Just an FYI for anyone who is still coming up to speed with this show:
ABC is playing all the episodes tomorrow (New Years Day) in a Once Upon a Time marathon. Set your DVR if you missed any earlier in the season.
Also, Hulu still has all the episodes to date available, but only until January 9th. After that, they're only going to have the last 5 episodes aired available to stream.
Hope you're all enjoying the show.
-Tom
Saturday, December 31, 2011
S01E03 - Snow Falls
This episode open with Prince Charming riding through the enchanted forest in a carriage with a rather unpleasant woman. When the carriage stops for a fallen tree in the path, they get robbed by a mysterious hooded thief. Ever the hero, Prince Charming gives chase on horseback and when he overtakes the thief, we find that it's none other than Snow White. She's no slouch however, and proceeds to pick up a rock and give the prince a nice left hook with it, then gets away.
In Storybrooke, Mary Margaret is on a date with Dr. Whale from the hospital. She catches him checking out Ruby across the restaurant and quickly exits, seeming more resigned to disappointment than offended. This is the kind of feeling that I'm guessing the queen is going for with her curse. It seems to be working in this case at least. On the way home, Mary Margaret finds Emma more or less living out of her car. She offers to have Emma stay with her, but she doesn't take her up on it.
Later, Mary is volunteering at the hospital and sees Henry visiting with "John Doe" who is actually Prince Charming and is in a coma. Henry recognizes the prince for who he is and later tells Emma about it. He wants to tell Mary, but Emma is skeptical as always. Eventually she gives in although she wants to do things her way. She tells Mary who Henry thinks John Doe really is and that he wants her to read the story book to him to help him remember. She agrees in an effort to show Henry that the curse and all the fairy tail business isn't real.
Lo and behold while reading to John Doe, he reaches up and grabs Mary's hand, although he doesn't actually wake up. She fetches Dr. Whale who oddly claims that nothing happened according to the monitors. and that Mary must have imagined the whole thing. As soon as she leaves, Dr. Whale calls Regina and fills her in. The mayor does not seems pleased by this news.
Back in the enchanted forest, Snow White is stashing the loot from her latest robbery when she falls for the oldest trick in the book - the giant net hanging in a tree trap.
Prince Charming appears as the trap setter and demands his things back. All he really cares about is a certain ring that belonged to his mother. He was going to give it to the unpleasant woman from the carriage who is actually his fiance. Snow seems pretty down on the marriage and in fact has a very jaded opinion of love entirely. She already sold his ring so he demands that she take him to the person she sold it to. He pulls out a wanted poster of Snow White from the evil queen and threatens to turn her in if she doesn't cooperate.
The next day in Storybrooke, Emma, Henry, and Mary meet to discuss what happened when she read the book to John Doe. She tells them that he woke up enough to grab her hand and that Dr. Whale thinks she imagined it. Henry takes this as a sure sign that John Doe is remembering his former fairy tale life. They head back to the hospital to try reading to him again only to find out that he's missing from the hospital. Of course Regina and the Sheriff are there already to investigate the scene. Apparently, Regina is the one who found John Doe by the side of the road years ago and is listed as his emergency contact. Likely story...
The search for John Doe is on, and they start with the security footage from the hospital. The night staff turn out to be none other than the dwarfs Sleepy and Grumpy. Naturally, Sleepy fell asleep on the job when John Doe disappeared. The tape shows John leaving the hospital by himself and heading out the door into the woods.
Back in the enchanted forest, Snow and Prince Charming are bickering (flirting) their way through the forest. She tells us that the queen sent someone after her before, but when he caught her, he let her go. She's been hiding in the forest ever since trying to scrape up enough to move somewhere far away. Prince Charming asks why the queen wants Snow so badly and she answers, "She blames me for ruining her life." The prince asks, "Did you?" Snow answers, "Yes." I'm really starting to wonder what happened in that bit of back story. I have no doubt we won't get any answers on that until much later in the season, maybe the finale. While taking a water break by a river, Snow kicks Prince Charming into the water and makes another escape. This time, when she finds the road, she runs into the queens soldiers.
In the forest outside Storybrooke, the Sheriff is tracking John Doe with Mary and Emma in tow. The sheriff seems to have some serious tracking skills and even calls it "my world". I wonder who his fairy tale character will end up being? Emma is pretty good at finding people too, although normally not in the woods ("More like Vegas", she says). "Looking for people is just what I've done for as long as I can remember." I'm sure there's more to this as well. Henry turns up to help look for John and claims to know where he's going.
In the enchanted forest, as Snow is about to get her heart cut out for the queen, Prince Charming shows up to save the day. A nice bit of sword work and a sweet arrow shot and he knocks off all the queens soldiers. Snow is truly smitten now.
