Once Upon A Time- Episode Analysis (Hat Trick)

I’m lost- how did Jefferson/The Mad Hatter retain his memories of his life in the Enchanted Forest?  We know Regina and Rumpelstiltskin/Mr. Gold remember, but that’s because they were both involved in the casting and production of the curse.  And August remembers for reasons that will be revealed later on this season.  What’s Jefferson’s excuse?  Besides, wasn’t he trapped in Wonderland?  Did he finally get his hat to work, but it brought him back right after Regina’s curse took effect and he couldn’t make a return trip for some reason?  Is this something that’s explained in the Wonderland spin-off, which I have yet to see?  Answers, please!

This episode picks up right where the last episode left off, with Mary Margret breaking out of jail with the use of the key she’d found in her cell.  Upon discovering she’s missing, Emma goes off to find her and runs into a man called Jefferson.  Noticing he’s limping, Emma decides to drive him home.  But shortly after helping him get home, she realizes a bit too late that he’d deceived her and drugged her tea.  Upon regaining consciousness, she finds out that not only has Jefferson been spying on her, quite possibly from the moment she first came to Storybrooke, but he’s also managed to capture Mary Margret as well.  Jefferson tries to force Emma into helping him building a new magic hat, challenging her to start believing.  Of course, things don’t exactly go his way.  In the end, Emma manages to convince Mary Margret to not run away, and she returns to the sheriff’s station just in time to avoid being caught out of her cell.  We also learn that Rumpelstiltskin had been the one who placed the key in her cell because Regina put him up to it, prompting us to once again ask what exactly his game is.

I’m really curious where those other doors within the magic hat lead?  It’s safe to conclude the green curtain door leads to the Land of Oz, but there were plenty of other doors.  Will we be able to explore that in future seasons?  Make it happen, show writers!

How adorable was Jefferson/The Mad Hatter’s little girl, Grace?  Every time she appeared on screen, I just wanted to give her a big hug.  You could tell she was an all-around good girl, perfectly content with what she had.  She even was able to graciously accept not being able to get the stuffed rabbit from the disguised Regina’s toy cart.  Her father really did a wonderful job in raising her.  And you could see that Grace was Jefferson’s whole world.  So it’s not too surprising that he allowed himself to be manipulated into helping Regina when she promised him a better life for his little girl.  Speaking of which, come on, Regina!  While I understand you wanting your dad back and all, what you did to Jefferson during the Enchanted Forest flashback was a jerk move, and you know it!

A few episodes ago, we see that Ruby/Red has retained her ability to track people.  In much the same way, Mary Margret discovers her dormant fighting abilities in this episode, so that was cool to see.  I guess it’s like riding a bike.  Once you learn something, you never really forget, even if you're under the effects of a curse.

This episode is really notable for the whole scene with Jefferson trying to force Emma to believe.  While Henry and, to a lesser extent, August, have been attempting to get Emma to that point, they were clearly using the slow-and-steady method.  Jefferson, however, uses the direct, blunt approach.  But, while I do understand why Emma is reluctant to accept the things Jefferson tells her, you would think the events of this episode would have convinced her, particularly after seeing the illustrations of Jefferson in Henry’s book.  That and the fact that he seemingly vanished after falling out the window. (So, did the hat work after all?)  I know it would have made me at least consider the possibility.  Emma, you really are a stubborn one, aren’t you?

Once Upon A Time- Episode Analysis (Heart of Darkness)

The Enchanted Forest subplot for this episode takes place after the events of ‘7:15 AM’ and ‘What Happened to Fredrick.’  Prince Charming continues to search for Snow White, with Red’s assistance.  But because Snow took Rumpelstiltskin’s Forgetfulness Potion, she not only doesn’t remember loving Charming, but she’s also forgotten who she really is, as she tries to kill a random bird and is downright cruel to the dwarfs.  To find Snow, Charming goes to Rumpelstiltskin for help and ends up trading his cloak in exchange for the information on Snow White’s whereabouts.  His first attempt at getting through to her, through the power of True Love’s Kiss, ends in a failure because, as Jiminy points out when he pops up to help Charming out,  ‘how can she remember who you are when she’s lost sight of who she is?’  This inspires Charming to allow himself to get hit by the arrow Snow tries to kill Evil Queen Regina with.  The whole sequence that follows is a very well-written one, and quite reminiscent of the scene in the fourth Shrek movie.  Unfortunately, even though Snow regains her memories, their reunion is short-lived, as King George’s soldiers capture Charming immediately afterward.  Snow White vows to rescue Charming, with the seven dwarfs, who promptly forgive her for her actions while under the Forgetfulness Potion’s effects, agreeing to help her.

