Recap:
In Storybrooke, Sneezy crosses the town line and as a result his memories of his fairytale self are completely erased. While David prepares a speech for the town meeting, having placed himself in charge, he finds Jefferson’s hat and goes to Mr. Gold asking for a way to make the hat lead him to Jefferson. Gold complies. Following the bouncing hat, David finds Jefferson in an upside down car, but he is of no help with information.
Regina attempts to regain her magic, first by her own determination, then by searching for a special book in Mr. Gold’s store. The two mention that they are keeping a secret: both know that part of the Enchanted Forest still exists. As she walks away with the book, Gold tells her that he was not sure of it before, but she now definitely looks like her mother. Regina displays her regained magical power by interrupting the town meeting. Henry surrenders himself to her so she will leave the others alone. At home, Regina tries to persuade Henry to be happier and offers to teach him magic, but Henry says that he never wants to be her. Regina later allows Henry to go live with David.
A caravan of people approach the town line, but David and Ruby stop them. David delivers a speech trying to convince them that their lives in Storybrooke are worth living, and they soon agree to reopen the town.
As younger Regina runs from her mother, vines come to life and prevent her from leaving, prompting Regina to go on a spiel about how she does not want the life her mother is trying to give her. She confides in her father that her mother is ruining her, and he mentions that it was originally Rumplestiltskin’s fault for bringing magic into Cora’s life, thus changing her. With this information, Regina steals the special book and summons Rumple. He creates for her a portal to a “useless world,” which Regina shoves her mother into.
In the end, Emma and Mary Margaret are lead by Mulan and Sleeping Beauty as captives to a run-down town of refugees/survivors. Snow tries to run, but the two are thrown into a pit, where Cora emerges from the shadows.
Review:
Let’s call this the episode of heartfelt speeches. Henry, Regina, and David deliver them, and they fit well into the tone of the episode. Don’t get me wrong, well written speeches are among my favorite aspects of television, but the episode as a whole felt like it had slow forward motion. Sure, Regina got magic under control and David practically asserted himself as the town mayor and sheriff, but those are about the only big plot developments that happened. There was no progress with returning to the Enchanted Forest, not that it should be resolved this early, but if they keep bringing up the topic and throwing no solutions, it may get repetitive. That being said, I did enjoy this episode for the little questions it brought up here and there.
If the curse is broken, why can the residents of Storybrooke still not leave the town without something bad happening? This specific twist came as a shock; however, I did suspect that there would be at least something strange, as this is Once Upon A Time. As shocking as it was, it does make sense. If the person goes out into the “real world,” then he or she would need to be the real world counterpart. But, there seems to be something extra fishy going on with Storybrooke. We know that the town sits above the Enchanted Forest, so it has connections to the fairytale land, and we know that you can drive into Storybrooke from places such as Boston, so it has connections to the real world, but exactly how detached is Storybrooke from the real world if this twist makes it seem as if it is not fully in the real world? And did Storybrooke exist prior to the curse?
If you are at all familiar with my reviews, you probably know that the Evil Queen, in her evil Queen form, is my favorite, so the writers’ decision to go with the nurture instead of nature side of the debate is fascinating. Regina would be just as interesting of a character if she had been born and grown up as a morally challenged woman, but that makes her less sympathetic. While they give her character more depth and allow Lana Parilla to showcase her emotional range, it comes off more as a statement about there being good and evil is everyone, which I’m sure we’ve all heard before. Sometimes I just want a stone-cold villain, who happens to also be a powerful woman making her own way in the world.
There are two things concerning Henry that I thought about during this episode. First, David raising him is like the chance he never got with Emma. As I mentioned last week, I look forward to seeing the father-daughter relationship between David and Emma. Maybe by raising Henry, David will be able to project some of his fatherly qualities towards her.
Second, this episode makes me wonder if Henry will grow up to be like Regina. As much as Regina complained about not wanting to turn out like her mother, she did anyways. Even though Henry is not biologically Regina’s son, she raised him long enough to have a significant influence over the way he thinks and acts. For the preservation of goodness, I hope Henry stays innocent. He has always been the bright-eyed character who believed in Emma even when she didn’t have faith in herself, and to lose that would be sad.
When Mr. Gold finds out what happens when you cross the border, he is enraged. At the end, he stands at the town line with a contemplative and slightly upset demeanor. Considering Gold tends to have all the inside knowledge, this seems out of character. There must be something out in the real world that Mr. Gold wants more than anything else, and given his backstory, that thing may be his son, although that is just my speculation.
