Fairy tales are all the rage right now. It’s mostly evident in the film industry. The success of Alice in Wonderland has green lit many fairy tale projects, like Peter Pan and three different Snow White films. It’s no surprise that television is following suit. Two of the main networks are offering a new spin on the fairy tale genre. NBC has Grimm, which is about a detective who must stop the evil creatures from fairy tales from committing more crimes. ABC has Once Upon a Time, a story about a woman who is destined to save the lives of many popular fairy tale characters. Each tackles the fairy tale world in a different way, but it’s inevitable to compare the two.
In my opinion, Once Upon a Time is a much better show than Grimm. Grimm follows the over-used police procedural that every other show has in prime time television. It’s getting old. I thought that maybe the fairy tale twist to it would make it standout. It didn’t do that for me. Grimm follows a police detective Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli) who recently finds out that he is a descendant of the Grimm Brothers. Since his aunt is indisposed, Nick starts to inherit the powers of the Grimm bloodline. That means he can see the werewolves, fairies, etc. that are hiding in society. He also has the power to destroy them. In the pilot episode, he is solving a murder and kidnapping case, where two girls wearing red riding hoods were hunted. I’m assuming each episode will deal with a new fairy-tale-entwined-murder mystery, which doesn’t sound all that special to me. There is a story arc involving a group of people trying to kill Nick and his aunt. It’s sort of a mystery as to who these people are, but I’m figuring they want to kill them because the Grimms are the hunters of their kind.
I’m considering giving Grimm another chance. I’m a tad bit curious to see where it goes, and I feel like the second episode will either make it or break it for me. If you like crime shows, and want to watch a show with a slightly hokey and different twist to the police procedural, I’d say to give Grimm a try.
As for Once Upon a Time, I think this is a more original twist on modernizing fairy tales. This show is split in half between the modern world and flashbacks to fairy-tale-land. (I’m calling it fairy-tale-land because I don’t remember if they gave it a specific name, but I figure you catch my drift.) We all know the story of Snow White and Prince Charming. The episode begins with a kiss, the one that wakes up Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin) from her slumber. Snow and Prince (Josh Dallas) get married, but their wedding is interrupted by the Evil Queen (Lana Parrilla). She promises them that she will curse them off to the most horrible place in the universe (a.k.a Earth. Yay for us!). Snow and Prince try to find a way to stop her and protect their new child because their heir is destined to be the one to save them from the Evil Queen’s curse. Going on in the modern world, Emma (Jennifer Morrison) is a lonely woman living in Boston. On her 28th birthday, she gets a surprise visit from her son, Henry, who she gave up for adoption at childbirth. He convinces her to go home with him. She takes him back to Storybrook, a small town where Henry lives with his adoptive mother, the mayor. Once we’re in Storybrook, we realize it’s the place the Evil Queen cursed all the characters to and how it’s Emma’s destiny to save them all.
The flashbacks to fairy-tale-land look corny. But that’s what I expected for a television show. They make me slightly cringe, and I don’t find it as interesting to watch as the present-day story. It’s really Emma’s story that I’m very interested in and how she plays into everything. I also like how she’s reconnecting with her son and how she can try to get him back and away from his evil, adoptive mother. I was disheartened to hear that the series will be following the same format of relying heavily on flashbacks to make you understand the characters and what’s happening now. However, I’m hoping the backstories and their production start to look less hokey and become more interesting. I’m definitely going to keep watching this show. I love the actors and story. If you love fairy tales, I recommend giving this show a shot.
Overall, I think the fairy-tale genre is starting to become overkill. With all these movies and now, TV shows, I wonder how soon (or if even) people will get sick of it. I guess time will tell. But for now, it goes without question that Once Upon a Time is winning the fairy-tale TV race.
Once Upon a Time airs Sundays at 8PM/7c on ABC.
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Grimm premieres Friday, October 28th at 10PM/9c on NBC.
