Once Upon a Time

:

Season 1
  • Network: ABC
  • Series Premiere Date: Oct 23, 2011
Season #: 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 522 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 420 out of 522
  2. Mixed: 45 out of 522
  3. Negative: 57 out of 522
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  1. brulno
    Dec 31, 2013
    10
    esta série foi esculpida por deus finalizada por jesus e mandada pra terra por anjos
    uma das melhores que eu ja vi se nao a melhor regina meu amorzinho s2
  2. diegonelli
    Aug 18, 2017
    9
    Such an entertaining show, it just never bores you. I really enjoyed how OUAT has developed fairy tales in such a complex way, where everyone is connected to everyone. Definitely worth watching! EDIT: I've noticed many people are giving negative reviews from the last seasons.. I just finished 2, I hope it doesn't get bad :(
  3. Kilrymont
    Aug 3, 2019
    2
    This junk show depends on watchers having zero capacity to recognise trash writing when confronted with its lacklustre predictability, its regular use of "I don't understand" - (which in real life I have never ONCE heard anyone say) - and on characters routinely never doing what they've said they will, they always withhold some core piece of information, they invariably use key points ofThis junk show depends on watchers having zero capacity to recognise trash writing when confronted with its lacklustre predictability, its regular use of "I don't understand" - (which in real life I have never ONCE heard anyone say) - and on characters routinely never doing what they've said they will, they always withhold some core piece of information, they invariably use key points of vocabulary till watchers are sick to the back teeth of Family, Togetherness, You LIed To Me, and every single pivot point is timed to the last split second.
    The writing is cringe-inducing. The plot lines are infinitely predictable - you could without difficulty miss several episodes and take it up again (but why would you???) without great effort.
    Every scene is stretched out to the max screen time in order to get max running hours out of minimal story lines - and just like every other American trash TV show, the dialogue is pitched just above moron level - in order, presumably, to keep the core audience rapt in their fat-ass seats.
    This programme is dross. It's bloody awful.
    And it depends on idiots doing idiotic things, saying crassly moronic lines, lying at every turn. And time and time again, they do the most stupid, stupid things - so much so you feel exactly like heaving a Mills Grenade at the screen...    … Expand
  4. ForestCat10
    Oct 19, 2016
    9
    Once upon a time, Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis had a magical idea to create a television series about all of the well-known fairy tales. Interweaving the paths of all of the characters, they bring us on a wild journey in which we discover the unknown pasts of our favorite characters. And thus, ABC’s show Once Upon a Time was born.
    Season One starts out with all of the fairy tale    Once upon a time, Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis had a magical idea to create a television series about all of the well-known fairy tales. Interweaving the paths of all of the characters, they bring us on a wild journey in which we discover the unknown pasts of our favorite characters. And thus, ABC’s show Once Upon a Time was born.
    Season One starts out with all of the fairy tale characters stuck in a small town in Maine called Storybrooke. Each character has dual identities, one in modern times and one in the Enchanted Forest, which they have no memories of it. The evil queen had cast a curse that brought them all to a land without magic, and she had placed herself as Mayor Regina Mills (Lana Parrilla). Her adoptive son, Henry (Jared Scott Gilmore), receives a storybook full of fairy tales from his teacher, Mary Margaret Blanchard, the counterpart of Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin).
    Convinced the stories are true, that they tell the real identities of Storybrooke’s residents, Henry sets off to find the Savior, the only person able to break the curse and free all of the people of Storybrooke. The Savior is a woman named Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison) who currently lives in Boston. Henry plans to bring Emma to Storybrooke, get her to believe in magic, and have her break the curse. After Henry travels to Boston alone and finds Emma, she brings him home to his mother with plans to return home. She ends up staying in Storybrooke, though she finds nothing out of the ordinary, and Henry discovers getting her to believe in magic may be more challenging than he anticipated.
    Apart from Mr. Gold, the counterpart of Rumpelstiltskin (Robert Carlyle), Regina is the only one who possesses memories of her past life. She knows Emma is a threat, even if the Savior doesn’t realize the full potential of her power yet, and knows that, if she wishes to keep her control over Storybrooke, she must eliminate this threat. As Henry tries to break the curse with help from Emma and Mary Margaret, Regina starts scheming an evil plot, hoping to remove the Savior from the chess board and win the game.
