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Once Upon a Time: The Thing You Love Most (s1e02)

by hutchm
written by hutchm

One great thing I’ve noticed in the first season of this show is that the writers seem to have mapped out the whole series in advance and while they’ve made adjustments based on what’s popular on Television and Film (the appearance of Frozen within Once Upon a Time is a key case in point) they still seem to have a clearly defined idea of where they want to take this show and where they want the characters to go.  This is much more refreshing than what happened in Lost – or at least what I feel happened in Lost and other shows like that, where no one it seemed knew what was going to happen next.

While Season 4 is currently on TV I’ve only managed to complete Season 1 (on Netflix) at this point so this post and the subsequent ones might have some spoilers or comments from the episodes I’ve seen but they won’t include the most current episodes.

For those of you that have not seen or heard of Once Upon a Time – you can read my full review of the Pilot episode here.  However in a nutshell an Evil Queen has taken all of our favorite story book characters to a new land without magic… Storybrooke, Maine!  Here all of our hero’s and villains live a normal life with no memory of who they were or where they came from.  Into this land comes Emma Swan as the Savior.  The hero that will defeat the Evil Queen and return these characters of legend to the land they truly call home.

Episode Summary

The Mayor/Evil Queen (Regina) has Henry’s book as mentioned in my last post, and as she’s looking through it, she discovers that the last few pages have been torn out. When she confronts Henry to find out what happened, he lies and tells her that its just an old book and its not surprising that some of the pages are missing. He has however removed these pages specifically and given them to Emma as the pages specifically relate to her and her past as the child of Snow White and Charming.

If you recall from my previous post, the Evil Queen pronounced that she would be casting a terrible curse on everyone at Snow White and Charming’s wedding. After she made this pronouncement, she went to see Maleficent. Maleficent it seems has the Evil Queens Dark Curse and after a quick but vicious battle, the Evil Queen won it back. When the Evil Queen completes the spell however, it fails to do anything as while she had sacrificed the heart of her prized stallion, it was not enough. The Queen would have to sacrifice more – but she didn’t know what.

She goes to visit Rumpelstiltskin who agrees to help her understand why it failed, but only if she ensures that in the new land he will be rich and wealthy. The Queen also has to promise to do anything she asks as long as he says “please”. The Queen agrees to this easily as if her curse comes to pass, he will remember nothing anyways. Rumpelstiltskin then tells her that for her curse to succeed, she must cut out the heart of the thing she loves the most … he also tells her that he’s already informed Snow White and Charming that their daughter will be the only thing able to break the curse.

The Queen returns to her castle where she confides Rumpelstiltskin’s solution to her valet & father. Realizing quickly that he is the only thing she still cares about he tries to dissuade her, but is unsuccessful as she stabs him through the heart. Returning to the site where she was unsuccessful in her first attempt to launch the curse, the Queen tries again, this time with her fathers heart and thick black smoke starts to boil out. As the curse takes shape, she lays a black rose on her father’s grave. The headstone bears the inscription “Henry, Beloved Father.”

Henry and Emma agree to come up with a plan to break the curse – Operation Cobra – and while Emma is doing it just to humor Henry, Henry obviously believes very strongly that each character in his book is somehow linked to someone in town. Emma becoming ever more concerned about Henry’s state of mind, visits Archie Hopper – Henry’s therapist – who tells her that she should go along with his psychosis as to do otherwise would be damaging to Henry. He subsequently gives Emma Henry‘s file (not too much concern about Doctor patient confidentiality here!) and while Emma is reading this, she is arrested again when Archie claims (under duress from the Queen of course) that she stole it.

Regina continues to try and push Emma out of Storybrooke and while her search with Sidney (the editor of the Daily Mirror) for something negative about Emma after her  previous accident and incarceration didn’t turn up anything, she’s hoping that this second arrest will make Henry see that Emma is not good for him (NOTE: in these early  episodes its really hard to tell if Henry is onto something or if he is really insane. Regina seems really normal and while the fairy-tale elements of her life portray her  as the Evil Queen she definitely doesn’t act that way with Henry). Not only is this attack by Regina unsuccessful, Emma retaliates by attacking Regina’s apple tree with a  chainsaw!

Trying to fix her apple tree, Mr. Gold appears and tells Regina that he can help her get rid of Emma. Not wanting to make another deal with him (she mentions that he’d helped her get Henry from somewhere) she rebuffs him. However as she asks him questions about Emma and his past, he ddeclinesto comment and when Regina tries to block his exit, he leaves after asking her to “please” let him by. As Gold walks away, Regina gives him a meaningful stare and the question becomes does he remember?

