Once Upon a Time (TV series): Difference between revisions

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The [[Fairy Tales]] we know - or think we know - are real. The Evil Queen from the ''[[Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs (novel)|Snow White]]'' story takes her revenge on Snow and her [[Prince Charming]] by cursing the kingdom on their wedding day. The only way to break the curse is to transport Snow's unborn child to our world, where she will return 28 years later to save the residents of the Fairy Tale World.

 

The narrative gets switched back and forth between the past that takes place in Fairy Tale world and the present that takes place in Storybrooke, and the truth is soon revealed: the Evil Queen won, and the citizens of the Fairy Tale World now suffer [[Laser-Guided Amnesia]] in Storybrooke. Emma - who is revealed to be the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming - is the only hope they have of restoring their happy endings and setting the Fairy Tale world right.

* [[Abusive Parents]]:

** Regina is strongly implied to be emotionally abusive in her lack of concern and involvement with Henry beyond trying to one-up Emma. The actress seems to disagree on this, stating she loves Henry.

** Jiminy's family in the Enchanted Forest were this to him, always manipulating his desire to stop thieving to keep him at it.

** Regina's mother in the Enchanted Forest was this to her when she was younger.

* [[Action Girl]]:

** Both Snow White and Emma have hints of this.

** Also, Prince Charming. In the original story, he was, well, a charming prince. Here, he is a great swordsman and archer.

** Little Red Riding Hood is {{spoiler|a werewolf who learns to use her powers to her own advantage.}}

* [[Adult Fear]]:

** The biological mother of your adopted child seeking you out and winning his affections from you. Mitigated in the show proper by the adoptive mother Regina being borderline abusive and the biological mother Emma trying to distance herself (although Henry pushes the issue).

* [[Armor-Piercing Slap]]: Kathryn slaps Mary Margaret after she finds out about the latter's affair with David.

* [[Arranged Marriage]]:

** Belle's engagement to Gaston was this.

** Regina's mother set things up between Regina and Snow White's father.

* [[Backup Twin]]/[[There Is Another]]: The Prince Charming we currently know turns out to be this for his twin brother who had been adopted by the king.

* [[Back-Alley Doctor]]: Harmlessly so in Doc. Lampshaded in "Dreamy".

'''Bossy:''' You're gonna trust a doctor who got his medical degree from a pickaxe? }}

* [[Badass Family]]: The original Prince James was a badass. His twin brother Charming went from shepherd to dragonslayer in days. Snow was an [[Action Girl]] as seen in the third episode. Emma shows off her badassitude in her first five minutes. And Henry is pretty badass too, in a "very precocious child" way.

* [[Barehanded Blade Block]]: Rumplestilskin, of all characters. Against Prince Charming. And he [[Pure Awesomeness|does the two-fingered version]].

** Rumpelstiltskin/Mr. Gold seems to be running one on everyone. He seems to be behind the actions of both the good and bad characters.

*** When Emma was running against Sidney for the position of town sheriff, Gold pulls one in order to get Emma to win, by first {{spoiler|setting fire to the city hall where Emma would pull Regina out of the fire, making her a town hero and thus winning the public's sympathy. However, when Emma discovers that it was Gold who set the fire, she refused to win the election in this manner, but especially so that she could set a better example for Henry. So at the debate, she outed Gold and pretty much said the latter. Astonishingly enough, Gold was counting on Emma to stand up to him, since the town is more afraid of him than they are of the Mayor Regina. And so, Emma won the seat--but at what price?}}

** The Evil Queen also pulls off several gambits.

*** When she met the Genie and he fell in love with her, she feigned depression in order to make him willing to do anything to make her happy. Then she writes about him in her diary, which she knows her husband reads. She makes the Genie think she is going to "free" herself from the King's palace by committing suicide via a two-headed Agrabahn viper, but the Genie instead tells her that he'll use them to kill the King. Shortly after the deed is done, she tells him that the guards are already looking for him because the viper comes from his country and that he must leave the kingdom forever. At this point he realizes that she was only using him to kill the king.

*** {{spoiler|Rumpelstiltskin may not have actually been invested in getting Mary convicted, as he did very little to ensure that Mary actually did leave town like he was supposed to. [[Out-Gambitted|More likely he was just playing Regina,]] as he is almost certainly acting as [[The Chessmaster]] in this series.}}

** It seems to run in the family. Cora ran one on Regina in "The Stable Boy": {{spoiler|she spooked Snow's horse with magic, leading Regina to save Snow, whom she told about Daniel; then she gained Snow's trust, convinced her to tell her about Daniel, then ''murdered Daniel''. ''And somehow still Regina doesn't blame Cora''.}}

* [[Be Careful What You Wish For]]:

** Emma confesses that when she lit the candle on the lonely birthday cupcake she bought herself, she wished not to be alone on her birthday. Henry showed up at her door. [[Subverted]] in that while she did not initially want to be found by Henry, she quickly grows attached to him.