    The entire series switches back and forth between the present in Storybrooke and the past in the Enchanted Forest. Piece by piece, we start to learn the history of all of the characters and, slowly, all of our questions are answered. While some may say the constant switching makes the show hard to follow, I believe it builds the suspense and keeps the audience intrigued throughout every episode. As it keeps switching, the audience learns, little by little, the entire story, rather than figuring it out all at once. It keeps the audience guessing at the truth the entire season, and when the climax catches them off guard, everything they thought is suddenly not at all what they see.
    Horowitz and Kitsis do an incredible job of bringing all of the famous fairy tales into the show. It’s obvious which characters are brought in from which fairy tale, but each story is altered. Characters from different stories meet and bond in surprising ways, and all loose ends are tied up with the flashbacks. The show keeps everyone sitting at the edge of their seat throughout each episode. Some may say the show is unoriginal and all the connections between all of the characters get repetitive and boring, but I think the plot, while not completely original, has its own unique twist and the connections are imaginative and expertly woven into the script.
    Suspenseful, adventure-packed, comical, and romantic, Once Upon a Time is a great show for all ages.    … Expand
  5. idklolgtgjklol
    Oct 18, 2016
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Once Upon a Time, a fantasy T.V. show that leaves your heart pounding, remakes children’s stories and adds twists and turns to make them fun for an older audience. I like how it brings back memories of childhood without it being for little 5 year olds. You never know what will happen next because each of the stories are changed to fit the show and they leave you never knowing what to expect.
    A woman named Emma is dragged into a town called Storybrooke by her son Henry, who she gave up for adoption 10 years ago. When she gets to Storybrooke she finds out that Henry believes everyone there is a fairytale character. Henry thinks it’s his job to make Emma believe that, so she can break the curse the Evil Queen cast, a.k.a. his adoptive mother.
    To understand what I’m talking about there is a bit of background needed, like who is who. So now that I’ve said that, Henry’s teacher is Mary Margaret and he thinks she is Snow White, who is married to Prince Charming or David who you don’t meet until late in the first season because he was in a coma. Henry thinks they are Emma’s parents. But during all of this, none of the people know who they are because their memory was wiped and time is frozen in Storybrooke.
    I like this show for many reasons, one is I like the fantasy ideas pulled into the real world. The mix makes the show very entertaining. My favorite books are fantasy or science fiction, and Once Upon a Time is like the show version of some of those books. During each episode there are flashbacks to when the characters lived in the Enchanted Forest, the place where fairytales take place. So you, as the watcher, know who is who, and are waiting for them to find out who each of the people are.
    I dislike how the flashbacks continue all the way up through the fifth season. After a while you get kind of tired of wondering what random thing they will bring up from the dark path of so and so. I want them to just have it be in the present, and have more things going on. It’s like watching a 20 minute show for 40 minutes, because you don’t care what happens for half. Another awful thing about the show is it’s repetitiveness. They have had 3 or more curses where they are sent somewhere and their memories are taken. It gets very boring, my brother and Dad will hardly watch the show now.
    In my opinion, the 3rd season is the best season, and the one I go back to endlessly. The first two seasons I feel are background facts that are just filling you with the information, and while they are good seasons, you don’t feel the need to watch them again. When you get to the third, they are pulled to Neverland, where they meet Peter Pan and Captain Hook. The roles, however, are reversed so that Pan is the evil one. Hook then starts to like Emma, and like every good movie/show a romance begins. Neverland is full of twists and things you didn’t see coming, like Neal, Henry’s biological dad, is still alive in Neverland when they thought he had been shot. Then there is this tug of war game with Emma and a love triangle is formed.
    Something that I think is really interesting is that the actors who play Snow White and Prince Charming, Ginnifer Goodwin and Josh Dallas, are married in real life, so when they have their love story in the show it’s cool to think about how it’s real.
    The disappointing part of this is that Charming is my least favorite person in the show. He’s always super dramatic and causing tons of issues. The other thing that bothers me is that no matter how many times he is “inevitably” going to die, somehow he get saved! It drives me crazy because every time I’m thinking this will finally be the time he dies. I know that sounds awful but I seriously don’t like him as a character and I think the show would be better off without him.
