What Happened:
Storybrooke/Our World
- A man in a business suit is having a bad day in a city that is clearly NOT Storybrooke (perhaps Boston?) He gets a mysterious message via pigeon in the form of a postcard promoting Storybrooke, which has a single word on the other side: "Broken." Guess the title explanation came along fast. (Theories in my living room ranged from Baelfire to Henry's father.)
- Back in Storybrooke, everyone is very happy that they remember who they really are...except for Emma, who has the BEST facial expressions ever when she has to put up with Mary Margaret/Snow being all motherly (insisting on talking about Emma's life, bonding, etc.). She's clearly uncomfortable with her former BFF now playing a maternal role. Luckily the ever precocious Henry pops up with David's new label of "Grandpa" fresh on his lips.
- The Royal Family (Henry, Emma, Snow and Charming) go to stop an angry mob led by the mysterious Doctor Whale, whose fairytale identity we don't yet know ("Whale"...hey, does Monstro have a Storybrooke counterpart yet?). Whale is angry, Regina is cavalier and tries to use magic only to end up looking like she's practicing Tai Chi. The RF manage to save Regina, only to throw her in jail.
- Rumpelstiltskin promises Belle that he will not try to kill Regina...
- ...but then uses a mysterious medallion with a symbol on it to "mark" Regina's palm (not like we weren't expecting that; remember the last promise he made? *cough* Baelfire does). Later he summons some creepy-as-all-getup thing called a wraith (which I shall henceforth refer to as a Dementor) to kill Regina. It's attracted to the mark on her palm.
- The Royal Family sans Henry manage to save Regina from the Dementor when it tries to suck out her soul in her cell. Snow gets a totally b.a. moment when she somehow makes a flamethrower to scare off the beastie (I guess she's not good at Patronus charms.)
- Regina and the RF head over to her office to use Jefferson's hat to send the Dementor back to the Fairytale Land, which according to Regina is "no more", so hypothetically they're sending it into oblivion
- After a fight, the Dementor gets sucked in, but so do Emma and Snow. A grieving Charming decides to take in Henry, who makes Regina promise to get his mom and grandma back.
- Belle returns to Rumpel after getting mad when she learned he lied about not harming Regina. He basically tells her he's still a jerk and that's not changing, but Belle apparently thinks she can change him. Good luck with that one, Belle...
- There's a chronological reason this section comes next. Though we don't know it yet, the Dementor is sent into the Fairytale Land- more specifically, a palace that looks very Arabian in style (could it be Agrabah?)
- Two characters make their debut on the show: Prince Philip and the warrior Mulan. They find Phil's princess, Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) sleeping within. After he wakes her up with a kiss, Phil and Aurora start making out, making Mulan uncomfortable. She wanders around and finds the Dementor, along with the same medallion Rumpy used in Storybrooke to mark Regina. After they fight off the Dementor (or try to- Phil has some lame little sword-swings there), Mulan explains that the Dementor chases down people marked by the medallion to suck out their souls. Phil reveals he's been marked to the audience with a Random Hand Flex that Aurora is a bit too sleepy-eyed to pick up on.
- Later, Phil wanders off after another makeout session with Aurora (which firmly cements their status as "That Couple Who Kisses in Front of Their Lockers Just to Remind Everyone They Are Together." Admit it. You know what I'm talking about. There's at least one like that at every highschool.)
- After Aurora totally judges Mulan for being a woman warrior ("How dare you defy your social hierarchy to become an active female protagonist!"), and accuses her of being in love with Phil, they realize Phil is missing and are reasonably freaked out. They look around and it's TOTALLY like the Blaire Witch Project, Storybrooke style, when eventually our two Disney heroines find said prince getting his face sucked off by the Dementor. He says "I love you" before losing his soul, but it's not clear to whom that last comment was directed.
- The Disney Princess Brigade lays Phil to rest in the same palace Aurora was in. Mulan explains the Curse to Aurora- apparently this small section of Fairytale Land was mysteriously protected from it. Just as Mulan is about to take Aurora to a "safe haven" (my money's on Neverland, given the promise of Captain Hook later in the season), they find the unconscious bodies of Emma and Snow under a pile of rubble.
This episode picks up all of the threads from last season and keeps running with them, and it turns out quite enjoyable. The Royal Family's interactions were really interesting to see- Snow was demanding quality time with a daughter that really wasn't ready for her, and I'm looking forward to seeing how they interact now that they're stuck together in the Fairytale Land. David/Charming seems an interesting mix of both his original and accursed selves- the anger and confusion of David, with the moral code and bravery of Charming.
The crossover aspect felt heavy in this episode, which might annoy some people, but I ate it up: seeing the RF work with Regina in our world while Phil, Aurora and Mulan had a mini-adventure in the Fairytale Land was really cool for me, because it's something you'll never see anywhere else. The seeds are set for interesting interactions all over- how will David deal with Storybrooke, now that he's one of the major players in it alongside Regina and Rumpelstiltskin? How will Emma work with three Disney heroines?
The only thing that really bugged me was how mean Henry was to Regina, especially after defending her at the start, but I guess that's within character for him.
My Questions:
-Where is August, and is he still in a wooden state?
-Who is Doctor Whale?
-Why did Regina say she didn't know who Jefferson is?
Score this week:
9/10
I'm super-excited for next week! Give me your thoughts, predictions and theories!
