Emma, The Bad Boy Magnet

Once Upon A Time, S02E06

Emma volunteered to go up the beanstalk with Hook, and they worked together to find the compass in the giant's belongings.  Emma's sorted past was revealed, where she committed petty crimes with Henry's father.

I want to start with Emma's past.  I really didn't want to see a flashback about her, even if it did shed some light on Henry's father, until I saw that her first love (I'm assuming) was played by the same guy who played Renee on True Blood!  Wow.  I couldn't help but think of him as that character throughout the episode, especially since I failed to catch his name on OUAT and had to look it up.  Besides being entertained by Neal's actor, I was engaged in her flashback when August made an appearance and became the reason that the two split.  I was further surprised that Emma only spent 11 months in a minimum-security correction facility and that was where Henry was born (although, it might have already been mentioned that he was a prison baby).  No wonder Emma has so many walls up when she spent time in jail, lost her love, and lost her baby all in a short period of time.  She sort of has August to blame for that, but if Emma wasn't already stealing cars in the first place, she would have never met Neal.  She did get a car out of it, but that's hardly a compensation.  I'm surprised that she still wanted to use it after all the pain he probably put her through.

I did like that this episode explained who the hell that guy was in the season premiere that I didn't recognize as the actor from TB at the time.  It was Neal and he had finally gotten the postcard from August that the curse was broken and he could he could return to Emma's side.  I guess.  I doubt she would take him back very easily.  That could add some drama along the way if Emma ever makes it back to Storybrooke.

But I wonder what it was that August showed Neal in that box to make him believe in magic.  Because whatever it was, how come that didn't work on Emma?  Or was it the same as her not being able to see August turning into wood thing--because she didn't want to believe, she couldn't see the magic right in front of her.  I hope they will let us know what he had in that box (unless it's something we've already been shown and I've just forgotten).

In the present, I was glad to see Emma and Hook climb the beanstalk together because they were kinda of funny.  I mean, he was telling her that he knew her because he had experiences with the Lost Boys, who had the same look as she did.  Emma didn't care for that, nor for him openly flirting with her.  This was funny, but also a little creepy because I know that Hook has to be kinda old (he's been preserved thanks to his time in Neverland).  Anyone who knew Rump before he became the Dark One, has to be a little long in the tooth.  But Hook might have just been teasing her to get her guard down and sort of gain her trust.  I liked that they managed to take the giant down together (and that the giant was played by Lost's Jorge Garcia--cool), but ultimately when the giant was free it was Emma that got shit done and got the compass in her hand.  I loved that although Hook thought they were buddies at the end, she cuffed him and left him up there so she could get a head start.

Well, Emma and the rest have half of what they need to get home, but I don't know how they'll manage to get that wardrobe dust from Cora without suffering some damage.  Plus, I don't think that Hook will be so eager to work with them again with Emma sort of betraying him (even though she had a lot of reason not to trust him).

And what's up with that red room that Aurora and Henry were dreaming about?  It sounds really creepy and makes it sound like they are connected in some way.  Their dreams did differ slightly with Aurora seeing a man looking at her, and Henry seeing a woman (were they seeing each other?).  I can't guess what kind of disaster those dreams are foretelling.

I have to admit that I missed Rump in this episode.  Every episode can't be about him, but even with these guest stars and Hook sleezing on Emma, I wasn't so focused on this week's story that I didn't wonder what was up with the rest of Storybrooke at that time.  I'm really anxious to get back to a Storybrooke-centric story.  Emma's love story was okay, but I don't think I'll be okay to see more of her story next time.  Save that for maybe five more episodes later.  Haha.

He's Pinocchio? That's Kinda Disappointing

Once Upon A Time, S01E20

Emma wanted to move forward with her custody battle against Regina, but Mr. Gold wouldn't help her.  She went to August for help, who said that he would show her the big picture that would help her defeat Regina.  However, Emma failed to believe that August was from the magic world, even though he proved to her that he was the little boy that saved her as an abandoned baby.  August's past life as Pinocchio was revealed, and we learned that his passage to the other world with Emma was conditional that he be the one to guide Emma to believe in the existence of magic and the world where fairy tales are true.  Regina also tried to snatch up David with a story about fate and a good dinner, but he wanted to just stay friends with her.

Finding out that August's illness was actually him turning back to wood (no doubt for all the things he failed to do that he promised) was less interesting than I was hoping his ailment would be.  It does explain why he looked like he was too stiff to get out of bed in another episode.  What was better about knowing his identity was that Mr. Gold had already figured it out and was rubbing the fact that he hadn't reconnected with his father in this world yet.  You have to enjoy that a little bit after the crap that August pulled in the previous episode.  I felt bad for the old man who did everything to protect his child, but his kid turned out to be August, rather than feeling for August who saw his father for the first time in about 28 years but couldn't exactly have the family reunion he wanted.  I just don't know why August hadn't found him before.  He's had plenty of time to look around town (I assume Storybrooke is not that big) and see everyone.