Wow – writing this post now, its hard to believe that all of that happened in just one episode! It wasn’t that long ago that I watched it, but this while only the 2nd episode of the series is one of the most pivotal and has so much information in it is scary! Keep tuned for Episode 3 – coming soon

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Once Upon A TimeTelevision

Once Upon a Time – Snow Falls (S1E03)

by hutchm
written by hutchm

OK lets continue the Once Upon a Time journey … sorry these are a big disjointed … I’m actually half way through Season 2 right now, but have only managed to get three (this one included) of the Season 1 posts up.  Hopefully I can do a real big  catch up in the coming weeks and get a lot closer to real time.  I could always do a round up of each season, but I really am enjoying this show so its quite nice revisiting it and going through it in more detail so I hope you’ll bear with me?  If you’d like to read the previous posts, you can find all of them at the Once Upon a Time page on my site so please feel free to click there.  Otherwise I’ll give you a really brief recap below to catch you up.

OK, ready?  Here we go.

In Once Upon a Time all of the hero’s (and villains) from myth, legend and fairytale have been sucked away from the Enchanted forest to Storybrooke, Maine. This simple, idyllic town is ruled by the ruthless Mayor (aka the Evil Queen) and the fairytale characters can only be released from their curse if a prophecy comes to pass.  Henry (Emma’s real son and the Evil Queen’s adopted child) is brought back to Storybrooke to break the curse and we quickly come to see that Henry might actually be right – there is definitely something wrong/different about the characters as we’re treated to flashbacks of who the are (might be) in a different – fairytale world.

Episode Recap

In the real world, Mary Margaret is on a not very successful date with Dr. Whale who is busy admiring Ruby the waitress. When she sees Emma sleeping in her car (remember she got kicked out of the inn last episode), she offers her a place to stay, but Emma refuses stating that she’s not the “roommate type”.

The next day, Mary Margaret is volunteering at the hospital, and she notices Henry sitting with John Doe . He asks what is wrong with the patient, and Mary Margaret explains that he has been there as long as she has been volunteering, and no one knows who he is or what family he has. Henry questions her certainty that she does not know who he is, but Mary Margaret assures him that she does not. Henry meets with Emma and tells her that he has found her father, Prince Charming, and that he is the John Doe patient.

While we learned in the previous episode that Emma doesn’t really believe, she agrees to humor Henry and persuades Mary Margaret (Snow White) that she should read a story to the comatose John Doe (Prince Charming) and while Mary Margaret doesn’t think it will do anything she also doesn’t think it will hurt agrees to play along to help Henry deal with his psychosis.  As Mary Margaret is reading to him however he grabs her hand … Mary Margaret immediately jumps up to summon Dr. Whale, but he tells her that she must have dozed off as there is nothing there.  After she leaves though, he contacts Regina and tells her what happened and that Mary Margaret was there.

In a flashback however we’re actually witness to Snow White and Prince Charming’s first meeting when she confronts and robs a coach carrying Prince Charming and his betrothed fiancee Abigail through the woods.  When Charming catches up to her, she stuns him with a rock to the head, leaving him with a cut on his chin and makes her escape.  However Charming is definitely more than we have seen and is not just a simple Prince as he manages to track down Snow White and ensnares her in a trap demanding that she return the jewels she stole from him.  Snow White says that she sold them but when the Prince threatens to turn her over to the Evil Queen she agrees to help him retrieve the jewels.

Back in the real world, Mary Margaret meets up with Emma and Henry in Granny’s cafe and tells them that John Doe (Prince Charming) had grabbed her hand as she was reading to him.  They both insist that she needs to go back immediately and see what happens next but when they arrive at the hospital, Sheriff Graham is there and he tells them that the patient has gone missing.  Regina is also there and demands to know what they are doing there … when Emma asks the same question, Regina informs them that she is John Doe’s emergency contact as she found him on the side of the road and brought him to the hospital in the first place.  When Emma and Graham review the security tapes, they quickly figure out that John Doe walked out on his own into the nearby woods.

