Once Upon a Time

:

Season 4
  • Network: ABC
  • Series Premiere Date: Oct 23, 2011
Season #: 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
User Score
7.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 91 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 64 out of 91
  2. Mixed: 16 out of 91
  3. Negative: 11 out of 91
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User Reviews

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  1. Wudd
    Oct 14, 2014
    3
    This show is as formulaic as they come. Henry still cannot act. The ice cream shop is literally NEXT DOOR to Granny's and we haven't seen the shop or the owner once in any of the previous seasons? How do people just keep turning up like this? Not to mention, what happened to all the peasants and stuff living in the Enchanted Forest when the Evil Queen cast the first curse? Why did only theThis show is as formulaic as they come. Henry still cannot act. The ice cream shop is literally NEXT DOOR to Granny's and we haven't seen the shop or the owner once in any of the previous seasons? How do people just keep turning up like this? Not to mention, what happened to all the peasants and stuff living in the Enchanted Forest when the Evil Queen cast the first curse? Why did only the A-list people get pulled into our world?

    Love, trust and family solves all problems (and have for 3 previous seasons), but still the characters seem surprised that these things are the answers to the problem. Emma always has a hang up with her love interest. It's been 3 and some seasons of her telling men who "love" her that she's not ready to be with them. There is also so much convenience built into the plot. Emma can't use her powers (even though Rumple, the Evil Queen, or the Blue Fairy could probably teach her to use them) unless they've written themselves into a corner...of course this could be explained away because love or whatever. The constant oscillation between good and bad for both Gold and Regina is distracting and designed to drum up suspense. This happens because the viewer knows that the good guys will ALWAYS win. This is true of a lot of shows, but this one doesn't really offer anything else as far as action, intrigue, or romance.

    I'm invested in this show for whatever reason, and I am totally understanding of the fact that it's Disney/ABC so it can't be too dark, but at the same time it's too bubblegum to be watchable. I'm holding on because Robert Carlyle is great and I still miss LOST. I'll probably end up finishing the season but this may be my last unless the show takes a drastic turn and I do hope it does.    … Expand
  2. gmonster320
    May 17, 2015
    9
    Season 4 brought us "Frozen" in the first part of the season and the "Queens of Darkness" in the second. I'll admit I was skeptical when I first heard about the "Frozen" segment but they won me over. "Frozen" also brought us Elizabeth Mitchell as Ingrid (ie the Snow Queen). She's one of my favorites so I enjoy everything she does. "Queens of Darkness" brought back Malificent (who had aSeason 4 brought us "Frozen" in the first part of the season and the "Queens of Darkness" in the second. I'll admit I was skeptical when I first heard about the "Frozen" segment but they won me over. "Frozen" also brought us Elizabeth Mitchell as Ingrid (ie the Snow Queen). She's one of my favorites so I enjoy everything she does. "Queens of Darkness" brought back Malificent (who had a great story). I hope she becomes a season regular. The stories of Ursula and Cruella seemed to be fillers though. The finale brought Operation Mongoose (which was the quest for Regina to find the Author to get her happy ending) to a conclusion. It also gave the actors a chance to switch roles with Snow White becoming the Evil Queen and Regina becoming Snow White. Rumple was a knight known as the "Light One". It looked like the actors had a lot of fun. Regina (Lana Parrilla) continues to be excellent in everything she does (be she good, evil or somewhere in between). It was nice that the writers via the Author acknowledged that she is the most complex, layered character on "Once Upon A Time". Without going into much detail, we witnessed some interesting character developments for Regina, Emma, Henry, Robin, Hook, Rumple, Belle, Zelena and the Charmings. We again see Emma and Regina sacrificing themselves for Henry and each other. Yes I refuse to stop shipping Swan Queen. Next year we're off to Camelot. What perils will the Dark One whip up along the way?… Expand
  3. seventhbeacon
    Nov 23, 2014
    1
    Once upon a time, ABC was in talks with an amazing creator named Bill Willingham, whose comic series "Fables" is a long line of brilliance, mature exploration of character and fairy tale tropes blended into a modern setting. It is hands down one of the best series I have ever read, and it's still going (at least into 2015 when the story comes to a close).

    At some point, those talks fell    Once upon a time, ABC was in talks with an amazing creator named Bill Willingham, whose comic series "Fables" is a long line of brilliance, mature exploration of character and fairy tale tropes blended into a modern setting. It is hands down one of the best series I have ever read, and it's still going (at least into 2015 when the story comes to a close).