* [[Caught in the Rain]]: In Episode 10, Mary Margaret and David get caught in the rain, take shelter in a cabin and [[Almost Kiss]]. {{spoiler|They kiss for real at the end of the episode.}}

* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: Archie's umbrella in Episode 5.

** Rumplestilskin's potion of true love.

* [[Chekhov's Gunman]]: Frederick is mentioned in passing in "The Shepherd". He is later revealed to be Abigail's true love seven episodes later. Similarly, his Storybrooke counterpart bumps into Kathryn several scenes before the audience discovers who he is.

* [[The Chooser of the One]]: Henry as the one to deliver Emma's [[Call to Adventure]].

* [[Convenient Coma]]: Prince Charming/Prince James/Shepherd aka John Doe/David Nolan.

* [[The Chosen One]]: Emma is destined to save those in Storybrooke according to Henry's stories.

* [[Comedic Sociopathy]]: Rumpelstiltskin turns Gaston into a rose. He gives it to Belle... who trims the stem before putting it in a vase.

** The Magic Mirror is also the Genie from ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]''.

** Rumpelstiltskin turns out to also be the Beast from ''[[Beauty and The Beast]]''.

* [[Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like]]: Regina, after Emma pulls her out of the fire.

* [[Conspicuous CGI]]: The viper snakes in Episode 11.

** Charming also had his moments in the Fairy Tale world.

** Mr. Gold is the main supplier of this trope. Some of his gems:

"Not if I catch him first." }}

* [[Dead Baby Comedy]]: While Rumpelstiltskin was telling Belle what she would have to do for him, he also told her she would have to skin the children he hunted. That one was apparently a quip.

** Hansel and Gretel's father. The same goes for their Storybrooke counterparts, Nicholas and Ava. However, {{spoiler|they end up reunited with him in Storybrooke.}}

** Grace's father never returns from his trip because {{spoiler|he is trapped in Wonderland and becomes the Mad Hatter.}}

* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: After Snow White's personality is radically altered by {{spoiler|the anti-[[Love Potion]] that Rumpelstiltskin sold her}}, Jiminy Cricket and the Seven Dwarves stage an intervention.

* [[Don't Explain the Joke]]: The sheriff tries a joke about how Emma broke the town sign.

** Played very, very straight with a shockingly large portion of the fandom. Please keep working on how you're "not sure" if ripping someone's heart out, using it to inflict intense pain and to threaten death if that person resists, regularly throwing them around through superior magical strength, then ''brainwashing them into believing that the relationship is consensual for twenty-eight years'' "qualifies" as rape. I'll be all ears. If a man had done the above to a woman, it would have been a major [[Moral Event Horizon]] which solidified his [[Complete Monster]] status. Yet the show--and to a much greater extent [[Complete Monster|Regina's]] fans--continue to depict her with varying degrees of sympathy. [[Fan Dumb|But at least the canon depicts her evil acts as evil instead of excusing them.]]

* [[Dramatic Deadpan]]: Snow in "Heart of Darkness".

'''Snow:''' To kill the Queen. }}

* [[Dude, She's Like, in a Coma|Dude, She/He's Like, In a Coma!]]

* [[Emergency Impersonation]]: Seemingly the case for [[Backup Twin|James]].

* [[Enthralling Siren]]: One appears in "What Happened to Frederick" and attempts to seduce Prince Charming under the [[Shapeshifting Seducer|guise]] of Snow White.

* [[Equivalent Exchange]]: According to Rumpelstiltskin, all magic comes at a price.

* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: The witch, Maleficent, considers the Dark Curse to be too evil and traded the Evil Queen for it specifically so no one could use it.

* [[Gold-Silver-Copper Standard]]: Is in use in the Fairy Tale Land, as seen in "Hat Trick". The different coins don’t even have names; they’re called 'silvers' and 'coppers'.

* [[Gonna Need More Trope]]: Inverted when Charming is tasked to hide a a giant egg containing {{spoiler|bottled true love}} within "the belly of a beast".

'''Charming''': I'm gonna need a smaller egg. }}

** Of course not long after she {{spoiler|[[Scaled Up|turns into a dragon]]}}, so the size is perfectly fine.

* [[The Hero's Birthday|The Heroine's Birthday]]: This is almost the first thing we learn about Emma on her Internet date. And her birthday wish turns out to be a catalyst to the events that bring her to Storybrooke.