Flashback to fairyland and we see Snow White leading Prince Charming through the woods to where she sold the jewels.  When Charming sees Snow holding a necklace, he confronts her about it and she tells him that it is filled with fairy dust that can transform any enemy into something harmless. Prince Charming figures that she plans to use it on the Evil Queen and points out that Snow White has a lot of anger. The thief explains that the charges against her are false and that she only lived because the Queen sent the Huntsman to rip out her heart, but he took pity on her and let her go.  When the Queens guards find and try to capture Snow White, Charming manages to kill them saving her life and Snow White agrees to take him to the troll group who she sold the jewels too.

Back in the real world, Henry has managed to sneak away from his mom again (by the way, this is fairly continuous throughout the course of this season and you really have to wonder what the heck Regina is doing … she’s completely useless at keeping an eye on Henry as he seems to be able to escape from her with impunity) and catches up to Emma and Mary Margaret in the woods.  He informs them that the reason John Doe is here, is that he is looking for Snow White just like in the story book.  Mary Margaret does not believe Henry, who insists that she needs to stop and let John Doe catch up to her. Emma tells him to go home, but as Henry argues, Graham calls them over. He has found John Doe’s patient tag with blood on it.

In the Enchanted Forest again, we see that Snow and Charming have finally made it to the troll bridge, but they are quickly surrounded by the trolls.  While Snow tries to negotiate for the return of the jewels, the trolls attack and after capturing Charming realize that they have the chance of a much larger reward from the Queen when they see Snow’s wanted poster.  Snow White is forced to use her magic fairy dust to help them escape and they are able to retrieve Charmings jewels.  Prince Charming gives Snow White the gold back, and she gives him the ring. He comments that it is not her style, and she tries it on. He stares at her for a moment, and then Snow White agrees that it is not her style and hands it back. Prince Charming offers her the rest of the jewels, but she says that she has what she needs. He wishes her well, and says that if she needs anything… and Snow White finishes the sentiment: “he’ll always find her”. They say their goodbyes and go their separate ways.

In the real world once again, the blood trail left by John Doe leads to the old toll (troll) bridge where they find John Doe lying in the stream.  When Mary Margaret administers CPR, he finally wakes up and says that she saved him, while an astonished Emma looks on.  After they get him back to the hospital, Dr. Whate works on him and a new strange woman (the same lady as we saw in one of the flashbacks as his fiancee) rushes to him – calling John Doe, “David” she claims to be his wife, Kathryn Nolan.  Regina arrives to confirm that this is the case.  When Kathryn speaks to Emma and Mary Margaret to thank them for saving David, she states that she had thought he’d simply left town as they were having problems and didn’t know that he was in the hospital but now she has a second chance to say she is sorry.  As Kathryn goes to her husband, Henry goes to get his backpack. He whispers to Mary Margaret that David had been going to the bridge to look for her, and that they belonged together. As Regina leaves with Henry, Emma catches up to her and points out that Kathryn’s story sounds fake. She points out how convenient it is that Regina just now found Kathryn, and Regina says that after Emma went over the tapes, they checked past tapes and found out that David mentioned Kathryn’s name in his sleep from time to time.  She also mentions that true love has won out and that they will be together thanks to Emma and Mary Margaret.

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Once Upon A Time

Once Upon a Time – S1E04 – The Price of Gold

by hutchm
written by hutchm

It’s been a while since I’ve had the opportunity of visiting our friends in Storybrooke, but I’ll try to catch you all quickly over the coming months so that we’re reasonably up to date by the next season.  If you’ve never seen this show before, allow me to give you a (very brief) recap of what’s going on.  You could also read my previous posts which give  you quite a bit more detail at these links – (EP1) Pilot, (EP2) The Thing you love most, (EP3) Snow Falls.  Once Upon a Time is an episodic television show where we are generally introduced to new characters and story’s each week – the twist with this show however is that these characters story’s are told from the point of view of where they are now in Storybrooke, Maine AND ALSO who they were before in a fairytale world.  You see an Evil Queen (the Mayor of Storybrooke) has taken all of our favorite story book characters to a new land without magic… Storybrooke, Maine!  Here all of our hero’s and villains live a normal life with no memory of who they were or where they came from.  Into this land comes Emma Swan as the Savior.  The hero that will defeat the Evil Queen and return these characters of legend to the land they truly call home.

