S01E07 - The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

This episode seems as though it will be focusing on Sheriff Graham. We open in the diner and Graham is clearly drunk, but really good at darts. Apparently he never misses as he demonstrates by first taking twenty bucks from the mayor's magic mirror (haven't figured out his Storybrooke name yet) and then showing off to Emma by narrowly missing her head. She isn't impressed. Emma isn't happy with Graham since she caught him sneaking out of the mayor's house in middle of the night at the end of the last episode. He's determined to explain himself to Emma about this, but she really doesn't want to hear his story. He claims that he "doesn't feel anything" with Regina - but not in a normal way. Emma can't understand why Graham cares about her opinion so much, and as a result he proceeds to show her by kissing her out of the blue.

As he does this, something strange happens. He gets a strange vision (flashback?) of a wolf in a forest. The wolf has two different color eyes. He breaks off from Emma and is stunned by the vision. Emma chalks it up to him being drunk and storms off. Next Graham heads to Regina's and after confirming that Henry is asleep, begins kissing her instead. Maybe he is kinda drunk...

We flash to a memory of Regina's at her castle in the enchanted forest. Things seem lighter and brighter than the last time we were here and the queen seems a bit less evil. There's a rose petal covered coffin she's staring at when Snow White arrives. They don't seem to be at each others throats, so we can assume this is further back in the story then we've seen before. We discover that it's Snow's father who died and that the queen was married to him. So the queen is also Snow White's step mother - very interesting. The queen isn't convincing me that she's actually mourning, but she does a good job of convincing Snow White.

Later, up in her chambers, her magic mirror tells her, "Congratulations. Your revenge is almost complete." She replies with, "One down, one to go." She confirms that she is the one responsible for the king's death and confides that she wants Snow White dead as well. It seems that at this point in the timeline, Snow White has already caused the death of the queen's fiance but hasn't yet been driven out to the forest to become a thief. The queen is looking for someone to kill Snow White and the mirror suggests "The Huntsman".

The huntsman turns out to be Graham of course. We see him in the forest as he kills a buck with a perfect shot from a bow. I guess the "I never miss" thing wasn't a joke. He's accompanied by the wolf from his vision.

In Storybrooke, in Regina's bedroom, Graham suddenly wakes up and describes the scene with the huntsman we just saw as an intense dream. Regina looks notably concerned that he seems to be remembering things. He leaves in a rush and heads back to his car at the diner. When he gets there, the wolf shows up in the middle of the street, then trots off leaving Graham stunned.

Back at Mary Margaret and Emma's apartment, Dr. Whale left flowers for Mary. She confesses to Emma that she had a one night stand with him and she feels guilty about it. During the conversation, Mary discovers that Emma has feelings for Graham, but won't admit it.


Graham chases the wolf into the forest and runs across Mr. Gold. This encounter is interesting for a couple of reasons:

1. Mr. Gold is wearing a suit, gloves and an apron and is carrying a cane and a shovel. When asked what he's doing, he claims he was gardening. Um, yeah... right. We don't find out exactly what he was up to, but I strongly suspect that we'll return to this later for some reason. 
2. When Graham tells him about the wolf and his dream, Mr. Gold tells him that dreams can be memories from another life. It seems more an more likely that he is one of the few to know what's going on in Storybrooke and for some reason seems to be encouraging people to start remembering.

The huntsman is in a tavern with his wolf and is getting some trouble from the locals. Someone claims that he was raised by wolves. A fight breaks out and he kills some of the patrons in defense before the others run off. The queen has been spying on the scene through her mirror and decides he's the one to kill Snow White.

Graham finally catches up with the wolf in the forest and when he whistles, the wolf comes to him and he has another vision/flashback. He sees himself attacking Snow White. When the vision completes, the wolf is nowhere to be found. He heads to the school and tells Mary Margaret that they know each other from another life.

