The Price Of Loving Rumpelstiltskin

Once Upon A Time, S02E16

Snow, Charming, Rumpelstiltskin, Emma, and Neal holed up in Gold's pawn shop to protect themselves from the upcoming attack from Cora and Regina.  Rumpelstiltskin told Snow that the only was for them to defeat Cora before she came to steal his powers was to use the black magic candle to kill Cora first.  In the past, Cora and Rumpelstiltskin's first meeting was revealed, as well as Cora's determination to rise to power and get revenge on those who had humiliated her.

It was amazing to me that with so little defense with Rump being indisposed that Cora and Regina weren't able to get Rump much faster.  Of course, that would be no fun for the viewers, so there was enough time for Rump to teach Emma some magical techniques before they were attacked.  I liked seeing Rump have to rely on Emma and him yelling at her when she was using magic in the wrong way (using her head too much).  It would be cool if he continued to teach her some things, even though I don't think her parents would much approve of her learning from the Dark One.

Then again, Snow herself decided to use the candle to save her family, so she shouldn't be able to judge.  I really liked when she told Rump that she should just let him die and then control Cora to make her do the right thing when she got her hidden heart.  That actually would have been the least evil thing for her to do, I guess, but Rump easily played the grandfather card.  How sneaky of him to only care about being Henry's grandfather when it could save his life.  Like he gives a damn about Henry right now.  I love that they have this bond to Rump that prevents them from getting rid of him out of convenience.

Undoubtedly, the best part of Rump edging closing to death while Regina and Cora loomed closer to the shop was when Rump called Belle.  I'm fairly sure it wasn't some kind of act because I doubt he would lie there and talk about his true feelings with an audience if he didn't have a choice about it.  I was starting to get worried that he would end up dying by Cora's hand any moment and got teary-eyed when he was telling Belle all about how wonderful of a person she was but didn't know it yet.  It got even more emotional when Neal was touched by Rump exposing his human side and the two of them embraced each other.  I know that Neal is still far from forgiving him, but I loved seeing the healing process start!  It was then that I felt like I wouldn't be able to keep watching if Rump did indeed meet his end in this episode.

Thankfully, Snow did the "wrong" thing and used the candle over Cora's heart and gave the heart back to Regina.  It did leave a bad taste in my mouth the way Snow had to tell Regina that she could get her mother's love if she put her heart back into her body, knowing that once she did Cora would die.  I never liked Cora, even after hearing her back story, but I felt for Regina when she had about a minute to enjoy her mother's loving gaze before she crumpled down to her death.  It was either her or Rump, and I'll choose her over Rump any day.

I'm worried about Snow, who made it very clear that she was the one who made Cora die by bursting in the room to warn Regina way too late.  I would say that they were sort of even, but it was Cora who killed Snow's mother, not Regina.  So it doesn't feel very much like justice in Regina's position anyway.  I'm just glad that Snow did regret her actions before she had to see Cora dead.  I would have hated her to be happy about Cora's death.  Regina's definitely going to go for her blood, which I'm not looking forward to. Maybe Rump, who's now part of the extended family, might lend a helping hand?  They're always getting flicked away in a second when faced against magic, so it would help to have someone magical on their side (if Emma's not going to be that person).

Cora's back story was certainly intriguing.  I never thought she would be that girl in the Rumpelstiltskin tale that we know.  It all started when Eva, Snow's mother, tripped and embarrassed her in front of several people.  That was a horrible moment for Cora, but to hold onto that grudge for so long that she would hurt every person along the way is insane.  However, you can't ignore that Rumpelstiltskin was mostly to blame for Cora turning into the monster she was.  He was the one that taught her magic and how to remove hearts.  He was a fool, for many reasons, for trusting and falling in love with her.

From that earlier scene when Cora first came to town and Rump and she kissed, it was evident that something had been between them once.  Still, I hoped that Rump was not going to get involved with her when I was watching the story in the past.  Frankly, I thought it was a little gross to see them kissing and such.  Ugh.  It's mainly because you know what kind of person Cora turned out to be.  It doesn't help that if it's not Belle, it seems wrong to me, even though what Cora and Rump had was many, many years before Belle even came into the picture.  I hated the momentary coupling between Cora and Rump even more when Cora easily chose power over her love for him.

Amazingly, Cora seems to be the only one who's ever bested Rump in one of his contracts.  She got him to revise the document to better serve herself and when she told him that she was leaving him, Cora reminded him that she didn't owe him a child or anything else now.  That was impressive.  She had taken out her own heart (instead of that hateful father-in-law of hers) and made sure that she would stick to her decision to keep climbing the ladder without her love for Rump getting in the way.  Wow.  It's amazing that she got away with it, that is until it came full circle when she tried to take Rump's power away.  It seemed kind of appropriate that after double-crossing him in the past and trying to take away his Dark One powers that Cora was the one who ended up dead.  She spent all of her life fighting to be on the top and finally it was her own undoing.  If only she had just lived happily with either Herny, who gave her Regina, or Rump, who would have given her true love.  Her demise would be a sad ending, if I liked Cora better.

It also caught my attention that Cora was once a queen.  I knew that she and Regina were sort of well-to-do in the past, but it never occurred to me that they were former royalty.  I guess eventually all that spinning straw into gold didn't allow the kingdom to thrive forever.  If not, I would wonder why Regina would have to marry that other king to become a queen.  She should have been able to become a queen in her own country.  Now I'm interested to know what went wrong after Cora married Henry.  It's obvious that she kept tabs on Eva so she could find a chance to get back at her, but not so clear what happened in the time between Snow and Regina meeting for the first time.  Her story introduced a lot of new questions for me.

Loved this episode.  There was a lot of suspense around whether we would see Rumpelstiltskin die and whether Snow would cross over to the dark side and kill Cora.  Since the latter happened, I'm concerned about the war between Regina and Snow that's started (or rekindled).  If Regina hated Snow before, she's going to increase that hatred my tenfold now that Snow was the one responsible for Cora's death.  I feel for Regina who never got her mother's love, but I also feel for Snow who won't be able erases that black mark on her conscience.  Hopefully, Snow won't let her guilt and regret make her more susceptible to Regina's attacks.  She can't afford to let her lapse in judgement make her vulnerable.  As for Rumpelstiltskin, it was unnerving to see him with Cora in the past, but I'm glad in the present he showed his love for Belle and it made an impression on Neal.  With Rumpelstiltskin still having a long life ahead of him, I want to see him continue to make progress with his son.  There's nothing more I'd love to see than the two of them repairing their father-son bond.

Is Staying Good Good For Snow?

Once Upon A Time, S02E15

Snow discovered Regina and Kora's plan, and she and David rushed to find Rumpelstiltskin's dagger first.  In the past, Snow tried to find a way to save her ill mother and fought the urge to use dark magic to achieve that.  In New York, Rumpelstiltskin asked Emma to convince Neal to come to Storybrooke with them and tried to endure Henry's anger.  They had to make hurried plans back to Storybrooke when Hook unexpectedly showed up and attacked Rumpelstiltskin.

