What Happened:
Storybrooke/Our World
- The dwarves try to figure out if they can cross the Storybrooke boundary. Unfortunately they learn that they cannot without losing their memories from the Fairytale Land and reverting to their Storybrooke selves, as Sneezy learns all too well.
- While August awakens in his puppet form in his room in Granny's inn, the town is in chaos; all of its residents are confused, asking various questions ranging from "Ermahgerd, help me I'm having a crisis of identity" to "Teehee I'm Doctor Whale and I'm a total creep."
- Charming/David goes to see Regina and asks her about Jefferson's hat. In the ensuing conversation, Charming implies Regina needs magic to keep control over Henry.
- The dwarves show up and announce to the town that Sneezy has been re-cursed, increasing the panic that David has to deal with. Henry tells everyone "he can help them," which bugs me because honestly, Henry? You have no idea what these people are going through, b/c you're not a fairytale character- you haven't just discovered you have two dual identities...He is SUCH an insensitive little child.
- Ruby asks David what he plans to do; David replies that he's not sure yet. Ruby has a look in her eyes that says, "Of course you don't. Because nobody in this town has a lick of sense except for me."
- Meanwhile, Regina is sitting in her house attempting to use magic ("Light, damn you!" C'mon, Regina, it's Levi-ooooo-sa, not Levi-oh-SAH.) Suddenly Jiminy/Archie Hopper shows up and offers his help to her as a counselor/moral guide, but she turns him down. Which is sad, because I feel like these two could totally be BFFLs for life. Regina then goes to see Rumpelstiltskin in his shop, asking him for her mother Cora's spellbook. He initially denies it to her, but she then blackmails him with the knowledge that the Fairytale Land still exists (contrary to what Regina told the Royal Family last episode.)
- While Regina absorbs the magic from the book like she's smelling Pillsbury cookies. I guess magic travels through the nose.
- Henry gives David a pep talk. David has pronoun issues and tries to figure out if he's David or Charming, and what parts of himself come from which personality.
- David/Charming then goes to talk to Rumpelstiltskin, who whines about how nobody knocks on his door before coming in (I have the same problem, Rumpel. Don't worry, it gets better.) David asks for a way to find Jefferson via his hat, and Rumpy gives it to him, though David is coy about who he's trying to find. In exchange, Rumpy asks that he and David agree to stay out of each other's ways for the foreseeable future. David also mentions that nobody can leave time without losing their identity, which angers Rumpelstiltskin, presumably because it means he can't seek out Baelfire.
- David follows the hat that Rumpy enchanted, resulting in him finding Jefferson stuck under a car. The two talk, and Jefferson basically tells him that while the Fairytale Land still exists, it's impossible to get back. He's not very helpful, honestly. Just like he wasn't helpful in establishing a new ship for Emma. (If you don't know what shipping is, go to Tumblr. Now.)
- Regina storms a town hall meeting, showing off her newly-returned magic powers. Henry is actually rather brave here and offers to leave with Regina if she leaves everyone alone, and she gladly takes him up on the offer. (Ruby is actually pretty epic here; she stands up to Regina as a leader when all the other authority figures are gone.)
- Ruby tells David that Regina took Henry, and he chooses to help his grandson instead of pursuing Emma and Snow. He goes to Regina's house, where Henry has just tried to escape (via a blanket ladder that's QUITE elaborate- how long had the kid been planning to climb out his window?) and had a severe talking-to by Regina in which she reveals just how similar to her mother she really is, offering Henry power through magic. Henry also pointed out how disturbed he had been by Regina making him feel like a liar and/or a crazy person back in Season 1, when she made him see a psychiatrist.
- Regina realizes how much like her mother she is being, and decides she wants to seek redemption. To start herself on that path, she lets Henry leave with David, telling him she wants him to love her because he wants to, not because he's afraid of her or is forced to.
- The panicked crowds try to leave Storybrooke, but David stands on the back of a truck and discusses how he feels that he is both Charming and David, just as the other citizens of Storybrooke are both their original fairy tale selves and their new Storybrooke counterparts. The citizens are rather quickly pacified and all go back to their daily routines.
- Regina hides away the spellbook; Gold stares at the town boundary; Henry tells Gepetto where to find August, but August is no longer in the inn; Henry and David have a bonding moment.
