Despite Seasons 6 and 7 being majorly flawed, 'Once Upon a Time' still most of the time was a very addictive and fun show with a creative premise (turning known fairy tales and characters on their heads). Have said frequently that good concepts and casts are two of my most popular reasons for wanting to see a film or show. Seasons 1-4 especially saw on the most part good to fantastic episodes, and did enjoy much of Season 5 despite the writing unevenness for the Underworld arc.
Am with those initially feeling sceptical of "The Song in Your Heart" before watching, being both interested and worriedly curious as to whether doing a musical episode would work or not. Am also with those who was surprised and pretty amazed by "The Song in Your Heart", one of the best episodes of Season 6 (saying a fair bit, as the sixth season boasted a lot of disappointing episodes) and one of the best 'Once Upon a Time' episodes in a while in my opinion. It certainly stands out as the most unique episode of the show, and one of the most special. Not an episode to forget in a hurry.
For this episode to work, it would have needed to have good music. Seeing as it is a musical episode, found it important to talk about this element first. Found myself very impressed, and for a few bowled over by the songs here and that they featured mainly in the flashbacks was a genius move and for me couldn't have been done better any other way considering the premise of the show. Was very worried as to whether there would be too many and that it would be another Season 6 episode to feel over-cluttered, muddled and erratically paced. Not so, not only were they memorable in melody ("Emma's Theme") a lot of the lyrics were also very clever ("Revenge is Gonna Be Mine"). "Powerful Magic" really brought me a lot of nostalgia and "Revenge is Gonna Be Mine" was swaggering and witty, but "Emma's Theme" and "A Happy Beginning" are the songs that are especially special. The song that comes off least for me was the still very listenable "The Queen Sings" and only because it felt the other songs fitted the theme better.
They were staged well too, particularly the whole dynamic and tense interplay in "Charmings vs Evil Queen". Also loved the edge in "Love Doesn't Stand a Chance". The singing also came off well, with Jennifer Morrison boasting the best voice followed by Ginnifer Goodwin and Colin O'Donoghue. The harsher sound Lana Parrilla, who may come over as the weak link vocally to some, had fitted Regina/Evil Queen perfectly, nobody wants villain songs to sound too amiable when sung. Another great thing was how it felt like the cast were aware of the situation in their songs and conveyed it very clearly and embodied it even performing them, an example being Hook's aside to Emma in "Revenge is Gonna Be Mine". That made it easier than most Season 6 episodes in caring for the characters, instead of being bored or frustrated by them.
Despite a lot going on, "The Song in Your Heart" does a better job than most Season 6 episodes at not feeling over-stuffed, rushed or choppy. It may not exactly progress or advance storylines or characters, but the story still grips and is imaginatively handled and the characters are still interesting and in "knows and loves" style. The dialogue is amusing, thought-provoking, heartfelt and intense, balanced very well. Less soap, corn and camp here. The production values have a lot of beauty and atmosphere, nothing drab or gaudy here, while being attractively photographed. All the performances are great with no exceptions, everyone fitting their roles perfectly, which was not always the case with latter season 'Once Upon a Time'.
In conclusion, a pretty unforgettable episode and completely defies sceptical expectations. 10/10