I thought maybe Regina and Kora so openly talking about their plan to get control of Rumpelstiltskin was incredibly foolish until I realized they must have wanted their plan revealed in order to have Snow and David lead them right to it.  I mean, they shouldn't be doing anything supsicious in town, at least not together if they can help it.  I don't know why else they would risk being overheard when there's no guarantee that no one would see them out in the open like that.  I'd just like to believe that they are sneakier than they look, rather than careless.

I don't know if it was the best idea for Snow to confront Regina about the truth and appeal to her distrust of her mother.  If anything, it seemed to convince Regina to continue with her mother's plan rather than bother to win over the townspeople who would probably take a hundred years to honestly forgive her crimes.  I mean, Regina did seem a little doubtful of her mother's intentions when she heard that there was a beef between Snow's mother and her own, but so far it doesn't look like Snow's words really reached Regina at all.  I'm sure there will come a time where Snow will prove to be right (I totally agree that Kora would kill Henry in a second if he got in her way), but I think Regina will have to see her mother betray her first before she realizes that.

It was horrible that we got to see someone who played a mother-like figure for Snow get killed so easily during that dagger exchange.  I sort of wanted Snow to hold onto the dagger and let Johanna go, even if that would be cruel to an innocent woman.  The things that Regina and Kora could do with Rump in their power would be far worse than one old woman dying.  But Snow being the Snow who wouldn't even execute Regina, handed over the dagger in the end.  And her reward for doing the "right" thing was that Johanna got her heart back only to be pushed out of the window to her death.  Kora is not playing around!  She seems much more frightening now that it's clear that she has an axe to grind with Snow as well.

In the past, I didn't care too much about the Queen's illness as much as I did the meeting between Snow and the "Blue Fairy."  Even though I knew that Snow's mother died, I felt a little afraid she was going to sacrifice someone's life with that candle and it would turn out not to work at all (letting two people die).  Instead, Snow followed her mother's wish to stay good and stayed away from black magic.  It was a surprise to find out the whole thing was just a plot by Kora to get Snow to go to the dark side.  It was a little disturbing to see Kora hovering over the Queen's dead body, gloating about how she was going to corrupt Snow one day.  What in the world did Snow's mom do to Kora?  Did she just hate her because Kora was a miller's daughter and Snow's mother happened to be royalty?  There's got to be more to that story than that.

I feel a bit disappointed that Snow is deciding to stray from the path of good and dip her toe into the dark side.  Sure, I'm all for killing Kora--that bitch needs to die--but I'd hate to see Kora win by tainting Snow and getting revenge on her mother as well.  Charming tried (and I'm sure will keep trying) to tell her about this, but Snow rationalized that all of her seemingly good choices had led to bad endings.  I can't argue with her there, but almost all of that was due to someone else wanting to do her harm.  You can't beat evil with evil--it doesn't work that way.  I really hope once Emma comes back she might be able to convince her mother that being a cold-blooded murderer isn't the best decision.

Speaking of Emma, I hate that she has to put up with Henry's attitude.  I really wanted to punch him in his face when he talked about how the pizza didn't lie to him.  Shut the hell up, Henry!  How is Emma supposed to make up for her lies when Henry keeps throwing it in her face?  I'm starting to wish that Rump would kill Henry for whatever reason he needs to.

I really liked, though, when Henry asked Rump if he should call him "Grandpa" now.  Rump casually told him to call him whatever he liked.  It's funny that Rump doesn't really seem to care all that much that Henry is related to him now.  I mean, he's not thrilled or anything.  I think he likes better that Emma is sort of connected to him and he can get her to help with Bae a little bit by using Henry.  Can't blame him for that.  His son barely wants anything to do with him, so he's got to use whatever method he can.

The biggest surprise in this episode was when Hook attacked Rump seemingly out of nowhere!  One moment he was in Storybrooke reclaiming his hook, and the next he was stabbing Rump through the chest.  That was crazy!  Later, they explained that he used he boat to travel so quickly, but it still feels like he teleported or something.  I was just so shocked that Hook showed up that I couldn't pay attention to the mortal wound that Rump had been given.  I felt like he was going to be okay (even though he was poisoned) because he was well enough to yell at Henry to stay away and blame him for everything.

I can't believe that Neal once lived in Neverland.  That's the only explanation of how he knows Hook and isn't much older than he should be.  If they reveal he's freaking Peter Pan too, I'm going to be pissed.  That's too much for one character to be.  Come on.  But at least it allows Neal to be able to navigate a boat that could get them back to Storybrooke quickly (although how the hell will they find the boat?).  I'm about ready for them to get back and have them deal with this dagger business.

Speaking of that dagger, which Rump had hidden in a pretty clever place, I guess it wasn't the best idea for him to entrust the location to Emma and the others.  Snow and Charming had that thing for like two minutes before it was in the hands of enemies.  But I guess Rump can't really worry about that at the moment.  He could be dead before he even reaches Storybrooke, so having power over him would be moot.

Neal's fiancee...  Well, I saw that coming.  I hate that I sort of feel bad for Emma, despite that she and Neal are through at this point.  But I think that Rump is right in that she sort of hoped that they might work things out.  I don't know if I want them to right now.  I'm still a fan of Emma and Graham.  I know he's dead, but he was still my favorite for her so far.

In the next episode, I'm most looking forward to Emma and company coming back to Storybrooke with a still alive Rumpelstiltskin.  Fans would riot if he died, so I know he'll make it, but brushing that close to death might have a bigger effect on him than expected.  Of course, once they do return, it'll become clearer whether Kora is playing Regina for a fool or really sticking to her word.  Either way, Rump will get controlled and Snow and Charming's family will be in danger.  I doubt that the new Snow "Black" will be able to do any better in protecting her family, but we'll see how her new attitude will play out against Kora and Regina.  I guess after failing to save Johanna, Snow should at least be better motivated not to let one more person die she loves and perhaps release a little more whoop-ass on her enemies.

The Cycle of Abandonment

Once Upon A Time, S02E14

Rumpelstiltskin, Emma, and Henry arrived in New York and found the apartment of who they assumed was Rumpelstiltskin's son.  Emma was shocked to find that Baelfire was actually Neil, and she struggled with the decision to let him go or turn him into his father.  In the past, Rumpelstiltskin went to war and met a seer who predicted the birth of his son and Rumpelstiltskin leaving his son fatherless.  Regina, her mother, and Hook looked for information about the whereabouts of Rumpelstiltskin's dagger.  Greg also got video proof of magic in Storybrooke.

Wow.  This episode was incredible.  I actually realized that Baelfire might be Neil when I saw that they were in New York City.  Before I had thought that they were just going to that airport, but going to a different city.  It's weird that I didn't immediately think New York City.  I'm just glad I had gotten to that conclusion before Emma had chased Neil down the street otherwise I would have kicked myself for not piecing the obvious clues together.