    In many shows, there is a lot of behavior that is inappropriate for younger audiences and this show keeps that to a minimum, so a family can sit down and watch it together. It is, however, a little confusing, which is why I would say this is a good watch for kids over 11 or so, as it may be too confusing for children much younger than that.
    Overall, the show is very entertaining and I enjoy watching it when I’m not sure what to watch. I think it’s a pretty good show for families with teens because I know that my whole family sits and watches it together. Aside from the few things I dislike I have to say it is one of my favorite shows I have ever watched, although I have recently been forcing myself to finish the fifth season, as it is very anticlimactic since you can guess what will happen next.    … Expand
  6. JurassicWookie
    Nov 7, 2016
    2
    Story line is BORING and Dumb...Special effects looks worse than 1997 Star Wars Special Editions....Honestly I don't know how it still airs...and the casting is meh...and don't tell me you don't notice the overuse of green screens...The Star Wars Prequels look better....
  7. joshmitag
    Apr 25, 2017
    1
    I watched this show for the first few seasons and I thought it was pretty good, but once they started running out of new stuff to write they began to make crap up. They do all kinds of things to mix up the characters and the myths. There is nothing sacred. It is almost as if they have no idea where the season is going and they throw darts at a board to see what they will vomit up next. II watched this show for the first few seasons and I thought it was pretty good, but once they started running out of new stuff to write they began to make crap up. They do all kinds of things to mix up the characters and the myths. There is nothing sacred. It is almost as if they have no idea where the season is going and they throw darts at a board to see what they will vomit up next. I literally hate this show. I despise it.… Expand
  8. manningn15
    Aug 11, 2019
    8
    I Love this show. This is one of my favorite shows ever. The visuals, acting, and writing are spectacular.
  9. Felindie
    Jul 15, 2019
    6
    I mean, the idea it is not bad, but as the season progress the plot never gets interesting.
  10. hhk2003
    May 31, 2018
    10
    THIS IS THE MOST AMAZING SHOW EVER its a life changing show, i disagree with the point that the acting is not good OH COME ON i guarantee u that the acting done by Robert Carlyle Jennifer Morrison Lana PARRILLA Robbie Kay Rebecca madder and etc is unbelievable MOST PEOPLE SAY THAT THE FIRST 3 OR 4 SEASONS WERE GOOD but i say each and every season is a an amazing one, the dialogues are soTHIS IS THE MOST AMAZING SHOW EVER its a life changing show, i disagree with the point that the acting is not good OH COME ON i guarantee u that the acting done by Robert Carlyle Jennifer Morrison Lana PARRILLA Robbie Kay Rebecca madder and etc is unbelievable MOST PEOPLE SAY THAT THE FIRST 3 OR 4 SEASONS WERE GOOD but i say each and every season is a an amazing one, the dialogues are so good and once upon a time is highly rated show, its a very addicting one and not only the creators have made this show about fairy tales they have created a whole new and a differnet story for each of the fairy tale character… Expand
  11. Lucas565
    Dec 12, 2020
    10
    Uma das melhores séries que eu já assisti eu recomendo ela é ótima mesmo muito bom
  12. Abzzski
    Aug 27, 2018
    8
    Personally one of my favourite American TV series that I have seen. I think this TV series has really good casting. Full of imagination and adventure. The first 4 seasons were really interesting to me. I ended up watching it till the very end.
  13. Amkhazaei83
    Nov 19, 2018
    10
    این فصل بسیار بسیار زیباست . به خوبی بر روی شخصیت های سفید برفی و شاهزاده چارمینگ و اما کار شده است . شخصیت مورد علاقه ی من در کل هفت فصل این سریال پوست چروکین است. هورویتز و کیستیتس قطعا میراثی شگفت انگیز برای شبکه ی ( ای بی سی ) خلق کرده است . واقعا علی استاین فصل بسیار بسیار زیباست . به خوبی بر روی شخصیت های سفید برفی و شاهزاده چارمینگ و اما کار شده است . شخصیت مورد علاقه ی من در کل هفت فصل این سریال پوست چروکین است. هورویتز و کیستیتس قطعا میراثی شگفت انگیز برای شبکه ی ( ای بی سی ) خلق کرده است . واقعا علی است
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Awards & Rankings

68
#68 Best TV Season of 2011
7
#7 Most Discussed TV Season of 2011
15
#15 Most Shared TV Season of 2011

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
66

Generally favorable reviews - based on 26 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 26
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 26
  3. Negative: 0 out of 26
  1. Slate
    Reviewed by: Troy Patterson
    Oct 28, 2011
    40
    The series, fueling itself with folklore, proceeds as if no characterization is required.
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  2. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Tim Goodman
    Oct 24, 2011
    50
    The show is a bold idea, and there's hope for the modern-world portions, but it doesn't quite know what it is (or maybe it does, but the audience won't).
    Read full review
  3. Zap2it (Inside the Box)
    Reviewed by: Rick Porter
    Oct 24, 2011
    60
    No other new show this fall is attempting to tell a bigger story, and we're hoping the rough patches smooth out and it fulfills the potential that's there in its very strong cast and premise.
    Read full review
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