In the fourth episode we’re introduced to another “throwaway” character.  Unfortunately as I’ve mentioned earlier most episodes so far introduce new characters and story’s but as you can imagine this would quickly get unwieldy with hundreds of different characters running around so quite often the characters that a story is based around are seen only once – they do still serve a purpose in helping to drive the underlying story (Emma as the savior) forward and while some episodes do feel like “filler” episodes, there are generally 1 or 2 different things that are definitely worth noting.  In The Price of Gold, we’re introduced to a young pregnant woman (Jessy Schram) in Storybrooke.  It seems that her paramour and the father of her child left her when he found out that she was pregnant leaving her to have and look after the child on her own.  Emma meets her while doing her laundry and helps her realize that she shouldn’t feel sorry for herself and that giving up the child would be a mistake.  She explains a similar mistake that she herself made – with Henry – and the constant regret that this caused her.  In the Enchanted Forest, Cinderella (“Ella”) is about to receive a wish from her fairy godmother, but the godmother is killed first by Rumpelstiltskin (Robert Carlyle) and robbed of her wand. He grants Ella (Jessy Schram) her wish to escape her home, but in return requires her to sign a contract. Rumpelstiltskin transforms Ella into an elegant woman complete with glass slippers, warning her that all magic has a price.  One thing you will learn is that Rumple is a constant in the show and while he’s meant to be one of the baddies – he is simply too delightful as a character to really despise and he really is awesome and amazing!

As the story progresses we learn that in Storybrooke, the girl (Ashley) had offered her baby up to Gold (Rumplestiltskin).  After Emma’s speech to her however she realizes that doing this would be a significant mistake and breaks into Gold’s office to steal the contract that she signed with him.  Gold however catches her in the act and while she’s able to knock him out and escape, he knows that she’s taken the contract and enlists Emma’s help to find “an item of value”.  Similarly in the Enchanted Forest, Rumplestiltskin approaches Ella (Cinderlla) at her gala wedding ball.  He tells her that the price of  his help is that she needs to give him her firstborn child.  When Ella tells Thomas (her husband) about this deal, they enlist the help of Charming, Grumpy and the Blue Fairy to trick Rumple by offering him a “new deal”.  The new deal would be for Ella’s twin children in exchange for Rumple also helping improve the crops and wealth of the kingdom. A skeptical Rumpelstiltskin agrees, but as he signs the contract, he is rendered powerless due to a special red quill pen, that was created by The Blue Fairy. He is captured, but Thomas disappears soon after. Ella demands that Rumpelstiltskin tell her what has happened, but he claims not to have done anything. He reminds her that all magic has a price, and that until her debt is paid she will never see Thomas again.

Back in Storybrooke, Emma finds out that Ashley’s boyfriend – Sean – actually didn’t even know he was going to be a father and in fact it was his father that had negotiated the deal with Gold in the first place.  Sean’s father didn’t think that Ashley was suitable for his son and has forced him not to get involved with her.  Unable to persuade Sean to help her, Emma realizes that Ashley has stolen Ruby’s car and is attempting to escape Storybrooke.  However as we learned in an earlier episode, if any of the characters from the Enchanted Forest attempt to leave they will die – fortunately near the town lines, Emma and Henry find Ashley’s car crashed, with Ashley about to deliver the baby.

Emma gets Ashley to the hospital in time for her to give birth to a beautiful baby girl.  As Gold tries to take the child away Emma makes him realize that no court would authorize a contract for sale of a child and Gold could be in severe legal trouble.  Mr. Gold then offers a deal for Emma in which he’ll give up his questionable claim to the child and in return, Emma will owe him a favor. Emma agrees. After she leaves, Sean shows up to see his child, and they name the girl Alexandra. The episode ends with Emma agreeing to become Graham’s deputy.

Review

I guess as mentioned at the start, this episode is one of the throw away ones … while Ella and Thomas do appear a couple more times they actually aren’t really key characters in the story and aren’t ones that you’re really going to become too invested in.  Perhaps the most interesting part of this episode is the magic ink that can incapacitate Gold/Rumplestiltskin … this will play a factor in future episodes and is worth remembering.

 

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Once Upon A Time

ONCE UPON A TIME: PILOT (S1E01)

by hutchm
written by hutchm

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away … oops, sorry … I’m getting my genres all mixed up!  Let’s try that again shall we?!

Once upon a time in a fairy tale land, a wicked witch casts an epic curse and the land is encased in darkness.  The only way that the good can triumph is if a hero can save the people and defeat the evil witch.

Sounds fairly normal – for a fairy tale – doesn’t it?  Well this show is anything but!  Once Upon A Time while still a fairy tale, is one that has been reimaged for our generation and while many of our favorite characters are there – they are changed in weird and wonderful ways.