In Storybrooke, Emma is trying to search for proof that Mary Margret was set up for the murder of Kathryn, particularly after a hunting knife, the instrument believed to have cut out the heart Ruby found, is discovered hidden in the apartment Emma and Mary Margret share.  She ends up getting nowhere because there are no signs that anyone had broken in.  Henry, thanks to the help of the mysterious August (who tells Henry that he shares his goal in getting Emma to believe in the fairy tales within Henry’s book), finds Regina’s skeleton keys and brings them to Emma, who finds out that one of the skeleton keys can open the door to her and Mary Margret’s apartment.  However, Emma knows the discovery of these skeleton keys won’t be enough to help Mary Margret when the DNA tests performed on the heart Ruby found state that the heart was indeed Kathryn’s, so she turns to Mr. Gold in desperation.  Unfortunately, before anything can be done to help build up a strong defense for Mary Margret, she discovers a key beneath her jail cell cot which she discovers can open the cell door and uses it to break out of prison.

David really does a number in this episode.  Possibly because he’d spent so long in a coma, the curse’s memory-altering effects clearly don’t affect him as strongly as the others, as his true memories are seemingly trying to resurface.  This results in him having hazy memories of Snow attempting to kill Evil Queen Regina.  Of course, since the memory is only hazy, he’s understandably confused, and the fact that evidence suggesting that Mary Margret may have killed Kathryn is continuing to mount only makes it worse.  For that reason, I don’t blame him for being confused and at a loss trying to figure out what his faint memories mean.  That said, it was a pretty dumb move for him to practically accuse Mary Margret, particularly after, as she states herself, she stood by him when it looked as if he might have had something to do with Kathryn’s disappearance.  So, I also can’t blame Mary Margret for angrily dismissing David.  This really was a no-win situation on David’s part.

The episode ends with us finally seeing the reason why Rumpelstiltskin wanted one of Snow White’s hairs in exchange for the Forgetfulness Potion.  After obtaining Charming’s cloak, he manages to extract one of Charming’s hairs from the cloak and places it into a vial along with Snow’s hair.  The moment both hairs are encased inside the vial, they react to each other, forming a glowing double helix.  So, apparently, all you need to bottle up love is to obtain two hairs from people who share True Love?  Okay, makes sense to me.  And we see in the final episode of this season exactly why he wanted to obtain a vial of Essence of True Love.  (That doesn’t explain why Mr. Gold is so keen to help them now, however.  Come on, guy.  What’s your game?)

Once Upon A Time- Episode Analysis (Dreamy & Red Handed)

Dreamy

You know, out of all the episodes that have aired so far, this is the one I have the hardest time sitting through.  Not because it’s particularly dull and boring, but because it’s just so mean spirited.  It is apparently Miner’s Day, some fancy Storybrooke-specific holiday, and Mary Margret and Leroy (Grumpy’s Storybrooke counterpart) team up to sell some candles in order to raise money.  Money that the Storybrooke nuns need to save their nunnery from foreclosure at Mr. Gold’s hands.  But because everyone in town still has a bug up their butt about the whole Mary Margret/David/Katheryn thing, they all refuse to buy a single candle from them, going so far as to slam the door in their faces?  Nice community spirit you’ve got there, Storybrooke!  Kudos!  I’m not going to even touch the whole debate about what Mary Margret and David did, because, yes, they probably could have handled the whole situation better, particularly since no one has regained their memories of who they really are yet.  But this shouldn’t have been about what they did or didn’t do.  It’s about saving the convent!  What the people of Storybrooke were doing by snubbing Mary Margret and Leroy’s fundraiser was ultimately going to punish a group of people who had nothing to do with the whole affair debacle.  Can you see why I hate this episode?  And yes, I realize things turn out all right in the end, but that’s only because Leroy destroyed that electrical transformer thingamajig (which I admit was pretty awesome), but that’s just one little drop of good in an ocean of irritation.  And that scene at the end, which is supposed to indicate that Granny has forgiven Mary Margret?  Yeah, that’s great and all, but I think Granny, not to mention the rest of Storybrooke, have reason to need forgiveness as well.

