The girls in the present day Enchanted Forest meet Captain Hook, while Regina and the Doctor are at odds both in the Enchanted Forest and in Storybrooke. Here is a recap and review of “The Doctor.”
Recap:
Emma, Mary Margaret, Mulan, and Aurora return to camp to find that Cora killed everyone, except for one man, who turns out to be Captain Hook. After being tied up, he confesses about Cora’s plan and says they can prevent it by going with him to find the enchanted compass, which is at the top of a giant beanstalk.
In the old Enchanted Forest, Rumpelstiltskin teaches Regina how to use magic, but she refuses to rip out innocent hearts. The Mad Hatter recommends that Regina visit a wizard-type to help her bring back the dead since her magic will not. He takes her to Dr. Whale’s fairytale self and he attempts the procedure. He tells her that the heart was not strong enough, but he was only faking the attempt. Regina shows up for another lesson, but Rumpel tells her he has found someone more dedicated. Regina is enraged and rips out the other woman’s heart. The Doctor works on a body in his lab using the storm for power; he successfully reanimates it.
Regina visits with Archie about her struggle not to use magic and tells him that she preserved Daniel’s body in her crypt, but when she goes to the coffin, it is empty. She searches for Dr. Whale, finding him missing an arm and whining, “He’s a monster.” Realizing that Daniel is back, Regina and David rush to the stable, where Henry is grooming his future steed. Regina tries to reason with Daniel, and he remembers her, but promptly experiences so much pain that Regina magically makes him go away. Dr. Whale has Mr. Gold reattach his arm, and Gold call him Victor, as in Dr. Victor Frankenstein.
Review:
“The Doctor” finally provided us with Whale’s identity, while also showing Regina’s decent into the Evil Queen at his hand. The connections between the Storybrooke storyline and the fairytale flashbacks matched up better than any previous episode more engaging. The one thing this episode was missing, which probably would not have fit with the tone anyways, was the song “Monster Mash.”
Dr. Frankenstein is the perfect role for David Anders. From his time on Alias and The Vampire Diaries, he has mastered the menacing character and this was no exception. He was great to watch trying to act innocent and skirt around Mr. Gold forcing him to admit that he needed magic and also seeing him in crazy doctor mode underneath the great lightning strikes.
Although, having Frankenstein, a well-known literary character, on a show about fairytales seems odd. I can suspend any childhood beliefs about the fairytale characters to enjoy seeing Snow build a friendship with Little Red, but the Evil Queen and Frankenstein interacting is hard to grasp. The writers have freely taken liberties with the fairytales, but here Frankenstein appeared much closer to what is written than with any other character. Perhaps a full Doctor backstory episode could help with integrating him into the story.
Was Regina’s action of ripping out the woman’s heart the initial moment in which she turned evil? If so, it was kind of a letdown. She acted more out of proving her dedication to Rumpel as a teacher than acting on her own. Since Regina is now always out for herself, you would expect her transformational moment to reflect that. The connection between Daniel not being reanimated in the Enchanted Forest and Regina murdering that woman makes me wonder if she could be headed back down the evil path. In Storybrooke, Regina has been trying to put herself on a path to redemption this season, but now that she has lost Daniel again, my hope is that she reverts back to the old manipulative, self-serving Regina. Not to say that Lana Parilla is better as one or the other because she’s wonderful at all aspects of her character, but evil Regina is more fun to watch and provides the other characters with opportunities to show their strengths as well.
Looking at season two as a whole, it almost feels as if there has been a lack of cast interaction. Every storyline is so distinct that it has become like the present day Enchanted Forest arch is a slow progressing show in and of itself. However, there was a moment when Hook was leading the girls towards the beanstalk and Mary Margaret had this impressed and proud glow on her face because of Emma. That moment reminded me of everything that has been going on thus far, but otherwise, these segments of the episodes are filler in comparison to the other locations.
Next week: Emma’s backstory is revealed!
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