At the queen's castle the huntsman has been brought to her. As we get some of his back story, we find out that he really was raised by wolves. The queen enlists his help with Snow White. He names his price to be the outlawing of the hunting of wolves and the queen agrees.

Graham asks Mary some basic questions that I've been wondering about for a while. He asks her how long they've known each other and when they met. He calls out that neither of them can remember when they met each other or anyone else. Mary easily shrugs this off as "That's just the way things are." and that "Things get hazy." I think that in this scene we get a little more glimpse into how the curse actually works. I think that not only does it remove their memories, but it also makes them less likely to think too hard about the past. Graham seems to be breaking free, and I'm guessing it all started with his kiss with Emma. She is supposed to be the one to break the curse after all. Mary tells Graham about Henry's theory and the storybook which seems to really resonate with Graham.

Back in the enchanted forest. Snow White is walking through the forest with one of the soldiers as a guard. He turns out to be Graham and while walking she offers him an apple - obviously this is before her poison apple experience. She figures out that the queen sent him to kill her, but she surprises him with a shot from a tree branch and makes a run for it.

Back at the sheriff's office Emma is playing darts by herself and can't seem to even hit the board. Regina shows up to warn her away from Graham. She has a tendency to turn up and tell Emma what not to do which of course makes her do the opposite. Seriously, she raised a kid? She hasn't figure this out yet? While Regina is out, Graham goes to her house and asks Henry if he's in his book.

Snow White stops running from the huntsman and starts writing a letter. When he catches up to her, she quickly finishes up and asks him to deliver the note to the queen after he kills her. As he reads the letter, he changes his mind about killing her and instead he sets her free.

Graham conveys his whole story to Henry who is thrilled to have someone actually start to believe in the curse. Henry pieces together that Graham is the huntsman and tell him that after he spared Snow's life, the queen took his heart so that he can never feel anything again. They think that the wolf he keeps seeing is trying to guide him to his heart which the queen is keeping in a vault.

Outside Henry's house, Graham runs into Emma. He believes Henry's story and thinks he needs to follow the wolf. Emma almost convinces him that he's crazy but then the wolf shows up and is visible to both of them. Emma has a hard time coming up with an explanation for that one and they follow the wolf to the Storybrooke graveyard.

The wolf leads them to a crypt with the same symbol on the front as the vault where the huntsman's heart was kept in the story book. They break in to look around.

The huntsman arrives at the queen's castle which is now decked out in a creepy gloom. He reads her the letter from Snow White which tells us that she knew the queen was out for revenge. She takes the wind out the vengeance sails by apologizing to the queen (presumably for the death of her fiance) and also by forgiving her for Snow's would-be murder. The queen is very displeased to have her revenge tainted by forgiveness and the huntsman asks what happened between them. The queen tells us that she once shared a secret with Snow that she couldn't keep. This is seemingly what lead to the death of the queen's true love.

When the queen demands Snow's heart, the huntsman produces a pouch with a heart in it. The queen enters a vault and places the heart in a small chest. She then takes it to a wall of similar chests and attempts to put the heart inside. When the slot for the chest fails to open, she's realizes that the huntsman's tricked her and knows that he let Snow go free.

Emma and Graham are searching the crypt for a some kind of hidden room or passage (there is also a sweet heartbeat rhythm in the background soundtrack during this scene) when Regina shows up. She's supposedly bring flowers to her father's grave which is really convenient. Regina tries to take Graham home, but he doesn't want to go with her. He has come to a decision and breaks off his relationship with her on the spot. Regina blames Emma for this of course and the two get into a pretty great fist fight which leaves no clear winner before Graham breaks it up. After they leave, Regina enters the crypt and reveals a secret stairway.

The queen is furious with the huntsman and in place of Snow White's heart, she takes his instead. It has a gem like quality and he doesn't actually die when she rips it out of his chest. She calls him her pet and puts his heart into one of the boxes. She demonstrates what happens when she squeezes his "heart" and it seems to have the same effect as if she squeezed his real heart. Needless to say, he's fairly well leashed.