There’s also the Enchanted Forest subplot, which explains what Grumpy was talking about back in ‘7:15 AM’ about how he was in love once.  This flashback reveals how some fairy dust was accidentally dropped onto Grumpy’s egg (so, in this show’s mythos, dwarfs are born from eggs?   Interesting choice.)  Only, back then, he was known as Dreamy because, on account of this fairy dust, he was the most optimistic and hopeful of the dwarfs.  He happens to cross paths with a fairy called Nova, and the two share an instant connection.  But everyone around them dismisses their feelings (i.e. ‘dwarfs can’t fall in love’ etc.).  All except for Belle, who made a surprise appearance in this episode.  I was really glad to see her again, and it was so sweet of her to encourage Dreamy/Grumpy to be with Nova.  This clearly takes place after her time with Rumpelstiltskin, and you can see how her time with him is inspiring her speech to Dreamy/Grumpy.  When Dreamy/Grumpy and Nova decide to run away together, the Blue Fairy decides to stick her nose into their business and tells Dreamy/Grumpy to leave Nova.  But my question is, why?  Why couldn’t they be together?  I mean Dreamy/Grumpy was a dwarf who mined diamonds.  Diamonds that were broken down into magic dust that fairies like Nova gathered.  Sounds like a perfect match to me.  Besides, what’s this crap about how being with him will prevent Nova from being a fairy?  First off, Blue, why do you care?  You made it rather clear in the first scene of this episode that you didn’t think she had what it took.  Even if what you said was true, and running away together would prevent Nova from being a fairy, and how Dreamy/Grumpy had a responsibility to mine the diamonds, etc.?  Come on, it’s not like there aren’t other fairies and dwarfs running around to pick up the slack.  You mean to tell me losing one pair of hands is going to be so catastrophic?  Besides, Nova even said, in not so many words, that she didn’t care about not being a fairy anymore, as long as she could be with someone who was clearly her true love.  And yes, I do believe that what we were seeing between those two was true love, ‘cause, why else would Leroy and Sister Astrid still feel drawn to each other, even with the curse still in effect?  While I get that Nova’s dream was initially to be a great fairy, dreams can change.  People can, and oftentimes do, switch paths.  Why are fairies like Nova and dwarfs like Dreamy/Grumpy denied that same opportunity?  This makes no sense to me.  At all.  Is this a class discrimination thing?  Are you implying that just because someone is from a species apart from human, they are automatically unworthy to the same rights and opportunities?  Do you realize how much that sounds like a warped mix of the feudal system and racial segregation?

Needless to say, this whole entire episode just makes me angry, so I’m just going to wrap it up here.  Plot stuff happens, Kathryn’s still missing, she never made it to Boston, phone records (which may have been tampered with since we see they came through Regina) indicate she was on the phone with David right before she disappeared, Emma pulls David in for questioning, blah blah blah.  Moving on, next episode.

Red Handed

Ruby/Red is a werewolf?  There’s a twist to the story of Little Red Riding Hood.  (Though, not too original, as that plotline was previously explored in the 2011 movie, which also has the heroine’s main love interest named Peter.)  And that whole red herring with Red’s boyfriend, Peter, possibly being the wolf?  (Peter the wolf?  HA!)  My heart really goes out to Red.  The knowledge that she killed a boy she loved?  I don’t know how I could live with that sort of thing.  And what a nasty way for Peter to go, too.  (Pffft.  Once Upon a Time- a family show!)  Still, this whole thing could have been avoided if Granny had told Red the truth from the start.  I understand wanting to protect her from the burden, but that clearly didn’t work out.  And sometimes, the best way to keep someone safe is to make sure they know what they’re up against, so they can protect themselves as well.  At least Granny acknowledges her mistake in keeping the truth from Red, so that does count for something.  On a positive note, we see how Red and Snow White first met.  (Who else giggled at the obvious origin of Snow’s Storybrooke name?)  It’s really admirable how Snow wasn’t the least bit afraid of her newfound friend, even after finding out that she was a werewolf.  Instead, she immediately reached out to her and focused on getting her away before the hunters arrived on the scene.  I don’t think many people could have done the same.  I’m left wondering, though.  What happened to Granny after that scene?  She clearly survived, as we see her knitting what ends up being Emma’s baby blanket in the pilot episode.  Who else is curious to see how she handled things with the hunters?