I can't believe that Neil is Baelfire, making Henry Rump's grandson.  Henry has some kind of amazing blood ties and non-blood ties (if you count Regina and her mother).  Also, Emma is firmly connected to Rump more than ever now that Rump is her son's grandfather.  She's never going to be rid of him.  I really like that they decided to do this.  Baelfire's identity has been something I've wanted to know for the longest time, and it was satisfying to know that we've already seen him, but we just didn't know who he really was.

I don't blame Emma for not telling Rump right away about Neil.  The reunion of that father and son was inevitably going to make the father-son reunion of Neil and Henry, and Emma didn't want any part of that.  I was just scared when Rump knew she was lying and started to threaten her even without magic.  He's still pretty scary without fire coming out of his hands.

Neil, even with his abandonment issues, has some nerve giving Emma crap about hiding Henry from him.  He can go straight to hell, as far as I'm concerned.  I know that Neil only acted as August had told him to, but I could give two craps about that.  That's actually another lie that he kept from her--knowing that she was the savoir.  I don't think her ending up in jail for his crimes while pregnant was such a small thing that she should have been looking for Neil a long time ago.  Yeah, right!  I would never want to see his punk ass again!  Anyway, Neil being involved would have stopped Henry from ending up in Regina's hands and Henry bringing Emma to Storybrooke.  So if Neil was so damn concerned about following August's advice to get her to Storybrooke, he didn't need to know about Herny in the first place.  I was pissed that he wanted to be outraged.  

Still, I got a little teary-eyed hearing that Neil went sleep every night seeing his father let him go as a boy.  That's damn harsh.  No wonder he turned out to be a thief who would send his girl to prison.  I can't imagine the kind of trauma that put upon him.  I would hate to see that happen to Henry (although, you can't feel too abandoned when you think your father's dead to begin with).

I was disappointed in Rump's first words to Neil.  Instead of talking about the struggle he went through to be reunited, he kept talking about making up their separation with magic.  What the hell was he thinking?!  Who wants to have magic turn them back to fourteen so their father can raise them again?  That's so messed up.  Rump could have done so much better.  He didn't show that he had changed at all.  And he has changed, to some degree.  I never thought that Neil and Rump would get off to a good start, but Rump pretty much killed their reconciliation before it even began.  Damn.  I hope that he finds another way to redeem himself with Neil.  I really want him to show that from the first moment he held Baelfire, he just wanted to be there for him.

In the past, I felt bad at how manipulated Rump was by his own fate.  Once that seer had put the fear of the future in him, he was doomed to be the father he never wanted to be.  It's so damn sad.  Milah was so quickly disgusted with the way he had injured himself so he could come home alive to his son, and his cowardly decision to desert the war only put him the fast track to become the Dark One.  Rump's story is such a tragedy because all he wanted was to not be a coward nor an absent father.  His efforts to avoid that put him directly on that path.

The past also showed that Rump will be undone by Henry one day.  How ironic that the boy the seer foretold ended up being his grandson.  Rump declared that he would just kill him, but is he going to live up to that promise?  He'd have a lot of people against him if he tried.  Maybe Henry will be the one to break him of the Dark One status or something.  Those futures are so vague, it's not quite clear whether Henry is a life-threatening danger to Rump or not.

Speaking of Henry, I hated that he didn't quite understand why Emma lied to him.  Even if she was being selfish, she did have a decent reason for being so.  Likening her to Regina is a bit childish.  If he thinks everyone is just going to tell him the truth all the time, than he's a bigger child than he looks.  Maybe Henry could have handled the truth, but Emma sure as hell couldn't.  And if Emma did tell him about Neil, we know Henry would have sure as hell went looking for him.  He's that kind of gun-ho kid.  It pisses me off.  He has no idea the pain that Emma went through.  Him thinking his father was a dead hero isn't so bad as the reality.  Get over it, Henry.  As if Neil in your life would have made everything better (then again, maybe so because he might not had to live with Regina).

Back in Storybrooke, it was sort of weird to see Regina, Cora, and Hook hanging out together semi-publicly.  They were all at least in the library (which is closed, granted) looking for that book.  I think that Cora is straight-up playing Regina.  She's probably after Rump's power, not seeking to use it to destroy their enemies.  Hook isn't going to get anything out of helping them.  He's been played like a damn fiddle.  I would have loved to see him go to New York and fight Rump fairly.  Rump probably could still kick his ass with just that cane, I bet.

Regina was a moron in this episode, though.  Not just for believing that her mother is just going to use that power to get Henry back, but for openly using her powers to go through Belle's purse.  What the hell?  I knew that was going to be a problem, but I hoped it wouldn't be.  Nope.  Greg got it all on video!  Damn.  Well, the only good thing is that perhaps Regina will get involved in keeping Greg quiet later on.  If it's just left to Charming and Snow, I don't think they'll be able to keep a lid on the town's secret for much longer.

Also, Charming sounded like such an idiot when he was getting confused about how it was possible he was Henry's grandfather and Rump was too.  Um, duh!  Charming is really lucky he's brave and good with a sword because he's sometimes a moron.

Can't wait to see if Rump can get somewhere with Neil.  With the way he started to repair their relationship, Rump has a very long way to go.  Emma also needs to smooth things over with that moron Henry.  Sure he feels hurt that he's been lied to, but Emma's situation is too complicated for me to feel that Henry was betrayed severely.  Henry's getting to meet his father, so he should get over already.  Now that Neil has been named Baelfire, and Henry has been named Rump's grandson, it's unknown whether Rump will still see Henry as a threat and do away with him for his own sake.  Rump probably has a greater threat from Regina and Cora, who are conspiring to find the dagger that can kill and control him.  I'd hate to see Snow and the others get killed, but it would be entertaining to see someone use Rump as a puppet for a while. That could make a really awesome story down the line.

Rump Saves Belle, But Wants Death For Others

Once Upon A Time, S02E12

Emma and the others tried to save the life of a mysterious newcomer to town, even though they were worried that he might have discovered Storybrooke's secret.  Dr. Whale deserted his duties at the hospital, still haunted by his past where he tried to bring his brother back to life.  Rumpelstiltskin tried to jumpstart Belle's memories in vain and received a gift from Cora to help him locate his son.  Cora found Regina and convinced her that her only goal was to repair their broken bound as mother and daughter.

I was pretty distracted by Hook getting run over and Belle getting shot and losing her memories to think too much about what problems a stranger could bring to their town until Rump very expertly laid it down to the group of Emma, her parents, Red, and Grumpy.  He not only let them know that this guy Greg could have seen him tossing fire around, but suggested they let him die.  I liked that they didn't immediately reject Rump's idea, as cruel as it might have seen.  I mean, the guy did run over a person, so it's not like Greg was completely innocent.  Although, not so guilty that he deserved to be killed by them.

Rump had instantly healed Belle, of course, but when Whale asked him to do the same for Hook who was suffering from internal bleeding, Rump did not give one damn.  I mean, why would he?  He kicked Hook's ass and was ready to choke him if Emma and Charming hadn't stopped him.  Still, it was funny that Whale thought Rump would be decent enough to save his enemy's life.  Um, did he just meet Rump yesterday or something?

