After discovering the Dark One dagger has been stolen, Weaver sets out to get it back; Margot takes Tilly on a date; Desperate to reunite with Belle, Rumple pays Alice a visit.After discovering the Dark One dagger has been stolen, Weaver sets out to get it back; Margot takes Tilly on a date; Desperate to reunite with Belle, Rumple pays Alice a visit.After discovering the Dark One dagger has been stolen, Weaver sets out to get it back; Margot takes Tilly on a date; Desperate to reunite with Belle, Rumple pays Alice a visit.
- Lucy Vidrio
- (credit only)
- Princess Tiana
- (credit only)
- …
- Belle French
- (archive sound)
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAs of this, Robert Carlyle overtook Jennifer Morrison's position as the cast member with the second largest number of appearances throughout the show.
- Quotes
Margot: [telling Tilly of her travels] I started picking up these little souvenirs. I got this one in Thailand. Ooh! This one I got at this amazing little village in Peru. This one's my favorite. I got this one in the farthest place from Hyperion Heights you can go before you start coming back.
Tilly: Mm. Wonder if I'll ever have an adventure like that.
Margot: Oh, you will. I can tell these things. You are gonna have lots of adventures.
- Crazy creditsThe title card shows the 'ONCE'-logo in form of flowers. The Seattle skyline is missing from the usual forest background in this episodes.
That can all be seen in "The Guardian". Not one of the season's or show's worst episodes but also not one of the best, more one of the difficult to make of episodes. "Hyperion Heights", "A Taste of the Heights" and "Breadcrumbs" being the season's worst and the best being "Beauty", "Is This Henry Mills" and "Leaving Storybrooke". Some great things here but also the usual suspect flaws seen throughout Season 7, even the best episodes weren't exempt from them.
Will start with what works in "The Guardian". The production values are still fine, especially the photography, and the music and memorable main theme likewise. The past/fairytale flashbacks sections fare much better than any of those happening in the present in Hyperion Heights, they weren't perfect but the tension and emotion were there (which was not the case with the present day scenes). It did help that it did focus primarily on Alice and Rumpelstiltskin, Alice being a likeable character and one of the season's bright spots and Rumpelstiltskin being one of the main reasons as to why 'Once Upon a Time' was still stuck with when it declined.
Both are interesting characters and bring degrees of freshness in an episode and season overall that lacked that in general. Regina's role was also effective, as was the sincere chemistry between her and Rumpelstiltskin. Rumpelstiltskin's jab at her regarding Samdi was one of his best lines in a while. At least Facilier's character and story advance here and his motives made clearer. Have nothing to fault the performances of Lana Parrilla, Rose Reynolds and Robert Carlyle, the best performance coming from Carlyle.
A lot lets "The Guardian" down though and almost all the flaws are again general problems with the season. There is too much going on in the Hyperion Heights scenes, too much of the episode feels rushed through from cramming too much in and jumpy with not much developed. Meaning that the present day storytelling felt convoluted and actually outside of two or three revelations/major events in terms of turning points and such there is not much here. So there is a tediousness at times as well.
Henry and Jacinda's subplot is focused on too much and it is as soap-operatic and painfully derivative of existing romantic plot lines as they come. Also serving little point compared to everything else going on and would have fared better belonging in another episode on its own, but preferably more compellingly, with more subtlety and with characters that aren't one-dimensional or get on your nerves. The dialogue mostly lacks nuance.
Overall, not bad but left me lukewarm. 5/10
- TheLittleSongbird
- Oct 4, 2020
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