Killing Two Birds With One Apple

Once Upon A Time, S01E21

A dream of her downfall and a dying an apple tree made the Mayor frightened enough to stop the games with Emma and actively get rid of her before she broke the curse.  She found no help with Mr. Gold, so she got Jefferson to aid her with his magic hat.  Using the last bit of magic she owned, the Mayor was able to procure the same apple that she used to take down Snow in the magic world.  She offered this apple to Emma in a turnover, which Henry ate to prove to Emma that magic still existed.  We also got to see when Snow tried to rescue Charming from King George and then later from the Queen.  To save him from the Queen, Snow had to willing eat the poison apple, so she took a bite and fell down to the ground lifeless.

In Storybrooke, Henry thankfully stopped Emma from taking them out of town together.  Later, MM also scolded her for doing something so rash and abandoning the very people she had said were her family not too long ago.  I was really hoping that the talk MM had with Emma (it was nice because she was quite tough on her like she was her real mother) would have convinced Emma that she needed to stay.  However, after Emma spoke with Archie, she decided to wave the white flag and leave by herself.  No matter how much she tries to make it seem like she's doing it to stop interrupting Henry's life, it just looks like she's giving up.  I'm really starting to get frustrated with her.  Probably as much as Henry is.

I was surprised to see Jefferson again because I thought he had fallen into a hat that Emma had made, but I guess not.  I'm still really puzzled as to how he fell from that window and was okay.  Because he seemed perfectly fine when he arrived at the Mayor's house.  I hated that he agreed to work with her again, when he knows that his miserable life right now is all her fault.  But she offered him a chance at a new life together with his daughter, so how could he refuse?  Boo.  Not only that, but he helped her get that apple that killed Snow in the past.  Great.  I was hoping that she would have just wasted her last bit of magic in the ring that Daniel had left her.  But no, she managed to get the apple.

But I don't know why the Queen chose to use that to get rid of Emma because it didn't get rid of her mother.  It's nice that she's recycling, but Snow woke up from that apple bite (otherwise Emma would have never been born).  Unless Emma couldn't be woken from that spell because she lacks a true love (God, I hope that her true love was the former sheriff--he was amazing)?  I hope that was her thinking because if it didn't kill one person, why use the same apple to try again?  The Mayor had few options left, but there had to be something else up her evil sleeve that she could have grabbed.

I expected that Emma would be end up like Snow until the Mayor went to gloat to Gold about how she had strengthened her curse and Gold warned her that all magic comes with a price.  She told him that he could pay that price and left after some more gloating, but since Henry was the one who ate her tainted apple turnover, it looks like the Mayor's paid the price after all.  How the hell will Henry wake up?   Maybe if Emma starts to believe he'll wake up?  Seeing him take the fall instead of Emma was such an exciting ending to a good episode, though.

The last thing I thought was very interesting in this episode was when the Queen offered to let Charming live if Snow ate the apple.  The concept of Snow sacrificing herself to save her prince was much different than the Snow White story that I've usually seen.  I liked that the Queen's apple couldn't just be forced down anyone's throat, but had to be eaten willingly for it to work.  I guess that in the tale I know, Snow does take the apple from a strange, old lady willingly, but I always think of it as some kind of big trick.  I mean, Queen Regina told her straight up what would happen to her if she ate the apple, which is refreshing for a villain.  Maybe the honesty is the part that makes it worse, though?  But it also makes her "death" a little more noble and sad.  I can't wait to see what Charming will do once he finds Snow again.

Sunday can't come soon enough again!  I'm so anxious to see if Henry's sacrifice will do the trick of getting Emma to believe.  If nothing else, Emma will have some evidence that the Mayor is an unsuitable mother because she poisoned her own kid.  There's no way Mayor Bitch can scheme her way out of that.  The proof is in the turnover!