Once Upon a Time (TV Series) Labor of Love (2016) User Reviews

Hercules

[DCSassyQueen · 9/10 · 14 March 2016]

Last night's episode hit me in the feels... maybe it was because it kept low-key playing the soundtrack of the 1997 Hercules soundtrack. They were always playing some form of Go the Distance and I kept smiling like a little girl.

The Good

*Hercules & Snow's friendship was adorable.

*Regina's sassiness

*Mary Margaret is gone... thank you because I missed Snow White.

*A moment between Hercules & Meg reminded me of the 1997 movie and it was cute.

*Hook put someone over himself (besides Emma of course) & I loved him more.

The Crazy

*Hades torturing Hook physically & mentally.

*Cruella is still on about the damn pen. I would like to forget about the whole AUTHOR shenanigans.

I am loving this season so far and I am ready for the next episode !!

Heroic love

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 12 August 2018]

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 to me from decent to brilliant.

"Labour of Love" is very good still while not quite being great. There are a lot of great things that make the episode a very good one but there were a couple of flaws.

Its only major problem is the Cruella and Henry subplot, Cruella served no real point to the story and the subplot felt too unrelated to the rest of the story and didn't add very much.

Also thought that although quite scary and formidable enough with a good purpose to the story, Cerberus looks a little ropy, there have been a fair few instances where the effects in 'Once Upon a Time' have looked under-budgeted and less special, while not one of the worst Cerberus is not an exception.

However, there is lots of character development advancing and the set up for what's to come with the Underworld showing a lot of potential. The story has enough moments where it is absorbing and balanced with assurance and coherence on the whole."Labour of Love" is most notable for introducing the characters of Hercules and Meg and their character arc, it doesn't feel completely settled naturally but the potential is big, with Meg and particularly Hercules (who has more to do) being nice enough characters and their appearances are far from wasted.

It's the character interaction that shines just as much, Hercules and Meg are such a relatable couple with an already charming chemistry, even if there is more growth in score. Particularly good too is Snow White and Hercules, which was heartfelt, and chills with Hades and Hook with Hades more dangerous than in "Souls of the Departed". Regina and Robin's sassy chemistry shines too. David and Mary Margaret's chemistry is the strongest it's been all season and it's here up to this point of the season where it makes sense the most. The character arcs are solid (on top of with Hercules there is young Snow White as well), the drama full of intensity and heart and a couple of nice twists (like the Meg reveal)

All the acting is strong, Greg Germann still strikes me as a great fit for Hades, imposing threat, menace and surprising humour and it makes it easy to see what characters see in him and are easily manipulated. His treatment of Hook is indeed extreme somewhat, but it does show what he is capable of.

Lana Parrilla, Sean Maguire and Colin O'Donoghue are typically excellent and Bailee Maddison is adorable and affecting as young Snow White. Emma Caulfield's Blind Witch interests, Ginnifer Goodwin and Josh Dallas are charming and Jonathan Whitesell and Kacey Rohl are likeable in their introductory appearances.

Furthermore, "Labour of Love" is a very handsomely mounted episode visually, the settings and costumes 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 mostly. This aspect has come on such a long way since when 'Once Upon a Time' first started, much more complexity and nuance, or at least at this point (with a few exceptions of course) before it took a nosedive in the last season.

Overall, very good. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Labor of Faith

[hellraiser7 · 8/10 · 18 July 2016]

Warning do not read unless seen episode.

This is another solid episode to the season and another one of the only ones of this season I like and stand out which are sadly very few.

The only bad thing is the subplot involving Cruella which I felt was useless and unnecessary. I'm sure Henry has the good sense not to write Cruella back to the living realm. I honestly can't see how since she's been dead a long time, and it's forbidden for Henry because it's a violation to the laws of nature.

Now down to business, the highlight no doubt is finally seeing a character of Greek Myth, Hercules. This was a character I've been waiting to see for a long time, he's always been one of my favorite fictional protagonists. There have been many versions played off on the visual medium, my favorite will always be Kevin Sorbo from "Hercules the Legendary Series" one of my favorite fantasy TV shows. I really like the guy that plays Hercules he's got not just the build but a little charisma and charm.

I'll admit it was a little surprising seeing that Herc went to the underworld because he failed to complete one labor, even though in the original mythology he completed them all but like always with this show the story in their world is much different and throws out some of what we already know. But this makes Herc really sympathetic as we see the non completion of the Labor not just made him lose his life but also his faith in himself.

I really liked seeing the depth in the character Snow, as we see her in her teens and of course it was fitting that the actress Balie Mason whom played young Snow is the age she is now. I thought it was a really cool idea that Herc was the one that trained her to fight but also that both Herc and Snow had a thing for each other for a while which was sweet; in a way this could be a wishforfillment fantasy for girls.

There were bits of humor when David exercised a bit of jealousy toward Herc, despite the fact it happened a long time ago. But also how Herc reacted seeing present day Snow, yeah I would be a bit confused and wearded out by it too. However this makes the dynamic between both Herc and Snow even more interesting as Snow is now the mentor for Herc to help him relearn the very lessons he taught her.

The theme is about true strength. I really like what the episode says about failure which I feel is a good lesson that every person should hear. Failure doesn't always mean a person is weak, it is sometimes really a opportunity for that person to find a way to win and be stronger than ever before.

Young Snow gets though her failure by training harder but also having the courage to try again. It was great moment when at first we see Snow miss with the first shot but when the Bandit gets overconfident we see that she takes a second shot and it completely disarms the Bandit; the miss was just a bluff just so the Bandit would give Snow the perfect target.

Herc tells Snow how he failed because he tried to take the Ceribus on his own. And that was the problem because the Ceribus can attack from three different directions at once, which is like trying to fight off three guys at the same time, logically odds of surviving single handily are slim. So Snow comes up with a strategy which I thought was great but also shows it takes more than brute force to win, where they will fight it off but in an enclosed space which gives the Ceribus little room to maneuver which takes it's advantage away. But most importantly Herc has backup this time as he now has both Snow and the Girl to cover the other two heads.

There is of course a twist with the young girl we see throughout the episode. Though I wouldn't say it really was one as I've already guessed who she is. The girl is Megara, whom in both the mythology and Disney film is Herc's significant other. She didn't disappoint as she's sweet has a little charisma and I personally think the actress is cute. Really liked the chemistry both of them shared near the end, though I'll admit that another weak factor of the episode I kinda wished both got together a little sooner, would of liked to of seen more back and forth between them but oh well.

And of course both Herc and Megra are rewarded by going to Olympious which was happy but I also felt was kinda sad as this signifies that both mythological characters are truly gone. It would be cool if may'be in the next season they somehow came back, like Zeus and the Gods reward both Herc and Megra for their final labor and bring them both back to the reality/fantasy realm, may'be join up with the Storybrooke or Enchanted party to combat evil. But that's a long shot even though it would be a cool idea. But all the same it was happy to see that Herc and Meg are finally going to where they belong; farewell Herc and Meg just like the mythology you will always live on.

As Nitcheche once said, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger". That is the Storybroke party are still around and going strong.

Rating: 3 stars