    At some point, those talks fell through. Then, half a year later, ABC announces Once Upon a Time, based on the same basic conceit as the Willingham comic from Vertigo (DC). I'm sad it's not Fables, but I'm excited at the idea.

    Then, I watch it. I tried. I really did. It's so watered down, trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator, with annoying leads (though I liked Jiminy Cricket and I liked Rumpelstiltskin for what they were worth). It had a less-intriguing premise. It was far too soft and Disney-fied. They basically took this amazing mature story and tried to make it have mass appeal to the family audience. Already not what I wanted, but hey, I like a good family show on occasion, so I stuck it out.

    And the writing sucked. The plotting, the dialogue, the generic tropes done with a straight face, bland as could be. The kid is obnoxious. Snow's 'daughter' is obnoxious. Snow is less interesting than a bottle of Ambien (and it's sad, too, I loved the actress in Big Love).

    Jiminy and Rumpel are the only reason this review didn't get a '0'.

    If you want something that's actually good in this vein, go read Fables. Or watch Grimm.    … Expand
  4. HitomiNoRyu
    Dec 16, 2014
    4
    This particular review is only on Season 4. I loved the other 3 seasons but this latest one is horrible. The new relationships are very forced and certain characters like Snow White are absolutely useless. There is too many characters to track of right now and too much focus certain characters.

    This show needs to thin the herd. Seriously a lot of these characters need to die and die for    This particular review is only on Season 4. I loved the other 3 seasons but this latest one is horrible. The new relationships are very forced and certain characters like Snow White are absolutely useless. There is too many characters to track of right now and too much focus certain characters.

    This show needs to thin the herd. Seriously a lot of these characters need to die and die for good not just the villains.

    Only good scenes were with is Princess Anna. Her genuine naive approach to situations was a breath of fresh air compared to the rest of the cast who should know better by now!!    … Expand
  5. shaquita2012
    Dec 14, 2014
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. this have been a very good first half so far . they did good with frozen how they react in this show . am pround of the writter keep up the good work.And i think the secound is going to do great i can feel now while am talking about right now .… Expand
  6. solidspectr
    Sep 28, 2014
    8
    It's still not a perfect show. But with the new season, also takes pride of place "most favorite show."
    CGI has become much better. But 'chroma key' also terrible. Despite all this looks nice.
    New characters "Frozen" (Anna and Elsa), look great. Actress cute, pretty and well play a role.
  7. comicstudybuddy
    Nov 12, 2015
    4
    Anyone looking for predictable outcomes, one dimensional characters with no real growth this show is for you. Every once in a blue moon a gem appears in the way of performance and creativity but with each episode those gems become fewer and fewer it would seem.
  8. TheQuietGamer
    Jan 27, 2018
    8
    Another season that's split into two halves, each sporting a different plot arc. The first of which brings characters from Frozen into the mix. A decision that proves to be more than just a way to cash in on one of the most popular animated movies ever created. The Frozen crossover is easily the best story the show has told up to this point. One that does justice to the movie and alsoAnother season that's split into two halves, each sporting a different plot arc. The first of which brings characters from Frozen into the mix. A decision that proves to be more than just a way to cash in on one of the most popular animated movies ever created. The Frozen crossover is easily the best story the show has told up to this point. One that does justice to the movie and also reinvigorated my enthusiasm in Once Upon a Time. Then the second half of the season happened...

    The second set of eleven episodes repeats the same sins of season 3's second-half. Namely, the writing takes a nosedive. There's another interesting premise that gets brought down by sloppy, even lazy plotting. Characters make nonsensical decisions and it drags it's feet like you would not believe. It's all just set up for the last two episodes. Which are actually pretty darn fantastic. Right before the season concludes, we get to see some vastly improved special effects and one heck of a cliffhanger for season 5. We even get some nice payoffs for the crap we had to put up with in the previous nine episodes.

