ABC’s ONCE UPON A TIME was a mixed bag for me over the years (sequential season reviews here, here, here, here, here). The initial premises has PI Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison) discovering the town of Storybrook is populated with refugees from fairytales, cursed by the evil queen Regina (Lana Parrilla) to live as mortals denied their happy endings. Emma, of course, refuses to believe it, let alone that she’s the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, who pulled a Jor-El and Lara to get her to our world before the curse hit.
While Disney frequently used the show to promote their film catalog it did offer clever spins on the old tales (Ginnifer Goodwin as a rebel Snow White was a lot of fun). On the other hand, it was often way too soft on Regina (as I discuss here): while her time as Evil Queen was fueled by tragedy, that doesn’t change that she laid waste to a kingdom and made Snow’s life a living hell over a child’s innocent mistake. Less tragic than psycho.
I rewatched the end of S6 and the beginning of S7 because Jekyll and Hyde play a role along with multiple other fictional characters (Nemo, Count of Monte Cristo). I felt (and still do) that the duo’s appearance comes off largely pointless: it’s more a useful plot point to have Jekyll’s formula split off Regina’s dark side, giving us the Evil Queen as villain while keeping Regina reformed
That said, from the Jekyll and Hyde perspective it has some interest. It’s one of the few (only?) times the formula physically splits good from evil the way Jekylls are always saying it should. Only it doesn’t split them psychologically: Jekyll is odious and Hyde is capable of grief and softness. The show was definitely running out of steam, but it wasn’t done yet. “It appears there was one final twist.”
The Disney + series SHE-HULK, ATTORNEY AT LAW (2022) riffs on both the Dan Slott run on She-Hulk (she’s an attorney tackling superhuman law) and John Byrne having her break the fourth wall (“Excuse me, who’s series is this?”). Tatiana Maslany plays Jennifer Walters, Bruce Banner’s cousin; when she’s injured in an accident, he saves her with a blood transfusion and guess what happens?
I watched this initially for the Hulk chapter of Jekyll and Hyde but Jen doesn’t change from repressed rage the same way — as she points out to Bruce, she’s spent her whole life learning to keep her anger in check, like when some dude lectures her on her own specialty of law. I kept watching because it’s funny. A fight with the super-villain and influencer Titania, who’s trademarked the She-Hulk name. A lawsuit involving an Asgardian shapeshifter who banged a guy by appearing as a big-name rap star. I also like that unlike a lot of the MCU, this has no qualms about letting a villain like the Porcupine show up in costume. The finish suffered from too much fourth-wall breaking but I’d still like to see S2 (Disney is mulling). And I’m sorry I didn’t think of mentioning the show during a recent Con-Tinual panel on TV courtroom dramas. “Either there’s a big twist coming or I’m about to get fridged.”
THE AVENGERS (2012) introduced Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk, (following Ed Norton in the 2008 film), a role he’s held in the MCU ever since. The movie holds up well as Nick Fury puts together a team to stop Tom Hiddleston’s Loki conquering the Earth (with a high enough body count his later switch to reluctant hero seems like a stretch) with the help of the alien Ch’Tauri. It holds up well, except the Ch’Tauri didn’t impress me then or now — if Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) can kill them with her trusty automatics, they ain’t that much.
Ruffalo’s more brittle as Bruce than Norton’s more controlled Banner, which fits with his comment at one point that he doesn’t have to get angry — he’s always angry. One of the strengths of the movie is that everyone is aware how dangerous Bruce is: when the Black Widow thinks he’s about to Hulk out, even she’s scared. The film doesn’t have the kick it did originally (whoa, all the MCU characters in one movie together!) but it is still fun. “Until such time as the world ends, we’re going to act as if it intends to spin on.”
She-Hulk cover by Mike Mayhew, Avengers by Kirby. All rights to images remain with current holders.