The first episode of Once Upon A Time introduces us to each of the main characters of the show:

There are a host of other characters and we’ll be discussing them in future posts as Once Upon A Time does a great job of focusing on the story of one individual and using that story to drive the underlying mythology of the show forward.

Format of the reviews … Once Upon A Time is going to be somewhat different to most of my other reviews I suspect simply because of the two completely different yet related storylines running simultaneously throughout each episode.  It probably makes sense to cover the Storybrooke elements as one piece and the Fairy Tale elements as another vs. jumping back and forth between them, but lets see how it goes!

Pilot

We are first introduced to Emma in present day Boston as she meets a man in a restaurant for what we think is a blind date.  In reality Emma Swan is a tough as nails bail bondsman and bounty hunter and her date is a bale hopper that she is set on pursuing.  Quickly capturing her prey while lecturing him on the importance of family, Emma returns to her single, lonely apartment where she pulls out a birthday cupcake for herself.  Making a wish while blowing out the candle, Emma is surprised to hear a knock at her door.

Henry – Emma’s long lost son – has it seems managed to track her down and once he is able to persuade Emma that he is in fact who he claims to be, Emma agrees to take him … back to Storybrooke, Maine. Along the way, Henry shows her a large book of fairy tales he has, insisting that all of the stories in it are real.  Emma – of course – like all good Mom’s simply rolls her eyes!

Arriving in Storybrooke, Henry further informs her, that not only are all the stories in the book real, but in fact all the people in the town are characters in this book and they have all been cursed by an evil witch and have no memory of who they really are.  Coincidentally just when Emma is thinking Henry must be a complete and utter lunatic, she meets Henry’s therapist – Archie Hopper.  Archie gives Emma the directions to Henry’s home so that she can deliver him to his step mother and as he walks away, Henry lets Emma know that Archie is actually Jiminy Cricket!  Henry claims that time is frozen (see below) in Storybrooke and the people are unable to leave, but that the curse will be broken by Emma.

Emma manages to get Henry back to his home where he meets his stepmother … who just happens to be the Mayor of Storybrooke and she is definitely not happy to see Emma and is also quite upset with Henry for running off.  Regina (who happens to be the Evil Queen/Witch) gives Emma some apple cider (remember the story of Snow White?) which causes Emma to have an accident when she tries to leave Storybrooke.  Emma is arrested by the town Sheriff and taken to the town jail, but when Henry runs away from home again, she makes a deal with the Sheriff and Mayor to have her released so that she can help find Henry.

She manages to track Henry down and after speaking to him, agrees to stay on in Storybrooke – at least temporarily – until she is sure that Henry is safe as while she still thinks he’s nuts, she has started to care about him and about having someone in her lonely life.

Emma books a room for herself at Granny’s Bed & Breakfast where she witnesses Granny & Ruby (both from Little Red Riding Hood) having a dispute.  Getting a key to a room – we see here that Granny has not had many other visitors by the looks of the cobwebs on the keys, so how is she staying in business?  Is there truth to Henry’s fantasy? – she bumps into Mr. Gold … Mr. Gold (Rumpelstiltskin) owns Storybrooke and by the look on Granny & Ruby’s faces, he is much feared.

Emma’s decision to stay in Storybrooke causes the hands of the town clock, previously frozen at 8:15, to begin moving again.

In the land of make believe

Prince Charming rides to rescue Snow White who is in a crystal coffin after eating a poisoned apple given to her by the Evil Queen.  Breaking the curse by giving Snow White a kiss (true love – see how this is handled in Maleficent) Snow White and Charming are married in a magnificent ceremony.

On the day of the wedding however, the Evil Queen arrives and threatens the whole kingdom with a powerful curse that she will release upon the land.  Stating that they should enjoy this time now, as the future will be terrible for all she escapes into mist as Charming throws his sword at her.

After what is assumed, many happy months, Snow White and Charming are expecting their first child.  Worried now about the threat from the Queen, Snow White visits Rumplestiltskin who informs her that the curse is real and that the only chance they all have is Snow White’s unborn daughter.  Rumplestiltskin states that Emma will return when she is 28 years old (see the previous note about Emma blowing out her birthday cupcake and the clock) to save them all.

On the day that Snow White gives birth to Emma, the Queen’s prophecy comes true and Charming is only able to save Emma by placing her in a magic wardrobe that removes her from Storybrooke, but in doing so he gives up his own life.  The Queen stands triumphantly over Snow White and Prince Charming, as the Curse takes them “somewhere horrible.”

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