(Maybe) Lost Reference: I've seen on a few other sites that there are 108 boxes on the wall in another reference to the Lost number 108 (from the countdown clock in the hatch and the sum of all the Lost numbers). I don't really buy this reference though since there are other sections of wall than just the one with 108 boxes. We don't really get a clear look at the wall or the room, but we can piece it together from a couple screen caps. Here's some proof:

12 veritcal rows,

9 horizontal columns, 12 x 9 = 108 boxes

But you can see the other wall sections in the room here.

In the secret room in the crypt at the Storybrooke graveyard an identical wall of boxes exists. Regina pulls out a chest and reveals a gem-heart inside.

Back at the sheriff's office, Graham and Emma begin a kiss that sends Graham into what seems to be total recall. He claims that "he remembers" but before he can tell Emma what he remembered, Regina crushes his heart into dust and Graham falls to the floor, seemingly dead.

My Questions:

• The obvious one... is Graham really dead? I'm guessing so - doesn't seem like we should be expecting miracles in the "real" world. Also, given all this, does Emma now start to believe in the curse? The wolf was a pretty clear sign, but if Graham is dead will that fact get lost in the aftermath?

New Theories:

• Well, if there was any question about whether Emma has the power to break the curse, I think that's cleared up now. I guess all she has to do is kiss everyone in town and they'll all wake up right? Ok, maybe not... but she definitely has some power and Regina is rightfully scared.

Other Thoughts:

A couple of Lost-like things about this show have been brought to my attention lately, some of them fairly obvious, but I hadn't really called them out before:

• Storybrooke sure seems to be a lot like the Lost island in that you can't leave. As we know from previous episodes, "bad things happen" when people try to leave. It seems like there is a barrier right at the "Welcome to Storybrooke" sign. 
• Lost did a lot of switching back and forth between the current timeline on the Island to flashbacks centering on one character's back story per episode. In later seasons, we not only got flashbacks, but flashforwards and flashsideways. Once Upon a Time seems to follow a similar pattern of following the current timeline in Storybrooke, but flashing back to give us back story on one character at a time. I wonder if later seasons will sneak in other flash types as well.

S01E06 - The Shepard

Before I even start in on this episode, I feel like I should question the title: "The Shepard". Any chance this is a reference to Jack Shepard from Lost? I guess we'll see...

As the episode opens, David Nolan is finally going home and has a welcome home party waiting for him. Of course, he doesn't recognize many people - his memory still hasn't returned. He doesn't seem to care much for the party and is disappointed that Mary Margaret isn't there.

In the kitchen, his wife Katheryn is talking to Regina. Katheryn is worried that she's loosing David again and Regina comforts her. They seem to be becoming friends.

David sneaks out of the party and tracks down Mary back in town. She's trying to hang a bird house in a tree when he finds her - a very Snow White thing to do. He makes his strongest plea to her yet to start a relationship, but she's still unreceptive. He's a married man and she doesn't want to get too close. He claims that he isn't the same person who married Katheryn and that he chooses her. As usual, she makes a quick exit.

In the enchanted forest, Prince Charming is in a one-on-one battle with a huge warrior. After a pretty good fight, he downs the brute and we see that it was a competition and that his father the king and another king have been spectating.

Side Note: I don't really count this as a Lost reference, but the prince's father is  played by Alan Dale, who also played Charles Widmore on Lost.

The other king turns out to be King Midas who needs a dragon slayed. They make a deal - Prince Charming will slay the dragon and King Midas will do what he does best: provide gold. It seems that the battle with the brute was a test, but just as the prince is explaining this to his fellow knights, the seemingly dead brute skewers the prince with his spear and then keels over. There is absolutely no way the prince survived that one... um, what? Pretty sure he ends up marrying Snow White, having Emma and sending her through a magic wardrobe, so what gives?

