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.

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!