Once Upon a Time"s Characters Are In a Rut

ONCE UPON A TIME - 6X01 THE SAVIOUR REACTION

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Same story, different season. By Terri Schwartz

Time is a flat circle, and it seems the characters in Storybrooke are stuck in it. As Once Upon a Time enters its sixth season, the premiere sees the same problems play out between the same people in slightly different deviations of versions we"ve seen before. People only fall back on their bad behavior so much; if they aren"t going to learn something from the mistakes they seemingly grew from in the past, it might be time to have them face something new entirely.

Spoilers for Once Upon a Time"s Season 6 premiere, "The Savior," continue below.

Over the past few seasons, Once Upon a Time has kept things fresh by bringing in new fairy tale/Disney faces to enliven the series. From Anna and Elsa to Peter Pan to Hades, the constant revolving door of splashy guest characters has oftentimes shifted the focus from steady development of the core Storybrooke crew to the arc of the moment.

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But after letting that style of storytelling run its course, showrunners Adam Horowitz and Eddie Kitsis seem to be making a shift back to the way they did things in the early seasons of the series: namely, not splitting the season in half and telling two different story arcs around the midseason hiatus. The duo confirmed during a recent press Q&A that Season 6"s adventures in the Land of Untold stories will be something that stretches over the course of the whole year, instead of being wrapped up tidily in the midseason hiatus.

On paper this seems like a smart way to reinvigorate Once"s storytelling. Season 5 was split between Camelot and the Underworld, but the major throughline was Emma -- and then Hook -- becoming the Dark One. In Season 6, it seems like the real story will be whether Emma can change her unhappy Savior"s fate, and whether that takes place in Storybrooke or the Land of Untold Stories or elsewhere is of secondary importance. Spending 20-odd episodes on this one conflict means there"s an opportunity for real growth on the show.

The real issue is that many these characters are still making the same mistakes and bad decisions six seasons in that they were at the start. Some of these storylines echo heavily plotlines that occurred over the past few seasons, with Rumpelstiltskin and Belle literally following their own footsteps by recreating their Beauty and the Beast-inspired dance from the Season 4 premiere.

Rumple and Belle"s relationship drama is a big example of the "been there, done that" theme of the Season 6 premiere. These two love each other, but he can"t be better than the "best man he can be," and that"s not enough for her. He lies, she feels betrayed, maybe they rekindle their romance or maybe she keeps him at arm"s length -- either way, a happy ending always seems in sight but just out of reach.

It"s not easy to maintain conflict -- a necessary evil in storytelling -- in a seasons-long relationship, and it"s a problem many long-running TV shows run into. But Once Upon a Time has a habit of putting a new skin over the same story, and the Belle and Rumple tale is a prime example. Now the thing keeping Belle and Rumple apart is an adult version of their unborn son, who warns Belle of the same thing she"s been grappling with for seasons: don"t trust Rumpelstiltskin. He will disappoint you, he will lie to you, he will fail you.

The best thing for this relationship is to rip this band-aid off, one way or another. Make one of them change in a substantial way, or have them come to terms with the fact their relationship isn"t going to work and move on. Sometimes love isn"t enough, and that"s an OK story for Once Upon a Time to tell. Horowitz and Kitsis have long said their goal is to show the human behind some of the most iconic and beloved fairy tale creations, and seeing a couple know when to say "enough" is pretty darn human.

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But Belle and Rumple aren"t the only two to be retreading familiar territory. Regina and Zelena have been at odds ever since the Wicked Witch was introduced, and for largely the same reasons. The two sisters finally came together in a lovely way in Season 5, realizing that true love can be familial as much as it can be romantic. The new season tossed that resolution to the side: Regina blames Zelena for the death of Robin, and doesn"t deny that she wanted to get rid of the part of her that is most similar to her darker sister. That sends Zelena into the arms of Regina"s severed half, the Evil Queen, to put her at odds with the good side of her sister once again. The baggage between these two is ripe dramatic material, but it"s material that"s been mined again and again and again to similar effect since the Wicked Witch was introduced in Season 3.

Once Upon a Time goes all the way back to Season 1 for the source of its new conflict between Emma and Hook, when she defers to lying to him about her hand tremor instead of just coming out with the truth -- something certain to have frustrating and familiar consequences for their relationship. Explaining Emma"s decision-making, Kitsis said, "It"s her character. The fun thing about six seasons, at least as writers, is you get to revert to that. When Emma has a problem, it reverts back to Season 1: wall goes up, I"ll figure it out myself. She can sit there and have these great scenes of hugging Henry and hugging her mom and telling Regina they"re buddies, and then all of the sudden when something comes up she reverts back."

The rationale for Emma"s tremors and darker storyline in Season 6 is that, after so many seasons of fighting bad guys and having her new friends knock down the walls she built up, all the things she had fought to keep at bay would rush in and cause new issues. It"s a smart direction to take the Savior in, but to do so at the expense of every lesson she learned about family and relationships over five years undercuts the point. Emma has lied to Hook in the past and she always puts things on her own shoulders. Each time she seems to learn her lesson, but it"s clear the storytelling doesn"t intend to have those lessons stick.

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It"s the moments where Once Upon a Time does push its characters out of the cyclical cycles of their stories that the Season 6 premiere is the most rewarding. Regina is the character who has arguably grown the most over six years, and her scenes with Snow White highlight best how much has changed for them both. As much as Regina struggles with her own sister, her relationship with Snow White has evolved from viewing her the bane of her existence to Snow being one of the first people she turns to when she has a problem. Those hard-fought friendships are often the ones that mean the most in our lives, and seeing Once reflect that plays into the idea that these larger-than-life figures are just human.

Once Upon a Time is faced with the tough challenge of keeping the same fan-favorite relationships engaging year after year in new ways that also don"t irreparably change the dynamic of the show. But with the same storylines being told in different variations, it"s hard not to be frustrated by seeing characters start to travel down the path they just reached the end of not long before. Hopefully the next time they find resolution to these conflicts, it will prove to have a more lasting impact and allow them to journey somewhere new.

Terri Schwartz is Entertainment Editor at IGN. Talk to her on Twitter at @Terri_Schwartz.

Source: http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/09/26/once-upon-a-times-characters-are-in-a-rut