His father the king is distraught of course, but he has no time to grieve. Apparently the king desperately needs gold for the kingdom to survive and if Midas learns that the prince is dead, he'll find someone else to slay the dragon. What a dilemma! But who appears when a dilemma to be had? None other than Rumpelstiltskin, of course. We find out that the prince was adopted and Rumpel arranged the adoption - he seems to be into this kind of thing.

The king tries to make another deal - this time to bring his son back. In exchange, Rumpel wants to know the whereabouts of a certain fairy godmother who has a wand that he wants. The king agrees and I think we know what happens when Rumpel catches up with her. Of course, Rumpel can't bring the prince back to life - but alas, there is a twin brother! Ah ha... now things are making sense.

Back in Storybrooke at Mary and Emma's apartment, Mary is a mess over this David thing. Emma shows up to console her and they share a drink.

Lost Reference #6: The bottle of scotch they're drinking is MacCutcheon, which shows up a number of times in Lost.

 

We start getting into the shepard's story a bit. His name is James, he lives with his mother, they are very poor and in danger of loosing their farm. His mother wants him to marry a girl with a dowry, but he's insistent that when he marries it will be for love. As usual, when a dilemma is to be had, Rumpel arrives on the scene. The truth about the twin brother comes out as Rumpel proposes a deal. The shepard will pretend to be his brother while the other knights slay the dragon and in return, the king will take care of his farm and mother. James reluctantly agrees.

At the diner in Storybrooke, Mary Margaret has two encounters. First, Dr. Whale comes in to apologize for his behavior on their previous date. Second, Regina shows up and, seemingly in support of her new friend Katheryn, tells Mary to stay away from David. We find out that David left Katheryn the night before.

In the enchanted forest, the hunt for the dragon is on. James looks the part, but is instructed to stay outside the dragon's cave while the knights go in for the kill. As soon as they enter flames and screams erupt from the cave. He breaks away from his guards and runs in to help. As he's pulling an injured knight to safety, the dragon flys out and toasts his guards. James picks up a sword, runs for a narrow cleft in the cliff wall and with spin move takes off the dragon's head. I guess heroism (and swordsmanship?) runs in the family.

Mary Margaret is in her classroom preparing for a lesson when David shows up to make another attempt to convince her. She's slowly being worn down, but stays strong for the moment. He tells her to meet him later at the T(r)oll Bridge and she is clearly considering it.

Emma is at work at the sheriffs office when Graham tells her that he needs her to work late tonight. I suspect this will be important later. Mary arrives to talk to Emma about the further escalating David situation. Now that David has left Katheryn, Emma is encouraging Mary to meet him later. Not to mention that it will likely make Regina mad... just a happy side benefit.

Back at the palace, the dragon's head has been turned to gold by King Midas. We now find out that King Midas was using the dragon slaying as another test. What he was really looking for was someone who was worthy to marry his daughter, Abigail. She turns out to be none other than Katheryn Nolan who was also Prince Charming's fiance in episode 3, "Snow Falls". She's still not terribly pleasant, but Midas offers her hand to him. His surrogate father, the other king pulls him aside and tells him that he must marry Abigail or the king will kill him and his mother and burn his farm to the ground.

We next find David wandering around Storybrooke as he tries to find the Toll Bridge. He runs into Regina who understands that he's supposed to meet Mary - something she desperately wants to prevent. She gives him bad directions and sends him off the wrong way. He passes by Mr. Gold's pawn shop and realizes that he's headed in the wrong direction. He goes in to get directions and on his way back out, he sees a model windmill which used to be in front of his house with Katheryn. This finally jogs his memory.

