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.