What happens when you combine magic, dementors, and a mad hatter’s headgear? A season two premier of Once Upon A Time. Here is a recap and review of “Broken.”
Recap:
The episode opens in New York City, following the “Mysterious Man” as he walks to and enters his apartment. A dove flies in his window, leaving a postcard from Storybrooke that only says, “Broken.”
Moments after Emma breaks the curse, the residents of Storybrooke fill the streets and hug it out with their friends. Everyone is all smiles, except for Emma, who appears uncomfortable with the revelation that Snow White and Prince Charming are indeed her parents. Archie runs into the town square, telling them that the other citizens are marching to Regina’s house with bad intentions. Trying to scare them away, Regina attempts to use magic, but nothing happens. The Charming family proceeds to lock Regina in a jail cell.
Belle makes Mr. Gold promise not to kill Regina himself or she will not stay with him. Being the devious man that he is, Mr. Gold takes a gold medallion and stabs it with his dagger, summoning a wraith/soul sucker from below Storybrooke. Regina jolts awake, having now been inescapably marked for death. When Belle finds out, she scolds Mr. Gold and runs out, but only for a short while.
The wraith soon comes after Regina. Mary Margaret temporarily halts it with a lighter and an aerosol can. David suggests that they let Regina die, but Emma recalls her promise to Henry to keep Regina safe. Regina suggests that they send it somewhere it can do no harm and pulls out Jefferson’s hat, but needs Emma’s touch in order for it to function. In goes the wraith, along with Emma and Mary Margaret.
Meanwhile, Prince Phillip awakens Sleeping Beauty with a magical kiss, but their happiness is short lived. A wraith attacks, from which Phillip takes a gold medallion. Aurora, Phillip, and his knightly companion, who turns out to be none other than Mulan, set off to find what they refer to as a “safe haven.” On the journey, Phillip sneaks away, knowing that he has been marked.
Aurora and Mulan find Phillip as he fights off the wraith. Mulan offers to mark herself to save Phillip, but his soul is sucked. The two women return to the castle, where Mulan tells Aurora about the curse leaving a portion of the land unaffected. They soon discover that Emma and Mary Margaret are lying in front of them.
Review:
My first reaction to this episode was “hmmm…” Fittingly, the scenes in Storybrooke felt very different than they did last year. As strange as the town seemed under the curse, there is something more unnerving about it now, and as I continue to think about it, I am growing to appreciate it. The strangeness felt by the audience parallels that felt by the characters and I love the ability of a television show to suck you in that way. Also, there has to remain a distinction in tone between the fairytale land and Storybrooke, otherwise there would be no point in having two separate lands. Overall, I found the premier solid, not as exceptional as the pilot, but definitely enjoyable.
As they introduced more and more characters in season one, they seemed to pull it off quite well. But, I wonder if they will be able to keep it up with all the new characters they have lined out for this season. I am attached to the core: Mary Margaret, David, Emma, Henry, Regina, Ruby, and as much as I want to see new fairytales explored, I hope it does not become overwhelming. I remember a quote from the creators that I think is fitting in this instance as well, ”Sometimes, our ambition outweighs our technology, but we’re not going to lower our ambition.” I am going to take a moment to celebrate Meghan Ory (Ruby) being promoted to a series regular… and now let’s look more closely at the episode.
Between the “Mysterious Stranger”, a.k.a. August, and the “Mysterious Man”, the writers aren’t very creative with their code names. Regardless, I am intrigued as to the identity of this man. Could he be Henry’s father? Or Baelfire? Since he was either unable to enter Storybrooke while the curse was in place or he escaped from there, he must have some connection to the curse without being a regular fairytale character.
I am usually not that picky about characters having a certain hair color, but I cannot get past Sleeping Beauty being a brunette. But, everything on Once Upon A Time seems to be done intentionally, so maybe there is something significant about this. It just does not feel like Princess Aurora without her long blonde locks. Seeing how Snow White was portrayed as this self-sufficient, feisty woman, and then seeing Aurora (my favorite princess) as more of a damsel was a little bit of a letdown. Considering this was only her first episode, there is time for more character development.
Emma has been searching for her parents for so long that her unhappy reunion with them was heartbreaking for several reasons. First, I got the impression when Emma was rambling about them being “leaders, heroes, princes, and princesses,” that she felt she could not live up to them. Dear Emma, you just broke the Evil Queen’s curse, you’re kind of a big deal. Understandably, Emma still retains feelings of abandonment and anger for being left to grow up alone, but the fact that she criticizes her parent for sending her away but herself gave up Henry for adoption, strikes me as odd. Maybe she will soon realize this and that could help repair the relationship with her parents.
The thing that excited me most about this episode is that Emma is finally (back) in the fairytale land. I am looking forward to seeing just how much her mind is blown by that world and, depending on how long she is there, seeing how she adjusts to it. Additionally, this will give her some quality time with her mother, but I am more interested in watching how her relationship develops with her father, since they never really bonded during the first season.
Speaking of Emma and Mary Margaret being in the fairytale land, how are they going to get back? I think it’s safe to assume that they will eventually be reunited with the other characters, but will this occur in Storybrooke, or could everyone else turn up in this preserved piece of the magical kingdom?
1 Comment
The only way for Emma and Marry Margaret to return to Storybrooke is for two others to take their place. So that raises the question who from Storybrooke will be replacing them?