Grannie Says Wear Yo Hood!

Once Upon A Time, S01E15

This week we got a little look into Red Riding Hood's past, aka Ruby from the diner.  I had been curious as to how Red and Snow knew each other.  The one thing I hadn't been curious about was her red hood.  It only began to be curious when her grandmother told us that the red in the hood kept wolves away.  That struck me as odd because through some kind of education (ha) about wolves, I was under the impression that red attracted wolves.  At least it did if were talking about Grimm and that very first episode.  Red's Grannie just seemed suspicious all around, but I wasn't entirely sure if she was hiding the fact that she was the wolf or not.

Thanks to the encouragement of Snow, who goes by the name "Mary" to protect herself, Red decides that she needs to go out and kill the wolf so she would be free to travel around with her love Peter.  It wasn't quite the idea that Snow had in mind, but these two fearless girls go ahead and track down a wolf that killed about five men and spilled enough blood that the well water was red.  Even though Red thinks they'll be safe since the wolf will be sleeping in the daytime, I just imagined they were going to get all those flowy cloaks they were wearing torn to shreds and painted with blood.  Instead, they think that Peter is the wolf.  It totally reminded me of that Red Riding Hood movie that came out not too long ago.  In that movie, Red's love interest was looking like the most likely candidate for the wolf too.

Red was really fearless, though.  Not only did she go wolf hunting on her own, but she also decided to stay by Peter's side if he did indeed turned into the wolf that night.  Unfortunately, she turned out to be the wolf, and Peter had no defense against her while he was chained up.  Oops.  Grannie had neglected to tell Red about the family history and the magical powers of her hood.  Lady, did you really think just yelling at your granddaughter all the time to "wear your hood!" was the best way to ensure that she stopped changing into a wolf?  She could have come up with a better lie, if she was going to lie at all.  After she killed someone, it probably would have been a good time to stop protecting her and let her know what the hell was going on with her body.  Wear your hood, indeed.

Now, back in Storybrooke, I was a little disappointed that Ruby's story didn't parallel as well.  I mean, she did try to ditch Grannie and live her own life, but there was nothing that reflected that wolf side she had in the other world.  Actually, before they showed that Red was the wolf, I kept thinking that the wolf might be that doctor, just because he was in the episode randomly (and this is no random in this show).  Perhaps they have already told us who he was in the other world, but I don't remember.  Anyway, I wanted some kind of call to her wolf nature besides that she seems to have good hearing (she found David really quickly) and instincts (finding that box with the heart in it).

I was also disappointed that Red went back to the diner.  Finding that heart was too much for her to handle.  Well, dang.  I thought it would be cool if Emma had a partner of some sorts.  Someone who could have her back when Mayor Bitch appears to tell Emma she's doing a shitty job (Lady, will you shut the hell up??).  I guess that would mess with the flow of the show?

I'm confused why David was wandering through the forest in a trance.  He was kinda doing that sort of thing when he didn't have his memories, but this is almost as if someone drugged him (maybe it was that doctor or the Mayor herself).  Still, I wish that MM didn't care about him so much and just would leave him to get arrested on his own.  Even though with MM's prints on the box in question, it looks like she will be sitting in jail instead.  Are you kidding me??  You're telling me that MM has to get into more shit again because of David.  Yes, I will still blame him even if that box was planted by the Mayor.  If David hadn't been such an asshole before, they wouldn't have set Kathryn up to disappear in the first place.

But let's be real--a heart in a box?  That has the Mayor written all over it.  Let us not forget when she took the old Sheriff's (how I miss him!) heart out of her collection and crushed it.  I mean, it's practically her hobby.  There's no other explanation.

And speaking of Mayor Bitch.  God, how I wish Emma would have slapped her, at least, when she barged into the hospital accusing Emma left and right about things.  And of course, she got in another "Hey, you haven't done your job yet and found Kathryn."  Listen, Lady, you want your "friend" back so badly, you find her!  Emma is only one woman in a town that doesn't have the best sources in the country, I'm sure.

I think I still liked last week's episode better because I can't be that invested in what might happen to David and MM.  I mean, I want MM to be okay, and I'm not sure how Emma will be able to work around the evidence, but this story at its heart is about David and MM being together, and I don't want to see that.  I don't want David to come to her rescue, nor for them to bond over one of them going to jail or worse.  No!  Just let David disappear or something!  Like he needs to go for a while, so I can care about him again (if ever).  On another note, looking forward to whose backstory they do next time.  It's amazing that they can make these episodes interesting even for those who are simply background characters (at least at this point).