Once Upon A Time has taken some major romantic liberties with the show’s universe of beloved fantasy characters in the past, from pairing up an evil queen with Robin Hood to putting a dastardly Rumpelstiltskin together with an innocent Belle of Beauty and the Beast fame. In this week’s episode, the show made possibly its greatest romantic decision of all time and established the first lesbian romance in its history all at once. After Dorothy Gale (you know, the Wizard of Oz one) was kidnapped by the evil Zelena, Red Riding Hood goes to find her and wake her up from a deep and cursed sleep. As any fan of fairy tales knows, the only thing that can wake up a slumbering damsel in distress is true love’s kiss. For ice cold hearts, look for another solution.
So kiss they did, and fans were treated to a real and sincere gay storyline for the first time in the show’s five seasons. The concept was touched upon in season three with a flirtation between Sleeping Beauty herself, Aurora, and Mulan but nothing long term ever came of it. How appropriate then that Mulan was present in this situation to give Red a pep talk about her burgeoning feelings for Dorothy. What’s even better about the show’s decision to go in this direction is the co-creators’ reaction to the choice. As told to The Hollywood Reporter, Andy Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis gave the following statement about the episode;
“True Love’s kiss has been a staple of this show since the beginning. This past Sunday’s episode was just another example of how in a fairy tale, as in life, love is love.”
After all that trouble just to get to true love’s kiss, fans can only hope that Red and Dorothy get a long-lasting relationship going forward. That one kiss was pretty good, but years of happiness for a lesbian couple on television would be even better.
(via The Hollywood Reporter)