We arrive at the "Troll Bridge" where, no kidding, the trolls live. This is who she sold the ring to and they're a pretty nasty bunch. They try to make a deal to get the ring back, but the trolls are too suspicious and things get ugly. Snow White gets away, but the prince is caught. Of course, Snow goes back for the rescue and using up some magic fairy dust she has, she turns all the trolls into bugs (easily squished). After the fight, we find out that Prince Charming's real name is James. Finally... I was getting tired of typing "Prince Charming" all the time.
In the parallel story in Storybrooke, the party arrives at the Toll Bridge. Someone has vandalized the sign to read "Troll Bridge". They find John Doe passed out down by the river and pull him out. Mary gives him mouth to mouth which much like a magic kiss, brings him around. The only problem is that John Doe has no idea who he is - serious amnesia. They get him back to the hospital and a strange woman shows up (same person as the unpleasant finance from the enchanted forest) who claims to be his wife. Regina is right behind her and says that John Doe's name is David Nolan and that the woman, Katheryn, is in fact his wife.
Katheryn tells us that a few years ago, David and her weren't getting along and he had moved out. She had assumed that he left town, but in fact he had fallen into a coma and she never knew it. Henry isn't buying this story and neither is Emma. Regina has an explanation for how she seemed to magically find his wife just when he woke up, but it still seems weak.
We later see Mary who is wearing the same ring that Snow and James were tracking down the enchanted forest (interesting). Finally, Emma comes by and takes Mary up on her offer to move in.
My Questions:
New Theories:
Other Thoughts:
In Storybrooke, Mary Margaret is on a date with Dr. Whale from the hospital. She catches him checking out Ruby across the restaurant and quickly exits, seeming more resigned to disappointment than offended. This is the kind of feeling that I'm guessing the queen is going for with her curse. It seems to be working in this case at least. On the way home, Mary Margaret finds Emma more or less living out of her car. She offers to have Emma stay with her, but she doesn't take her up on it.
Lo and behold while reading to John Doe, he reaches up and grabs Mary's hand, although he doesn't actually wake up. She fetches Dr. Whale who oddly claims that nothing happened according to the monitors. and that Mary must have imagined the whole thing. As soon as she leaves, Dr. Whale calls Regina and fills her in. The mayor does not seems pleased by this news.
Back in the enchanted forest, Snow White is stashing the loot from her latest robbery when she falls for the oldest trick in the book - the giant net hanging in a tree trap.
Prince Charming appears as the trap setter and demands his things back. All he really cares about is a certain ring that belonged to his mother. He was going to give it to the unpleasant woman from the carriage who is actually his fiance. Snow seems pretty down on the marriage and in fact has a very jaded opinion of love entirely. She already sold his ring so he demands that she take him to the person she sold it to. He pulls out a wanted poster of Snow White from the evil queen and threatens to turn her in if she doesn't cooperate.
The next day in Storybrooke, Emma, Henry, and Mary meet to discuss what happened when she read the book to John Doe. She tells them that he woke up enough to grab her hand and that Dr. Whale thinks she imagined it. Henry takes this as a sure sign that John Doe is remembering his former fairy tale life. They head back to the hospital to try reading to him again only to find out that he's missing from the hospital. Of course Regina and the Sheriff are there already to investigate the scene. Apparently, Regina is the one who found John Doe by the side of the road years ago and is listed as his emergency contact. Likely story...
The search for John Doe is on, and they start with the security footage from the hospital. The night staff turn out to be none other than the dwarfs Sleepy and Grumpy. Naturally, Sleepy fell asleep on the job when John Doe disappeared. The tape shows John leaving the hospital by himself and heading out the door into the woods.
Back in the enchanted forest, Snow and Prince Charming are bickering (flirting) their way through the forest. She tells us that the queen sent someone after her before, but when he caught her, he let her go. She's been hiding in the forest ever since trying to scrape up enough to move somewhere far away. Prince Charming asks why the queen wants Snow so badly and she answers, "She blames me for ruining her life." The prince asks, "Did you?" Snow answers, "Yes." I'm really starting to wonder what happened in that bit of back story. I have no doubt we won't get any answers on that until much later in the season, maybe the finale. While taking a water break by a river, Snow kicks Prince Charming into the water and makes another escape. This time, when she finds the road, she runs into the queens soldiers.
In the forest outside Storybrooke, the Sheriff is tracking John Doe with Mary and Emma in tow. The sheriff seems to have some serious tracking skills and even calls it "my world". I wonder who his fairy tale character will end up being? Emma is pretty good at finding people too, although normally not in the woods ("More like Vegas", she says). "Looking for people is just what I've done for as long as I can remember." I'm sure there's more to this as well. Henry turns up to help look for John and claims to know where he's going.
