You Don't Need Magic--You Just Need A Cane

Once Upon A Time, S02E11

Rumpelstiltskin had finally found a way to cross the line without losing his memories, but his plan to start searching for his son was stopped when Hook finally made a move on Belle.  After securing her safety, he found that the shawl he needed to cross the town line was stolen by Hook, and Belle went to retrieve it for him, despite Rumpelstiltskin asked her to stay out of it.  In the past, Belle joined a group of men to find a beast, but found herself doing the adventure alone until she finally teamed up with Mulan.

I was thrilled that this episode started off with Rump dragging Smee out to the town line and him slightly roughing him up with his cane as he tested out his potion.  I mean, it was great to see that he had found a way around that curse-lifting side effect, but I just loved seeing him smack around someone who may or may not deserved it.  I was actually hoping he had brought Smee out there to attack him for something he had done to upset him, but it turned out to be less about intimidation and more about discovery.  Boo.

Things started to pick up when Hook decided to show up at Belle's library and try to grab her.  I was so excited that he was finally making a move and that Belle might tell Rump about Hook before Hook could get the jump on Rump.  It actually started to look like some kind of horror movie when Belle was hiding in that elevator and Hook kept banging on the doors.  With Belle's phone not working and Rump being unable to get the message that Hook was after her, I was scared that when the doors did open it was going to be Hook.  Thank goodness it was Rump and she was safe.

I thought it was crazy that Rump gave Belle a gun and told her to hide in the library (because Hook couldn't possibly get her there again) until I realized that Belle is no coward and doesn't seem to shy away from danger.  I was sort of terrified when she found Hook's ship (which was impressive, but seemed rash on her own) and just walked on in as if there couldn't possibly be someone waiting on board to kidnap her ass.  It was commendable that she managed to save Archie, let Archie get away so that he could get Rump to come help her, and temporarily escaped from Hook with the stolen shawl in hand.  Wow.  Just when I thought Belle was just big-hearted girl with a pretty face, she showed that she is just as badass as the rest of the women on the show.

My favorite part was when Belle looked like she was way over her head with Hook and Rump showed up to save the day.  I was expecting more of a real fight between them, but it was pretty one-sided.  Still, watching Rump beat the hell out of Hook with his cane was so amazing.  I mean, it was horrible that Hook couldn't even return a blow, but I was laughing so hard at Rump letting out all of his fury upon Hook without using any magic.  That was what was so cool about it.  Rump could destroy Hook in a second, but he chose to fight him like a person and beat him with just his cane.  After a while, though, I was glad that Belle stepped in to stop it.  I wasn't ready to see Hook die just yet.  I mean, I at least wanted to see a more dramatic fight between the two of them first.

Belle's commitment to Rump is so endearing.  He straight up lied about killing his ex-wife and why Hook wants to get revenge on him so bad, and she still stood by his side.  I think any other woman would have jumped off that ship, especially when he was beating a man nearly to death and five seconds away from ripping his heart out of his chest.  I was really worried that the ugly side that Hook brought out in the usually calm and collected Rump would send Belle away, but she really showed that she's in this for the long run.  And you gotta love that sweet moment when she put the shawl around him and they held each other on opposite sides of the line.  It would have been even better if they had gotten that kiss, but alas Hook had just begun with his revenge.

I can't even begin to wonder who busted into town and took out Hook before Rump could turn him into ash because Belle not only got shot, but lost her memory as well!  No!  I figured that Hook wouldn't be swayed by Rump's threats or faux mercy, but I never would have imagined him shooting Belle in the back!  That was a good twist, even if it was sort of heartbreaking.  I wonder what Rump is going to do next?  Is he just gonna leave Belle there and hope he can get her memory back later or will he stay in Storybrooke and try to use some new magic to fix her (even though he said it couldn't be undone).

In the past, I was sort of confused why Belle would randomly go beast hunting, but I suppose she's always had a thirst for adventure and never thought to quench it until Dreamy encouraged her.  I liked that she was able to read like Chinese and find the Yoaguai on her own.  I didn't care too much for Mulan popping up and being as about as friendly as a rattlesnake poked with a hot stick.  She redeemed herself by acknowledging how smart Belle was to find the beast faster than anyone else, but I was still annoyed that she is always so abrasive with new people.  In the end, I loved that Belle managed to subdue the beast and find out that it wasn't really attacking people but was Prince Phillip just cursed.  It established Belle better as a character and explained how Phillip and Mulan met.  Check check.

With Regina not even being in the story really, I was happy to see her at the end of Belle's past story even if she was just throwing Belle into a cage.  I sort of missed her and yet I forgot about her because I was too busy delighting in seeing Rump get to use his cane as an ass-kicking tool so much.  I am really curious as to where she is and if she's bumped into her evil mother yet.  With Archie being alive and Emma knowing that Regina is innocent, I wonder if it's too late to apologize to her and pull her away from the dark side.