Back at the shepard's farm, things are looking much better. James arrives and while his mother seems to be doing well, he tells her that he must continue to play the role of the prince and marry King Midas' daughter. Because of this, they can never see each other again. His mother, although saddened, understands why he made the decision and gives him her ring - the one that Snow White stole and that he followed her to get back. This is the same ring that Mary Margaret wears in Storybrooke. His mother says that true love follows the ring, apparently she's right since Snow ends up stealing it and brings the two of them together.

Mary Margaret is waiting at the bridge when David shows up. Now that he remembers his previous life (at least the Storybrooke version) things are a little different between them. He's decided that he needs to honor his marriage and at least try to work things out with Katheryn. Mary is rightfully mad about the situation - feeling like she knew something like this would happen which is why she was trying not to get involved in the first place.

Later, Emma is on patrol in the squad car when she sees someone climbing out of the window at the mayor's house. It turns out to be Graham and Emma finds out the truth about him and Regina.

David finds his way home and tells Katheryn that he has his memory back. They decide to give things a try.

At the palace, James and Abigail set off to King Midas's kingdom in the carriage that Snow White will soon rob.

Mary Margaret is sulking at the diner when Dr. Whale shows up. It's looks like she might be a bit more receptive to him on the rebound from David.

My Questions:

• Well, honestly, this was a pretty straightforward episode. It filled in some gaps in the main characters stories so now we have some more context for the events of "Snow Falls". Not a lot of mystery and not much progress on the curse.

New Theories:

• Here's the thing...  when the curse hit in the enchanted forest, James was unconscious and presumably dead from a sword wound. It would make sense that when he gets transported to Storybrooke he's in a coma. I suspect that he was never actually awake and that when he started responding to Mary Margaret at the hospital, the queen had to act fast. I wonder if she somehow implanted his history into the people that used to know him? There have been a number of references to the fact that the citizens of Storybrooke can't remember much... that it all seems to be a fog. How exactly does this curse work? Does it "fix" things on the fly? How long has everyone been here and been "stuck in time" anyways?

Other Thoughts:

• Pretty good episode all things considered. We even got a legitimate Lost reference!

S01E05 - That Still Small Voice

In this episode, we open in the enchanted forest with a young boy pick pocketing a crowd during a puppet show. We see later that the puppeteers are his parents and that this is their usual arrangement - they perform as he steals from the crowd. The boy finds a cricket in a cage among the things he stole and it inspires him to second guess his role - maybe he doesn't want to be a thief?

Later in Storybrooke, Henry is having a session with his shrink, Archie Hopper. He knows Henry's beliefs about the curse and that he's supposed to be Jiminy Cricket. He asks Henry why he feels it's so important that the curse is real and when Henry doesn't have an answer, he asks him to think about it.

Emma is getting settled in as a new deputy, but the minute she puts on the badge, an explosion seems to rock the building. I wonder if they're trying to give us the impression that this is important?

Apparently, an old mining tunnel collapsed on the outskirts of town. The mayor shows up and isn't pleased to learn that Emma is now a deputy. She does use the gathered crowd as a opportunity to give a nice impromptu speech about how she's going to rehabilitate the damaged area by bulldozing and paving the whole thing. Henry thinks this is kinda odd and asks the obvious question, "What's down there?". Does the mayor know? Is she trying to literally cover it up?

As the crowd is clearing, the mayor finds something interesting that looks like a chunk of glass on the ground and pockets it, looking very suspicious. Henry gathers Emma and Archie, the entirety of Operation Cobra, and claims that Emma made this happen - her presence is weakening the curse. Regina pulls Archie aside and reads him the riot act about Henry's continued believe that she is an evil queen (even though she is). She wants him to end Henry's delusions about the curse and threatens to ruin his life if he doesn't help. Archie reluctantly agrees.

In the enchanted forest, the boy-thief is now much older and not shockingly, is actually Archie. The family is preparing to run another scam when he runs into a boy who, during a rain storm, gives him the token Jiminy Cricket umbrella.