In the enchanted forest, as Snow is about to get her heart cut out for the queen, Prince Charming shows up to save the day. A nice bit of sword work and a sweet arrow shot and he knocks off all the queens soldiers. Snow is truly smitten now.
We arrive at the "Troll Bridge" where, no kidding, the trolls live. This is who she sold the ring to and they're a pretty nasty bunch. They try to make a deal to get the ring back, but the trolls are too suspicious and things get ugly. Snow White gets away, but the prince is caught. Of course, Snow goes back for the rescue and using up some magic fairy dust she has, she turns all the trolls into bugs (easily squished). After the fight, we find out that Prince Charming's real name is James. Finally... I was getting tired of typing "Prince Charming" all the time.
In the parallel story in Storybrooke, the party arrives at the Toll Bridge. Someone has vandalized the sign to read "Troll Bridge". They find John Doe passed out down by the river and pull him out. Mary gives him mouth to mouth which much like a magic kiss, brings him around. The only problem is that John Doe has no idea who he is - serious amnesia. They get him back to the hospital and a strange woman shows up (same person as the unpleasant finance from the enchanted forest) who claims to be his wife. Regina is right behind her and says that John Doe's name is David Nolan and that the woman, Katheryn, is in fact his wife.
Katheryn tells us that a few years ago, David and her weren't getting along and he had moved out. She had assumed that he left town, but in fact he had fallen into a coma and she never knew it. Henry isn't buying this story and neither is Emma. Regina has an explanation for how she seemed to magically find his wife just when he woke up, but it still seems weak.
We later see Mary who is wearing the same ring that Snow and James were tracking down the enchanted forest (interesting). Finally, Emma comes by and takes Mary up on her offer to move in.
My Questions:
- I really need to know what exactly happened between the queen and Snow White. This is looking more and more like the central mystery for the season.
New Theories:
- It seems that Regina is still trying to fill the void left by her lost love. I think she's using Henry for this purpose. Is this why she adopted him in the first place?
Other Thoughts:
- No Lost references again! This isn't going to be much of a "Lost" in "Once Upon a Time" blog if they don't give me more to work with. I happen to know that there are some more in upcoming episodes, but still...
Friday, December 23, 2011
S01E02 - The Thing You Love Most
This episode starts out with the town of Storybrooke seeming to be in a generally good mood. The message seems to be that things are looking up now that Emma is here, but I don't think anyone besides Henry realizes that's the reason. A few people do seem to notice that the clock tower is working again. I'm wondering that tower has any other significance.
We catch Regina reading through the fairy tale book and she sees that there are ripped out pages at the end of the book. She confronts Henry about the missing pages and the fact that he thinks she's an evil queen (which she is, of course). She blames his behavior on the book and on Emma, but she thinks the Emma problem is over since she left town. Before Henry can respond, Regina hears the clock tower chime. Henry makes a break for it and Regina is left stunned that the clock is moving again. While outside staring at the clock tower, she sees Emma's car. Apparently, she hasn't left town after all.
Taking a page from the standard evil queen playbook, she shows up at Emma's door, all smiles, with a basket full of apples. (She claims they are Honeycrisp apples, but if you know apples, you know these aren't Honeycrisps - the color is all wrong. Prop department fail.) Apparently they're from an apple tree that she's had since she was a little girl (that figures).
Regina makes it pretty clear that she wants Emma out of town, and Emma is just snarky enough to really make her mad. The evil queen shines through as she says, "You have no idea what I'm capable of." Oooohhh... creepy.
We flash back to the castle and see the queen crash Snow White's wedding again. This time, when she dodges Prince Charming's sword by disappearing into a cloud of smoke, we see the continuation where she reappears in her castle. The only other people there is a servant and her mirror-mirror-on-the-wall. I like the mirror - it's pretty snarky too. We find out that she intends to use a dark curse which apparently she traded away to someone who is now living in the Forbidden Fortress.
The someone else turns out to be Maleficent from "Sleeping Beauty". We get a little back story from Maleficent on the evil queen: turns out when she was about Snow White's age, she was supposed to marry someone and Snow White somehow ruined it. The queen's fiance is now dead, presumably Snow's fault. Now we know why the queen hates Snow White so much. After a little evil queen showdown, our queen wrestles the dark curse back and she's off to put plans in motion.
The queen gathers a crew of down-trodden bad guys and tries to put the curse into action. She promises that in the new realm, they'll be the ones who win. For some reason, the curse fails to ignite.
Back to Storybrooke, Regina is picking apples from her tree when her assistant show up. He appears to have the same face as her magic mirror back in the enchanted forest and he refers to himself as "The Mirror". I guess he knows who he is and is aware of the curse. It's starting to look like the bad guys from the enchanted forest are "aware".