* [[Heroes Prefer Swords]]: Defied.

** {{spoiler|Which is ineffective. She eventually uses the sword to kill Malificent.}}

* [[Hidden Depths]]: Abigail, Prince Charming's fiancee in the Fairy Tale world, is introduced as a vapid, spoiled brat, but {{spoiler|she actually has her own secret army and is more than willing to help Charming find Snow White since she doesn't want to marry him either.}}

* [[Hypocritical Humor]]: Regina complaining about the Queen of Hearts’ lack of subtlety.

* [[Large Ham]]: The enchanted forest versions of the Evil Queen and Rumpelstiltskin.

* [[Leaning on the Fourth Wall]]: In "Skin Deep".

* [[Legacy Character]]: The {{spoiler|Big Bad Wolf}}, of all characters.

* [[Leitmotif]]: The Evil Queen, Snow White, Charming (who has an [[Crowning Music of Awesome|especially awesome one]]), and the [[Official Couple]] Snow/Charming all have their own music themes.

* [[Limited Wardrobe]]: Somewhat in Fairytale Land, at least for some of the more iconic characters. For instance, Belle shows up in a bar in "Dreamy" wearing the same finery she had when in her father's and the Beast's castles.

* [[Local Hangout]]: Granny's diner.

* [[Long-Lost Relative]]: Henry and Emma. Emma and her parents, Prince Charming and Snow White. Charming and his twin.

** King George at the death of his son.

** Lots of these from the Huntsman.

* [[Man of Wealth and Taste]]: Rumpelstiltskin in his real-world form, Mr. Gold.

* [[Men Are the Expendable Gender]]: Almost ''all'' of the characters who die in the show are male: {{spoiler|Henry (Regina's father), the ''real'' Prince James, Graham, Stealthy, King Leopold, Peter, Daniel...}}

* [[Operation Blank]]: Henry codenames the fight against the Evil Queen "Operation Cobra", so she'll never guess what it is.

* [[Orbital Kiss]]: {{spoiler|David and Mary Margaret in Episode 10.}}

* [[Orphan's Plot Trinket]]: Emma's baby blanket.

* [[Our Dwarves Are All the Same]]: Played straight or even exaggerated, since dwarves are born fully grown and conscious after hatching from eggs and are single-mindedly devoted to mining.

*** Also a retroactive one in the fairy-tale world: Rumpelstilskin is a little subdued when talking to the Shepherd and his mother, and doesn't really do any of his usual antics. When we see his backstory, we find out {{spoiler|that this is because the situation is very similar to the one he went through with his own son, so he can empathize.}}

*** In "Skin Deep", he has several with Belle in their "lighter" moments, {{spoiler|including keeping the chipped tea cup she broke.}}

* [[Picture-Perfect Presentation]]: Either the illustrations in Henry's book become active scenes, or active scenes freeze into the illustrations in Henry's book.

* [[The Power of Love]]: A law of magic in the fariytale world is that "true love's kiss can break any curse." This is such a prominent aspect that Charming and Abigail both deem it a viable solution to Frederick's [[Taken for Granite|situation]] (and it could have worked if his lips weren't blocked by his helmet).

* [[Romance on the Set]]: Ginnifer Goodwin and Josh Dallas have started dating.

* [[Runaway Train]]: Basically what the horse was that Snow was on as a child that introduced her to Regina.

** Storybrooke's Jefferson has one around his neck that serves as a memento of {{spoiler|his decapitation at the hands of the Queen of Hearts.}}

* [[Separated At Birth Casting]]: Ginnifer Goodwin from ''[[Big Love]]'' and Jennifer Morrison from ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'', two actresses who for years people have said shared a resemblance and have often been confused with each other, are now playing mother and daughter. Bailee Madison, the actress who played young Snow White in "The Stable Boy", also has a VERY strong resemblance to Ginnifer Goodwin.

** King George considers Snow White as this in his plans to merge his and Midas' kingdoms.

* [[Start of Darkness]]: "Desperate Souls" for Rumpelstiltskin. "The Stable Boy" for Regina. In Regina's case, you can actually identify the line where she chooses the dark path (accompanied by her [[Leitmotif]]).

* [[Stealth Pun]]: The book's title "'''O'''nce '''U'''pon a '''T'''ime".

* [[Stopped Clock]]: The one in Storybrooke's town square tower. It starts again right after Emma follows through on her promise to stay in town for a week to "humor" Henry.

* [[Sympathetic Murder Backstory]]: The show tries to portray the Evil Queen this way when she has to sacrifice that which she loves most for her Curse. She tried her beloved and prized stallion; that didn't work. It turned out to be {{spoiler|her father, after whom she named the boy she adopted.}}

* [[Taken for Granite]]: Frederick accidentally fell on Midas' hand while defending him and was turned to gold as a result.

