If there's one thing I can count on Once Upon a Time to be, it's consistently inconsistent, and to be honest, it's really frustrating—astonishing, too, I'll admit, but mostly just frustrating. I tend to gripe about it week after week, I know, but it's becoming increasingly easier to feel put out by a show that, even after nearly 30 episodes and even more scattered glimmers of promise, has yet to discover an appropriate balance or a way of making its story—whatever that may be at this point—feel important. Because let me just say that right about now, I'm starting to wonder whether or not I should be asking, "Why do I even care?" Maybe that's harsh—obviously, I do care; I wouldn't watch and write every week if I didn't—but I'm disappointed that a season that initially held so much promise has reverted to tired ways. That's not to say it does everything wrong, nor do I mean to say that "Child of the Moon" was a terrible episode (I mean, I thought it was pretty bad, but it could've been worse), it's just that one of the biggest challenges faced by OUAT lies within appropriately dividing its time between its heaps of characters and worlds, a challenge I'm not sure it has the ability to master.

Whereas last week's "Tallahassee" strayed too far away from the goings-on in Storybrooke and a fairytale flashback, this week's episode does the exact opposite, relying too heavily on the latter with little payoff. I still stand by my praise of the season's sixth episode, despite having read some pretty negative reviews of it, but I will admit that I may have failed to acknowledge that its microscopic exploration of a moment in Emma's past could have been read as a bit of a snag in regards to the story as a whole, as well as in comparison to the other worlds and timeframes already existing within the show. I do believe, however, that it offered up a much-needed helping of character development/depth, as opposed to Sunday's which only succeeded in dangling those opportunities in front of us before snatching them away again.

And it's a bit of a bummer because "Child of the Moon" begins promisingly; after mining tirelessly, the dwarfs finally happen upon some diamonds they can grind into fairy dust—the final element Charming requires to bring Snow and Emma back home—and it seems as though the show may finally begin to develop as it needs to. But I guess the writers weren't quite ready for that because rather than focus their efforts on creating a plausible storyline that would allow for a more fitting conflict to plague Charming, they instead choose to maybe-not-so-subtly promote the newest Twilight installment with two Ruby-centric werewolf plot lines (and, yes, I'm being facetious—I'm not entirely sure that was what they were doing, but that's what it felt like!).

In this week's fairytale flashback, Red and Snow are on the run from the evil queen's men on a full moon night, and Red, unwilling to put Snow in harm's way during her transformation, decides it best they split up. After doing so, Red meets Quinn (Ben Hollingsworth), a fellow werewolf who leads her to a den full of others just like them with the promise that she will come to accept and control the wolf within her. Initially apprehensive, Red warms to the idea when she meets Anita (Mystic Pizza's Annabeth Gish), who, as it turns out, is her mother. Believing her mother to have died when she was young and taught by her granny to stifle her wolfish urges, Red chooses to reject what she's known of the past and agrees to allow her fellow wolves to teach her their way of life, a decision that ultimately allows her to fully control her human-to-wolf transformations. One day, however, Snow finally manages to catch up with Red (why it took her so long to do so is beyond me), and discovers she's been hiding out in the den all along. Red's joy over reuniting with her friend is short-lived when she learns Snow's been followed by the queen's men, who manage to kill Quinn before they themselves are slaughtered by the whole pack. Threatened by Snow's presence and the danger it could continue to bring, Anita urges Red to kill her, but unwilling to give up all of her humanity, she refuses and ends up killing her mother after a brief struggle because at the end of the day, Snow is her real family. Aw.

To read the rest of the review (IMDb form too short) visit: custodianfilmcritic.com/once-upon-a-time-2-7-child-of-the-moon/

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.

"Child of the Moon" is not one of the best Season 2 episodes and a lesser instalment of 'Once Upon a Time' up to this point of the show. Don't get me wrong, it's pretty good but not the finest example of the enormous promise that generally Season 2 showed, where everything began feeling more settled, old characters and plot lines were expanded upon and new ones were introduced with richer content.

The mixed reception for "Child of the Moon" is understandable. Personally really liked the idea of giving more development to Ruby/Red Riding Hood, with a tragic and intense back-story and Storybrooke plot that allows one, without being manipulated to, to root for the character. The mystery elements in the Storybrooke story, and there is plenty of it for a Storybrooke-centric story (after "Tallahassee" focused heavily on the fairy-tale elements), are intriguing. The horror elements are not tame but not gratuitous. Did appreciate more of a focus on Storybrooke, even if there weren't quite enough of the flashbacks.

Strictly speaking, "Child of the Moon" is somewhat of a filler episode that is setting things up for what is to follow, something that it does quite well. For an episode that resolves existing or just introduced ideas or advances them, there are other episodes of 'Once Upon a Time' that do that better. Some of the dialogue is corny, the biggest offender being for Belle, and there are a few scenes that don't really fit within the episode, a prime example being the opening sequence that did mislead and added nothing.

Visually, "Child of the Moon" is a step up from the limitations seen in "Tallahassee". Enough of the settings and costumes are both colourful and atmospheric, not too dark or garish and never cookie-cutter. It is photographed beautifully too. The effects are not as sloppy here. The music is haunting, ethereal and cleverly used with a memorable main theme.

Humour, mysterious intrigue, charm and pathos are beautifully balanced, although the corniness that was there when the show first started creeps in. The story is flawed, but it does feel more focused and not as over-stuffed as a couple of the previous episodes, not focusing on as many characters.

Acting is good, with Meghan Ory carrying the episode beautifully with pathos and intensity. Annabeth Gish, despite being too young (with a rather small age difference between her and Ory, just over a decade) is suitably mysterious as Anita. The chemistry between the two is well done.

Ginnifer Goodwin is as charming as ever, Alan Dale provides the conflict with authority and Sarah Bolger is becoming more comfortable as Aurora. Emilie De Ravin is a bit bland as Belle still and Lana Parrilla and Robert Carlyle have far too little to do.

Overall, pretty good but a dip quality-wise for Season 2. 7/10 Bethany Cox

The writing seems to be getting worse. Every line of dialogue seems so cliché. "You should have killed me when you had the chance." I'm not even remembering them because they happen so frequently. That line was literally spoken a second before I wrote it. How is this show so popular? Why am I even still watching it? I really like Disney and feel like I owe it to them to see this thing through. Plus I can sit here on my phone and not pay attention as much because I won't miss anything. Anyways, Ruby seems much more believable in the town rather than as Red. She seems to just have a modern face. Unfortunately very little Gold in this episode, as well as Emma's story. Something I just noticed, how are Emma and her party so clean? They're living in the forest and sleeping on the ground? Come on ABC. Put some effort into this. Red's family background was a slight twist in that they were still alive, but they have themselves spread so thin over so many characters the twist wasn't as big as it could have been.