Fairy tales, mash-ups and villains = magically addictive viewing

That idea I had about mixing escapist viewing with serious stuff like Danish crime dramas? Stuff that. Lately it's been escapism, in the shape of the TV series Once Upon A Time, all the way. I'm now halfway through season two, and planning to invest in the remaining seasons available on DVD in the very near future.

So what's it about? Well, there's this town in present-day Maine, Storybrooke, where the Evil Queen from Snow White has entrapped various characters from different fairy tales, plus the odd character from other tales with a fantastic dimension, using a curse which wiped their memories and halted time, so that the town folk neither age nor have any memory of their previous fairy-tale existence. The only one who can break the curse is the daughter of Snow White and Prince James/David (long story) aka Charming, who was smuggled out of a magic portal before the curse hit. Once grown-up, she is brought into town by her son, whom she had given away for adoption, but who has figured out what's going on with the aid of a book, and so goes out to find her. The heroine, Emma Swan, naturally doesn't believe her son's fairy-tale fantasies, but she quickly grows attached to him and stays in the town for his sake. The big problem is, his adoptive mother is the Evil Queen herself, also known as Regina Mills the town mayor. And that's just season one.

Yep, it does sound extraordinarily geeky. When I try to explain the series' premise to an outsider, I usually drift off in the middle, embarrassingly aware of the fact. But then I am geeky, and fond of fairy tales and mash-ups/cross-overs where fictional characters from different stories interact. For anyone who feels the same, I think I can guarantee that a good time will be had with Once.

The series' attractions? Let's start at the top:

1) Rumplestiltskin's in it! Yeah, they basically had me at "You can't go to him. He's dangerous." Rumplestiltskin's my favourite fairy-tale villain, even if, in the original Grimm story, his appearance is not impressive (he seems to be some sort of gnome) and his motives unclear (what did he want with that first-born anyway? Eat it?). You can't fault that M.O. though - giving some hapless fairy-tale character exactly what they want, but at a price. In the words of the voodoo spirit friends of another purveyor of magical deals, Dr Facilier in The Princess and the Frog: "Well, you got what you wanted/But you lost what you had". It's the diabolical pact without the too-scary diabolical bit, and it works a treat as a villain storyline. Even Rumplestiltskin in Shrek Forever After, lisping silliness notwithstanding (one more reason why I'm no big fan of the Shrek franchise is that it tends to poke fun at its villains) managed to be the most formidable antagonist the green ogre's come across. It's hard to withstand an enemy who can use your own desires against you.

Rumplestiltskin in Once is the best version of the character one could hope for. For one, they've scrapped the gnome bit: originally, he's a man very much down on his luck who gets hold of almost unlimited dark magical power and is then understandingly reluctant to let it go, even it does turn him into a malicious, greenish kind of goblin. The goblin version of Rumplestiltskin may be a teeny bit OTT, not that I'm not still thrilled every time a character - especially the really good and worthy ones - is suckered into making a deal with him. But his Storybrooke persona, the wealthy businessman cum lawyer Mr Gold ("'He owns this place.' 'The inn?' 'The town.'") is just perfect - gangly, sardonic, super-clever, and with a deliciously impenetrable master plan. It is also worth noting that, like the original character and unlike, say, Facilier, Rumplestiltskin/Gold always delivers on his side of a deal. He doesn't cheat and fulfil your wishes in some horrible way. Many of the characters' happiness is dependent on deals they once made with him, which explains why they keep falling into his traps.

2) The Evil Queen has a case: Like most of the fairy-tale characters in Once, the Evil Queen Regina (not Grimhilde in this version, then) is nicely fleshed out with a strong back-story (the storyline in Once is split between Storybrooke and flashbacks to Fairyland). It provides the perfect villain motive in that it's good but not too good: you're not made to feel yourself that Snow White deserves all she gets, but you can see why Regina might think it. Her strongest case, though, is her present-day one against Emma. Imagine the natural mother of your adopted child showing up after ten years, settling down near you, getting all the affection of your boy, encouraging him to think of you as a wicked character from a fairy tale... And then to top it all your lover starts to make eyes at her. You wouldn't have to be an evil queen to be furious. In fact, if it weren't for the fairy-tale thing Regina would have right on her side, and for most of season one Emma doesn't even believe in the fairy-tale thing, which makes her feelings nicely conflicted.

3) I actually like Snow White: Who'd have thought it? Films like Snow White and the Huntsman and Mirror, Mirror have tried to make something of Snow White, but not particularly successfully in my view. Simply giving a girl martial arts skills doesn't make her a memorable heroine. Snow White aka Mary Margaret Blanchard in Once, on the other hand, is just the right mixture of sweet and spunky to be likeable. Though essentially a good person, she has flaws which make her endearing, and you end up hoping she and her man will come together, even if a lot of potentially tiresome fuss is made about their "true love".

4) "Evil is made, not born" I recently rewatched all the Harry Potter films and was so fed up with the relentless smugness of the good characters by the end that I almost saw the point of joining up with the noseless one. In Once, both good and bad characters grapple with their motives, which prompts some discussion about what constitutes good and evil. In spite of the quote (a statement made by the two head villains, and they would say that), evil turns out to be very much a matter of choice. The wicked characters tend to go for the wrong choices - though redemption is possible, they pull back out of vindictiveness or love of power - but that doesn't mean the good characters always make the right ones. Simply, the characterisation is more nuanced than what one is used to in fairy-tale-themed stories.

Look, I'm not saying it's The West Wing. But the script is sassy, the cliff-hangers are effective and both the fairy-tale part and the small-town soap opera part work well. I'm not sure kids would enjoy it much, though, fairy-tale content notwithstanding: not that it's too scary, but relationships play a large part in the story, which I imagine could get boring for a child, as could all the am-I-a-bad-parent agonising. It's fairy tales for adults, then: nerdy adults, ideally with a penchant for villains. Does that description fit anyone but me? The series is a hit, so possibly yes.

Oh, and just for the record: I'm not at all keen on the matinee idol version of Captain Hook who turns up in season two, but I imagine those without my bias in favour of his (metaphorical) crocodile will probably think differently.