Lastly, it was interesting to see Snow and Charming discuss getting a home for themselves.  I liked how she was ready to settle down and be with her family, while the non-stop hero Charming wanted to go back home like the others and fight.  I have to side with Snow that they have been fighting for a damn long time.  It's about time that they freaking stopped and grabbed onto some freaking happiness and peace.  I mean, it sucks for those left back home like Mulan and Aurora, but it's not like Snow and the others were brought to the non-magic world by choice.  I do see where Charming's coming from, but I think he's a little addicted to fighting and saving people.  As for the other townspeople, they might just be homesick and worried about the rest of the world finding out about their magical and abnormal lives.  If Charming was arguing that angle, I might feel like siding with him.  I'm not sure that either of them, especially because they're stubborn, will come to agreement about that soon.  That's a bit of a shame because I'd love to see what their house might look like.

Fantastic episode.  There was finally some fighting going on between Hook and Rump, but it wasn't as intense as I was hoping, but with Rump dishing out so many cane lashings, I couldn't complain too much about that.  Rump had me worried that he was going to lose Belle with all the violence and deceit, but Belle proved that her love for him runs deep and her faith for him is unshakable.  However, that doesn't matter too much now that Hook has made her fall across the line of memory loss and she doesn't even know who Rump is anymore.  It's frustrating now that they've gotten so close again, but it does add some good drama to the mix.  There's also some good tension brewing between Snow and Charming concerning whether they should stay or go.  I can't tell who's going to give in that argument.  More than their issues, I have to know what's going on with Regina.  Cora was absent in this episode as was Regina (at least in Storybrooke).  It seems like a pretty bad sign that next time we see the Queen, she might be a lot like her old self and beyond returning to her new and improved self.

Playing Burning Room Telephone

Once Upon A Time, S02E08

Emma and the others tried to contact Henry through Aurora to find a way to defeat Cora, but were interrupted by an attack by Cora.  Once Aurora was captured and they lost their connection to the other side, Snow used Mulan's sleeping powder to return to the burning room.  She met Charming there who had put himself under the sleeping curse so that Henry wouldn't have to go through the danger again.  Hook tried to get back on Cora's good side by making Aurora one of her pawns.

I never considered that it wouldn't be so easy for Aurora and Henry to communicate, even though they are only linked once both are asleep.  Once Aurora was taken and Henry was getting all burned up, I started to doubt that Emma and the others would ever learn that Cora could be defeated by the quill ink in Rump's old cell.  It was a nice turn of events that Snow would take Aurora's place and Charming would do the same for Henry.

It was kind of funny how Rump was mentioning that Charming was going to get to take the sleeping potion in the old fashioned way--the so-called way before the days of "poisoned apples."  I loved that.  I loved that as much as him saying that Charming was going to join a "distinguished club."  Yeah, a club of cursed people!  Rump is a laugh riot.  Also, why the hell was he spinning that damn wheel?  That wasn't necessary in order for Charming to prick his finger.  But it was a nice touch before Charming went under.

My favorite thing of all is simply that Regina went to Rump and Belle enjoying some burgers (that just tickles me by itself to see him hanging out) and told him that it was time for some teamwork.  Yes! I think that Rump is still resistant to the idea, but now that they have worked together to make a sleeping potion, I think that going back to strictly enemies is too late now.  Plus, Charming is out of commission until Snow gets back, so it's not like they will have a "mediator" anymore.

I don't know how Storybrooke is going to survive without Charming around.  The townspeople are a bit of wildcards.  Like something with Spencer could happen again--any person wanting revenge on another could take this opportunity to cause havoc.  I don't know if people like Red are really going to step in and do Charming's job to preserve the peace.

Anyway, Mulan is really starting to piss me off.  I know that her main goal is to protect Aurora, but it's wrong of her to steal that compass and run off while Snow was risking her life to go back to that damn fire room!  What a bitch!  I could understand her trying that if Snow and Emma were just sitting around not trying to fix anything, but they were getting important information.  I was really happy when Snow had Mulan on her back with an arrow to her throat.  I wouldn't have blamed Snow if she had cut her throat!  Mulan needs to trust people a little more.  She can't do everything herself.

Now speaking of Aurora, what a horrible thing that has been done to her!  She can't get a damn break.  Hook took out her damn heart and now Cora's using her like a puppet.  I never saw that coming.  I didn't think that Hook was really sincere about helping Emma and the others, but damn.  He really wants to kill Rump.  Not that he wasn't already a despicable person when he was just a pirate having fun.

Wow, there was so many good things this week!  It was well worth the wait.  I don't think that Emma and the others will be able to beat Cora to returning to Storybrooke now that Cora has a spy within their group.  However, at least now if Cora and Hook do soon make their way to the other world, Rump and Regina are already in the beginning of a new alliance.  Seeing the two of them work together to help Emma or stop Cora is something I can't wait for!  I'm sure that will just as exciting as it will be humorous.

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!