Meanwhile, in Storybrooke, Ruby’s relationship with her grandmother is strained when, after an argument, Ruby quits her job at the diner.  In an attempt to help her out, especially after seeing how well Ruby does at answering the phone, Emma offers her a job as her assistant.  It’s by working as Emma’s assistant that Ruby discovers her innate gift of tracking people down, something that’s carried over from her true identity as Red in the Enchanted Forest.  First, she helps locate David in the woods when he starts blacking out again.  (Can I ask what exactly triggered David’s sleepwalking/blackout thing this time?  Did he get bonked on the head off-screen?  Or was that happening all along without our knowledge?)  Then she discovers a box buried in the ground near the T(r)oll Bridge.  A box that has a human heart inside it.  While finding that heart proves to be a bit too much for Ruby to handle, leaving her to returning to the diner and making amends with Granny (who tells Ruby that she’d been wanting to train Ruby to take her place at running the diner one day), things take a turn for the worst when tests performed on the box the heart was found in revealed Mary Margret’s fingerprints were all over the box.  Really, show, can we please let these people have one moment to just breathe?  We’ve barely allowed them to recover from the whole affair blowout.  Now they throw this possible murder subplot at us.  Still, at least they’re no longer dragging their feet in terms of the plot, so I probably shouldn’t complain. 

I was left wondering something about Ruby and Granny after this episode.  While it was established that Red needed her cloak to keep her transformations at bay, Ruby clearly doesn’t have that cloak in Storybrooke.  I gather that the curse’s power is keeping her transformation from happening, but the full moon clearly has some effect on them.  At least, we know it does on Granny, who states that the scar she has on her arm, which was what infected her with the werewolf gene years ago, starts to hurt during the full moon.  So, does Ruby feel some effect from the full moon, too?  Does she just get more irritable than normal?  Is that what led her to blow up and quit in the beginning of this episode?

Once Upon A Time- Episode Analysis (What Happened to Fredrick)

So, to quote Michael from 10 Things I Hate About You, ‘The sh*t hath hitith the fan... ith.’  Thanks to Regina, Kathryn finds out about Mary Margret and David’s secret meetings and, as a result of her confronting Mary Margret on school grounds, the whole town instantly finds out about them, too.  I’m kinda bugged by the direction this episode goes in at this point.  I won’t deny that under regular circumstances (because, let’s face it, having your true identities being Snow White and Prince Charming is not a regular circumstance), seeing a married man is not okay, but everyone’s reactions to Mary Margret after they’re found out still seem a tad extreme to me.  Everyone in town just turns on her in an instant.  I get that this is one of those small towns where everyone knows each other, but to have the whole town turn their back on you?  They’re acting like Mary Margret burned down an orphanage, or strangled a bunch of cute little fuzzy kittens.  Was everyone in town really that invested in seeing David and Kathryn work out?  Even Granny, someone who I gather has known Mary Margret for ages, starts snubbing her.  I know if I found out one of my friends messed up like  this, while I would probably be disappointed, I wouldn’t just desert her the way everyone else seems to be doing with Mary Margret.  (Props to Emma for being probably the only person in town who tries to comfort Mary Margret after the whole ordeal.)  What made watching this even more uncomfortable is how we never see David getting the same sort of treatment, particularly since he is kinda the one who was more at fault here, what with not coming clean with Kathryn like he was supposed to earlier.  What’s with that, Storybrooke?  Why are you clearly punishing the other woman but not the man as well?  Does everyone have this whole ‘oh, boys will be boys’ mindset about the whole thing?  Is this town just full of chauvinists?  What is this?

Moving on, I can’t help but wonder. Is there a reason why Boston holds such an appeal for the people of Storybrooke?  Back in the pilot episode, we overhear a snippet of an argument between Ruby and Granny which states Ruby had plans to move to Boston but couldn’t because Granny’s heart attack had nipped those plans in the bud.  In this episode, Kathryn reveals she applied to a law school in Boston.  This is the second time that someone from Storybrooke seems drawn to Boston, the city Emma had been living in before Henry sought her out.  Is this just a coincidence, or something else?