Meanwhile, Emma runs into Henry at the diner. While walking him to school, she almost eats the apple she got from Regina, until Henry stops her. I'm guessing this was a good call.
Henry gives Emma the missing pages from the book and is still working on convincing her that the curse is real and that she's the one to break it. At Henry's school, Emma runs into Mary Margaret and finds out that Henry thinks she's Snow White. Serious WTF moment for Emma who's meeting her supposed mother who appears to be the same age that she is. Next, Emma visits Archie, Henry's shrink, who violates all sorts of patient confidentiality and HIPPA regulations and hands over Henry's file. As soon as she leaves, Archive calls Regina who was apparently expecting this and told him to give her the file. I smell a trap.
Shockingly, the sheriff shows up at Emma room a bit later telling her that Archie called in that the file was stolen. Of course it's spread out all over Emma's room, so she's placed under arrest again. Regina then wastes no time telling Henry about Emma's troubles with the law in an effort to drive them apart. (Funny side note - she refers to Archie as "Dr. Hopper". He's actually Jiminy Cricket, get it?)
Henry doesn't buy Regina's story. While Emma's getting her mug shot, Henry shows up with Mary Margaret to bail her out. As soon as she's free, Emma heads to Regina's house and takes a chainsaw to part of the apple tree. This is possibly the best shot in the show so far.
In the enchanted forest, the queen make a visit to Rumpelstiltskin to find out why her curse didn't work. He let's her in on the secret that Snow White and Prince Charming's unborn child can break the curse. Once again, Rumpel's making a deal - this time the deal is to tell the queen how to make her curse work in exchange to an agreement that in the new realm she must give him whatever he wants and obey his every command as long as he says "please". According to the queen, Rumpel won't remember anything if the curse works so I guess he's out of the special-bad-guy-curse-immunity club. Once they make the deal, he tells her that she must sacrifice the heart of the thing she loves most.
Things then get more difficult for Emma - Regina has her evicted from her hotel room and a boot put on her car. Then, Regina invites Emma over to her office and really sets her up. She stages a conversation with Emma that leads her to accuse Henry of being crazy when she knew that Henry was in the next room. Henry runs off and Emma chases after.
Back in her castle the queen needs the heart of the thing she loves most. This turns out to be her servant who is actually her father (wow, really?). The queen has a crisis of conscience but in the end, she chooses revenge over love and rips her father's heart out of his chest with her bare hand. Yikes.
Emma pays a visit to Mary Margaret and they have a little heart to heart. Emma's thinking about leaving town to protect Henry, but she's convinced to stay. Emma find Henry at Archie's office and convinces him that she was just trying to throw Regina off the trail by saying what she did. They burn the missing pages from the book to keep them from Regina.
Back in the forest, the queen finally get's the curse fired up, then pays her respects at her father's grave. The tombstone says his name was Henry. Cue the creepy music.
Mr. Gold (aka Rumpel) stops by the Mayor's house. She thinks that Emma has finally left town, but he let's her know that she hasn't. We find out that Mr. Gold is the one who found Henry for her when she was trying to adopt. He makes a reference to Henry's name that makes us think he may know about the queen's father. Regina then asks about Emma and how he found Henry for her in the first place. She's starting to suspect that Emma is Snow White's daughter. She tries to get more information out of him, but he uses the magic word and she seems powerless to stop him.
My Questions:
New Theories:
We catch Regina reading through the fairy tale book and she sees that there are ripped out pages at the end of the book. She confronts Henry about the missing pages and the fact that he thinks she's an evil queen (which she is, of course). She blames his behavior on the book and on Emma, but she thinks the Emma problem is over since she left town. Before Henry can respond, Regina hears the clock tower chime. Henry makes a break for it and Regina is left stunned that the clock is moving again. While outside staring at the clock tower, she sees Emma's car. Apparently, she hasn't left town after all.
Taking a page from the standard evil queen playbook, she shows up at Emma's door, all smiles, with a basket full of apples. (She claims they are Honeycrisp apples, but if you know apples, you know these aren't Honeycrisps - the color is all wrong. Prop department fail.) Apparently they're from an apple tree that she's had since she was a little girl (that figures).
Regina makes it pretty clear that she wants Emma out of town, and Emma is just snarky enough to really make her mad. The evil queen shines through as she says, "You have no idea what I'm capable of." Oooohhh... creepy.
We flash back to the castle and see the queen crash Snow White's wedding again. This time, when she dodges Prince Charming's sword by disappearing into a cloud of smoke, we see the continuation where she reappears in her castle. The only other people there is a servant and her mirror-mirror-on-the-wall. I like the mirror - it's pretty snarky too. We find out that she intends to use a dark curse which apparently she traded away to someone who is now living in the Forbidden Fortress.
