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.