We finally learn the mysterious stranger’s name is August.  In this episode, we see him meticulously repairing Henry’s book.  So, was it damaged off-screen?  I know Henry said in an earlier episode that it was an old book, but….  I don’t know, I’m not entirely certain why August had to repair the book, unless he’s trying to strengthen the book’s binding.  I know few of my hardcover books have some pages that are falling out.  I guess that’s what he’s doing?  Again, I’m not entirely certain, but it does indicate he knows all about the proper order of the stories within the book.  After all, I’m seeing no page numbers printed on the pages.  By then end, he reveals himself as being Henry’s alley in the quest of getting Emma to believe in fairy tales and magic, particularly when he secretly returns to now-repaired book to Emma.  But at this point, they still don’t let us know who this guy really is, or how he even knows about Storybrooke.

Of course, there’s also the Enchanted Forest subplot, where we learn that Charming, after the events of the ‘7:15 AM'’ flashback, tried to escape from King George’s castle and the arranged marriage, only to end up being cornered by Princess Abigail.  Surprisingly, Princess Abigail is not upset about Charming’s actions, and admits she didn’t want to marry him, either.  Because she has her own true love.  Meaning this whole entire time, Kathryn had her own soulmate, who we see is living in Storybrooke as the school’s gym teacher.    Making the whole entire issue with her and David completely pointless?!  Please excuse me while I bang my head against the wall.  To Kathryn’s credit, she does realize by the end of this episode that her feelings for David parallel the ones Princess Abigail had for Charming (she loves him but isn’t in love with him).  And what exactly compelled the gym teacher/Fredrick to be driving to the Storybrooke town line, mere moments after Kathryn tried to leave town to go to the Boston law school, where he discovers Kathryn’s abandoned car?  Wonder what would have happened if Kathryn had just paused for a moment when she was matching up to Mary Margret to actually glance at the gym teacher.

We also get our first visit to Lake Nostros in this flashback, a lake that’s supposed to have magical healing powers.  During this visit to the lake, Charming fights against a siren to obtain some of the lake’s water in order to restore Princess Abigail’s true love, Fredrick, who had been accidentally turned to gold by King Midis.  (Remember King Midis mentioning Fredrick back in ‘The Shepherd?’)

Finally, we see the return of Regina’s skeleton key collection, which Emma had discovered in ‘Fruit of the Poisonous Tree.’  It turns out that Regina can use these keys to just let herself into every single house, and possibly any shop, within Storybrooke.  And I thought Rumple turning Gaston into a rose was creepy.  This woman can just come into someone’s home at any time?  Lady, you’re sick!  I’m sorry, but you are!

Once Upon A Time- Episode Analysis (Skin Deep)

There’s a hand!  There is a severed hand sitting atop a pedestal in Rumpelstiltskin’s castle!  It’s a bit hard to see, but it can be spotted most clearly when Belle takes out the vase from the cabinet.  Is it wrong that I was excited to see that?  After all, it might not even be what I think it is, as it looks quite withered and decayed.  But it is clearly a left hand, if the position of the thumb is any indication.  So, yeah, I’m going to wonder about that.  If anyone is wondering why I’m focused on such a random detail, just wait until a certain episode in season 4.

This episode was really a breath of fresh air, especially since the last few episodes were rather mediocre, with the exception of ‘7:15 AM’ and the Enchanted Forest subplot in ‘Desperate Souls’.  We get the return of Ashley (Cinderella’s Storybrooke counterpart), now with baby in tow, who ends up joining Mary Margret and Ruby for a Girls Night Out to celebrate St. Valentine’s Day, or Singles Awareness Day in this case, because even though Ashley had reunited with her boyfriend, Sean, during the events of ‘The Price of Gold’, he had to work that night.  (Was Mary Margret drinking an apple martini during the Girls Night Out?  Ahhhhhh.)  The evening ends with Sean showing up during his break in order to propose to Ashley, followed by a moment between Mary Margret and David, who are trying to figure out how they can make their relationship work.

