Once Upon A Time “True North” Recap & Review

This week on Once Upon A Time, Hansel and Gretel met the Blind Witch as their Storybrooke alter egos got to meet Emma. In both worlds, they had to cross the Evil Queen!

Here’s Stephanie Hall’s recap and review.

Recap:

The fairytale of Hansel and Gretel is brought to life. Their father sends them deep into the forest for kindling, giving them his compass to find their way back. When the kids return, where their father once was now stands the Evil Queen, who promises to reunite them with their father if they obtain something for her. She takes Hansel and Gretel to the cottage of a Blind Witch, telling them she cannot enter because magic prevents her, but children are not susceptible to its forces. Although the Evil Queen explicitly warns them not to eat anything in the house, Hansel takes a bite out of a muffin, instantly awakening the Blind Witch. Nearly escaping being eaten by the witch, Hansel and Gretel return to the Evil Queen with the item she was seeking, an apple. The Evil Queen, to reward them, invites them to live in her castle and be her children, but they refuse and are thrown by magic back into the forest. The Evil Queen calls for their father, who she had been holding captive, but sends him away, telling him that he must now search for his children in order for them to be a family again.

At a Storybrooke mart, two twins, Ava and Nicholas, are caught trying to get Henry in trouble for shoplifting. Emma finds out that the kids have been living on their own but refuses to tell social services, hoping to reunite them with their long lost father. However, Regina contacts social services and arranges for Emma to drive the children to Boston, where they will be placed in separate homes. After Ava and Nicholas give Emma a compass that belonged to their father, Emma visits Mr. Gold for information. He gives her the name of the man who purchased the compass, one Michael Tillman, a mechanic unaware that he is a father of twins. Emma pleads with him to take the children, but he refuses, so Emma is forced to begin her journey to Boston. Stopping the car just short of the Storybrooke city limit, Emma feigns car troubles and calls their father, who, once laying eyes on his children, decides to give parenthood a chance.

Henry asks Emma about his father, to which Emma responds in an elaborate and beautiful lie that she met Henry’s father at the diner where she worked. He was training to be a fireman but died rescuing someone before she could tell him that she was pregnant. In the end, Emma tells Mary Margaret about Henry’s theory that Snow White is her mother and also mentions that she may give up the search for her real parents. Mary Margaret sees Emma’s baby blanket and seems to have more of an attachment to it than just thinking it is beautiful. In continuation with the curse weakening, a mysterious unnamed man rides into Storybrooke, intending to stay for a while.

Review:

This was an episode filled with wonderful insights about Emma’s past and her feelings about Henry. As a glowing Emma lies to Henry about his father, my heart broke a little at her making up her own fairytale and wanting so badly to believe it. Thinking she alone is not good enough for Henry and fearing she will not be heroic in his eyes, Emma became a mother, exhibiting overwhelming love for a child in a desire to fulfill his dreams. After last week’s episode, I think Emma has proven that she can indeed be the hero Henry needs; now she just needs to believe it herself. The growth of her character has been fun to watch; starting out as a distant woman, Emma has now displayed a range of emotions and weaknesses, and those scenes have been some of the most interesting to watch.

I loved the way the Nicholas and Ava (Hansel and Gretel) story was paralleled with Emma’s search for her own parents and with Henry’s father. Emma can be the most fascinating of characters because she has such a broken past and struggles with it. One thing that makes her so intriguing is her air of mystery. In an organic way, the children’s story brought out much about Emma that I think the audience was dying to see. The scene towards the end when Emma is speaking to Nicholas and Ava’s father in the streets, when she says that Henry does not have his “best chance” in Storybrooke, was a excellent way to show her reflecting on whether or not giving him up for adoption was the best decision. Though I do not know if she could have raised him better, I do think that Emma can have a positive influence on his life forward, and I, for one, am rooting for her to win a custody battle against Regina.

Ever since the first episode, the Evil Queen has been one of my favorite characters, if not my favorite. Let’s face it, she is kind of awesome at being evil. But on a serious note, it is nice to see her character being layered further than just her evil nature. I think character development is one of the most important aspects of a television show, and Once Upon A Time does well with this. To be able to pass off the Evil Queen as having maternal desires while still plotting revenge and murder is a tough task handled excellently by both the writers and Lana Parrilla. There is often a little bit of humor in her lines and an always amazing wardrobe.

The only thing I wished we could have seen more of in this episode was the Blind Witch. Being a fan of Buffy, I was excited to see Emma Caulfield guest star, but her appearance was limited and rather shallow. How did she become blind? Why was she a cannibal yet had so many sweets in her house? What was her relationship with the Evil Queen? I understand that every guest star cannot be given a fully fleshed out character because of screen time, so here’s hoping for a resurrection and return appearance later down the line. Although I have enjoyed the writers introducing many new or notable fairy tale characters, I would like to see more of the core characters soon, especially the relationships among the residents of Storybrooke, whether romantic or friendship. Judging by next week’s preview, “7:15AM” may do just that.

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