    So season 4 isn't all bad. It's just disappointing to see the show take a big step forward with the Frozen stuff, only to take end up taking a bigger step back before concluding. It's no worse than what has already come before though. So it's still worth sticking with. Provided you are actually enjoying the show that is.    … Expand
  9. MikeSunderland
    Dec 14, 2014
    2
    The show started with promising ideas, but nowadays on its fourth season, those ideas are gone for good. The show started to seem very wasted last season, but now it's clear that the writers ran out of ideas quickly. As an example of that, you can see that every arc is resolved suddenly with a forced twist that comes out of nowhere, cause yeah, we have "magic" as excuse for everything, soThe show started with promising ideas, but nowadays on its fourth season, those ideas are gone for good. The show started to seem very wasted last season, but now it's clear that the writers ran out of ideas quickly. As an example of that, you can see that every arc is resolved suddenly with a forced twist that comes out of nowhere, cause yeah, we have "magic" as excuse for everything, so the plot is "magically" poorly executed.… Expand
  10. jacob4
    Jan 10, 2015
    10
    An amazing fantasy show that adds an interesting "mature" twist to all the iconic creatures and characters we know, like Disney characters, fairytales, nursery rhymes, Greek mythology, and famous story books. It has great casting for each interesting character, fun and crazy storyline twists/mash-ups/parodies, and just plane epic. Who knew that combining fairytales with the modern worldAn amazing fantasy show that adds an interesting "mature" twist to all the iconic creatures and characters we know, like Disney characters, fairytales, nursery rhymes, Greek mythology, and famous story books. It has great casting for each interesting character, fun and crazy storyline twists/mash-ups/parodies, and just plane epic. Who knew that combining fairytales with the modern world could be a genius idea? Only the executive producers of Lost (Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis) could nail the idea to perfection. A family friendly show that's fun for the whole family, all ages, and no matter who you are.… Expand
  11. OpinionatedGuy
    May 13, 2015
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. After a very strong third season, the fourth season felt underwhelming to me. It’s sad to say this because as the season progressed, Once Upon a Time no longer became a favorite TV show of mine. It’s still watchable for me but this show felt oddly different from before.

    The fourth season’s first arc which added Frozen characters to the show was actually executed very well. Sure, it’s obviously added because of the Frozen hype train that Disney never gets tired of doing. I liked how this extends the movie a bit and the actors who played the Frozen characters did an excellent job recapturing the characters without any noticeable change in their tone or mannerisms. I question how this is important to the main characters until Emma had something to do with the arc which felt really out of place for a bit. I enjoyed the addition of Frozen into the show but I really don’t see the point of it really.

    The fourth season’s second arc which features Maleficent, Ursula and Cruella De Vil as villains had great potential that was wasted for Mr. Gold’s character development. However, this arc adds more importance than the previous arc which is good. The subplot for Regina getting her happy ending feels satisfying and adds more complexity to Regina as a character. The subplot that Mary Margaret and David did something horrible in the past proves that good and bad is not black and white and it feels satisfying. The plot twist that Zelena is still alive is fascinating and I liked how the show didn’t really kill her just yet. I like this arc better than the Frozen one. However, this arc would have been much better if the villains were not sidelined for Mr. Gold’s character development.

    This season is an underwhelming mixed bag for me. However, after seeing the season finale and the way the second arc developed some of the characters, I need to see the next season. Luckily I wasn’t forced to watch it. I hope the next season is much better but I am going to lower my expectations.    … Expand
  12. walkthisway
    Aug 8, 2015
    9
    Enjoyable show with gorgeous sets and costuming and the actors and actresses are fun to look at as well. It doesn't always add up but it beats most of the garbage passing for entertainment these days.
  13. manningn15
    Oct 15, 2018
    9
    This season was still great but I thought it was odd with them adding the Frozen characters but it was actually nice with the Frozen characters. I loved the Frozen storyline I it was well written. I loved the snow queen and all of the new villains. The visual effects continue to get more spectacular. The cast have stupendous performances especially Lana Parrilla, Jennifer Morrison,This season was still great but I thought it was odd with them adding the Frozen characters but it was actually nice with the Frozen characters. I loved the Frozen storyline I it was well written. I loved the snow queen and all of the new villains. The visual effects continue to get more spectacular. The cast have stupendous performances especially Lana Parrilla, Jennifer Morrison, Ginnifer Goodwin, Colin O'Donoghue, Elizabeth Mitchell, Rebecca Mader, Emilie De Ravin, Robert Carlyle, Jared S. Gilmore, and Joshua Dallas.… Expand
  14. Lucas565
    Dec 12, 2020
    10
    Uma das melhores séries que eu já assisti eu recomendo ela é maravilhosa mesmo

Critic Reviews

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No score yet - based on 2 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 2
  3. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. People Weekly
    Reviewed by: Patrick Gomez
    Sep 29, 2014
    75
    The highlight of the show remains newlywed actress Lana Parrilla, who continues to pepper her Evil Queen with just the right amount of realism to make her deliciously wicked deeds seem justified, but Frozen is just the thing that has gotten Once really moving.
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  2. Variety
    Reviewed by: Brian Lowry
    Sep 26, 2014
    70
    The “Frozen” crossover is indeed a bit of a blast, and the visual effects are especially good.
    Read full review