Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Once Upon A Time 7x07 and 7x08 Recaps: “Eloise Gardner” & “Pretty in Blue” (Family First) [Contributor: Julia Siegel]


“Eloise Gardner” and “Pretty in Blue”
Original Airdate: November 17, 2017

What’s the point of a two-hour episode that only has a useful first half? The first hour is easily the most interesting and surprising episode of the season, yet the second part is pretty useless and doesn’t continue the same story. It is pretty clear that these two episodes weren’t initially intended to be shown back-to-back, but I am grateful that some major twists finally came in to play.

HOUR ONE


Obviously, the first half of the show is the most significant part. For starters, Hook finally gets his time to shine. His dueling, two-world storylines are bound to make the rest of the season way more interesting. The big reveals come in the wish realm flashbacks, which don’t make any sense in the beginning.

Hook, the crew of the Jolly Roger, and Regina are in the wish realm at an unidentified time, yet the timeline and dialogue make no sense at all. The first scene clashes with what we have previously seen in this realm. Luckily, plot points start falling into place when Hook goes on a quest and “meets” Rapunzel. Skip past the ridiculous sequences that follow and secrets start to be revealed.

After a one night stand, Hook learns that Rapunzel is actually the witch who Belfrey has been hiding away in Seattle. Gothel, the witch, had trapped Rapunzel in the tower, who then tricked her way out and trapped Gothel there. The witch uses some odd magic to create a baby out of thin air from her affair with Hook in order to escape her prison. The more interesting reveal comes when Hook names his daughter Alice.

It turns out that Hook’s long-lost daughter is this season’s version of Alice in Wonderland. I have to say, this was a great twist that I definitely didn’t see coming. This should have some good ramifications back in Seattle once one of those two officially wakes up. The other good twist is that Gothel turns out to be Eloise Gardner, the missing person Hook has been trying to find in Seattle. So the family is all back together without two of the three having a clue of what’s really going on.

HOUR TWO


With Gothel free and major shockers dropped, one would think that the second part of the episode would keep the story going. Unfortunately, it pretty much doesn’t continue to play out, and a plot around Lucy’s custody begins. Hook found Belfrey hiding Eloise, so she is now in jail for the time being. Clearly, Jacinda wants Lucky back and may get her chance.

It’s great that the annoying Belfrey is indisposed for the moment, but shifting the story back to the other characters killed the mood. I guess it was interesting to meet Lucy’s “father,” who is a lawyer and was Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk in the fairy tale realm. He also turns out to be one of Henry’s good friends in the other land. Setting up a sort of love triangle was a boring idea that won’t make things more interesting.

The only other plot point worth mentioning form the second hour is a conversation between Regina and Rumple. Regina wants Rumple to admit that he is awake so they can team up to fix the mess that is occurring. However, Rumple pretends not to know what she is talking about and plays dumb. There isn’t a good reason that I can think of for him to do that, and he doesn’t reveal his motive. The show can only get better if they team up and actually start acting like themselves again.

0 comments:

Post a Comment