The someone else turns out to be Maleficent from "Sleeping Beauty". We get a little back story from Maleficent on the evil queen: turns out when she was about Snow White's age, she was supposed to marry someone and Snow White somehow ruined it. The queen's fiance is now dead, presumably Snow's fault. Now we know why the queen hates Snow White so much. After a little evil queen showdown, our queen wrestles the dark curse back and she's off to put plans in motion.
The queen gathers a crew of down-trodden bad guys and tries to put the curse into action. She promises that in the new realm, they'll be the ones who win. For some reason, the curse fails to ignite.
Back to Storybrooke, Regina is picking apples from her tree when her assistant show up. He appears to have the same face as her magic mirror back in the enchanted forest and he refers to himself as "The Mirror". I guess he knows who he is and is aware of the curse. It's starting to look like the bad guys from the enchanted forest are "aware".
Meanwhile, Emma runs into Henry at the diner. While walking him to school, she almost eats the apple she got from Regina, until Henry stops her. I'm guessing this was a good call.
Henry gives Emma the missing pages from the book and is still working on convincing her that the curse is real and that she's the one to break it. At Henry's school, Emma runs into Mary Margaret and finds out that Henry thinks she's Snow White. Serious WTF moment for Emma who's meeting her supposed mother who appears to be the same age that she is. Next, Emma visits Archie, Henry's shrink, who violates all sorts of patient confidentiality and HIPPA regulations and hands over Henry's file. As soon as she leaves, Archive calls Regina who was apparently expecting this and told him to give her the file. I smell a trap.
Shockingly, the sheriff shows up at Emma room a bit later telling her that Archie called in that the file was stolen. Of course it's spread out all over Emma's room, so she's placed under arrest again. Regina then wastes no time telling Henry about Emma's troubles with the law in an effort to drive them apart. (Funny side note - she refers to Archie as "Dr. Hopper". He's actually Jiminy Cricket, get it?)
Henry doesn't buy Regina's story. While Emma's getting her mug shot, Henry shows up with Mary Margaret to bail her out. As soon as she's free, Emma heads to Regina's house and takes a chainsaw to part of the apple tree. This is possibly the best shot in the show so far.
In the enchanted forest, the queen make a visit to Rumpelstiltskin to find out why her curse didn't work. He let's her in on the secret that Snow White and Prince Charming's unborn child can break the curse. Once again, Rumpel's making a deal - this time the deal is to tell the queen how to make her curse work in exchange to an agreement that in the new realm she must give him whatever he wants and obey his every command as long as he says "please". According to the queen, Rumpel won't remember anything if the curse works so I guess he's out of the special-bad-guy-curse-immunity club. Once they make the deal, he tells her that she must sacrifice the heart of the thing she loves most.
Things then get more difficult for Emma - Regina has her evicted from her hotel room and a boot put on her car. Then, Regina invites Emma over to her office and really sets her up. She stages a conversation with Emma that leads her to accuse Henry of being crazy when she knew that Henry was in the next room. Henry runs off and Emma chases after.
Back in her castle the queen needs the heart of the thing she loves most. This turns out to be her servant who is actually her father (wow, really?). The queen has a crisis of conscience but in the end, she chooses revenge over love and rips her father's heart out of his chest with her bare hand. Yikes.
Emma pays a visit to Mary Margaret and they have a little heart to heart. Emma's thinking about leaving town to protect Henry, but she's convinced to stay. Emma find Henry at Archie's office and convinces him that she was just trying to throw Regina off the trail by saying what she did. They burn the missing pages from the book to keep them from Regina.
Back in the forest, the queen finally get's the curse fired up, then pays her respects at her father's grave. The tombstone says his name was Henry. Cue the creepy music.
Mr. Gold (aka Rumpel) stops by the Mayor's house. She thinks that Emma has finally left town, but he let's her know that she hasn't. We find out that Mr. Gold is the one who found Henry for her when she was trying to adopt. He makes a reference to Henry's name that makes us think he may know about the queen's father. Regina then asks about Emma and how he found Henry for her in the first place. She's starting to suspect that Emma is Snow White's daughter. She tries to get more information out of him, but he uses the magic word and she seems powerless to stop him.
My Questions:
- How does Rumpel/Gold seem to know about the curse and remember things from the enchanted forest? Clearly he's remembering, or has the whole time.
- Is Emma really starting to believe in all this curse business or is she just humoring Henry?
New Theories:
- Well, I don't know if it's a theory, but what we now know is that the queen and her minions are aware of what's going on. From what I can tell so far, her end game seems to be to keep everyone locked up and ignorant in Storybrooke where time is frozen and she gets whatever she wants. This isn't too compelling, so I'm hoping there is more to her motivations down the road.