In Storybrooke, at Archie's office, Henry shows up and claims that Archie's friend Marco, is in fact Geppetto. Henry is preparing to go into the mines to see what the mayor is trying to hide. Archie, under earlier direction from the mayor tries to put an end to Henry's ideas about the curse by calling them delusions and telling him that they'll have to lock him up if he doesn't forget about them. Henry storms out, looking betrayed and Archie clearly is regretting his decision to listen to the mayor's demands.

Volunteering at the hospital, Mary Margaret is spending time with David (Prince Charming/James) who still isn't remembering much, but seems to have taken a liking to Mary. His wife shows up and Mary makes a quick, awkward exit. Later, back in her apartment, Mary is venting about the David situation to Emma when Henry shows up, very upset from the incident with Archie. Emma heads to Archie's office, knowing that Regina has something to do with this. She's berating Archie when Regina calls her asking if she knows where Henry is. Emma dropped him off an hour earlier, but Archie suspects that he's gone to explore the mines.

In the enchanted forest, we see Rumpelstiltskin at his spinning wheel spinning wool into gold. Jiminy (Archie) shows up and gives him a bundle of loot and, strangely, the names of the people the loot came from. Jiminy makes a deal to get a vial of magic potion that will supposedly free him from his oppressive parents. Rumpel's end of the bargain is to come collect Jiminy's parents after the potion takes effect.

At the mine, Emma and Archie are looking for Henry. Archie's brought his dalmatian with him who happens to be named Pongo (from 101 Dalmatians).

Lost Reference #4: (Hah! Finally!) They find one of the candy bars that Henry had packed in his bag. This is an Apollo bar, the same ones that showed up occasionally in Lost. Below is the capture of the one that Archie finds in Once Upon a Time and also a capture of Jacob handing a couple Apollo bars to Jack in Lost.

Down in the mine, Henry is looking around and finds another piece of the mysterious glass. Shortly after, the ground starts shaking again and the entrance to the mine caves in with Archie inside and Emma without. Archie finds Henry, but since Archie still doesn't seem to have given in on the curse stuff, Henry runs deeper into the mine.

Back to Jiminy, he's reluctantly talked into going forward with another scam. This time, they're selling "Elf Tonic" to a friendly young couple. Supposedly, the plague is in the next town over and this tonic will protect them. In exchange for the tonic, they trade almost everything they have. Once the scam is complete Jiminy is disgusted with his parents and attempts to use the potion that he got from Rumpel. He parents were a bit too tricky however and had earlier switched his potion for the vial of rain water they were selling as Elf Tonic. Too late, Jiminy realizes that something far worse has happened to to the young couple. He goes back to their house to find them turned into small, very creepy, puppets. Just then the boy who gave Jiminy the umbrella comes home and we find out that the couple were his parents. Jiminy is now overcome with guilt.

In the mine, Henry and Archie are trapped underground and a rescue effort is underway. Regina and Emma are at each others throats over who's fault it is that Henry is trapped. They decide on a temporary truce in an effort to find a way to get him out. In a last ditch effort, they try explosives to blow the mine open, but to no avail.

At the hospital, Mary is about to leave when David asks her to take him on a walk. He confesses to having strong feelings for Mary (no kidding, since they're obviously meant to be together). Just then, his wife shows up and again Mary makes a quick exit.

Back at the mine, Pongo finds a grate over an air shaft and leads the others to it. Once they pull the grate off,  they strap Emma to a line and start to lower her down.

(Maybe) Lost Reference #5: This sure looks a lot like the hatch. Coincidence? Well, maybe it is... but I'll take it.

Down in the mine, Henry and Archie are finally working things out. Archie doesn't see how he can be Jiminy Cricket since he was, you know, a cricket. According to Henry, before he was a cricket, he was just a guy who took a long time to figure out the right thing to do. This seems to hearten Archie who has a look of new resolve.

Eventually, Emma shows up and as they start to haul Henry away, the mine elevator they were standing on falls away. Just as we think we're about to loose Archie, he snags a carabiner on Emma's harness with his umbrella and hangs on as they all get lifted to the surface.

