Tonight’s episode of Once
Upon A Time dealt with a family that’s been torn apart across two vastly
different lands trying to get back to each other and keep themselves safe from
the dangers of both lands while doing so.
We were given the chance to see far more of what’s left of the Enchanted
Kingdom, there was a touching reunion between one of our favorite OUAT
characters and their dearest loved one, and there were also ogres which are
apparently far more deadly than giants even though they’re blind as can be and
hunt only by sound so maybe a certain character shouldn’t be playing around with
her gun in this far-off place. For the sake of narrative clarity, each part of
this recap will separately deal with the three places our story currently takes
place: Enchanted Kingdom past, Storybrooke present, and Enchanted Kingdom
present.
Enchanted
Kingdom Past
The battle lines are drawn as King George continues his
assault against Snow, Charming and their people when we head back to the
flashback of the episode. Red comes back from a scouting mission to inform the
others that not only are the King’s troops bearing down upon them but that there
is a new general leading them—they call him the Leviathan and claim he’s
dangerous for his stealth and strength. It turns out later on when Snow meets
up with this Leviathan that it’s a game of telephone gone wrong as he’s truly
Lancelot—formerly a knight of the round table—played by Teen Wolf star Sinqua
Walls. Lancelot performs his task and brings Snow back to King George. They
chat briefly and George has Lancelot fetch something for Snow to drink. It
turns out that George fell in love so he understands the pain and pleasure that
having a true love can bring to one, however her womb is barren and apparently
if a woman can’t conceive in that land she’s not worth anything. So George
cursed Snow by poisoning her drink, unbeknownst to Lancelot, and now she too
will never have a family with Charming.
The King’s men dump Snow White back into the woods afterward
where she’s quickly encountered once more by Lancelot. She’s distraught that
George did this to her and Lancelot swears he had nothing to do with that. He
mentions that the reason he was kicked out of being part of the round table has
to do with a woman but that’s the only vague clue to his backstory (or the
world of King Arthur) that we get there. He also promises to help Snow and
warns her that they have to get to the cabin of Charming’s mother since King
George’s men are on their way there now.
Before they arrive, Charming and his mother have a sweet
moment where they talk about how eager he is for her to meet his true love,
Snow. But things go south quickly when George’s men arrive and attack. Charming
easily handles them and it’s still pretty great to see him in full on
ass-kicking fairy tale prince mode when the camera pans over and we see his
mother took a stray arrow. Just as Lancelot and Snow arrive the battle is over
but Charming’s mother is going to die if they don’t do something—the tip of the
arrow was poisoned and it’s in her bloodstream. Charming suggests using the
magical waters of Lake Nostros in order to restore his mother. He mentions
having seen the magical properties of the water work first-hand before (season
one callback) and so they set off for the lake.
Only when they arrive it’s nothing but a husk of its former
self from when Charming killed the lady of the water…all they can find is a
single small sip of water stored in the curve of a shell on the dusty surface.
While Lancelot and Charming search for the water, Snow and Charming’s mother
get the chance to talk and his mother realizes that King George cursed Snow’s
womb. So when they find the water she fakes taking a sip then claims it doesn’t
work since Snow refused her attempt to give it to her instead. Charming’s mother
somewhat tricks them into getting married so she can see it before she dies and
with Lancelot’s help slips the magical water into their wedding chalice so Snow
will drink it. By the end of the episode, using a pendant that belonged to his
mother, Charming and Snow are shown to be expecting and from the way the
pendant swings it’s going to be a girl. They also commit to keep fighting and
take the kingdom back.
Storybrooke
In present-day Storybrooke Henry has already come up with a
name for he and his grandfather’s attempt to get Emma and Snow back—operation Cobra
is so last season, it’s operation scorpion now. Charming doesn’t want Henry in
harm’s way so he tries to get him to go to school while he worries about trying
to restore the hat since Jefferson refused to help him last week. But we all
know precocious kids certainly have no want to sit in a classroom all day even
though if you think about it he’s going to be attending school now with all the
fairytale children from his books. So Henry takes matters into his own hands to
try to find a way to help Emma and Snow.