Belle, with no memory, might as well have just met Rump because she has no emotional attachment  to him now.  It was sweet that he had kissed her while she was sleeping (perhaps in an attempt to cure her with true love?), but despite that I'm sad that Belle and Rump's romance has been put on hold, when she woke up from the kiss and screamed, I had to laugh.  He seemed like such a pervert!  Since I know it's not true, it was funnier than I expected.  Plus, he just hurried out of the room like he had done something really wrong.  Poor Rump.

The situation hit a sadness peak when Rump came back with the chipped cup that Belle had held dear.  I thought maybe he was onto something there, but Belle fought back against him so hard as if he was trying to inject her with poison or something.  You can't blame her when he's talking about him living in a castle and magic when none of those things make sense to her.  At that point, I knew that Rump was going to fail, but I didn't think Belle would throw the cup and shatter it!  Oh, no!  I felt like a piece of their relationship had been shattered.  It was pretty awful to see those shards on the floor and watch Rump leave defeated.  Thank God, I guess, that he's leaving town so he doesn't have to go through the torture of reminding Belle of a past that has been erased from her mind.

When Rump did decide to leave town, I thought it was going to be on pretty good terms.  Like him just packing his bags and disappearing before he killed himself over Belle or killed Hook for revenge.  Strange enough (or perhaps not so strange since she's not a prisoner to Storybrooke), he decided to not go alone and take Emma.  What?  Emma does specialize in finding people (family trait, I suppose), but why her?  Even if he had a favor to cash in, it seems sort of a waste to bring Emma when he has that globe from Cora to tell him Bae's location.  I mean, it seemed like before Belle got shot, he was going to leave on his own in the first place.  Maybe I misread what he was doing and he was only testing his talisman at that time.  I dunno.  But if taking Emma wasn't bad enough Rump also announced that he was going to kill the whole Charming family if Belle was hurt in his absence--damn!  To me, that came out of nowhere.  Since when did he need to threaten their family like they had done something to him (it should be the other way around)?  Maybe that was his way of asking them to watch over her for him, but it just looked like he was just so angry at them.  I'm actually pretty frightened for them all (although his threat did make me laugh).

We finally got to see Regina and thankfully she hadn't fallen into her mother's hands.  Or so I had thought.  Cora didn't have to do very much before she had Regina crying on her shoulder and taking her advice about how to get Henry back.  Regina, you freaking idiot!  Your mother doesn't even know what the word "sincere" means!  I was a little proud that Regina was just going to take her mother and make her explain how Regina was innocent, but then Cora used her feelings for Henry to make her into her puppet again.  Damnit!  Not looking forward to the "ideas" that Cora had mentioned. Regina's going to end up losing Henry for good with that old hag's help.

There's not much I wanted to say about Whale's past.  I really couldn't care less with all the other more dire things going on.  Who has time to worry about Frankenstein lamenting about turning his brother into a monster?  The only thing that was interesting was him meeting Rump.  Not really sure why Rump wanted to learn Whale's technique for rising the dead.  Maybe it was all just a ruse to get Whale to meet Regina and for Regina to see that reviving Daniel wasn't going to happen.  Not sure.  But anyway, I couldn't enjoy the look into the past when I was so worried about what was happening in the present.

In the end, it looks like everyone should have listened to Rump (as pretty much always) because Greg had indeed seen Rump's magic.  I really wonder what the consequences of that will be?  I mean, who the hell would believe what Greg had seen without proof?  I can't imagine what he saw being enough to convince anyone else.  Unless, as Henry had suggested, there are other people from other worlds in the Storybrooke world that they just don't know about and Greg is from one of them.  Who knows--the possibility is just endless.

This episode was a lot less sadder than I anticipated.  I was worried that I wouldn't be able to watch Rump interact with Belle who has no memory of him or herself.  Their love problems were less pronounced by Emma's group trying to decide to kill or save Greg.  Unfortunately, they probably would have been better off killing him now that he knows what Rump can do.  There was also little time to worry about Belle when Regina was falling into her mother's hand again with hardly enough resistance.  I think when you consider Emma's going on a road trip with Rump and Regina's succumbing to her mother's ploy, Belle's memory lost doesn't seem so terrible.

Regina's Redemption Reversal

Once Upon A Time, S02E10

Regina was seeming to be turning over a new leaf until Archie ended up dead after being seen having an argument with Regina.  Emma was the only one who doubted her guilt until with Mr. Gold's help she was able to see the murder scene for herself with magic.  When confronted, Regina used magic again to attack Emma and went into hiding.  In the past, Charming tried to rid the kingdom of Regina's threat by having her executed, but Snow was against it.  After trying to give Regina a chance to start over, Regina's final attempt on Snow's life got her banished from the kingdom to live in solitude.

Regina pretty much deserves everything she's gotten, but I can't help but feel bad for her because she has for once learned from her mistakes and tried to change.  It's obvious that she does it all for Henry and would probably die if he wasn't in her life.  It was nice that despite all the horrible things she's done that Emma recognizes that Regina's desire to change is sincere.  No one else does, most of all her parents who seem like a duo of mistrust (with good reason).

Again, Cora is the one who seems to be there right when Regina is debating whether to go to the dark side or not (or Rump).  Regina was on the path to be someone that people didn't ask if her lasagna was poisoned (that was a good one, Grumpy), but her controlling bitch of a mother has to drag her name through the dirt when it wasn't squeaky-clean to begin with.  And since she's still moving around in the shadows right now, no one is going to believe or can even imagine that the Regina look-alike isn't Regina herself.  It sort of makes me mad.  Regina is no angel, but even a monster like her deserves another chance.

What also got me to sympathize with her was that in the other world, she was so blinded by her hatred for Snow that she wouldn't let herself be reformed.  It wasn't wrong of Charming or anyone else to want to see her dead (especially when she made her final words be regret that she didn't do more damage to all her victims), but I couldn't help but be relieved when Snow stopped the arrows from killing Regina at the last moment.  We all know that in the beginning Regina was just a young woman who wanted to live happily with the man she loved, but all her bad deeds sort of erased everyone's memory of that.  Everyone but Snow.  I was disappointed that Regina didn't take the free pass and tried to stab Snow in vain.  She wouldn't have made the curse if she had turned a new leaf in the past, but I still wished that she had seen the light then and there.

It's interesting in the past Snow was like Emma, the only one who believed in Regina's goodness until she failed the test.  It was funny to see Snow (and Charming--but he's always suspicious of people) fighting against Emma, who wouldn't back down.  With good reason because Emma has a natural gift for knowing when people lie.  I was hoping that even with that dream catcher showing her what had happened she would listen to her gut and refuse to think that Regina was guilty.  No such luck.

Speaking of Emma's parents, I really loved how Rump commented on how Emma was a combination of Snow and Charming:

[Rump] You have your mother's chin, Ms. Swan.

[Emma] We know that you killed him.

[Rump] And your father's tact.

