Fall TV Preview: Once Upon a Time and the Sophomore (Non) Slump

How Once Upon a Time Avoided the Sophomore Slump

The dreaded sophomore slump.  If you are making the second anything, it is always in the back of your mind.  It could be you second album, your second book, or in this case, the second season of a television show.  Many successful television shows have been hit with the dreaded sophomore slump.  It could be because the show runners get too ambitious.  They have become a massive hit and they have all this creative freedom, so they run with it and it all goes horribly wrong.  It has happened a thousand times.  It happened with Desperate Housewives, do you remember the kid chained up in the basement thing?  It happened with Heroes.  Some shows recover and some shows don't.  

ABC had two high profile shows enter into their sophomore seasons last year, Revenge and Once Upon a Time.  Revenge didn't fare so well.  You can read about that here.  (Yeah, I'm shamless.)  Once was able to successfully avoid the slump and deliver a second seson that built on and exceeded the promise shown in the first.  How'd they do it?  Hit the jump to find out.

1.  Focus on the family.  Once maintained the momentum from it's first season by keeping the focus on the family dynamics that were already set up in the first season.  The backbone of the series is the relationships between Regina, Emma, and Henry and Emma, Mary Margaret and David.  The latter wasn't able to be fully explored in the first season due to the curse, but with the curse being lifted at the end of the first season, there was plenty of awkward family time between Snow, Charming and their grown daughter.  This new dynamic was pushed front and center in the first few episodes when Snow and Emma were sent to Fairy Tale Land.  Charming was able to bond with grandson, Henry.  Even more twisted family drama was added in the second half of the season when Regina's mother, Cora, showed up in Storybrooke, along with the revelation that Henry's father is Mr. Gold's estranged son, Baelfire, making Henry his grandson.  Whew.  You thought your family was messed up?  They've got nothing on this gnarled family tree.  By placing these issues front and center, emotional connections that had already formed between watchers and the characters were solidified, while new ones were formed.

2.  They broke the curse.  The thrust of the first season of Once was the curse Regina the Evil Queen had placed on the residents of Storybrooke.  None of them could remember who they really were and she had robbed mortal enemy, Snow White, of her happy ending.  All this changed when Emma came to Storybrooke.  This could have gone on for seasons.  The curse could have been a part of the show for way too long.  Instead, the writers and producers made the decision to break the curse at the end of the first season opening up a wealth of storytelling oppurtunities that have been seen in the first season and are continuing into the third.  

3.  They're not afraid to change the story.  One of Once's biggest strengths is that since ABC is owned by Disney, the show is able to use the Disney versions of the fairty tale characters.  This lends a sense of familiarity since these versions are the ones that are most recognizable to viewers.  The writers and executive producers are not beholden to these versions though.  They are willing to tweak them or change them entirely in order to make for a compelling story.  They have made Rumpelstiltskin the Beast to Belle's beauty.  He is Captain Hook's crocodile.  They made Peter Pan and his Lost Boys evil children stealers who we are sure to learn more about this season as the gang travels to Never Land in search of Henry.

These are just a few reasons that Once Upon a Time's second season was even more compelling than the first.  The teasers that have been trickling out about the third season make me hopeful that the trend will continue.  The voyage to Never Land will bring out the best and worst in Henry's hodepodge family.  Will Mr. Gold kill Henry to stop the prophecy from coming true?  What is Peter Pan's true intention?  Why does he want Henry?  What is going to happen to Neal?  We will also meet Tinker Bell and the Little Mermaid's Ariel and Prince Eric.  Below you can watch the first teaser for season 3  and be sure to catch the the third season premiere Sunday, September 27 at 8/7c.

So, what do you guys think?  Did the show continue to impress you?  Maybe not?  What are you excited to see in the third season?  Let me know in the comments.