First, he finds Jefferson sitting on a bench anxiously looking
at a notice from his daughter that features a sketch of himself with the words,
‘have you seen my papa?’ on it. Henry gets the chance to speak with him about
how he should put aside his fear that she’ll hate him and just go to her. Henry
knows all about this sort of thing and he tells Jefferson that something is
better than nothing and that Grace is probably eagerly waiting for him to come
back. It really makes you think about how many of the newly formed families
that were put together because of the curse are breaking up and rearranging
themselves. How awkward and even painful it must be for the children and
parents to not belong to one another anymore.
Next, Henry tricks Regina into a lunch-date so he can sneak
into her office and get her massive ring of keys. He uses them to head down
into Regina’s mausoleum of secrets and tries to find something he can use in
there. Instead he finds two nasty snakes in a box and Charming waiting for him.
Regina got ahold of him when she realized Henry stood her up and her keys were
missing. It’s funny how their strange arrangement actually works out for Henry’s
well-being or as Emma referred to the group parenting of Henry over in her part
of the episode: ‘I kind of share him with Regina, it’s complicated’.
Henry explains to Charming about how he’s disappointed that
life for him is still basically the same but now his mother is gone too. How he
thought when the curse was broken he would be living in a magical land, riding
horses and fighting dragons. After they leave, they witness the tearful reunion
of Jefferson and his daughter Grace. She’s not mad at all just relieved that
her papa has come back to her. Sebastian Stan will make you cry if you watch
his face during.
There’s a cute moment
afterward where Charming presents Henry with a gift of two wooden sparring
swords that they then fight one another with. As they spar we see King George in the present day (he was the district attorney in S1) and he’s looking at Henry with
great interest. Seems that Charming needs to watch his back since all the villains of the Enchanted Kingdom know exactly who they are and what their enemies love most.
Present-Day
Enchanted Kingdom
Snow, Emma and Cora are still in the hole when we pick up in
this part of the plot. Cora’s talking to Emma trying to convince her that she’s
a victim of her circumstances and she informs her that she’s Regina’s mother.
Snow wakes up and immediately thrusts herself between the two as she
protectively warns Emma about how awful Cora truly is. Mulan shows up and tells
them they’re to meet with the leader of their group. It turns out to be
Lancelot and things instantly get better for our duo trapped in another land.
He hears Snow out about wanting to try and find a way back to Storybrooke,
perhaps by using the wardrobe that was made to send Emma into our world in the
first place.
Snow and Emma are allowed to go search the ruins of their
former home with Mulan alongside them. Aurora shows up and tries to get her
vengeance against Snow only to find her ass thrown on the ground so fast to no
one’s surprise as Snow tells her to lay off and find a better way to channel
her anger about what happened to Prince Phillip. After an encounter with an
ogre where Snow’s protective nature over Emma is shown in the form of her
awesome archery skills, they wind up at what should have been Emma’s childhood
home. It’s an emotional moment for Snow as she stands there in the ruins of
what was meant to be Emma’s nursery.
They quickly realize that wardrobe doesn’t
seem to have much magic at all left in it before Lancelot surprises them by
showing up. Unfortunately, that isn’t and never was Lancelot it was Cora in disguise
the whole while trying to gain their trust so she can find a portal for her own
wicked means. There’s a quick struggle and Emma makes the choice to set the
tree the wardrobe is carved into on fire so no one can use it. Cora vanishes,
frustrated, but she reappears later on when the others leave. She collects the
ashen remains of the wardrobe—ash always has magical properties so now she may
have something she can use to help get into our world. Mulan declares that Snow
lead them since Lancelot is gone and she accepts at least until they can find
another way home. I’m glad they didn’t draw out the idea of Snow and Emma as
prisoners and threats for long when there are bigger fish to fry for these
people who somehow weren’t affected by the 'no more happy endings' curse.
Both Snow and Charming have been placed into leadership
positions in their respective lands now. They committed in the past to bring
the kingdom back together and keep it safe from harm and now that’s exactly
what they’re doing albeit without the help of one another. Emma is finally
getting the chance to realize what it means to have her mother by her side and
it’s giving her a chance to grow as a character. Next week: Hook is coming and
I swear I couldn’t possibly be any more excited for a fictional character to
appear than I am for Mr. Killian Jones (Colin O’Donoghue).
No comments:
Post a Comment