Other Thoughts:
- I didn't find any Lost references in this episode! Did I miss any? Comment if you saw something I missed.
Monday, December 19, 2011
S01E01 - Pilot
The pilot episode opens in a forest where Prince Charming finds Snow White in her glass coffin seemingly in a coma and surrounded by the seven dwarfs. Charming kisses her and some magic is released. The gloomy sky clears and Snow wakes up. Classic stuff.
We jump forward to their wedding and of course, just after saying "I do", the evil queen shows up. Snow makes a comment about her not being a queen any more - not sure what this is about yet, but it seems important. The queen isn't happy about things and declares that "Everything you love will be taken from you." There are special effects like the queen gliding over the floor as she walks and Charming throwing a sword at her which causes her to disappear into a cloud of black smoke. I think they overdid this scene a bit so they would have something cool to put in the commercials.
Next, we then move to current day Boston and briefly meet a boy on a bus with a book. We then move to a young woman named Emma on a blind date. We find out that today is her birthday and that she describes herself as "kind of a loner". The date turns out to be a setup as she's actually a bail bonds-person and was trying to track down the guy to collect money from him. The guy makes a break for it and she calmly chases him down (in heels) and smashes his head into the steering wheel of his car. I think we're supposed to get the impression that she's a no-nonsense, I-can-take-care-of-myself, school-of-hard-knocks type.
We end up in her apartment which is conspicuously empty. She has a single cupcake with birthday candle and makes a wish. Seconds later, a knock at her door reveals the boy from the bus. His name is Henry and says he's her son. We find out that 10 years ago, she gave up a baby for adoption. During their exchange, Emma tells us that her "super power" is that she can tell when anyone is lying. Apparently Henry isn't. He wants her to come home with him, to Storybrooke, Maine.
Back to the enchanted forest, in the castle, Snow White is now pregnant. She's quite worried about the threat the queen made at their wedding. Charming tries to talk her down a bit, but she insists on seeing "Him", whoever that is.
Back to Emma and Henry - they're driving to Maine and Henry tells her about his book. Supposedly, every story in the book actually happened. Using her super power, Emma determines that Henry really believes this and says "Just because you believe something doesn't make it true". He says, "That's exactly what makes it true. You should know more than anyone". Another statement that will probably make more sense later.
Down in the castle dungeons, "Him" turns out to be Rumpelstiltskin who is looking to make a deal. He offers to trade information about the queen's plans in exchange for the name of Snow White's unborn child. When she accepts, he reveals that the queen is is creating a powerful curse. Apparently, they'll be stuck in time and there will be no more happy endings. Their only hope is the baby - if they can get her to safety she will return on her 28th birthday, find Snow, and the final battle will begin. We then find out that the baby's name is Emma - shocker.
Emma and Henry arrive in Storybrooke. We see a clock tower where the clock is stuck at 8:15.
According to Henry, time is frozen here in Storybrooke. The evil queen has sent all the characters from the enchanted forest here and if they try to leave, "bad things happen". We discover that Henry is the Mayor's son (awesome) and that the characters don't remember who they are. We also meet our first character, Archie. He's Henry's shrink and is supposed to be Jiminy Cricket.
Back in the enchanted castle, a plan is being made to deal with the queen's curse. A magic tree is brought in (seriously, a magic tree?) that if they make into a "vessel" will protect one person from the curse. They decide to put Snow White and the unborn baby in as soon as it's ready.
In Storybrooke, at the Mayor's house, we discover that the Mayor, Regina is actually the evil queen. Her name, Regina, interestingly enough is of Latin origin and means "queen". After an exchange between Emma and Regina where we find out that Emma asked for a closed adoption and that Henry's dad has no idea about him, Emma attempts to leave town. As predicted, something bad happens and just as she discovers Henry's book in her car, a wolf jumps out and causes her to swerve and crash into the Storybrooke sign.
A quick flash to the enchanted forest shows up that Snow White's baby is coming early, the tree-vessel isn't ready yet and the curse is approaching in the form of scary black clouds.
The next day in Storybrooke, Emma wakes up in jail.
Also, Grumpy the dwarf is in jail and is whistling the "Whistle While You Work" song - nice. Regina shows up and tells the sheriff that Henry is missing. Emma convinces them to let her out to help them find Henry. They figure out that Henry used a credit card from a Mary Margaret Blanchard to pay for the website that helped him find Emma.
