sees the most touching part of the episode). The most striking assets are the character interaction, the development of Hook and his vengeance against Rumplestiltskin (still a great character, one of 'Once Upon a Time's' best).
Lots of evidence of forward momentum and character development advancing, with some answers provided particularly with what happened in Camelot. The story generally is absorbing and balanced with assurance and coherence on the whole.
All the acting is strong, especially from Robert Carlyle and Colin O'Donoghue.
Furthermore, "Broken Heart" is a very handsomely mounted episode visually, the settings and costumes (the latter especially here) are both colourful and atmospheric, not too dark or garish and never cookie cutter. It is photographed beautifully too. The music is haunting, ethereal and cleverly used with a memorable theme tune.
Writing has the right balance of humour, pathos, mystery and intrigue, little corn or cheesiness here. This aspect has come on such a long way since when 'Once Upon a Time' first started, much more complexity and nuance.
Overall, very good. 8/10 Bethany Cox
