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.
Of a solid, from personal opinion, first season, "The Stable Boy" is among the best episodes. If there is a gripe, everything about Daniel (the acting of Noah Bean, the writing and the character) just screams of flaccid compared to the rest of the cast/characters. This is a shame because "The Stable Boy" is flawless otherwise and contains one of the season's best and most interesting character arc.
Although The Evil Queen was always one of the most consistently scene-stealing and stronger characters, it was "The Stable Boy" at this early stage of 'Once Upon a Time' where one sees much more to her than a "stock villain" (not that she ever was in a way, it's just that it would have been so easy to not do anything with her character). Here in "The Stable Boy" she has a sympathetic and conflicted edge where one sees how she came to be the way she turned out, and it is very hard to not feel sorry for her.
Lana Parrilla knocks it out of the park here, injecting more nuance than seen before and she was always one of the best performers on 'Once Upon a Time'. Ginnifer Goodwin is charming and one roots for her and her increasingly dire situation in the Storybrooke scenes, while Jennifer Morrison continues to grow.
Visually "The Stable Boy" is a very handsomely mounted episode, settings and costumes that are both colourful and atmospheric, not too dark or garish and never cookie-cutter. The effects are also above average, not exceptional but not bad. It is photographed beautifully and there is some make-up that suited the characters perfectly. The music is haunting, ethereal and cleverly used with a memorable main theme.
Regarding the writing, "The Stable Boy" shows that it really has come on a long way. There is far less corn and instead the humour, emotional and tense elements and the balance between them are getting stronger. The story is absorbing, with a tragic scene being quite heart-breaking. The parallel between fantasy and real life is as ever handled beautifully, both the present day scenes and fantasy flashbacks are intriguing and well-balanced.
Overall, fine episode. 9/10 Bethany Cox