Sunday, October 28, 2012

Once Upon a Time: Dr. Frankenstein I Presume


 
I'm still obsessed by Once Upon a Time and tonight's Halloween-themed episode opened the storytelling possibilities even further. (For a recap of the entire episode go here and if you haven't watched the episode yet, come back later.)

Tonight we learned that Dr. Whale (David Anders) is really Victor Frankenstein. Dr. Whale has been working hard, as most mad scientists do, to create monsters and bring people back from the dead. He tried to bring Daniel, Regina's true love, back to life.  He managed to do it for a short time before it backfired on all of them, almost making Regina, the Evil Queen, the bride of Frankenstein. What a concept. 

I've been wondering who Dr. Whale's character is in fairytale land since last season. Since Victor Frankenstein is a literary character and not a fairy tale character, he was not on my list. A quick Internet search revealed that the director of the 1931 movie, Frankenstein, was named James Whale. So the writers did take the trouble to make a connection, although tenuous, and this reveal seems to have been planned long in advance of tonight's episode. 

The really interesting part about this was how they established that they can bring in almost any character from literature that they want.  Before it was just fairy tales (or retold stories that Disney adapted like Alice in Wonderland - Jefferson is  the Mad Hatter and I think Emma is Alice, but she doesn't know it, and Mulan.)

The writers and producers have created a storytelling playground and any classic character could come into play. What fun. 

I also loved seeing Regina come to Jiminy Cricket for psychotherapy. It does seem like she is giving in too easily to her good side and giving up magic pretty easily. This may mean that Cora and Rumple are the real villains of the story, although I hope Regina isn't this nice every episode. 



For those of you on Facebook, Once Upon a Time has a great app there for Untold Stories. Go to the regular Once Upon a Time Facebook page and follow Rumple's instructions.  He will exchange stories for objects you bring him (found in a game) just like he did with Jefferson (the Mad Hatter) in this episode. 

Next week Emma and Captain Hook traverse the Bean Stalk and run into the giant (Jorge Garcia formerly of LOST and the ill-fated Alcatraz). The promo is below. 


What did you think of this week's episode? Are you watching Once Upon a Time? 

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