We jump to Henry's school and find out that Mary Margaret is his teacher, but more importantly Snow White and supposedly Emma's mother. They're about the same age so this is kinda creepy. Also, this makes the name Mary Margaret Blanchard somewhat interesting. Blanchard has roots in French and Germanic and means "white" or "shining, brave, strong". I also noticed that one of her kids gave her a pear and not an apple. Clever. Mary Margaret didn't give Henry the credit card (he must have stolen it), but she did give him the book.
In the enchanted castle, Snow White has her baby as the queen is rushing towards the castle with curse in tow. The tree-vessel, which is now a wardrobe, can only hold one person, so Charming has a pretty sweet sword fight with a bunch of the queens soldiers while holding a baby in one arm and gets her into the wardrobe. He takes a sword in the chest shortly after and is apparently dead, but the baby is no longer in the wardrobe when it's searched. Mission accomplished.
Emma finds Henry at the park and he tells her that she's here to bring back the happy endings. She's not buying it. We find out that her parents "abandoned" her on the side of the freeway, but Henry thinks that's just where she came through from the wardrobe.
In the castle, Snow White finds the slain Prince Charming, and tries the magic kiss routine to revive him, all to no avail. The queen shows up and finds out that the baby got away. Just then the curse takes full effect and a tornado of sorts rips the castle apart and they all disappear into the smoke.
At the Mayor's house, Emma brings Henry home again.
Regina really isn't Emma's biggest fan and let's her know that she's unwelcome in her town. Emma asks if Regina loves Henry. She responds that she does, but the super power tells Emma that Regina is full of it. No surprise there. Later, we see Regina with Henry's book. She's hanging on to it like she's scared to let it out of her sight, but she doesn't destroy it or get rid of it really. Leads me to wonder if she can, or if something is preventing her from doing it.
A couple flashes around Storybrooke shows us Mary Margaret in a hospital where she's working and we see Charming in a bed unconscious. We see Emma check into a B&B where we run into Rumpelstiltskin who goes by "Mr. Gold". He certainly has the look of someone who knows more than he's letting on. The innkeeper pays him a large wad of cash. After he leaves, the innkeeper tells Emma that he "owns the town". Lastly, we see Henry looking out his window at the clock tower where the clock starts ticking again.
My Questions:
We jump forward to their wedding and of course, just after saying "I do", the evil queen shows up. Snow makes a comment about her not being a queen any more - not sure what this is about yet, but it seems important. The queen isn't happy about things and declares that "Everything you love will be taken from you." There are special effects like the queen gliding over the floor as she walks and Charming throwing a sword at her which causes her to disappear into a cloud of black smoke. I think they overdid this scene a bit so they would have something cool to put in the commercials.
Next, we then move to current day Boston and briefly meet a boy on a bus with a book. We then move to a young woman named Emma on a blind date. We find out that today is her birthday and that she describes herself as "kind of a loner". The date turns out to be a setup as she's actually a bail bonds-person and was trying to track down the guy to collect money from him. The guy makes a break for it and she calmly chases him down (in heels) and smashes his head into the steering wheel of his car. I think we're supposed to get the impression that she's a no-nonsense, I-can-take-care-of-myself, school-of-hard-knocks type.
We end up in her apartment which is conspicuously empty. She has a single cupcake with birthday candle and makes a wish. Seconds later, a knock at her door reveals the boy from the bus. His name is Henry and says he's her son. We find out that 10 years ago, she gave up a baby for adoption. During their exchange, Emma tells us that her "super power" is that she can tell when anyone is lying. Apparently Henry isn't. He wants her to come home with him, to Storybrooke, Maine.
Back to the enchanted forest, in the castle, Snow White is now pregnant. She's quite worried about the threat the queen made at their wedding. Charming tries to talk her down a bit, but she insists on seeing "Him", whoever that is.
Back to Emma and Henry - they're driving to Maine and Henry tells her about his book. Supposedly, every story in the book actually happened. Using her super power, Emma determines that Henry really believes this and says "Just because you believe something doesn't make it true". He says, "That's exactly what makes it true. You should know more than anyone". Another statement that will probably make more sense later.
Down in the castle dungeons, "Him" turns out to be Rumpelstiltskin who is looking to make a deal. He offers to trade information about the queen's plans in exchange for the name of Snow White's unborn child. When she accepts, he reveals that the queen is is creating a powerful curse. Apparently, they'll be stuck in time and there will be no more happy endings. Their only hope is the baby - if they can get her to safety she will return on her 28th birthday, find Snow, and the final battle will begin. We then find out that the baby's name is Emma - shocker.
Emma and Henry arrive in Storybrooke. We see a clock tower where the clock is stuck at 8:15.