That line was as golden as his name.  He made me realize that Emma is a lot like Charming in so many ways.  They both are sort of hardheaded, especially when they think they are right and rush into action sometimes without considering all of the evidence.  It's hard to change their minds once they made them up.  In a way, I sort of felt bad for Rump for having the whole Charming family assaulting him.  Haha.  They are a force of annoyingly persistent people.

I almost could shed a tear for Regina when Emma went to tell Henry that his mother was a murderer and a liar (for using magic again).  I mean, it wasn't as if Regina had done anything wrong this time, yet she was paying the ultimate price.  Emma doesn't want to let her be a part of her son's life anymore and the town hates her more than before (which is saying a lot with the whole curse thing in the first place).  As long as I know that Regina really does love Henry, it saddens me to see her unable to be with him.

I wonder what Cora plans to do with a broken Regina.  Team up with her to terrorize the townsfolk?  I thought she was coming to get revenge on Regina, but perhaps she's just collecting her so that she can use her powers for her own purposes.  I feel bad for Hook too who's just sitting around itching to end Rump's life with that hook of his (why is he sharpening it, though--it's not like it's getting dull from use).  I can't imagine why Archie would be value to their plans, either.  I'm pretty ambivalent about him still being alive (his character is all right, but definitely not one of the key people).

I liked this episode, but I was pretty sad about Regina being framed (though karma is a bitch).  It's nice that Emma is going to be more of a mother to Henry from now on, but I don't relish seeing Regina return to that dark place that convinced her to unleash a curse onto innocent people in the first place.  I'd like Cora's plan to start getting a little clearer from now on.  I thought once she made it to town, things would start getting less mysterious, but they haven't yet.  Also, I'm anxious to see Hook and Rump have another battle!  Can't wait to see how Rump handles an old enemy now that he's supposedly changing himself.

Scramble To The Portal

Once Upon A Time, S02E09

Emma and the others went to search for squid ink in Rumpelstiltskin's jail cell, but were trapped there by Cora and Hook.  Regina and Rumpelstiltskin worked together to use magic that would destroy whoever came through the portal, fearing that it would most likely be Cora and Hook.  The past between Cora and Hook was also revealed.

It was obvious to me that finding that scroll with Emma's name written on it in a stalkerish manner was going to be useful for something.  I didn't think it would be able to melt away the cell's bars, though.  That was a little weird to me.  Weirder than Rump sitting in there many years ago writing down Emma's name.

Later, it was interesting that Emma went to Rump and pointed out that he could have broken out of that cell anytime he wanted, but he was just chilling out there plotting his revenge.  I would have never gotten to the conclusion, like Emma had, that Rump had written out her fate long ago.  Rump does have a past of using people like his puppets for some long-term goal that's not clear (like his hand in molding Regina into a powerful magic user), but I feel like a lot more people were involved in what's happened in Emma's life than just Rump.  August, for instance, played his part.  But I guess that scroll with her name on it written before she was even born freaked her out to make her supsicious.

I wonder what sort of magic Emma will be capable of now that there's evidence that her being a product of true love protects her from heart-ripping attacks and the like.  Rump had been interested in bottling "true love" in the past, so I feel like he'll become even more interested in Emma in the future now that he knows she has some kind of unique magic about her.  I wonder if he'll try to take advantage of her magic one day.

Speaking of the heart ripping thing, that fight around the portal back to Storybrooke was so dumb.  I mean, you would think that with Cora being the only one using magic that she could use something really big to wipe out Mulan, Snow, and Emma in one wave of her hand.  Mulan was fighting her pretty well for someone only having a sword, as well as Snow who only had arrows.  Then it was just weird to me that Emma wasn't cut in a deadly way within two seconds of fighting Hook when she has had no training to sword fight.  Hook should have destroyed her!  He clearly had the upper hand, but it was crazy that he had any problems with Emma at all.  It was funny when she knocked Hook out--didn't see that coming.  It was moving when Emma took the "bullet" for Snow when Cora was about to rip Snow's heart out.  Lucky for her that it didn't work.

Back in Storybrooke, I felt pretty bad for Regina.  She clearly wanted to do the right thing and help Emma and Snow the best way she could, but then Rump came along and poisoned her mind.  Don't get me wrong, though--I loved seeing them work together even if it was for something bad.  I knew that Regina wasn't 100 percent on board with Rump's "win-win" view of what they were doing, and I was happy that she was swayed by Henry's words.  The funny thing about that was that Rump was just standing around not doing anything.  I mean, he did blow Red away the second she tried to get close, but the real danger to his plan was Henry and he didn't do much to stop him from changing Regina's mind.  And after it was all said and done, he just quietly limped away to his store.  No one held him accountable for anything.

Anyway, Regina nearly kills herself after reversing the magic they put on the portal, and she got the short end of the stick at the end.  Emma did thank her and so did Henry with a hug, but after everything was good again, she didn't get an invitation to dinner.  Okay, so Regina isn't friends with anyone in town, really, but she did sort of look after Charming while he was under the sleep spell.  As much of a bitch that Regina was I couldn't help but feel bad when everyone joyously left Rump's store and left her there by herself.  It was just thanks for helping get Emma and Snow back, but don't you dare eat with us.  Really?  That was cold, ya'll.  Rump did not make it better by pointing out that Henry was just going to get closer to Emma, but Regina had little hope of even sharing a meal with him.  Talk about twisting the knife!  But I sort of liked that he had to stir the pot a little.

That was the part that made me the most outraged, while I was most moved by when Henry saw Emma coming out of the well and called her "mom."  I don't know if he ever has done that before, but he still calls Regina "mom," so it was just sweet to see Emma and Henry hug while he called her that.  I mean, it was like "Regina who?" at that moment, but Emma had worked pretty hard to get back to her son, so it was nice to see her achieve her goal.

I was hardly moved by Snow reviving Charming with her kiss.  I was especially annoyed at the dwarves standing around looking sort of worried that Snow's kiss might not work.  Um, we all know that it will!  The sleeping curse has been broken so many damn times.  It's almost like when has it ever been permanent?

In the past, it was interesting that both Regina and Cora tried to use Hook.  He eventually sided with Cora because she knew more about the curse than Regina did and her knoweldge better suited his plans for revenge.  But besides that, it was a nice change of pace to see Regina in her queen mode again.  I feel like it's been a while since we've seen her like that.  For some reason, I really enjoyed her outfit with all that bling hanging down her back.  It's a sharp contrast to the stuff that she wears around Storybrooke.  She may have been really wicked back then, but at least she had some style.

Anyway, who would be surprised that Cora was the Queen of Hearts?  I mean, I figured that out as soon as I saw Regina toss her mother into a magic mirror--you had to know where she was going.  It does make me think of that one time when Regina went to Wonderland and was trying really hard to avoid the Queen of Hearts.  Was her mother the ruler then?  I feel like I need to revist that older episode now.

