Giant Problems

Once Upon A Time, S02E13

Charming and Snow went on the look for Kora with Hook's help and accidentally sent a giant loose on the town who wanted revenge on Charming, thinking he was James.  In the past it was revealed why Anton hated James and how he ended up the sole giant left.  Emma, Henry, and Rumpelstiltskin set off for the airport to find his son  With her memory loss, Belle was treated as delusional when she claimed that she saw people using magic.

Of all things that would happen when Charming and Snow enlisted Hook's help to investigate Kora, I never thought they would find the giant that Emma had encountered.  It seemed to be random until it was revealed through his past that he held the last hope of growing another beanstalk again.  I was less surprised that he had been brought to Storybrooke for that purpose (and probably also to kill Charming too) and more surprised that after he was rescued he started to trust people so soon.  I thought it would take him more time to accept the townspeople, but I guess not killing him (as Emma had done) was enough to gain his trust to show them the beanstalk.

The most interesting part of Anton's past was that he was tricked by James and a female Jack.  Jack being a woman and a double-crossing thief was a refreshing alternative to the classic story.  Although I wasn't initially thrilled to see a back story about Anton, there were a lot of things we got to learn about James.  Besides him getting killed, we didn't know much about Charming's brother, but from Anton's story we could see that he was self-absorbed, greedy, and conniving.  I guess you could call him the "evil twin."  In contrast, it made Charming look like so much of a better guy, and made it look like a blessing for the kingdom that he was the ruler and not James.

It was a bit of a surprise to see that Henry was going with Rump and Emma on the son search.  I guess their journey isn't particularly dangerous, but I just think of danger whenever I think of Rump.  It wasn't a bad idea for her to take him along with Kora on the prowl with her daughter working as a secret agent.  Speaking of that, it was such a bad act that Regina put on when she spoke to Charming and Snow.  You would think after that intense showdown at her house some episodes back that when she was forgiven for her crimes that she would express more surprise or gratitude.  If I hadn't already known that she knew that Kora was responsible, I would have thought so with the way she acted to the "news."  Charming and Snow didn't think much about it and seemed most worried that she was upset that Henry was taken without her consent.  I'm sort of worried about that too because without Henry in town to plead her to stop acting crazy, she's surely going to terrorize the town again.  After all, she did mention that she needed Anton to be a distraction while she and her mother did something.  It's gotta be trouble.

Anyway, back to Rump and company.  My favorite part was watching them go through airport security.  Henry was pestering him with all these questions and Rump was acting so nervous and a little like his old self before he became the "Dark One."  I loved seeing him out in the real world and having to deal with regular people tasks like adbiding by security rules.  This man is used to throwing fireballs at problems, but if he tried some of that crap in a place like Logan Airport, he would surely get detained as a terrorist.  He had me a little worried, though, when he had to take off his shawl (God, I hate American airports) for inspection.  Rump looked like he was going to fall down without that magic item.  Good thing Emma was there for him and the magic didn't wear off.

I never considered that perhaps crossing the line wouldn't just erase your memory if you didn't have a talisman, but it might also remove your magic qualities.  It seems to be this way because Rump couldn't heal his hand after he banged it thoroughly on the toilet seat cover dispenser.  I don't think he'll have much use for his magic outside of Storybrooke, but I can see that it's shaking his confidence.  His powers have always been his crutch, caging his fears of being his old weak self again, I guess.  Perhaps on this journey to find his son as a normal man again he can see that he doesn't need to be a big, scary force to survive.  Also, I think his son will appreciate seeing him magic-less when they reunite.  Seeing his dad still acting like a monster after all this time surely wouldn't help them reconcile any better.

Oh, I was also amused by the fact that Charming requested, not threatened, Rump look after his family during their search.  I like that Charming did this despite Rump had come into their house, threatening their whole family for no damn reason.  Although Rump was never kind and pleasant to begin with, it makes him look like a bigger jerk for not just asking them politely to look after Belle.  I think even Rump felt a bit ashamed for demanding their help when Charming did the opposite.

It's pretty messed up that Belle is being sedated most of the time because of what she saw during her accident.  I realize that they can't afford to have her talking to strangers about magic when she doesn't remember who she is, but it feels a lot like what her life was like when Regina had her captive in that secret facility.  Worse than that, Craig heard her ramblings and looks like he's going to work with her.  Damn!  That's going to be bad for Belle and the town.  I'm pretty worried what's going to become of Belle.  If she gets into some trouble and Charming and Snow aren't there to keep her in one piece, they are going to end up missing one daughter and grandson.

Finally, on another note about Charming and Snow, it's pretty evident that Snow isn't excited about Anton's beanstalks or any method of getting them home.  She brought up a really good argument that home is where their family is, and if they did return home, it wasn't guaranteed that Emma and Henry would go with them (though I'm sure Henry would be dying to go).  Charming tried to debunk that idea by saying that Emma would be fine on her own.  Um, I'm pretty sure if they returned to that other world they would never be able to see her again.  Would that be okay with Charming?  I don't think Snow is down with that.  Geez, for not having spent much time in his daughter's life, Charming is sure complacent to not spend anymore time. 

This episode was good, but I'm really impatient to see more of Rump handling himself outside of Storybrooke.  I feel like the trio of him, Emma, and Henry are going to be great together.  I'm also curious to see if Rump is able to change for the better without hiding under his security blanket of magic.  I don't know what Kora and Regina are up to, but I find that I'm not too concerned with that as I was before.  My focus is more on what Rump and the others are up to.  However, depending on what next week's story is about, I might get invested again.  This will certainly be true if it turns out that Belle and Craig start working together to "uncover" the magic in Storybrooke.  That would draw my attention as much as the search for Bae.

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.