But the main plot of this episode involved a feud between Mr. Gold and a florist called Mr. French, a feud that escalates when Mr. French steals a bunch of items from Gold’s house to get back at Gold for repossessing his florist van.  However, when Emma helps recover his stolen items, Mr. Gold goes off the deep end, stating that there is a specific item that’s still missing.  His actions from here on in indicate that this missing item is something extremely important to him, particularly when he goes so far as to kidnap Mr. French and very nearly beats him to death.  In addition, his rants while attacking Mr. French also hint at something even deeper going on here.  It’s the Enchanted Forest subplot that reveals the reasons for Mr. Gold’s actions.  In that subplot, we’re introduced to a new addition to our cast of fairy tale characters.  Namely Belle from Beauty and the Beast.  Much like the heroine of the original tale, this version of Belle agrees to go live with the Beast (in this case, Rumpelstiltskin) in exchange for his protection over her family and village, which are in danger of being wiped out in the Ogre Wars.  (Just how long was this Ogre War going on, anyway?  We saw that they were occurring during the events of the ‘Desperate Souls’ flashback, but as we learn later, that flashback took place hundreds of years before the time of Snow White, Charming, etc.  This is clearly taking place closer to the present, as Evil Queen Regina is around.  Were there multiple Ogre Wars spaced out throughout the years?  Were these wars the Enchanted Forest’s version of World War I and World War II?) 

Like with every version of Beauty and the Beast that’s ever been written, the longer Belle stays with Rumpelstiltskin, the more you see them starting to genuinely like each other.  In fact, Rumpelstiltskin comes very close to opening up to Belle about his son, who he’s lost.  That is, until Evil Queen Regina’s manipulation results in Rumpelstiltskin balking and ordering Belle away in an attempt to bury his head in the sand.  Sometime after Belle is cast out, Evil Queen Regina pays Rumpelstiltskin a visit, informing him that after Belle left, her father, Maurice (Mr. French), had her locked up and virtually tortured until Belle took her own life.  And you can see how much that information upset Rumple.  So much so that he takes the teacup that Belle had chipped earlier in the episode and gives it a place of honor in his castle.  And it’s this same chipped cup that Mr. Gold was so upset over loosing. The cup that it’s eventually revealed had actually been taken by Regina in order to force Mr. Gold to admit what we’ve known all along- that he has maintained his memories of his life before Regina’s curse created Storybrooke.

I’m just going to come out and say that of all the old fairy tales, Beauty and the Beast has always been a favorite of mine, and it remains among one of my favorite Disney Princess movies.  (In fact, it’s quite possibly my all-time favorite animated film from the Disney Renaissance period.)  So, I couldn’t not enjoy seeing this take on the old story.  And it was cool to see all the little homages to the original Disney version.  Even the Enchanted Rose is referenced.  Speaking of which, Rumpelstiltskin turning Gaston into the rose and then giving it to Belle?  Yeah, that was rather sweet, but also really creepy.  Particularly since I was left wondering about the implications of that.  Did getting turned into a rose also kill Gaston?  If that’s what the case was, that was a really dark turn, and one of the moments when I was thinking ‘this is a family show?’ 

And finally, this episode ends with a twist that Shyamalan would be proud of.  While Evil Queen Regina told Rumpelstiltskin that Belle had died during the Enchanted Forest flashback, the episode ends with us seeing that she’s actually alive, and Regina is keeping her locked up in some psychiatric cell in the basement of Storybrooke’s hospital.  I remember when I first saw this episode, I was theorizing that Belle, like Regina and Rumple, had maintained her memories somehow, which would explain why she was in a psychiatric ward.  I imagine it would have been very easy for Regina to convince people that a young woman who was insisting that everyone was actually a fairy tale character was mentally unstable and have her committed.  Of course, that didn’t turn out to be the case.  But it was what I originally thought.

                             

On a final note, nice bit of foreshadowing in this episode, with Evil Queen Regina mentioning a deal with a ‘certain mermaid.’  A deal that we’ll see occurring in season 3.  It just makes me wonder- exactly how far in advance to the show writers plan out these episodes?

Once Upon A Time- Episode Analysis (Fruit of the Poisonous Tree)

Continuity!  I said it before, and I’ll say it again.  I love continuity!  Last episode kept talking about a big storm that was going to come through town, and it hit Storybrooke during Mary Margret and David’s mission to return the dove to her flock.  In this episode, we see the storm caused some significant damage to the castle playhouse that Henry and Emma would meet up at.

