Rejoice! Once Upon a Time Is Finally Ending!
Let me tell you a story. Seven years ago, I attended the world famous fan convention San Diego Comic-Con for the first time. I had just moved to California, and I finally had access to this magical heaven of geekdom. As I eagerly perused the event list to figure out what I would do first, I found a panel for an upcoming series about fairy tale characters living in the real world called Once Upon a Time. I knew right away that this was the panel for me. It was held in a small room, and getting in was easy since no one had heard of it yet. I even had the opportunity to ask the creators a question after their presentation. At the panel, they aired the entire 40-minute pilot three months before anyone else would watch it on TV. I was so proud to be one of the first people to see it. The main character, Emma Swan, who happened to be the daughter of Snow White, blew me away with her inner strength and insecurity. All I could think about was how grateful I felt to be alive during a time when an adult drama about fairy tales could be taken seriously.
When the show finally aired on television, I relished every episode and could not wait for each passing Sunday, when I would see what life was like for yet another fallen fairy tale figure who was living under a false identity in the real world. I was satisfied with the ending of the first season, but I was also concerned. It had been wrapped up so well. How could they possibly continue to tell such a compelling story that came to such a neatly wrapped close? The second season was not quite as enjoyable, but the strength of Emma's relationship with her son Henry and the rocky romantic relationship between Rumpelstiltskin and Belle kept me coming back for more. The show's third season just managed to hang onto my loyalty with the introduction of my favorite Disney character, Ariel, and an amazing spin-off about Alice in Wonderland.
After that, things went downhill quickly. It became clear that they were running out of ideas as the writers came up with some outlandish plot twists, including time travel, coming back from the dead, and multiple amnesia arcs. When they announced that most of the main cast was leaving the show after the end of the sixth season, I had assumed that the ridiculous farce the show had become would finally reach its conclusion. I was wrong. Season seven posters were launched last September, along with a new press release that said the show would take place ten years in the future with a new cast of alternate versions of characters we had already met. It was their most outlandish storyline ever, and it worked even worse in practice than it did in theory. This season was just one big disaster after another, and many fans had lost interest in the show entirely.
I know this is beginning to sound like a sob story, but never fear! This is a day for celebration. It has been announced today that the seventh season of Once Upon a Time will be the last. I, for one, could not be happier with this news. This show had already destroyed so many of the things that made it great for me, and this season in particular was only adding insult to injury. The sixth season had a perfect ending with a "Last Supper" reference as its final shot (pictured above), and I would have been willing to forgive and forget had they not gone and ruined everything with a "reboot" season. But hey, that just makes the news of its ending all the more sweet. There are no longer any redeeming qualities in the series to cause the least bit of remorse from this news.
Fairy tales are written to be short stories that allow us to take away something profound to bring back with us into our daily lives. By dragging them out and changing them as much as Once Upon a Time has done over the past seven years, they lose all of their meaning and significance. Even the fairy tale based miniseries, The Tenth Kingdom, would not have had the same impact if it had lasted for longer than five parts. As Eddie and Adam said in their interview, the show was always meant to be about maintaining hope in the darkest of times. Knowing that it is finally ending once and for all is just the hope I need to restore my faith in the future of entertainment.
When the show finally aired on television, I relished every episode and could not wait for each passing Sunday, when I would see what life was like for yet another fallen fairy tale figure who was living under a false identity in the real world. I was satisfied with the ending of the first season, but I was also concerned. It had been wrapped up so well. How could they possibly continue to tell such a compelling story that came to such a neatly wrapped close? The second season was not quite as enjoyable, but the strength of Emma's relationship with her son Henry and the rocky romantic relationship between Rumpelstiltskin and Belle kept me coming back for more. The show's third season just managed to hang onto my loyalty with the introduction of my favorite Disney character, Ariel, and an amazing spin-off about Alice in Wonderland.
After that, things went downhill quickly. It became clear that they were running out of ideas as the writers came up with some outlandish plot twists, including time travel, coming back from the dead, and multiple amnesia arcs. When they announced that most of the main cast was leaving the show after the end of the sixth season, I had assumed that the ridiculous farce the show had become would finally reach its conclusion. I was wrong. Season seven posters were launched last September, along with a new press release that said the show would take place ten years in the future with a new cast of alternate versions of characters we had already met. It was their most outlandish storyline ever, and it worked even worse in practice than it did in theory. This season was just one big disaster after another, and many fans had lost interest in the show entirely.
I know this is beginning to sound like a sob story, but never fear! This is a day for celebration. It has been announced today that the seventh season of Once Upon a Time will be the last. I, for one, could not be happier with this news. This show had already destroyed so many of the things that made it great for me, and this season in particular was only adding insult to injury. The sixth season had a perfect ending with a "Last Supper" reference as its final shot (pictured above), and I would have been willing to forgive and forget had they not gone and ruined everything with a "reboot" season. But hey, that just makes the news of its ending all the more sweet. There are no longer any redeeming qualities in the series to cause the least bit of remorse from this news.
Fairy tales are written to be short stories that allow us to take away something profound to bring back with us into our daily lives. By dragging them out and changing them as much as Once Upon a Time has done over the past seven years, they lose all of their meaning and significance. Even the fairy tale based miniseries, The Tenth Kingdom, would not have had the same impact if it had lasted for longer than five parts. As Eddie and Adam said in their interview, the show was always meant to be about maintaining hope in the darkest of times. Knowing that it is finally ending once and for all is just the hope I need to restore my faith in the future of entertainment.
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