When 'Once Upon a Time' first started it was highly addictive and made the most of a truly great and creative premise. Really loved the idea of turning familiar fairy tales on their heads and putting own interpretations on them and the show early on clearly had clearly had a ball. Watched it without fail every time it came on and it was often a highlight of the week. Which was why it was sad when it ran out of ideas and lost its magic in the later seasons.
"Quiet Minds" is one of the mixed to positive 'Once Upon a Time' episodes, but one that sees me on the positive side. It is not quite one of my favourite episodes of Season 3, a season where for me (not an opinion everybody is going to share) all the previous episodes were decent to wonderful. Am liking where the Zelena character and storyline, admiring filling Peter Pan's big shoes on villain duty, though it is not as prominent here as in the previous episodes since being introduced in "New York City Serenade".
The big emotional scene between Neal and Emma (won't spoil it, know how people feel about plot points being spoiled despite a lot of reviewers doing it) is poignant and beautifully acted, but feels a little like it was not focused on in the writing stages as much as the rest of the episodes.
Love the character relationships here in "Quiet Minds", with the one with the most heart being Neal and Emma and the most interesting and wittiest being between Robin Hood and Regina. Hook is always cool as well. New ideas keep being introduced with much promise and interest, the major revelations surprise and intrigue and characters and plot lines have forward momentum.
Acting throughout is very good, with the best performances coming from Michael Raymond-James, Lana Parrilla and Sean Maguire.
Furthermore, "Quiet Minds" is a very handsomely mounted episode visually, the settings and costumes are both colourful and atmospheric, not too dark or garish and never cookie-cutter. It is photographed beautifully too. The music is haunting, ethereal and cleverly used with a memorable main theme. Writing has the right balance of humour, pathos, mystery and intrigue. Regina here has the best lines, especially in her interplay with Robin Hood.
Summing up, excellent. 9/10 Bethany Cox
"Quiet Minds" is one of the mixed to positive 'Once Upon a Time' episodes, but one that sees me on the positive side. It is not quite one of my favourite episodes of Season 3, a season where for me (not an opinion everybody is going to share) all the previous episodes were decent to wonderful. Am liking where the Zelena character and storyline, admiring filling Peter Pan's big shoes on villain duty, though it is not as prominent here as in the previous episodes since being introduced in "New York City Serenade".
The big emotional scene between Neal and Emma (won't spoil it, know how people feel about plot points being spoiled despite a lot of reviewers doing it) is poignant and beautifully acted, but feels a little like it was not focused on in the writing stages as much as the rest of the episodes.
Love the character relationships here in "Quiet Minds", with the one with the most heart being Neal and Emma and the most interesting and wittiest being between Robin Hood and Regina. Hook is always cool as well. New ideas keep being introduced with much promise and interest, the major revelations surprise and intrigue and characters and plot lines have forward momentum.
Acting throughout is very good, with the best performances coming from Michael Raymond-James, Lana Parrilla and Sean Maguire.
Furthermore, "Quiet Minds" is a very handsomely mounted episode visually, the settings and costumes are both colourful and atmospheric, not too dark or garish and never cookie-cutter. It is photographed beautifully too. The music is haunting, ethereal and cleverly used with a memorable main theme. Writing has the right balance of humour, pathos, mystery and intrigue. Regina here has the best lines, especially in her interplay with Robin Hood.
Summing up, excellent. 9/10 Bethany Cox