Another interesting part from the past was Cora's change of heart.  She seemed shocked that a daughter who pushed her into another world to escape her might want her dead (really, Cora?  That surprised you?), but she easily decided not to murder Regina when Regina confessed her love for her mother and the reasons why she had to have her killed before she went to Storybrooke.  I'm surprised that someone as cold as Cora would be moved by that.  Especially since Cora's heart doesn't even seem to be in her body (or maybe she just put it in her butt or something--it's so weird).

The end where Cora and Hook came into the bay or port or whatever of Storybrooke on a big ship was kind of dramatic in a good way.  I like that they arrived somewhere that isn't going to be obvious to someone.  Damn them for leaving that kind of cliffhanger!  

I liked this episode, but I wish the fighting was a little better.  I just always think that Emma should be killed in every fight she has.  Well, at least with anyone magic.  I'm eager to see what kind of magic Emma can do, especially if it will help fight against Cora.  I'm really excited about Cora and Hook entering Storybrooke.  The next episode has got to be super explosive! I can't wait!

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.

Making Monsters

Once Upon A Time, S02E05

Regina tried to overcome her past, but had trouble when Dr. Whale brought Daniel back to life.  In the past, Regina struggled to learn magic from Rumpelstiltskin because she refused to use magic for evil.  In the magic world, Emma and the others suspected that Hook was not who he seemed to be.

I suppose what I was most concerned about (despite Franken-Daniel was walking around) in this episode was who the hell Dr. Whale was.  At first I thought he was the Wizard of Oz or something.  It wasn't until he was shown trying to revive Daniel with a bolt of lightening crashing near his tent that I suspected he might be Dr. Frankenstein.  Man, they are taking characters from all kinds of stories...  I guess that's okay.  But I feel like I'm soon going to be yelling "come on!"  But Dr. Whale (someone I was hardly concerned about before this episode) did bring about some interesting events.

The most interesting thing he did in the past was work for Rump to help Regina "come over to the dark side."  I can't believe I didn't think that Rump wasn't involved when it was Hatter (who used to be Rump's lackey) who almost randomly offered to help Regina when Rump wouldn't.  I thought that was strange even when he was asking for something in return.  So Regina really never had a chance to stay good when Rump was pulling all the strings (and apparently has had his eye on her before they even met).

It's also interesting Regina called her mother a monster for ripping people's hearts out and then collecting them.  For she became the same thing, thanks to Rump making her give up her moral obstacles.  And of course, Dr. Whale made a real monster out of Daniel who was brought back to life when implanted with one of Regina's stolen hearts.  That was quite like a horror story when Regina was looking for Whale and found him missing an arm in a hospital dark and in shambles.  Plus, it was a bit freaky with Daniel walking around attacking people like Henry and Regina.  I felt a little sad that Regina had to put him out of her misery herself, waving her hand and turning him into dust.  I don't know how that will ultimately affect Regina, even if she seems more open to the idea of therapy.

I was proud of Emma in the magic world because for once she wasn't acting like a fool.  In fact, she was pretty awesome in the way that she didn't really trust Hook for one damn second. I loved that she put a knife to his throat and then she and the others tied him up to a tree so he could be torn apart by ogres.  I actually thought that Hook wouldn't cave in and he'd keep pretending, but he cracked pretty soon.  That was suspicious to me, but at least the girls were all on their toes about being led into a trap by him.  It's just weird to me that Hook would end up teaming with them.  I'm sure that he wants to get revenge on Rump, but not so sure he really wants to double-cross Cora.

Oh, and on a completely different note, isn't it pretty cool that Rump just waved his hand and returned Dr. Whale's arm to his body?  Wow.  And I like how they have this long-ass argument about which is more powerful: science or magic.  It seems like the two can work pretty well hand in hand.  Well, maybe not because Daniel's revival wasn't a success.  So why the hell does Whale think it'll work again with his brother?  Talk about a one-trick pony.

I wonder what we'll learn about next in Regina's past or Rump's.  The more I learn about their past together, the more I'm convinced that Regina was no more than a product of her mother and Rump's manipulations.  I like that this show is really reinventing some of the characters that we thought we knew from last season, but are finding out that we didn't know half of their story.  It'll also be interesting to know what will happen when Emma and the others ascend that beanstalk.  There's no way a giant thrown into the mix can't mean more adventure to enjoy. 

Moms Doing What They Gotta Do

Once Upon A Time, S02E03

Charming asked Henry to stay out of the rescue for Emma and Snow, leading him to cut school to do his own investigation.  Emma and Snow were released from their prison and returned to Charming and Snow's old house to find the wardrobe Emma was sent away in.  In the past, King George continued to attack Charming by going after his loved ones.

Henry is definitely in the right family because he basically blows his nose at danger.  I can't believe how easy it was for him to fool Regina and get into her vault.  I actually felt a little bad for her because she probably really looked forward to that lunch that never happened.  I can see that she really is keeping to her word, so far because instead of going to stop Henry herself, she told Charming and he went to get Henry before his ass got bit by a bunch of snakes!  Like, is Henry crazy??  There could have been any kind of evil thing under the sun in one of her boxes and he thought it would be smart to just open one at random.  He knows that she was always up to no good, so I don't know why he thought he would find something good in her little secret lair.  What a moron (he's taking a lot after Emma who also in the episode is taking danger too lightly).  It was a little cute at the end when Charming decided he'd buy him some wooden swords to practice with (since Henry is jealous that his mother and grandmother get to go sword fighting in the other world--if only he knew he'd probably be dead in a minute with his current knowledge of that world).  I hope Charming can get Henry to settle down and stop trying to run off to do things (like his grandfather keeps doing when it's convenient for him).

Similarly, Emma was doing a shitty job of fitting into the other world and failing to listen to the experts, mainly her mother and Mulan.  I know Emma is used to handling things on her own, but I feel like that situation requires that you swallow your pride and learn from the "masters" instead of what she was doing.  I can't even believe that she was sort of bragging that she killed a dragon (which she didn't even do half as well as she thinks and should have learned that guns are useless) when warned about the ogres.  No surprise that she not only let the ogres know where they were, but almost got killed by one.  Seriously, Emma, it's time to shut up.  Hopefully by now she's learned her damn lesson and will stop acting like she knows what she's doing.

I have to also say that Aurora is so annoying.  Sure her love got killed and all, but damn.  Trying to get Snow by the throat with a knife?  I wish Snow had done more than she had before Mulan butted in.  I still think Snow needs to kick that girl's butt.  But Aurora seems to be willing to help Emma and Snow now.  I guess.  She might still be secretly bitter.

It was pretty sweet and sad when Snow and Emma were looking around the remains of her nursery.  I kind of forget that Snow had dreams of raising her daughter and had to give it up so that her daughter wouldn't be cursed.  I didn't think Emma would start to forgive Snow for abandoning her, so it was nice to see that they made some progress.  They don't have the best situation, but at least they do have each other, so they can continue to go from there.