All in all, this was not one of Emma’s best moments.  In her determination to get back at Regina for having Henry’s castle demolished, she swerved rather badly.  This resulted in her getting egg on her face and Regina coming out smelling like a rose.  It was a bit tough to watch Emma in this episode, because while I understand her anger at Regina, I just had a feeling that the plans she and Sidney came across during their little espionage stunt had something to do with building a new playground place.  Thankfully, to Emma’s credit, she’s enough of an adult to acknowledge she messed up royally (no pun intended) and graciously accepted the consequences of her actions.  That’s a very admirable quality in itself, particularly since there are some people who would try to make excuses for their mistakes and/or try to place the blame on someone else (three guesses who I'm referring to). But Emma doesn’t do that here, so you have to admire her for that.  

As for Regina, a part of me does have to admit she had a point in this episode, what with being concerned for Henry’s wellbeing and not wanting him to be near something that could potentially be dangerous.  On the other hand, I’m someone who sorta went through what Henry did in this episode, making my understanding of Regina’s position begrudging at best.  Growing up, there was this really fun wooden playground on school grounds, and I have fond memories of that playground.  But, sometime after I left Elementary School, it was suddenly decided that the playground wasn’t safe for children and they tore it down.  To this day, I’m still kinda irked about that, because my classmates and I had been using that playground for years, and to my knowledge, we turned out perfectly fine.  While I’m sure we all got our share of scrapes and skinned knees while playing on this playground, that’s part of being a kid.  Kids need to experience the occasional bump and bruise.  If you deny them that, they might never learn how to get back up after a fall and dust themselves off. Besides, like Emma pointed out, I’m sure they could have easily repaired that castle.  So, Regina, your intentions may be good on paper, but your actions were kinda bordering on helicopter mom territory.

The Enchanted Forest storyline was also a bit hard to stomach.  It was mostly just illustrating the unhealthy relationship Sidney Glass/the Magic Mirror had with Regina.  We learn Sidney was originally a genie who was found by King Leopold, Snow White’s father.  King Leopold, who was clearly a very kind man, chose to use his first wish to grant the genie’s freedom and his second wish to gift the third wish to the genie himself.  The freed genie, who had seen the consequences of wishes gone wrong a million times over, chose not to use the third wish but instead decided to stay with King Leopold.   But upon meeting Regina, he develops feelings for her, which ultimately results in him being manipulated into assassinating King Leopold with the use of a pair of Agrabahn vipers, a deadly species of snake.  The fact that he’d turn on someone who was supposed to be his dear friend is hard enough at it is, but it’s made even more painful when we see Regina had only pretended to love the genie, and had intentionally set him up to take the fall for King Leopold’s death.  And this is when we get into the unhealthy territory.  The genie, even after learning that Regina played him for a sap and never loved him to begin with, still refuses to leave her side, using the third wish he never intended to use in order to make it possible.  Which of course, condemns him to live out the rest of his life as the Magic Mirror.  And that level of unhealthy love he has for Regina has clearly transferred over to Sidney, who, as it’s revealed in the final scene, has actually been a mole charged with helping Regina spy on Emma throughout the whole episode.  Really, now?  This is a woman who had you follow around her son and his birth mom, taking photos of them without their knowledge, and go along with this scheme that was clearly designed to drive said birth mom away from the son.  And you still think it a good idea to align yourself with her?  Sidney, I’m sorry, but you really are a sad, pathetic little man.  You have my pity, but not my sympathy.

As a whole, I say this is one episode that could be skipped without missing too much.  The only thing of note is Emma discovering Regina has a sizable collection of skeleton keys in her office, something that will come into play in a few more episodes.  And while we do get one more scene of the Mysterious Stranger, who is clearly interested in Henry’s book of stories (and even manages to obtain it by the end of the episode), we already were aware that this guy knows more than he’s letting on, so seeing this is just dragging it out.

Once Upon A Time- Episode Analysis (True North & 7:15 AM)

