Once Upon a Time: Hyperion Heights (7x01)

I'm seriously curious about why ABC decided to renew this show, honestly. I feel like there's no reason for it. That being said, I did not hate this premiere. In particular, I liked Henry Mills.

Cons:

The same hokey dialogue that has always plagued Once Upon a Time has come back in full force here. Lots of repetition about "telling your own story" and "changing your story" and whatnot. I can imagine getting really sick of that really soon. And Regina, known as Roni, has this big long speech to the villain at the end where she talks about endurance and hope and whatnot. It was hokey as hell and it was hilarious to think about the evil stepmother just sitting there letting her finish her speech.

Apparently, we are doing the same thing here that we did with Emma, where Henry doesn't remember his real family and has forgotten because of the curse. The only real difference is that he does sort of remember, but he just thinks it's a story he wrote, and not real. I'm not going to say this is the worst idea ever, but I really did hope that we'd try something different this season. I can only hope that it won't be protracted for the whole season. If we can have Henry remember after a few episodes and then move on to other things, I'd be okay with it.

This is a small thing but "the troll under the Aurora Bridge" is called the Fremont Troll, and literally anybody from the Seattle area would know that. It just made me snicker, as somebody from the area. On the flip side, at least this show feels like it could actually be taking place in Seattle, unlike Grey's Anatomy, which just uses occasional stock footage of the Space Needle and calls it a day.

Pros:

To start with, I think I like the idea of a gentrification plot in Hyperion Heights. While Storybrooke was comically idyllic, Hyperion Heights is run down and poor, and is being gentrified by Cinderella's evil stepmother. I'm a little bit iffy about the fact that most of the characters still seem to be white in this run-down Seattle neighborhood that's being bought out by a rich woman. But I still think I like the idea of this town feeling like more of a real place, whereas Storybrooke was its own little pocket of unreality.

Henry is great. Andrew J. West is doing a great job of being recognizably the same character as young Henry, especially in the fairytale flashbacks. He's still that helpful, big-hearted guy who always believes. And then in the Seattle story, he's a little jaded, but still undeniably kind and gentle. Also, his chemistry with Cinderella, also known in Hyperion Heights as Jacinda, is great.

Jacinda is an extremely likable character right from the start. Much like how we had a bad-ass version of Snow White when this show started, now we're getting the cut-throat Cinderella, who goes to the ball not to dance with the prince, but to kill him out of revenge for the death of her father. She punches Henry in the face and steals his motorcycle, and just generally does her own thing. I can already tell I'm going to like her. And Lucy is just adorable. Maybe a little too sweet and perfect, but that's sort of the role she needs to fill. Adult Henry is less jaded and angry than Emma was, so I can see Henry and Lucy getting to a good place even faster than Emma and Henry did. I can't wait to see this cute little family find each other again. I actually feel invested.

The flash-back story so far just introduces a few elements that I'm sure we'll continue to explore in the coming weeks. We see Henry and Cinderella meet and start their little relationship, and we also meet some other key figures: Tremaine (aka the evil stepmother) and Drizella, the evil stepsister. We also meet Alice, who does not take kindly to being associated only with Wonderland. I like what little I've seen of these characters so far. Alice is especially fun. I like the idea of a spunky, angry Alice who is trying to create a name for herself outside of that one weird trip she took. That's kind of a fun idea.

In the present-day storyline, we see that Regina, known as Roni, owns a bar that's about to be purchased by Victoria Belfrey (aka Tremaine). She's a nice person who cares about her community and hates to see it crumbling around her. We haven't gotten a lot of material with her yet, but I'm interested in the idea that there are key things connecting each of these people to their old lives. Regina created the curse to torture people, but in the end she also wanted order and structure to her world. Here, she isn't evil anymore, but she still has the desire to salvage her community and keep everybody where they're supposed to be. Even though it was kind of silly, I really liked the moment when Henry comes in to the bar, and to describe the weird day he's having, asks Roni to "imagine what it would be like if I came in here and told you I was your son." Ha!

Meanwhile, Hook is a police officer known as Rogers. He actually wants to help people and has a reputation among the other officers for being too much of a do-gooder. Again, we're seeing hints of Hook's behavior - his inherent goodness - but his personality has been stripped from him. It seems like Hook, who I'm going to have a hard time calling Rogers, might be the first weak link in Victoria's evil plan. Hook gets his hands on Henry's first and only published novel, which is the story of Henry's life (that he believes to be fictional). While flipping through it, he comes across a picture of Emma and is entranced. Obviously I eat this stuff up. I'm glad to see from this premiere an indication that Emma will still be a big part of Hook's story. It would be such a slap in the face to the history of this show if Hook was spun off into a different story and his happy ending with Emma were erased.

Oh, also - Rumple is Hook's new detective partner. Of course, I immediately start asking questions like - does Rumple know? He always seems to know, but does he know? And what the heck is Hook going to do when he remembers his old life and realizes he's partnered up with the Crocodile? I know they didn't end things wanting to murder each other anymore, but I doubt they will ever be the best of friends either. This might be the plot development I'm the most excited to see.

And that's where I'll wrap it up for now. This premiere showed promise, but I'm not jumping up and down for joy or anything. Let's put it this way: if this were a brand new show and I'd seen this premiere, I probably wouldn't care enough to tune in the following week. It's only brand loyalty that's keeping me around, and I'm not sure how far that's going to take ABC with most of its viewers.

7/10