Relationship Spotlight: Prince Charming & Snow White (Once Upon a Time)

The usual Once Upon a Time disclaimers – the writing can be all over the place, and there have been times when Snow and Charming, separately or together, have simply not cut it.  But when these two are on point, they’re so lovely that I don’t mind their cheesy Disney-ness one bit.  This is what an Enchanted Forest power-couple looks like.

As with Snow herself (and Charming, though he doesn’t have his own write-up yet,) part of my love for this relationship is simply that it surprised me so much.  Going into the show, I thought, “Fairy tale deconstruction!  Sweet!  …Oh – it centers around Snow White and Prince Charming?  *grumble, grumble*”  When Henry talks about their universally-beloved love story, my eyes want to roll.  Obviously, Disney isn’t the be-all-end-all of this story, but it’s the best-known version, and let’s be real – their actual relationship is hardly the stuff on which stories are made.  (It doesn’t help that I can’t stand Snow White in it, and Prince Charming is a total non-entity.)

Fortunately, the show gets this, and when Henry waxes poetic on Snow and Charming’s story, he means the story from The Book, ie, the one that only he knows but he acts like it’s common knowledge (right up there with Rumpelstiltskin being the Beast to Belle’s Beauty.)  And The Book’s version is way better.  Even before we get into their history, our first glance of them – the happily ever after, in which Charming wakes Snow from the sleeping curse – is just miles ahead of the movie.  The second she wakes, they’re playfully teasingly each other and tossing out a little gallows humor.  Clearly, these are two people that know each other, and each gets how the other ticks.  They’re strong individuals who, having just escaped death, heartbreak, and dark magic, can take a moment to be a little silly and enjoy one another’s company.

(On a related note, I love that when Snow finds Charming injured at the end of the pilot, the first thing she does is kiss him with this optimistic look on her face.  It really nails what kind of world their relationship exists in; past precedent has shown that, when they’re in dire straits, their love is literally tough enough to pull them out of it, and it makes total sense that Snow would try it.)

And then, with their backstory, they just get more awesome.  The nuts and bolts are fairly basic – a from-different-worlds meet-cute, slowly-developing interest in and respect for each other, being badasses, saving each other’s lives, realizing that neither is what they seem at first, and then obstacles, obstacles, obstacles until the season 1 finale – but the execution is superb.  Both are just ridiculously likeable and click instantly, and it’s obvious from the start how they bring each other up.  Each is immediately a stronger, brighter, truer person in the other’s company, and despite the litany of roadblocks that crop up, you know that nothing is going to keep them apart.

I’m a fan of action duos, and these two bring it like bosses.  Over the years, they’ve occasionally kept secrets from each other or boxed one another out of their plans, but they’re undeniably best when they’re working together, and they do that a lot.  They fight alongside each other, they go on quests together, they rule the kingdom as a team, and they’re both quick to rush to the other’s aid, even though each has total faith in the other’s ability to take care of themselves, just because they want to be there.  (As I’ve said, I also like that Charming has no qualms about Snow being a kickass warrior.  The whole “Woe is me!  My girlfriend is too strong, and I feel emasculated!” angle is so depressing and used way too often, and it delights me that it’s never an issue here.)

Relationship Spotlight: Emma Swan & Prince Charming (Once Upon a Time)

 

(Be advised, I can’t talk about this without spoiling a major plot development from season 1.) 

 

This isn’t one of the most prominent relationships on Once Upon a Time, but I adore it.  Since the initial premise of the show placed most of the characters under a curse that, among other things, made time stand still, Emma grew up while her parents stayed the same age in Storybrooke.  So, when the curse breaks and the Enchanted Forest folk regain their true memories, the mother and father Emma has looked for her entire life stand in front of her, and they’re her age.  Thus begins two of the most unconventional parent-child relationships on TV.

 

Emma’s relationship with Snow is interesting, too, but today’s post is about Emma and her dad.  Magic weirdness aside, it’s a tough situation – Charming and Emma have spent 28 years apart.  He hasn’t felt those years, being frozen in time (and in a coma) for most of it, and he doesn’t know who either of them are when they meet.  Emma, on the other hand, has been wondering about the unknown parents who seemingly dropped her into the world and then erased every hint of their existence as she was shunted around the foster system, made some bad choices, and put her life back together.  She doesn’t know that his sword protected her the moment she was born, that he fought tooth and nail and nearly died getting her out of the curse’s reach.

 

So when Charming gets his memory back, he’s every inch the proud papa who knew his little girl could save the day, and Emma is very not ready to deal with him or Snow.  The father who, in her mind, abandoned her, is both Prince friggin’ Charming and a 20-something (in fact, Josh Dallas is a couple years younger than Jennifer Morrison.)  She doesn’t know how to wrap her head around a relationship like that, and an awkward stretch of episodes is spent with him wanting to make up for lost time and her wanting to avoid the issue.  She’s had a difficult life, and she can’t simply forgive and forget because her dad was a fairytale character under a curse, and her cold shoulder serves to remind him of all the years he couldn’t be there for her.

 

As time goes on and Emma starts to open up, though, she and Charming develop a really great dynamic.  He works alongside her at the sheriff’s department where they make a good team.  Both are trackers who are handy in a fight, and she gradually gets used to him having her back.  While he’s protective, he still lets her stand on her own, and when it comes to sharing, Charming is good about waiting for Emma to come to him.  He always lets her know he’s there for whatever she needs, to help or to listen, but he doesn’t push.  As a result, he’s been a sounding board when she’s confused, a comfort when she’s upset, and a support when she’s overwhelmed.

 

I really have to hand it to Jennifer Morrison and Josh Dallas.  Any time you have two good-looking actors of the same age portraying a familial relationship, you can run the risk of inappropriate chemistry; too many onscreen siblings have trouble giving off consistent “sibling” vibes, and it gets weird.  These two have an even harder task, making the audience buy him as her dad, but they’re more than up to the challenge.  In all their interactions, you never lose sight of the fact that she’s his daughter.  There’s even a scene where he’s teaching her to dance, a dream sequence in which he’s regretting all the years he missed with her.  Both are dressed to the nines and dancing to lovely music, and it’s father-daughter all the way.  He’s warm and paternal, and she’s slowly, beautifully becoming an incurable daddy’s girl.  I love it.