Lost Reference #1: The time 8:15 seems like a reference to flight 815, the one that crashes on the island
According to Henry, time is frozen here in Storybrooke. The evil queen has sent all the characters from the enchanted forest here and if they try to leave, "bad things happen". We discover that Henry is the Mayor's son (awesome) and that the characters don't remember who they are. We also meet our first character, Archie. He's Henry's shrink and is supposed to be Jiminy Cricket.
Back in the enchanted castle, a plan is being made to deal with the queen's curse. A magic tree is brought in (seriously, a magic tree?) that if they make into a "vessel" will protect one person from the curse. They decide to put Snow White and the unborn baby in as soon as it's ready.
In Storybrooke, at the Mayor's house, we discover that the Mayor, Regina is actually the evil queen. Her name, Regina, interestingly enough is of Latin origin and means "queen". After an exchange between Emma and Regina where we find out that Emma asked for a closed adoption and that Henry's dad has no idea about him, Emma attempts to leave town. As predicted, something bad happens and just as she discovers Henry's book in her car, a wolf jumps out and causes her to swerve and crash into the Storybrooke sign.
A quick flash to the enchanted forest shows up that Snow White's baby is coming early, the tree-vessel isn't ready yet and the curse is approaching in the form of scary black clouds.
The next day in Storybrooke, Emma wakes up in jail.
Lost Reference #2: Emma wakes up with the infamous "Eye Shot" from Lost.
Also, Grumpy the dwarf is in jail and is whistling the "Whistle While You Work" song - nice. Regina shows up and tells the sheriff that Henry is missing. Emma convinces them to let her out to help them find Henry. They figure out that Henry used a credit card from a Mary Margaret Blanchard to pay for the website that helped him find Emma.
We jump to Henry's school and find out that Mary Margaret is his teacher, but more importantly Snow White and supposedly Emma's mother. They're about the same age so this is kinda creepy. Also, this makes the name Mary Margaret Blanchard somewhat interesting. Blanchard has roots in French and Germanic and means "white" or "shining, brave, strong". I also noticed that one of her kids gave her a pear and not an apple. Clever. Mary Margaret didn't give Henry the credit card (he must have stolen it), but she did give him the book.
In the enchanted castle, Snow White has her baby as the queen is rushing towards the castle with curse in tow. The tree-vessel, which is now a wardrobe, can only hold one person, so Charming has a pretty sweet sword fight with a bunch of the queens soldiers while holding a baby in one arm and gets her into the wardrobe. He takes a sword in the chest shortly after and is apparently dead, but the baby is no longer in the wardrobe when it's searched. Mission accomplished.
Emma finds Henry at the park and he tells her that she's here to bring back the happy endings. She's not buying it. We find out that her parents "abandoned" her on the side of the freeway, but Henry thinks that's just where she came through from the wardrobe.
In the castle, Snow White finds the slain Prince Charming, and tries the magic kiss routine to revive him, all to no avail. The queen shows up and finds out that the baby got away. Just then the curse takes full effect and a tornado of sorts rips the castle apart and they all disappear into the smoke.
At the Mayor's house, Emma brings Henry home again.
Lost Reference #3: Regina lives at number 108, the same number that the countdown clock in the hatch in Lost reset to every time they enter the magic numbers. Also the sum of the magic numbers added together: 4 + 8 + 15 + 16 + 23 + 42 = 108
Regina really isn't Emma's biggest fan and let's her know that she's unwelcome in her town. Emma asks if Regina loves Henry. She responds that she does, but the super power tells Emma that Regina is full of it. No surprise there. Later, we see Regina with Henry's book. She's hanging on to it like she's scared to let it out of her sight, but she doesn't destroy it or get rid of it really. Leads me to wonder if she can, or if something is preventing her from doing it.
A couple flashes around Storybrooke shows us Mary Margaret in a hospital where she's working and we see Charming in a bed unconscious. We see Emma check into a B&B where we run into Rumpelstiltskin who goes by "Mr. Gold". He certainly has the look of someone who knows more than he's letting on. The innkeeper pays him a large wad of cash. After he leaves, the innkeeper tells Emma that he "owns the town". Lastly, we see Henry looking out his window at the clock tower where the clock starts ticking again.
My Questions:
- Does Regina know what's going on here? How much does she remember. So far, we haven't seen any confirmation one way or the other.
- How much does Rumpel know? His tone when he hears Emma's name leads me to think that he remembers more than the others.
- Still too early to start forming theories. We don't even really know the rules or the motivations of most of the characters yet.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Welcome
On this site I hope to post summaries of episodes, mention any Lost Easter Eggs that I notice, and commentate on possible theories. I will do my best to keep things spoiler free so if you're keeping up with the show you shouldn't read anything you shouldn't. I have the comments moderated so they should be safe.
Feel free to add comments, correct me if I miss something, or share your ideas and theories about the show.
Thanks for reading,
-Tom
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