* [[That Man Is Dead]]: David claiming that who ever chose to marry his wife Kathryn no longer exists.

* [[The Dark Side Will Make You Forget]]:

** [[Subverted Trope]] with Rumpelstiltskin when he jokes to Belle that he forgot his past (it turns out he remembers it quite well). And inverted with Snow White. After she takes the memory loss potion, she almost turns evil. In the "real" world, it's also inverted. {{spoiler|The two wicked characters, Regina and Rumpelstiltskin are the only ones who recall ''exactly'' who they were.}}

** {{spoiler|Save for Jefferson--although he has gotten more than a tad sadistic over the years.}}

* [[Throwing Your Sword Always Works]]: [[Subverted]]. Charming threw his sword unerringly, but the queen dematerialized in a puff of smoke! Played straight with {{spoiler|Emma vs. Maleficent's dragon form. Somewhat justified in that it's a [[Shout-Out]] to how she was defeated in the Disney movie that she got her name from.}}

* [[Title Drop]]: The name of Henry's fairy tale [[Mr. Exposition|exposition book]] is ''[[Once Upon a Time]]''.

* [[The Un-Reveal]]: [[Zig Zagged]] in "The Return", where is revealed that {{spoiler|August is Rumpelstitskin's son...and then revealed that he actually isn't.}}

* [[Valentine's Day Episodes]]: "Skin Deep". It aired shortly before and was set during Valentine's Day and involved a couple breaking up, [[True Love's Kiss]] not working and a psychotic breakdown.

* [[Villains Out Shopping]]: Combined with [[Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick]] in "Skin Deep". Charming/David runs into Rumpelstiltskin/Mr. Gold at the general store. David's there for Valentines Cards. Mr. Gold's there for {{spoiler|some rope and duct tape to tie a guy up with.}}

* [[Watching Troy Burn]]: Regina tearing down the wooden play structure, Emma's and Henry's secret base for Operation Cobra.

** "A Land Without Magic" {{spoiler|the townsfolk have their memories restored, Jefferson releases Belle and leads her back to Mr. Gold, and Mr. Gold sends magic into Storybrooke.}}

* [[Wham! Line]]: Goes with the above, of course.

'''Mr. Gold:''' {{spoiler|... Rumpelstiltskin.}} }}

** And more of an in-universe one (since the audience saw it coming) in the Mad Hatter episode.

'''Emma:''' {{spoiler|''(in a small voice)''... [[Oh Crap|What curse]]?}} }}

* [[What the Hell, Hero?]]: Kathryn gives one of these to Mary Margaret over her affair with David. The rest of the town shares her sentiments.

* [[Wistful Amnesia]]: Just about everyone in Storybrooke.

* [[World Half Full]]: The Fairy Tale realm. It has enchantment and beauty galore, but what little we've seen of it hasn't been good. King George was flat broke and blackmails the Shepherd to keep up the act of being Prince James. The "real" Prince slaughtered a prisoner without an eye-blink as part of a blood sport. Dragon attacks plague the countryside. The Ogre Wars have been going on for 50 years or more. Rumpelstiltskin cuts deals with impunity, even when he's locked up. And the Evil Queen's bluff to Rumpelstiltskin that Belle was {{spoiler|put in an insane asylum where she was 'purged' with flails, whips, and fire to the point of suicide}} is considered a realistic enough occurrence for him to believe it. What makes the Fairy Tale realm preferable to Storybrooke is mainly that the bad guys had finally been defeated in the Fairy Tale realm, but in Storybrooke they are in charge again - and, of course, that the lives that people lived in the Fairy Tale realm were real and possible to change, whereas in Storybrooke they are caught in a static, fabricated existence where they can [[Failure Is the Only Option|never reach any happy ending]].

* [[Xanatos Gambit]]: While most of Gold's plots are of the [[Batman Gambit|Batman]] variety, his plan to {{spoiler|break the curse}} is pure Xanatos. Best case scenario, {{spoiler|Emma sticks around and breaks the curse}}. But he also put in a failsafe: {{spoiler|If she ''dies'', the curse is broken. Sooner or later, it ''will'' break}}.

* [[X Meets Y]]: ''[[Fables]]'' meets ''[[American Gothic]]''.

* [[You Kill It, You Bought It]]: {{spoiler|How Rumpelstiltskin got his powers.}}

* [[Your Cheating Heart]]:

[[Category:Fantasy Series]]

[[Category:Fairy Tale]]

[[Category:TV Series]]