I don't know if I was too impressed by the fact that Pinocchio was the one who got to come with Emma in the magic wardrobe to the non-magic world.  I think it was a little pointless, really, that he did come because he didn't stay by her side long enough at all.  You can't blame a boy that young for wanting to escape a horrible place so he could have a chance at a better life instead of guarding a baby for 20 plus years.  That's a lot of responsibility for a boy that came to be from a damn piece of wood.  I did feel bad for Emma, left on her own, when she could have had someone always out there to take care of her.  If August had tried any time before Emma had entered Storybrooke to checkup on her or do the task he had been entrusted, I might have forgiven him.  But instead he waited until he started feeling his limbs turning back into wood to run to her side.  What a useless piece of wood he is!  Almost anyone (besides the Queen) would have been a better traveling companion for Emma.

I half wanted Emma to believe August in the woods, but I half wanted her to regard him as a nutcase because I just don't care to see him end up happy.  I don't know what the best way would have been for anyone to get Emma to believe at that point, but I don't think that showing her the tree that they exited out of to another world, was the best approach.  I did like that Emma figured out that August was the one who tampered with Henry's book.  Of course, that only made him look even less credible in her eyes.  I did expect, a little, that if Emma touched that tree she would get some kind vision of the magic world and start to believe.  Then again, Emma has no memories of that world since she was only there for a few minutes before they sent her away.  I guess she can't remember her mother's face or anything like that.

MM had a brilliant scene with Mayor Bitch, where she forgave her and both pitied her for her sad existence that only meant anything to herself through making others' suffer.  She totally detailed how pathetic and empty the Mayor's life is, and Mayor Bitch just had to stand there and listen.  Points for you, MM!  Later, when the Mayor was trying to get David in her clutches (no doubt to take a stab at MM), she was easily turned down.  All of the pity and talk of how it was fate that brought her to save him that cold night ain't gonna make him want her.  I hate David, but I give him credit for not being so stupid that he would think the universe wanted him to be with the Mayor.  Although, the misery she could have brought to his life could have been a good punishment for him.  Huh...  No, I wouldn't want MM to have to see Mayor Bitch being smug about having David when she couldn't.  It's better this way.  The Mayor might try some other scheme involving David later that might harm him.  That would be good.  Maybe if he almost dies, I might be happier that he's still living and still scum.

Emma started to drive off with Henry to leave Storybrooke!  Um...can Henry leave the town safely?  Also, that's pretty illegal, and I'm sure she'll be charged with kidnapping if they make it out of town.  If Emma thinks this is a good idea to get back at Mayor Bitch, she's crazier than she thinks August is.  I groaned when I saw her driving away.  This is going to blow up in her face so badly.

I think this episode was a little disappointing.  I wanted to see more of Mr. Gold getting August back for that crap he did last week, but he only seems to be teasing him more than anything.  August can frankly turn into a piece of wood right now and float away in a river.  He's just below David as my least favorite characters right now.  I think that Emma is going to be in a world of trouble if she manages to escape Storybrooke with Henry.  It disappoints me even more that she would resort to running instead of fighting at this point.  Something better get in her way as she tries to flee because I can't foresee her decision ending well for her or Henry.

I Knew I Liked Gold. And I Knew I Hated August

Once Upon A Time, S01E19

With Kathryn's return, Mary-Margaret was free, but she had no desire to get back with David.  Mr. Gold thought his long-lost son was August, but quickly realized he had been had.  August was revealed to be another person from the other world who was hoping that Emma's powers to change things might cure his illness.  Rumpelstiltskin's past with his son Baelfire was further explained, shedding light on certain things about Mr. Gold.  Emma thought that she would soon have evidence that the Mayor was behind Kathryn's disappearance, but Sidney confessed to it all.  Emma got tired of the Mayor playing around with others' lives for her own goals and told her that she was going to attack her by reclaiming Henry as her son.

I think one of the best things about MM being lifted of all her crimes is the party where she mentions that there were a lot of people celebrating her freedom, but just the other day it was like no one was her friend.  Man, true dat!  If it was me, the party would consist of me drinking and demanding that everyone apologize to me!  It was also good that she wouldn't even let David in.  I thought he might try to smooth things over, and I was worried that MM might try to take him back.  Thank God she is listening to the signs of the universe.  David's one of my least favorite people on the show.  I know that the Mayor is trying to keep them apart, but maybe with good reason this time.  David needs to do something so incredibly wonderful for MM that I can forget that he's failed her so many times.  Not sure what would be good enough.  Possibly if he made a time machine and went back and fixed his mistakes.  That might be a good place to start.