- A young Regina is running away through the woods when her mom Cora catches her with vines and tree branches (NOTE: This episode takes place shortly after "The Stable Boy", the episode last season in which a young Regina lost the love of her life at her mother's hands.) Regina and Snow White have a bit of bonding time, in which Snow demonstrates she has no boundaries and is totally content with trying on the jewelery of others. Age is no excuse, the concept of a personal bubble is not a difficult one. Regina is then disturbed when she has a vision of herself using magic to choke the young Snow in revenge.
- Regina tells her dad that she is being corrupted by her mother and her magicks. It's really sweet to see their relationship in its early stages like this, how even then he was her confidant. Regina learns from her father that Cora got her powers from a spellbook, given to her by Rumpelstiltskin.
- The young Regina meets Rumpelstiltskin (she really can't pronounce his name, it's quite amusing), and he greets her naive cluelessness with an offer of magic, giving her the same spellbook we saw earlier. Regina is hesitant to use the book, lest it be Fifty Shades of Grey disguised so that Rumpy can get more people to read it. (He just wants somebody to discuss it with, it's not his fault, really!)
- Rumpelstiltskin continues to talk to Regina, explaining that he and her family are connected. He senses Regina's power, and there's a TOTAL Harry Potter moment when Rumpelstiltskin says something along the lines of "You have great power, great potential, if you choose to use it" and Regina's all "Never! I wanna be in Gryffindor!" and Rumpy's all "Mmmm. That's what EVERYONE says, at first..."
- Rumpel gives Regina a mirror to push Cora through, saying it will transport her to another dimension- I thought it was our world at first, but that can't be right, as we'll see later.
- Cora is kind of a jerk to Regina on her wedding day, telling her how to live her life and that one day soon the king will be dead and Regina will be an all-powerful genie. Or something.
- Regina uses magic to shove Cora into the mirror, and is horrified because she's being EXACTLY like her mom, who she just declared she would never be like. It's very tragic and Shakespearean.
- Regina sets out to leave the kingdom, but Rumpelstiltskin interrupts her on the way. He makes her admit that she enjoyed using magic and is scared by it, then convinces her to be his apprentice. She asks him why he wants to teach her, and he says she might be of use to him...
- In the present times of the Fairytale Land, Aurora and Mulan have taken Emma and Snow prisoner. They take them to their safe haven, where after a brief scuffle (in which Snow smacks around Aurora and Mulan smacks around Snow, thus giving us our Character-Development-of-the-Week for the Disney Princess Brigade) Emma and Snow are thrown into a prison called The Pit, in which Cora is also held. There are no snakes within.
I didn't really care that much about the Fairytale Land segments this week- I always just assumed Regina picked up magic on her own, and so seeing her learn it in this episode didn't intrigue me all that much. The main thing we learned from those segments was that Regina and Rumpelstiltskin were once Master and Apprentice, Sith-style, which is a new twist on their relationship that I enjoyed learning about. Hopefully we can see more of that this season.
What I loved most this week was Regina's beginning on her path to redemption. She put away her spellbook, gave up her son to the husband of her archenemy, and outright stated she wanted to redeem herself. I think we can safely say Regina's beginning to seek a place on the side of the angels, and I for one will welcome her there. All the Regina nay-sayers out there MUST see this episode. It proves once and for all that Regina loves Henry, and that's awesome. (I for one think that The Great Curse would have still been broken if Regina had kissed Henry's forehead instead of Emma, but I could write a whole post about that. ) I hope to see Regina working with David and the rest of the RF in the future.
On a related topic, Regina's actress, Lana Parilla, was EXCELLENT this week. She's an excellent actress who can successfully portray Regina at her different ages, along with her different stages of character development. There were subtle differences in her behavior in this episode alone that I simply loved.
My Questions:
-Why did Rumpelstiltskin offer to train Regina? What does he hope to get out of it? It can't be Baelfire-related, because there's really nothing Regina can do that Rumpy can't...is there?
-What would happen if Regina or Gold left the town? They never had Storybrooke identities, since they always carried their true memories...
-Why did Henry have a cell phone? He's ten. Like, seriously.
-Did Emma and Snow even TRY telling Aurora and Mulan who they were, to avoid the whole prisoner treatment?
-Why does David hold his sword like Sora, from Kingdom Hearts?
My Score:
8/10
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