‘Once Upon a Time’ season 3, episode 14 review: Did Rapunzel make ‘The Tower’ great?

After two episodes of “Once Upon a Time” this spring that brought plenty of drama, twists, and excitement, we then turned to one Sunday in “The Tower” that left a little bit to be desired. You had a superfluous cameo, a few developments, but nothing that really made us feel like most of the 45-minute run time was necessary.

The biggest issue that we actually had here was the Rapunzel story, since there was almost no reason for her to be there other than to teach David a lesson about overcoming his fears, which could have been presented in a variety of other ways. There was no pressing need to have Rapunzel here, and unless there is something more coming for the character we don’t quite know about, it may have been better to wait. It reminded us of the early days of the show, when you would have a random fairy-tale character appear early on who actually would have no bearing on anything else in the story. (See: Cinderella.)

The rest of the story was at least solid, since you found out that Zelena has worked her way into a spot as Mary Margaret’s nanny, and that her prisoner in Rumpelstiltskin has found a way to escape into the wilds of Storybrooke. But save for an almost-kiss on the part of Emma and Hook, Charming revealing that he is over his fears of being a bad father, and also Henry starting to suspect something being off about this town, there’s not that much in here that we can really cling to.

The best way to describe “The Tower” is filler. They may have a story planned here that really could have been done in around eight or so episodes, and this allows it to be stretched to 11. It wasn’t necessarily bad to watch, but it just fell from the expectations that the last two weeks have given to us. Grade: C.

Did “The Tower” work for you as a “Once Upon a Time” episode, or do you expect something more for an episode at this point? Share your thoughts below.