Emma didn't have a lot of screen time in this episode, but she had a great scene at the end with the Mayor.  I expected that Sidney wouldn't want to stop being Regina's bitch, but I still was pissed that he came into the station and played the role of the Mayor's scapegoat.  Good thing that Emma was just as pissed as me because she set Mayor Bitch straight and told her that things were no longer going to just go any way that she wanted from then on.  I loved when the Mayor tried to interject and Emma was like "uh-uh--I'm talking!"  Not quite sure how someone like Emma would get custody of Henry with her history and the Mayor's seemingly sparkling clean one.  Still, it would be nice if the Mayor started sweating a bit.

Speaking of making the Mayor sweat, Mr. Gold was on fire in this episode.  While the Mayor complained that he had broken their deal, he let her know that he had done everything that he had promised (which wasn't killing anyone).  She then wondered why he had brought her the curse in the first place if Gold was going to be her enemy.  Mr. Gold told her smart ass to figure it out for herself.  I hadn't thought about that issue either, so I started to wonder why he would want to go to Storybrooke in the first place.

We found out the answer after looking into Rump's past again.  I was worried that Baelfire would get killed for some reason, and that's why Rump is seen son-less later on.  But I guess that was a stupid concern because Rump turned a man into a snail and crushed him just for making Baelfire scrape his knee.  There's no way that he wouldn't have been able to use his magic to keep one measly son alive.  What happened was worse than him being killed--Rump basically abandoned him and lost faith in him.  He let his son fall into a mysterious, glowing hole in the ground by himself.  After he disappeared, Baelfire might as well have been dead at that point because who knows what would happen to him in the other world?  Especially as a boy with no parents and no knowledge of the workings of the new world?  Terrible.  At least, Rump realized his horrible mistake immediately after he had no son left to protect.  Too little, too late, though.

One of the interesting things about Baelfire's disappearance and Rump's obsession to get him back was when he spoke to the Blue Fairy.  She was the one that gave Baelfire the idea that he could get to the other world by using a curse since there were no more magic beans left to use.  The Blue Fairy told him that it would never work, but he tried to smack her (Ha!) and swore that he would get it to work.  Now it makes sense that he hates the nuns in the other world.  They're all fairies.  I hadn't thought about why he was such a nun-hating miser since that story about Grumpy, but I'm glad they explained that.  I'm surprised he hasn't evicted the nuns already (or worse).

Another interesting thing is that Rump has always been plotting for this.  He has never wanted to help the Queen, but just wanted to get to the other world so that he could be reunited with his son once again.  Obviously, it hasn't happened yet, but I bet that he needs Emma's power or something for his happy ending (assuming that Baelfire will forgive him) to come true.  As much of an unsavory character that Mr. Gold portrays himself to be, I felt for him when he was pouring his heart out to Archie and when he thought that he had found his son in August.  Who would have thought he would have a tearful hug with someone?  It was nice to see, but I was highly skeptical of August.

August didn't betray my mistrust of him.  What an asshole to pretend to be Gold's son!  Mr. Gold has never shown such a vulnerable side and this guy strolls into town and manages to get him to act like a human being.  I enjoyed Mr. Gold sharing a fake, but sweet moment, but no one could enjoy August toying with people's emotions like he did.  I don't care if he wanted to use Rump's powers to cure his illness--you don't do that to people!  Of course, Mr. Gold would have never agreed to help him in the first place no matter what he told him, but it still doesn't give him the right to use such a sneaky method.  I loved when Mr. Gold had the knife on him.  I really wish he had sliced his head off.  I'm so over August and his mysterious presence.  But Gold has something in mind for him before he kicks the bucket.  Not sure how he'll be useful to him, but we'll see in good time.  August may kick the bucket any soon, so we don't have to wait too long for him to die.  If Mr. Gold still did have his Rump powers, August would so have been a snail underneath his shoe.

So where is Baelfire?  Is he in town already but just doesn't realize Gold is his father?  No.  I doubt that.  The Storybrooke people are cursed and can't leave.  Baelfire could be anywhere in the world.  The world that Mr. Gold can't even get to if Emma doesn't break the curse.  I wonder if Emma is going to start believing in magic soon, so that she can actually make it happen.  Perhaps that's what Mr. Gold intends to use August for before he dies.  Maybe if the two work together, they may get Emma to become a believer.

Also, when is MM going to confront the Mayor about her grudge against her?  After the initial joy of being free wears off, she should definitely address that again.  She has to think that the Mayor is nuts and needs to be locked away.  Perhaps she'll just start helping Emma bring her down.  She doesn't have David to distract anymore (at least for a while, anyway).

Man, this show is so good!  I'm going to be super sad when the season ends!  There's just so much that I want to know and so little time to see all the stories before the summer.  It would be nice, though, to have Emma make some progress bringing down the Mayor.  If that and nothing else is achieved, I can be a little more content to wait until next fall.