One of the biggest pitfalls of 22-episode seasons is that occasionally you will have episodes that are almost entirely exposition. It sort of turns out okay, because you wanted to know most of that information, but it’s sometimes difficult to make things interesting. This episode of Once Upon A Time was extremely important to both the mythology and the Season 5A arc, but it took a very long time to get interesting.
This week on Once Upon A Time: Taking place mostly in the past, we visit the rise of Merlin and how his true love was taken from him. In the Camelot timeline, Emma and Merlin journey together, intent on reuniting Excalibur with the Dark One dagger. Regina, Robin, Hook, Snow, and Charming work with Zelena to try and get Excalibur from Arthur, but they are (not surprisingly) betrayed.
Okay. The first paragraph made it sound like I hated this episode. I didn’t. I liked it. But the Merlin story was a little tough for me. Don’t get me wrong, because I wanted to know all that information, but Merlin is too new of a character for me to care that much. They haven’t spent enough time building up my trust of that character to even be sure what would happen. The only thing I was sure of is that Nimue would turn out to be the first Dark One, and I was right about that. When she and Merlin first meet and she mentions revenge, I said ‘She’s the first Dark One’. Ultimately, it was a pretty sad story, but I would’ve felt a bigger gut punch if I had gotten to know them better first.
The storytelling and the pacing of the show is still (mostly) good. I probably just got frustrated in this particular case because they were building to a reveal that I had predicted out of the gate. On its own, “Nimue” was a pretty solid story about Merlin, mixed in with the rest of our favorite characters. In my opinion (I know, this is my review so that’s implied) they simply tipped their hand too early in the big reveal.
Now the build, I loved. Even though I had predicted the twist, the mounting tension in the episode was artfully crafted. One of the things I appreciate most about Once is how they craft their episodes. They are (usually) masterful in the way that they use the past, present and future to build to a thrilling climax, and “Nimue” was an extremely successful example. We all know that we can’t trust Arthur, or Zelena, and yet that story came to a head in such a brilliant and innovative way. I was already excited to see Robin, Charming, and Hook do some swashbuckling in what’s bound to be a war of the worlds, but I’m even more excited now. Of course they will need Regina, Merida, Snow, (perhaps Mulan and Ruby?) and all hands on deck to handle such a powerful combo, especially now that they (spoilers) control Merlin.
Overall, I’m pleased with “Nimue” as an expository episode, and it has me really excited about where the next few episodes will lead. Although predictable and a little unevenly paced, “Nimue” (as much of Season 5 before it) has managed to shatter my expectations.
What did you guys think? Did you see those twists coming? Let us know in the comments!
Once Upon A Time airs Sundays at 8/7c on ABC.
[Photo credit: Jack Rowand/ABC]
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