ONCE UPON A TIME Premiere Recap & Review: “Hyperion Heights”

We’re not in Storybrooke anymore, but the Season 7 premiere of ONCE UPON A TIME recreates the essence of the pilot episode.

There has been speculation for months about whether or not Season 7 of Once Upon a Time would be worth watching. After all, most of the main cast is gone, and “reboots” are never as good as the original – right? In this case, that doesn’t appear to be true. It’s still too early to judge Season 7, but the first episode, “Hyperion Heights,” hits you in all the right places. Let’s examine it piece-by-piece.

There was a magical forest filled with fairy tale characters. One day a powerful curse trapped them in a city which had no magic. And each of them forgot who they really were. This is how it happened…

The episode opens in Storybrooke, with Regina (Lana Parrilla) trying to convince a younger Henry (Jared Gilmore) not to leave home. Henry insists that he wants to find his own story, and rides his motorcycle into a portal. We don’t know where he ends up immediately after that scene, but years later, we meet Adult Henry (Andrew J. West) in “A New Realm” as he rides his motorcycle through a forest. He nearly collides with Cinderella (Dania Ramirez) on her carriage, causing her to crash into a field of hyacinths.

The story picks up in Seattle, where Henry is a driver for Swyft Rideshare. He returns home after a night of work and sits down at his laptop. He’s a struggling writer, as evidenced by what’s written on his screen: “Poetic opening line goes here…” There’s a knock on his door. He opens it to find a young girl (Alison Fernandez) who claims to be his daughter. The scene that follows is reminiscent of the pilot episode without being an exact copy. Lucy is cute and charming, begging Henry for help and insulting his apartment in the same breath. She reveals that she’s read his book, which turns out to be the stories in his original storybook, and tries to convince him that what was in the book really happened. Like Emma in the pilot, Henry is having none of it.

Look, kid, I’m sorry about your mom. But I’m not some magic fairy tale character who can swoop in and change her life! She’s got to do what we all do. She’s got to save herself.

On that note, we meet the Hyperion Heights version of Cinderella: Jacinda, a struggling single mother who works at a fast food restaurant. Right from the beginning, it’s clear that Jacinda isn’t the Cinderella we’re used to. Instead of accepting that her boss is a jerk, she refuses to apologize for being late and quits on principle. Back in the fairy tale realm, Henry assumes that he knows what Cinderella needs – a ride to the ball so she can meet her prince. Henry himself is on his way to a portal to return home.

Back in Seattle, Henry realizes that Lucy has stolen his laptop. Her note leads him to a bar in Hyperion Heights, where he encounters Tilly (AKA Alice, played by Rose Reynolds) and meets Roni – who is, of course, his adopted mother Regina. Neither of them realize that, leading to this exchange:

Henry: Imagine if I walked through that door and told you I was your son.

Roni: That would be a kicker.

A little too on-the-nose, perhaps, but funny nonetheless. Roni reveals to Henry that the bar is only hers until midnight, at which time Victoria Belfrey (AKA Lady Tremaine, played by Gabrielle Anwar) is buying her out. Roni mourns that Victoria is buying out the entire neighborhood, which used to be a community. But, as Roni says, “Can’t fight the power? Might as well take the money.”

The next interaction in the fairy tale realm is the most fun of the episode. Going with his assumption that Cinderella needs to get to the ball and meet her true love, Henry shows her how his motorcycle works and offers her a ride. Instead, she punches him in the face and steals his motorcycle. No damsels in distress here! Henry should really know better, given the unconventional women in his family tree, and it was fun to watch Cinderella turn his assumptions on their head.

Jacinda returns home after quitting her job and has a brief interaction with her roommate, Sabine (AKA Tiana, played by Mekia Cox) before finding her daughter Lucy missing from her room. This leads her into a panic, as Lucy is supposed to have her scheduled visit with her step-grandma, Victoria. We witness Victoria in her offices, where Ivy (AKA Drizella, played by Adelaide Kane) gets everyone in line. We then return to the fairy tale realm, where Lady Tremaine has captured Cinderella’s fairy godmother and cut off her wings. Ouch! Drizella emerges and reminds her mother that she has a prince to seduce, and Lady Tremaine proceeds to “Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo” the fairy godmother into a pile of dust. Lady Tremaine is shaping up to be quite the Big Bad.

