Once Upon a Time - "Ariel" - Review

Intro

Only a week late with this one. If I keep at the pace I'm going, I might get caught up after all... but no, probably not. My grandparents are coming into town and that always throws a wrench in my predetermined schedule...

SPOILER WARNING

The following review is for Once Upon a Time, Season 3, Episode 6: "Ariel." If you haven't seen this episode, I would go do that before reading my review. Even my character lists contain spoilers.

Once Upon a Time - "Ariel" - Review

Characters:

• Emma Swan - Played by Jennifer Morrison. Daughter of Prince Charming and Snow White. Birth Mother of Henry Mills. Product of True Love. "The Savior."
• Regina Mills - Played by Lana Parrilla. Mother of Henry Mills. Step-Mother of Snow White. The Evil Queen.
• Prince Charming/David Nolan - Played by Josh Dallas. Father of Emma Swan. Husband of Snow White.
• Snow White/Mary Margaret Blanchard - Played by Ginnifer Goodwin. Mother of Emma Swan. Wife of Prince Charming. Step-Daughter of Regina Mills.
• Henry Mills - Played by Jared Gilmore. Son of Emma Swan, Baelfire, and Regina Mills. The Truest Believer.
• Captain Killian "Hook" Jones - Played by Colin O'Donoghue. Pirate.
• Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold - Played by Robert Carlyle. Father of Baelfire. Grandfather of Henry Mills. The Dark One. Regina's mentor.
• Neal Cassady/Baelfire - Played by Michael Raymond-James and Dylan Schmid. Son of Rumplestiltskin. Father of Henry Mills.
• Peter Pan - Played by Robbie Kay. Big Bad of Wonderland.
• Felix - Played by Parker Croft. Peter's messenger... or something.
• Ariel - Played by JoAnna Garcia Swisher. Mermaid.
• Prince Eric - Played by Gil McKinney. Human. Ariel's True Love.
• Belle - Played by Emilie de Ravin. Rumple's True Love. Revealed to be Pan's Shadow in Neverland.

Review:

I have never really been a fan of The Little Mermaid. Even reading the original tale, I wasn't enamored with it. However, I surprisingly enjoyed Once Upon a Time's take on the story. I'm really glad they spared us a remake of the movie, instead moving things along to weeks or months later. I was, however, kind of surprised at the audacity of Ariel to essentially throw Snow under the bus without even thinking about asking her if she wanted to be a mermaid. What even was that? I'm glad Ariel got to stab Regina with a fork and help Snow get away, even if that ruined her shot with Eric. I was slightly amused that Ariel's voice was taken away only after she stabbed Regina, but it made more sense than walking around in pain... which only really makes sense if you've read the original story and know the back story on it.

I thought the concept of the Echo Cave was pretty awesome. It wasn't what I was expecting at all. With a name like "Echo Cave" you just sort of think people get lost because of all the echoing. I very much liked the airing of everyone's secrets. I was getting extremely annoyed with David keeping his tie to Neverland a secret. I was, however, expecting Snow and Emma's "secrets" to be what they were. Of course Snow would want another child and of course Emma's afraid of the pain associated with Neal. These weren't actual secrets as far as the audience goes.

I thought Regina was awesome this episode, even if we didn't get much with her in the present. The teaching scene with Emma was great, even if I think she could find something other than rage to channel. However, Regina's just teaching the way she was taught and it's fire so... rage works for that. It was fun seeing Regina and Rumple team up, especially when she yells at him for being dumb. As for the flashbacks, I thought Regina's plan to impersonate Ursula was awesome. Lana did a wonderful job with the movement and the accent during that scene, even if the wig was ridiculous.

As for Rumple this episode... he was being Mopey McMoperson. I was more worried about his psyche when the Belle hallucination started acting all weird. However, all that was pushed aside when Regina came in and revealed Pan's shadow. I'm glad he appears to be getting his mojo back now that Regina's given him ideas. Hopefully it'll be something that will help him get back into Neal's good graces... or something.

Anyway, "Ariel" was a solid episode. We're definitely doing the slow build toward the mid-season finale now. I'd say more, but I'll leave that for the next Once Upon a Time review.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Ursula was a sea goddess? Also, she makes crappy threats.
• Wasn't expecting Snow to blurt out the info about Neal.
• Pan kind of reminds me of Ben from Lost with all that manipulation.
• I want to know the actual story on Rumple's dad.

Favorite Lines:

"You wanna follow the evil munchkins' dirt road, be my guest." - Regina

"Don't kill the messenger, love." - Hook

Extras:

A translation of the original The Little Mermaid can be found: HERE.

Housekeeping

Let me know what you thought of "Ariel" in the comments. If you've read the original tale, let me know what you thought of that as well.

Love ya, Jessie