Another mother who showed her sacrifice was Charming's mother.  I wasn't so sure why she was brought up again when she was just going to die until they had shown that King George had cursed Snow.  Then when Charming mentioned that lake that could cure anything, I knew that Snow would be the one to be saved, and Charming's mother would put herself aside.  I had wondered how the two got married and imagined it to be some big, grand thing, but it was sort of touching how simple it was with just the two of them, Lancelot, and Charming's mother looking on before she took her last breath.  Wow.  That was sort of beautiful.  She got to see her son married, Snow took the cure without knowing, and Charming's mother was able to die knowing that her son would have everything he wanted in life.  I just wonder if Snow ever needs to tell Charming what his mother did for her.  I suppose it doesn't really concern him since it was his mother's decision and there's nothing he can do about it now.

I really enjoyed this episode because it was nice to see all these different mothers in the show giving up things so their children could be happy.  But, there's no telling what Regina's crazy-ass mother is up to.  It'll be interesting to see what might happen if she's able to get to Storybrooke.  I just wonder who will be able to get to the non-magic world first: Emma and Snow or Regina's mother?  I'm little worried it's going to be the latter with her in possession of the ashes of the wardrobe.  Someone needs to stop that bitch before it's too late.

Regina Repeats History

Once Upon A Time, S02E02

Storybrooke began to panic when they found out they would lose memory of themselves if they left and were concerned about what the Queen would do to them with her power back.  The Queen got her mother's book of magic from Rumpelstiltskin so that she could use magic to return Henry to her side.  Her past with magic was also revealed.  Charming tried to lead the townspeople while using some magic from Rumpelstiltskin to find someone who might know how to use the hat that sent Emma and Snow away.

One thing that is interesting to me is how I've sort of forgotten about Charming being David ever since he started acting like his former self. I mean, it's like David totally disappeared, but at the end when he was making a grand speech about the townspeople being both their magic and non-magical self, I sort of remembered him again.  I could see everyone else accepting their other self, but not him--David was a mess.  But I suppose if he embraces the bad parts of himself, he can try harder not to let himself ever be that sort of person again.

Charming is pretty restless, though.  I mean, I know that the town has gone through an emergency situation, but they could go look to someone else for answers.  He was running around like a chicken without a head trying to chase down Hatter and calm the people down so they wouldn't riot or run out of town to their doom.  So it was no surprise that Red sort of made him choose priorities and focus on the most foremost problem.  I don't think it's quite fair that he as to take care of that, but I guess a prince has to overlook his own wishes for the greater good of his people.  And if he hadn't, everyone was just going to run out of town (are they idiots??), and he'd be alone with probably only the most unreliable people left (like Rump).

Charming probably will be okay even though Hatter ran away from him because no one's really leaving town, and Storybrooke's not that big.  So eventually, he'll run into him again and can question him about getting his magical hat to work again.  Unless things just never settle down again.

Onto the Queen.  I was rather interested in her whole thing with that book of magic.  It once belonged to her mother who had gotten it from Rump.  Apparently, Rump has had his eye on Regina for the longest time and was the one who taught her about magic in the first place.  He even mentioned they were back where they belonged--together.  What does all that mean?  Regina eventually became his rival, so I don't know if Rump planned for her to be more useful to him in the future and she turned out to be an enemy, but it's very curious.

It's also curious how history repeats itself.  Regina's mother used magic to trap Regina when she was younger and Regina fought to not use magic in an attempt to not be her mother.  Similarly, when Regina used magic to take Henry back and keep him in their house, Henry wanted nothing to do with her magic in an attempt to not be Regina.  I'm certain that Regina, although giving Henry back to his grandfather (don't you love it when Henry calls Charming "Gramps," by the way?), isn't done using magic to force people and things to her will.  If she was, she might have burned that book of magic from Rump.  That's a good sign that she's just waiting until someone threatens her enough that she needs to take out her bag of tricks again.  And I can't blame her because those townspeople would have totally killed her by now if it wasn't for Henry.

On another story, I wonder why Rump is so angered by the fact that they can't leave Storybrooke?  I know he wanted the curse broken eventually, but why does it surprise and irritate him so that the curse isn't entirely gone?  I thought he was the one controlling everything, so something must have gone wrong.  Maybe he wanted to leave to look for his son?  After all, his son was sent to the real world somewhere outside of Storybrooke.

Emma and Snow seemed to be screwed since Mulan is treating them as hostile and they've ran into Regina's mother.  That can only mean something even worse is going to happen to them.  I don't know why no one has no idea about who Snow is yet.  I thought she was famous enough that the entire magic world would know her.  But perhaps not.  Still, I can't wait until someone does recognize her and she can tell them about what's been going down in Storybrooke (though I doubt anyone will really believe her).

Lots of things going on, as usual in this show, so it's hard to really comment about everything little thing (which I wish I could do).  I'm just loving watching this show again and still find that it is the thing that I look forward to most in the week.  Really interested to know what will be revealed and resolved next time.

The Wraith

Once Upon A Time, S02E01

Although Emma, Snow, and Charming took a small group of friends to stop the rest of the town from killing Queen Regina, Rumpelstiltskin marked the Queen as a target for a wraith.  Emma and the others tried to honor Henry's wishes to keep her alive.  In the other world, Prince Phillip woke up Princess Aurora, but he was marked by a wraith and had to keep it from harming his princess and her friend Mulan.

It was nice to see everyone embracing each other after a whole season of being in the dark about their identities, but it didn't last for long because the town soon stormed Regina's "castle."  As much as Mayor Bitch was annoying, I wasn't ready to see her go for some reason, so I was glad that Henry respected her right to life.  I didn't think the town mob would be so easily swayed by Charming and Snow, but I guess that those people are used to listening to them (as if they were the supreme rulers of the other world).  My favorite part of that scene was when Regina coolly opened her door as if it were another day and asked "Can I help you?"  That, plus the time when she made a motion to subdue them with her failing magic, was pretty funny.

Rump was pretty funny, too, in this episode, getting to both confront the Queen about locking away Belle for all those years and setting off a wraith upon her despite telling Belle that he wouldn't kill her.  It's just funny that he explained that he hadn't lied to her because technically if the Queen died, the wraith would have done it, not him.  He's so bad.  But the best scene he had was when Emma and her parents came to complain about double-crossing them and question what the purple haze was.  I just loved when Emma, still angry that Rump had put Henry in danger threatened Rump:

Maybe I don't need answers.  Maybe I just need to punch you in the face.

That was quite a good line from Emma.  Of course, Rump tried to play himself off as a hero since he still made everything happen that she wanted:  Henry was saved, the curse was broken, and her parents were found.  Points for Rump for being able to spin the truth like that.  He is a master.  No surprise, though, that Belle heard his conversation and couldn't take him acting like the scum of the earth.  He was lucky that she came back in the end to save him from becoming a full-blown monster again (not sure if Rump can really change his ways).

In the other world, we were introduced to Prince Phillip, Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), and Mulan.  Mulan threw me for a loop because that was the last person I'd expect to pop up.  She just seemed so random, but whatever.  I couldn't understand why we were watching their story, nor why a wraith suddenly popped up to attack them until practically the end.  Apparently some parts of the magic world hadn't been destroyed by the curse and were frozen in time until Emma had broken it.  I don't care much for the death of Phillip (as his role was short-lived), but I wonder what Mulan and Aurora will do with Snow and Emma.  That part left me quite interested for the next episode.