True North

So, Hansel and Gretel join our cast of characters.  Or Nicholas and Ava, to use the names of their Storybrooke counterparts.  However, I really have to label this episode as one of the closest things to a filler episode that OUAT has.  Particularly since after this episode, these two new additions are never really seen or even mentioned again.  (They may appear occasionally in the background, but as no one ever acknowledges their presence, it’s hard to tell.)  The main point of this episode seems to be Emma doing what she can to keep Nicholas and Ava from ending up in the foster system, so they won’t go through what she did, particularly since they will undoubtedly be separated if they do wind up in the system.  We do get a scene of Henry asking Emma about his father, but the story Emma gives him, about how the baby daddy was a fireman who died saving a family from a burning building?  As she admits to Mary Margret later on, it was just that- a story.  Personally, I think Emma coming up with this fabrication was a combination of her not wanting to disappoint Henry, and her reluctance to relive what really happened, indicating that that is a scar that never really healed, and for good reason.  Overall plot-wise, apart from seeing how Evil Queen Regina actually obtained the infamous Poisoned Apple, it’s not until the end of this episode that things started picking up again.  We see Mary Margret having a moment with Emma, who finally tells her Henry’s thoughts about who they really are to each other, followed by Mary Margret reacting to Emma’s baby blanket.  Then, in the next scene, Emma is looking at an old article about how a seven-year-old boy found a baby (her) on the side of a road, mere seconds before someone brand new rides into town on a motorcycle.  While this newcomer doesn’t give his name at this point, we’ll eventually learn how ironic it was that he made his first appearance right after we’re shown that old article about baby Emma and the seven-year-old.

There’s nothing really more to be said about this episode.  Although, I did get a kick out of Evil Queen Regina’s ‘I would’ve gone with gravy.’ (You had to see the episode for this one.)  And seeing that Sneezy’s Storybrooke counterpart is Mr. Clark, a man who works at a drugstore.  Someone who sneezes randomly, even under the effects of Regina’s curse, ends up working in a drug store? Gotta love this show’s style of humor.  On a final note- to my knowledge, this episode marks the point when we start seeing Emma wearing the laces of Graham’s boots around her left wrist.  You can see it most clearly in the final scene when Emma is talking with Mary Margret.  While it’s not something that’s directly stated or pointed out in the show, the actress who portrays Emma in the show confirmed that it is indeed the shoelace from Graham’s boot in a Twitter post.  I do admit I like that little detail, especially since he’s rarely even mentioned from this point on.  As I said before, Graham was a likable character, so he deserves to at have an ongoing homage to him.

7:15 AM

Ah, another example of history repeating itself.  In the Enchanted Forest, Snow White is desperate for a chance to forget about Prince Charming, who is about to marry Midis’ daughter, Princess Abigail.  So much so, she actually goes to Rumpelstiltskin for a Forgetfulness Potion.  And in Storybrooke, Mary Margret cannot get David out of her head, resorting to borderline stalking by memorizing his schedule.  Of course, while the Enchanted Forest plotline ends on a low note, with King George forcing Snow White to tell Charming she doesn’t love him (threatening to have Charming killed if she doesn’t), followed by Snow taking the Forgetfulness Potion, the Storybrooke plotline ends with Mary Margret and David deciding to stop trying to deny their growing feelings for each other. But we’re left with a sense of foreboding, as Regina witnessed their kiss.  (Guys, I know you were caught up in the moment and all, but it was really a dumb move to kiss when you were out in the open, standing right along Main Street.  ANYONE could have seen you, and they did!)

How adorable were Mary Margret and David in this episode?  While I know it’s a longshot, I’d like to think that the dove they try to reunite with her flock is the exact same bird Charming uses to send his letter to Snow White.  They certainly look like the same species.  If I’m right, how precious is that?  The same bird bringing them together twice!  And that vet talking about the dove being monogamous birds with Mary Margret and David standing right there?  Nice metaphor.

At Regina’s urging, Emma delves into the mystery of who the newcomer we met last episode is.  However, we’re not really given any answers.  Okay, he has a typewriter.  But that explains nothing. Although, now that I think about it, this show is supposed to take place in modern times.  At least, it is during the Storybrooke scenes.  Who still uses a typewriter?  Can you even get typewriter ribbon anymore?  I’m sure if you can, it’s not easy to come by, leaving me wondering if it’s worth the effort. So the fact that he has a typewriter instead of a laptop only further makes you wonder just who this guy is.   All we get about him are hints that he knows more about Storybrooke than he lets on. 

This episode is mostly notable for the small touches.  We’re shown the friendship between Snow White and Red Riding Hood for the first time, something that continues popping up again as the story continues.  Snow White also has her first meeting with the Seven Dwarfs (Wait, there were originally eight dwarfs?  Poor Stealthy.)  In addition, we’re also told that Grumpy was once in love with someone, a plot point that’s further explored in a later episode.  And there’s Rumpelstiltskin taking one of Snow’s hairs as payment for the Forgetfulness Potion.  That’s going to be important later on.