Jacinda finds Lucy in an abandoned lot, where she is making a wish in an old well. Jacinda demands to know where Lucy has been, and she sheepishly admits that she found her dad. Jacinda is understandably confused. She meets Henry at Roni’s and returns his laptop to him.

Henry tracks down Cinderella at the ball, but not for the reason we suspect – rather than trying to retrieve his motorcycle, he’s looking for his personal dagger. Cinderella reveals her true motivations: she’s not trying to win the prince’s heart, she’s trying to kill him, because he killed her father. That’s a twist on the original fairy tale that we didn’t see coming. Henry tries to convince her to come home with him where she could start over, but she refuses. Henry tries to follow her, but instead falls and is taken by Alice, who drugged him. In Hyperion Heights, Tilly informs Detective Weaver – known to us as Rumplestilskin (Robert Carlyle) – that there’s someone new in town.

At Roni’s, Henry and Jacinda talk about her dreams. She wants to take Lucy and live on an island off the coast of Seattle, where she pictures a new, better life. Their conversation is interrupted by Victoria, who bursts in and demands to know what’s going on with Lucy. Jacinda tries to defend herself, but Victoria refuses to listen and informs Jacinda that she is going to take Lucy home to live with her – permanently. Henry clearly wants to object, but she proceeds to threaten him as well.

Go back to your books. Your fairy lands, whatever nonsense you write. Because in this world – the real world – people get hurt. And if that happens, you’ll be sorry you ever stepped foot on this street.

Henry leaves Roni’s, only to discover that his car has been stolen. He goes to the police station and meets Officer Rogers, AKA Hook (Colin O’Donoghue), who offers to help him find his car. In the fairy tale realm, Alice reveals that she knows his grandpa, Rumplestilskin, and tells him to forget about Cinderella and go home. Henry, of course, refuses.

Back in Hyperion Heights, Henry finds Lucy in the abandoned lot as he searches for his car. She’s planting seeds. Henry reveals to her that he had a wife and child, but there was a fire, and they died. She insists that that’s just what the curse wants him to think. He gets upset and leaves. Jacinda comes and picks Lucy up, saying that they’re going to go live their own story – but before they get too far, their car breaks down (reminiscent of Emma’s car accident when she tried to leave Storybrooke in Season 1).

In the fairy tale realm, Cinderella manages to get the prince alone, but she can’t bring herself to kill him. Lady Tremaine, on the other hand, has no qualms about doing just that, as the prince had rejected Drizella’s advances. She then accuses Cinderella of assassinating the prince. Cinderella escapes with Henry’s help in an epic sword battle between the guards, Cinderella, and Henry. Henry tells her to meet him at the place where they first met – the hyacinth meadow.

Officer Rogers is unable to locate Henry’s car. Victoria comes into the station and demands that Rogers drop everything to find Jacinda and Lucy, who have disappeared. She then coerces Henry into revealing where Jacinda might be likely to go. Officer Rogers and Ivy find Jacinda and Lucy at the ferry to the island and reveal that Henry told them their location. Ivy takes Henry’s book from Lucy’s backpack and tells Rogers to get rid of it. Jacinda confronts Henry, whose car has been “mysteriously” found after his conversation with Victoria. Back in the fairy tale realm, Henry finds Cinderella’s glass slipper right when the portal he’s been waiting for appears. Instead of entering it, he resolves to begin “Operation Glass Slipper” and rescue Cinderella. In the police station, Rogers makes detective and is paired with Weaver.

The episode ends with a hopeful monologue from Roni as she refuses to sell her bar to Victoria after all. Jacinda gets her job back. Henry looks for a cemetery, but doesn’t find it. Rogers opens Henry’s book to a picture of Emma. Jacinda finds a quarter in the fast food restaurant and takes it to the abandoned lot, where she makes a wish. Henry erases his “Poetic opening line goes here…” line and begins to type, “Once upon a time…” And in the lot, a hyacinth blooms. Presumably that’s the clock-tick moment from the pilot that the producers were going for, and it seems to work.

A few additional notes:

  • Henry has Emma’s swan keychain!
  • Did anyone else crack up at Tiana’s frog legs comment at the ball?
  • Detective Weaver is almost more terrifying than Rumplestilskin was.
  • Alice/Tilly is an intriguing character; the story of her connection to Rumplestilskin is bound to be an interesting one.

What did you think of Once Upon a Time‘s Season 7 premiere? Will you watch the reboot? Let us know your thoughts!

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