As soon as they're all safely on the surface, the truce is clearly over and Regina sends Emma packing, despite the rescue. Archie, now listening to his conscience, stands up for himself and tells Regina that he won't be bullied. He's got some leverage over her as it turns out since in the event of a custody battle (which looks more and more possible the longer Emma stays in town) the court will look to an expert to decide who is the more fit parent. That expert would undoubtedly be Archie. Regina looks sufficiently put in her place.

In the forest, Jiminy, in the depths of despair, makes a wish upon a star to bring back the boy's parents. A fairy appears but tells him that he can't bring them back. As an alternative, she helps him to get away from his parents once and for all by turning him into a cricket. She tells him that he needs to help the boy and that his name is Geppetto. Parent's turned into puppets? Yep, that's gotta be Geppetto.

In final look around Storybrooke, we see Geppetto's puppet parents on display in Mr. Gold's pawn shop. We also see Mary Margaret turn in a letter of resignation at the hospital - clearly trying not to get involved with a married man. Lastly, we see the mayor drop the piece of glass she found down the shaft. It lands at the bottom where there is a large pile of similar glass. It looks to me like the queen's magic mirror - and apparently she wants to keep it hidden.

My Questions:

• So... I thought her mirror was a person now. Did he just break out of the mirror when they arrived in Storybrooke? I guess Jiminy isn't a cricket anymore, so it could happen.

New Theories:

• Apparently, there are physical remnants of the enchanted forest in Storybrooke. Very interesting.
• I suspect that at some point when the curse starts to weaken further, it might be possible for some travel between the two worlds. In later seasons, will Emma and Henry get to see the other side?

Other Thoughts:

• Regina seems to have genuine concern for Henry, but why? We know from the pilot that she doesn't truly love him (Emma used her super power) so what gives? We suspected earlier that she's using him as a replacement for her father (also a Henry) whom she sacrificed to make the curse work. Is that all there is to it? I kinda doubt it... there's much more to this than we're being led to believe.

S01E04 - The Price of Gold

In this episode, we open in the enchanted forest with Cinderella. Shortly after her fairy Godmother arrives, she's vaporized by Rumpelstiltskin who is after her wand. Desperate to change her life, Cinderella makes a deal with Rumpel: one wish for a favor to be named later. Obviously, this is a bad plan, but she signs the contract, gets her glass slippers and is off to the ball.

In Storybrooke, after dropping off Henry at the school bus, Emma runs into the sheriff who offers her a job as a deputy. This is interesting as he seems to have been the mayor's creature thus far. Is this another trap? Later at the diner, after a not so pleasant visit from Regina, Emma spills her cocoa on her shirt and while using the laundry room to wash it, runs into Cinderella in her Storybrooke persona. She's very pregnant, and not a happy camper. She's planning to give the baby up for adoption, but seems a little unsure about it. Emma holds this issue near and dear so she give Cinderella a little pep talk and tells her not to let anyone else dictate her decisions.

In the next scene, Storybrooke-Cinderella breaks into Mr. Gold's pawn shop and while looking for something is caught by Mr. Gold. She pepper sprays him and while stumbling around, he knocks his head and passes out. She takes his keys and resumes the search.

Later, at Mary Margaret's house, Mr. Gold shows up to see Emma. He wants Emma to find Cinderella, who's Storybrooke name is Ashley. He doesn't want to go to the police, apparently out of good will toward her and who he claims is just a confused young woman. I suspect that whatever she stole, he doesn't want anyone to find out about. Emma agrees and as Mr. Gold is on his way out, Henry shows up. He insists that Emma take him along on the hunt for Ashley.

