Too Many Princesses by Lauren Cates : Pop Culture Leftovers

Too Many Princesses by Lauren Cates

August 24, 2013 4:08 am | Leave your thoughts

So, I watch Once Upon a Time.

I just got the news today, via Adam Horowitz’s Twitter feed, that they’ve cast Ariel for next season, which is unsurprising, since a teaser popped up weeks ago that hinted The Little Mermaid was coming to Storybrooke.

Sigh.

Look, I will watch, even though season two was wildly problematic for me. Between a by-and-large neglect, if not outright abuse of, our heroic Charming family (WATCH as they are made the second bananas to our villains! Whom you will LOVE as you watch them BROOD!), too fast a story pace, too little thought on Curse mechanics, too many characters, too forced and painful love stories, and too dumb a cliffhanger to have ended on, frankly this season was full of wasted potential.

I will cut a bitch the next time someone utters the words “The Home Office”, okay?

But I’m a sucker for the parallel-story narrative. And while I’m not necessarily a fan of any world where everyone’s connected (see also: Star Wars, episodes I-III), I’ve found that the world of Once can be imaginative and fun. And when the villains are on, they are locked and loaded.

But, with so many characters to juggle, and not enough time spent on our heroes (seriously? The writers could not squeeze the hell out of the drama that comes from finding out that your parents are the same age as you? As much as I hate angst-as-character-development, you have to admit, Emma Swan has fucking earned that shit), adding another Disney princess to the mix just makes the whole business sour to me.

Frankly, I was looking forward to more Emma. People seem to forget that she is a princess herself. And being the person who could, oh, I don’t know, advance fucking time in Storybrooke, you’d think she’d be front and center for most of the stories, at least in the first few seasons.

But, it seemed like the writers would rather tack on a new, novelty character rather than delve into the ones they have already established. It’s either that, or Disney is trying to use this show to re-invigorate the characters for merchandising purposes.

So, The Little Mermaid. Not one of my favorite princesses.

BUT.

With the Little Mermaid comes one of my favorite villains.

Ursula.

As I said before, if there’s one thing this show gets right (at least most of the time; if we never speak of Saint Regina’s Tears or the creepy Rumbelle pairing, we’ll be great friends), it’s villains.

Wicked, gleeful and remorseless villains is the one thing that Once is reliable enough for, and while they wasted Maleficent, there’s a lot of potential that comes with Ursula.

Now, last season, Barbara Hershey kept me tuning in (that, and Colin O’Donaghue, but let’s face it, he wasn’t much of a villain), and felt really sad that they built her up too quickly and then burned her out just to kill her off. She was the one character on the show that wasn’t burdened by angst, sorrow or regret, and it was such a shame they had nowhere to go with the character anymore.

But here’s the chance to make it right, Once writers. You’ve got a chance for another great villainess that’s just evil. No inner demons to fight, no long-lost loves, no Home Offices. Just plain evil-for-the-lulz.

You know, like how Regina and Rumple used to be?

I’ll keep tuning in come September, but come on guys, don’t let me down this time.

Too Many Princesses by Lauren Cates

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