Ten Reasons Why Once Upon A Time Is My Favorite Tv Series

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The past couple of weeks I spent most of my reading time…not reading. Nope. I discovered a tv series that absolutely rocks my world! I’ve watched the first three seasons one after the other, and I’m waiting to watch back-to-back episodes of season four once it ends. I’m way too impatient to wait a week between episodes, but let me tell you: it’s turning out to be an excruciatingly long wait! So, allow me to share with you ten reasons why Once Upon a Time is currently my favorite tv series of all time.

• The show takes the fairy tales we were told as kids and turns it completely upside down with a hefty dose of darkness. Happily ever after just became a thing of the past.

• Every episode sweeps you up and transports you to worlds beyond the boundaries of our imagination. I get so immersed in every episode, forty two minutes feels like two minutes, and once it is over I’m all like “nooooooooooo!” Trust me, it gets intense.  

• Since I started watching Once Upon a Time, I realized that I don’t remember much of the fairy tales I read as a child. Luckily, being mom to a six-year-old, I have the perfect excuse to indulge in bedtime fairytale reading once again!  

• Eye-candy. Does anyone need more convincing? This show is filled to the brim with eye-candy! There is the obvious, Prince Charming (Josh Dallas), but also Captain Hook (Colin O’ Donoghue), evil Peter Pan (Robbie Kay – I just want to state for the record here that I’m not a fan of his eyebrows – sorry), and surprisingly, August W. Booth / Pinocchio (Eion Bailey)…to name but a few. Oh, and the short time the Mad Hatter (Sebastian Stan) made an appearance…wow, is it getting hot in here or what? And then there is my absolute favorite (in his Storybrooke form – can you guess who it is?)

• I love how the lives of key characters are intertwined with the lives of most of the other fairytale characters. It’s like everyone knows everybody else and they influence each others’ lives in one way or another. Naturally, evil queen Regina and Rumpelstiltskin / Mr Gold seem to have their fingers in most pies, so to speak. Strangely enough, I enjoy those little discoveries the most, seeing how the two of them, with their scheming and plotting, messes up some poor unsuspecting fairytale character’s life, and also which character Rumple represented in his long and colorful former life as “the dark one” (e.g. the beast from Beauty and the Beast, to name one). I know, it sounds terrible, but often it is quite amusing. And yes, it just as often comes back to bite them in their enchanted behinds.

• Incredibly evil villains. Hardly anyone would suspect the wicked witch (from The Wizard of Oz) to have any redeeming qualities, right? And who would’ve guessed that evil queen Regina’s mother, Cora, would make Regina look like a fluffy, harmless kitten in comparison? Or what about Peter Pan as the malevolent dark lord of Neverland? Let’s not forget the crème de la crème of bullies, Rrrrrrrrrumpelstiltskin! Yet, as terrifying as these antagonists are, it’s hard to really dislike them completely. They all have histories and crap that happened to them in their past to make them this way. At least, most of them do. But heck, do they make life hard for the good guys!

• Regina and Rumpelstiltskin / Mr Gold – These two are undoubtedly my favorite characters for oh so many reasons. In the first season they’re exactly what they seem to be: nasty. But then you get to the second and third seasons and you find these two villains grow on you and suddenly they’re not so villain-y anymore. The writers of OUAT got it exactly right with the character development and growth for Regina and Mr Gold (Rumpelstiltskin for those not in the know). Truth? I have a feeling I’m watching this show just to observe the changes in these two, and to be entertained by Rumple in his “dark one” form. Serious spine-tingling stuff, peeps.

• Lately I have this urge to respond to others with, “Dearie”, followed by a chilling muahahahahaha.  

• The perfect cast. Personally, I feel every actor in this series was cast perfectly for their individual role(s). Before Once Upon a Time, I never even knew such a magnificent actor such as Robert Carlyle existed. He absolutely shines as Rumpelstiltskin / Mr Gold, and in my opinion no-one would’ve been better suited for this role than him. I can also say the same for Lana Parrilla who plays Snow White’s nemesis, evil queen Regina. Actually, the entire cast does a great job, but I have my favorites.

• Another thing that makes this such an outstanding tv series is that every character – good and evil – has a backstory which invokes conflicting emotions in me. I know I should root for the good guys only, but I can’t help but feel sorry for some of the villains. There’s depth to be found here with every revelation and plot twist that builds up to form the bigger picture, and everyone plays there part superbly. Oh, have I said that before? I guess I just can’t say it enough.  

• Once Upon a Time is thrilling, exciting, magical, nerve-wracking, filled with adventure, twists, and surprises, and every episode ending leaves you breathless with anticipation for the next episode!  Maybe the most important reason why I’m so completely in love with this series is simply that it’s just so bloody awesome!

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