Cinderella's story continues with her fairy tale wedding. Among the guests we see are Snow White and Prince Charming (James), and then Rumpelstiltskin. He informs her that his price for her wish will be her first born child. I'm guessing that he intends to keep this bargain, even in the Storybrooke world. Much later, we see Cinderella in her room, packing to leave. Her prince shows and she tells him that she's pregnant. He's thrilled, but she's very scared for obvious reasons. She breaks down and tells the prince about the deal she made.

In Storybrooke, Emma and Henry are looking for Ashley. They talk to Ruby who is apparently Ashley's friend and appears to be Red Riding Hood back in the forest. Ruby tells them that Ashley's boyfriend hasn't had anything to do with her since she found out she was pregnant. They head to his house and of course, he turns out to be her prince from the forest. Apparently, his dad is the one who made him break up with her and is keeping him more or less under lock and key. His dad apparently orchestrated a deal where Ashley will be well paid for giving up the baby. Mr. Gold's "possession" that he wants back seems to be the unborn child.

Cinderella's prince, Thomas, has been collaborating with James on a plan to capture and imprison Rumpelstiltskin. They are going to try to make a new bargain with Rumpel and have him sign a new contract with a magic quill that should freeze him when he uses it.

Emma tracks down Ashley as she's trying to leave town. Henry is very concerned that "bad things will happen" when she tries to leave town and, not surprisingly, her car is wrecked in a ditch on the side of the road next to the "Entering Storybrooke" sign. Not surprisingly, she's gone into labor. Emma rushes her back to the hospital and on the way Ashley decides that she wants to keep her baby and Emma is going to help her.

In the forest, the plan to capture Rumpel is underway. He sees through the plan, but for some reason signs anyways. The spell takes effect, but Rumpel seems very sure of himself even though he's frozen. As he's being hauled away, Cinderella has some early contractions (she's not very far along in this timeline) and Thomas leaves to get her water from the well. As the contractions pass, Thomas hasn't returned. She finds his cloak left by the well, but no sign of him. Rumpel claims that she won't see Thomas again until the baby is his "in this world, or the next".

At the hospital, the baby is born and Mr. Gold is there to collect. According to him, he has a contract that promises him the baby. Emma isn't a fan of this plan and calls him out on it. She says that the contract wouldn't hold up in court (who would convict a mother trying to protect her child?) and that she thinks there are things about him that he wouldn't want coming to light (no doubt!). Never flustered, Mr. Gold offers to make a new deal with Emma: Ashley gets to keep the baby, and Emma will owe him a favor. She takes the deal and tells Ashley.

Regina is supposed to be home at 5pm and Henry, who snuck out earlier, needs to be there when she does. As he and Emma race home, we find Regina at a hotel room after what looks like a booty call with someone we don't get to see. Very interesting...

Emma and Henry have been discussing secret code names throughout the episode and when Emma asks him if he has a name in mind for her, he tells her that he does, but that he doesn't think she's ready for it yet. This seems important, but they don't give us anything else to work with yet.

In the hospital, Ashley's boyfriend (Shawn), shows up and brought her a pair of baby booties. Slippers perhaps?

Emma calls the sheriff, Graham, and decides to take the deputy job. As he hangs up the phone we see him looking for his socks under the bed in the room that Regina was in. So Regina and him are more than just Mayor and Sheriff. Now I wonder who's side he's really on.

My Questions:

• What is up with Graham, the sheriff? He seems like he's a good guy, but is in the mayor's pocket. Did he hire Emma on her direction, or is he starting to rebel?

New Theories:

• Everyone Storybrooke seems to operate under certain rules. They do what the mayor says, they all get bullied by Mr. Gold, etc. Emma seems to contradict these rules at every turn. This isn't really shocking since she's supposed to be the "savior", but how she goes about breaking the curse is starting look more and more like she just doesn't play by their rules.

Other Thoughts:

• Where are the Lost references? I noticed that Shawn lives at house number 431 and 4 is one of the lost numbers and 31 is 15+16 which are two more, but that's way too much of a stretch I think.