Don't See Why Dwarves Don't Use The Axes To End It All

Once Upon A Time, S01E14

In the other world, dwarfs are born from eggs and live a loveless existence, knowing little of the world beyond the diamond mines.  But, hey, they get to spread joy to everyone else in the world with the fairy dust that is made from the diamonds--it all equals out, right?  Seriously, sometimes this show depresses me.  Of course, there are many things in reality that are far more depressing than little men forced to be miners for their entire lives, but I don't watch shows like this to think about the suffering in the world.  I'm just saying--those dwarfs in the fairy tale world get screwed over pretty well.  And who in the hell is making those eggs they come out of??  I suppose they can't have factories where the full-grown men are born; this is a magical place.  Eggs it is.  Still, when a human-like creature pops out of an egg and their kind is noted for lacking females, I can't easily go along with it.

OK, enough with that head-scratcher.  I think that Leroy and Astrid's romance was cute, but awfully fast-paced (as much as it can be for a nun and a drunk).  He fell for her so easily and was ready to give her the moon in a second.  Even for love-at-first-sight, he was a little too forthcoming.  Leroy told her all about his life's dream within a few minutes.  Then again, maybe that's something he does every time someone insinuates that his custodial profession isn't the most glamorous career.  This aside, they made an interesting couple with her being a klutzy dreamer and him being a scruffy scamp.  Luckily, they seemed to make a significant connection in the current world, even though there were some hiccups.

My favorite of such bumps along the road was when Leroy tried to save Astrid by selling his dream boat to Mr. Gold in exchange for money or to extend their rent payment date.  Mr. Gold reveals another level to his status of being a heartless old miser by refusing to deal with Leroy if his intention was to save the nuns.  Apparently they were a "distasteful" group that he has a "complicated" relationship with.  God, how I wanted to know more about that!  What made me love Mr. Gold even more at that moment was Leroy pointing out how surprised he was that when it came to getting his money, Mr. Gold had no special place in his heart for the Sisters:

You don't like nuns?  Who doesn't like nuns?

 It's good that I was thoroughly engaged in Leroy's story well enough that I hadn't been wondering when Mr. Gold was going to make his appearance, but I was glad when he did and have no complaints about the length he was around.  He was there long enough to kick down another person in need of money before he shuffled away with his cane.  Gotta love him.

 Another good that came out of Leroy and Astrid's "love affair," was that MM seemed to gain a little perspective about her own harlot-status while watching Leroy fight for a romance that could never be.  In fact, Leroy was great at not giving up, despite MM wanted to throw in the towel.  He even imparted upon her some wisdom about the value of creating good moments, despite they may be short-lived:

Isn't that what life's about?  Holding on to your good memories?

Indeed.  I think Leroy was just what the doctor ordered to kick MM in the ass and make her stop wallowing in self-pity.  And in the end, after they sold all the candles that seemed impossible to sell (really? everyone managed to buy off 1000 candles in one night??), some of the townspeople seemed to be warming up to MM again.  That was a nice moment that gave me those warm fuzzies I usually don't get when watching TV.

Possibly David is headed to jail for Kathryn's disappearance and the Mayor and Sidney are trying to set him up, but who gives a damn?  If MM was smart she'd keep out of it because he deserves whatever setup they are trying to pull.  But MM won't.  She'll believe in David, despite he acted like an ass.  And speaking of asses, I was so annoyed by the Mayor telling Emma to do her job or she'd find someone else to do it.  Bitch, shut up!  So tired of her trying to tell Emma how to do her job.  I was happy, though, she was barely in this episode and not preventing more love connections.

This was an unexpectedly fairly good episode about lesser characters.  However, maybe I'm a little more inclined to enjoy this story after I haven't seen much TV lately that I liked as a whole.  Either way, I think that Once Upon a Time has a good chance of fixing a spot in my primary shows if it indeed makes it to a second season.