I'm concerned about what Regina will do with her powers back--she already tried to kill Charming.  The thing I most wonder about is who was the man at the beginning of the episode.  I thought he was Phillip, but that can't be.  I just hope he's not someone stupid.

I waited for this premiere and I wasn't much disappointed!  Things are moving a little slower than I'd like, but I think they are off to a good start.  It'll be interesting to see Emma adapt to a magic world, and it'll be interesting to see how Charming and Henry get along together.  With Regina's magic back and Rump with his own, which of them will cause the most trouble in town while Emma and Snow are gone?  Can't wait for next week!

The Mastermind, Mr. Gold

Once Upon A Time, S01E22

Emma finally believed in magic once Henry was in a coma after eating the poisoned turnover.  She confronted the Queen about her actions and asked her to fix the situation, but Regina couldn't do anything without magic.  The two went to Mr. Gold for help, who gave Emma a sword and told her where to find the last bit of magic snuck into the Storybrooke world.  The magic was in an egg, which was hidden in the belly of a dragon held in secret underground  location by the Queen.  Emma managed to reduce the beast to ash and get the egg, but Mr. Gold tricked her into handing the egg over to him.  Emma and the Queen didn't have the time to take it back from him because the hospital called with news about Henry.  When it looked like Henry was dead, Emma gave him a kiss that cured him and removed the curse.  All around town, everyone remembered their original lives.  However, Gold used the last bit of magic in a well that can bring back lost things.  We also saw the story of how Charming saved Snow from her own poison apple and how they were engaged.

As much as I wanted Emma to believe in Henry, I was just a little disappointed in the way that she realized that the stories were true and who the Mayor really was.  It just seemed so simple that she would hold the fairy tale book once again and only at that moment would the truth be revealed to her.  Then again, August did say that Emma was only seeing what she wanted to see, so I guess if she had even the faintest desire to want to see past the illusion of the curse, that was when she would come to her "senses."  I got over this disappointment when Emma took the Mayor into a closet and was throwing her around.  It was funny and it was nice to see that after all the crap that the Mayor had pulled.  Most of all, it was nice to see the Mayor defeated by her own game and Emma the one calling the shots.  Of course, since Emma is new to the game, she had no idea what to do to help Henry (since the Queen was useless then), but I knew that Mr. Gold would be able to help.

You gotta love how Gold was putting the Queen in the corner when Emma went to him for help.  He basically told her to shut up and let Emma handle everything.  Made me laugh.  Gold wasn't surprised that Emma had realized the curse was real and already had her father's sword prepared for her to take.  This man really was just sitting around until things just fell into place for him.  It doesn't surprise me at all that he managed to hoard some magic into their current world, but it did surprise me that it was in a dragon that existed in both worlds.

The scene where Charming puts the egg into the dragon and Emma is trying to retrieve it were so similar that I got irritated that they kept switching back and forth.  I like when the stories from both worlds blend, but this was too much.  What was good about those scenes was seeing Kristin Bauer as Maleficent again.  She doesn't have much of a role on this show, but I think she plays a witch quite well.  It's too bad she had to be a dragon in both worlds.  How is it that she remained a beast in the other world as well?  I suppose that everyone was reborn in the way that the Queen saw fit and that was how she chose to keep her.  Still, Gold must have really been scheming well to know that the Queen would bring her to Storybrooke in that form so that he would have a way to get his egg back.

Unlike her father, Emma was not an impressive dragon slayer (not that he was there to kill it).  She thought it would be a better idea to shoot at the dragon before she used the sword that Gold (someone who freaking knows how the magic world works) gave her to use.  But I'll give Emma a break because it's not common knowledge on how one should defeat a dragon.  I wasn't too impressed that one random throw of the sword landed in the dragon's belly and destroyed it.  Emma basically ran around for a little bit and threw the sword one time and won.  I wanted her to work a little more for it.  It was supposed to be the cure for Henry's condition anyway.

I loved that Mr. Gold so easily stole the egg from Emma and had the Queen tied up.  Everything he does is so simple, yet it is very smart.  I mean, he didn't have to hide the egg himself in the magic world, nor did he have to do the work to get it back in the other world.  The Queen was a fool not to buddy up with Gold better; he's the one with the smarts to make everything move according to his own wishes.

Since a kiss worked on Snow before, it was not too surprising that Henry came back to life from Emma's kiss.  I expected more of a big reaction from the townspeople as they regained their memories and less of Regina's easy retreat back to her empty mansion.  I would have at least loved to see someone throw some old fruit at her for all the crap she's done!  But the biggest fireworks from the curse being lifted were Snow and Charming embracing each other in the middle of the street.  I wish that it moved me as much as it should.  I was still unable to forget about Charming as David, the weasel.  But I'm sure that Snow has no intentions of ever holding that against him.  At least "David" as we know it is gone.  I will miss, MM, though.

I think I was more moved by Belle finding Gold and their reunion.  It was even sweeter when Belle realized who she was and they both said that they loved each other.  Of course, that moment was diminished by the fact that Rump seemed to be bringing back magic to their world for nefarious reasons.  There was something very sinister about that purple smoke rolling over the town.  It looked more like a new curse than Rump simply bringing back magic to their lives.  However, it must have been just that because the Queen looked upon the fog with satisfaction.  Nothing good can come out of her having her powers back.

I wonder what will happen to Jefferson after he arranged for Belle to escape and sent word to Gold that the Queen was behind her being locked up (and seeming to be dead)?  The curse has been lifted, so he should go back to being with his daughter, but surely the Queen won't let him get away.  He also seemed to have something to do with Henry taking a turn for the worst before Emma saved him.  I hate that he needed to get at Henry to punish the Queen, but he is a little obligated after the way she used him as she did.

Lastly, I just wanted to say that I expected a little more emotion when Charming awoke Snow from her kiss.  Snow woke up so casually, and Charming just as casually responded to her being alive again.  Neither of them knew that would happen!  Why weren't they more shocked??  And Charming should have shown a little more joy and appreciation, rather than be almost cocky about curing her curse.  Maybe it was just me, but I was bothered by that scene.

I wish that the season finale was twice as long because they were just starting to get into some new drama!  We knew that Henry would be saved, but it took nearly the whole episode to see him cured.  I wanted to know more about Rump's ultimate plan and what he has in store now that the curse is lifted.  He has Belle back at his side, but he surely doesn't look like a man who is going to kick back and enjoy his happily ever after.  There was little shown of everyone's reactions to their memories being returned, and I desperately wanted to see what they thought about how they had conducted their lives for the last 28 years.  And of course, I wanted to see the Queen pay more for her crimes beyond losing Henry.  I simply can't wait to see what Gold has up his sleeve and what the Queen will do to try to regain her position on top.  It was a good finale, but they left me wanting for a lot more!

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! 

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.