Spontaneous Musings

Am rewatching the mid-season premiere of Once Upon a Time, which got rebooted in December.



* Where we last left off - the Storybrook characters were all returned from whence they came, except for Henry and Emma, whose memories were erased and replaced with new ones. One year later - Henry and Emma are having a nice life in NYC, when Hook pops up at her door and insists she must help him save her family.

This episode picks up where the last one left off. The Storybrook gang, except for Emma and Henry, have been deposited back in the Enchanted Land. In their costumes, hair-styling, and makeup from the land - as if they'd never left. Charming's outfit still has the blood stains.
Except the land and the characters have of course changed. They pop up on Aurora and Phillip's doorstep. And, well, Aurora and Phillip welcome them. Tell them the ogres were defeated ages ago. But that's about it. What they don't say - is there's a new power in the land, and she's nasty. They discuss saying something - but decide self-preservation is always the best bet. Although to be fair - it's not like the Storybrook characters have ever done them any favors. I can sort of see their point, even if it seems awfully wimpy of them.

At any rate, Charming and Snow persuade everyone to return to their castle, along with Regina - who points out it is actually her castle. But Snow persuades her to return to it with them and well share it. Then catches Regina literally burying her heart, and metaphorically her pain.

* Rather liked the Snow:Regina scenes here. Snow points out to Regina that she totally gets what Regina is going through...after all this is the second time she's had to say goodbye to her daughter, and now her grandson. But burying the pain won't make it go away or make it better - just worse. (Yes, hasn't Regina learned anything from her Mom (Cora)?) Regina - sees Snow's point and puts her heart back in her chest. Great metaphor.

* Baelfire/Neal wants to get back to Emma and Henry. Charming and Snow tell him it's not possible. But he's thinking maybe his father survived after all - and if so, he might be able to get him back there. Or find a way to do it. They insist that's not possible and to accept it. He ignores them and hooks up with Belle - who agrees, going to Rumple's is a good idea, and that yes, maybe together they can figure something out.

*Hook - now that Emma's out of the picture - takes off in search of his ship, The Jolly Roger, which may explain why he escaped whatever happened to the denizens of Storybrook, a second time. And how he got to Manhattan.

* Unfortunately for both, Emma has struck up a romance with Walsh (portrayed by Christopher Gorman - who looks like a grown-up Henry). Walsh even asks her to marry him. But she has doubts...like, oh, wait, he might be too good to be true? Turns out she's right - he's in reality....a FLYING MONKEY, complete with scary fangs and red glowing eyes. Emma's going WTF??? Turning him down was a great decision. But I'm sure she's wondering about her taste in men, and Henry's for that matter. Henry had told her that Walsh was a good guy - since he was the first one she dated that he'd met. (Also she may be thinking, or at least I was thinking it, I slept with that? I dated that for 8 months? Damn.)

Or she may be wishing she hadn't drunk that potion. Hook gave her a potion which gave her all her memories back. However, he didn't have enough to give Henry one too. Was just able to cobble enough memory potion together for one dose. Nice twist that. Since it puts Emma and Henry in reverse positions this round. Last time - Henry had to convince Emma, this round the shoe's on the other foot...which works in a way, because this Henry is a realist, who doesn't believe in magic.

* Hook explains to Emma that someone, they don't who, has cursed everyone again - and they are all back in Storybrook. And the only person who can save them is once again, Emma. (Clearly he's telling the truth because...Walsh turned into a Flying Monkey - charged with keeping her from returning to break the curse.)

They all go back to Storybrook - Emma/Hook/Henry in Emma's V-W Bug, and Emma puts back on her Red Leather Jacket - like a piece of armor. (As an aside, the actress says she won't wear colored leather or leather at all outside of work, because of how often she has to wear them at work.)

After they arrive, Emma goes to talk to her parents, not sure if they'll remember who she is. Turns out they do. Mary Margaret and David explain that they do remember Emma and everything that happened previously, everyone does, they just don't know what happened during the last year. The last thing they remember is saying goodbye to Emma, then its as if they never ever left. Yet obviously they did leave and something major happened - because Snow is 9 months pregnant.


* Meanwhile back in Enchanted Land - turns out there's a new nasty in town who has Flying Monkeys - a flying monkey attempted to kidnap Regina, whom Snow and Robin Hood manage to save. But the Monkey gets Regina's blood which he takes to the Wicked Witch of The West, who has her own mirror. And murmurs with a Wicked grin...that the queen may be Evil, but she's Wicked, and in fight between evil and Wicked, Wicked always wins, and she's very Wicked.

And the Witch puts Regina's blood in a vial - stating it's a start for her "REVENGE".

- We all knew it was the Wicked Witch of the West when the monkeys popped up. (And from previous seasons, we know Regina and Rumple at various points popped over to OZ to get things. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Rumplestilskin - rumpled a few feathers playing the Wizard of OZ. Actually that may have been where he ended up after defeating his father - in OZ. All roads lead back to Rumple, including the villains. He's responsible for the creation of pretty much all the villains in the series.)

- That leads me to speculate on the curse. The witch may not have developed or cast it on her own or at all. It's more than possible someone else did. Note - Baelfire/Neal had a big motivation for returning to Storybrook and returning things back to how they were. And was heading towards his father's place with Belle to figure out a means of doing just that.
I wouldn't put it past Bae to find a way of doing it - and getting involved with the Witch.

So...now that we're doing a cross-over with the Wizard of OZ...how many characters from that story are going to pop up? I know they've cast Glinda. I also know Blackbeard has been cast.
As has Rapunzel. (Although only Glinda is a Wizard of Oz character.)

Was a little disappointed that we got Storybrook back again. Was sort of hoping the problem was in the Enchanted Forest. But this admittedly makes sense - since it's harder, logically, to pull Emma and Henry to the Enchanted land. Also it's a lot more fun to play with Storybrook characters in the real world and see how they handle it.

Pretty much a set-up episode. Re-introducing the world, setting up the new conflict/villain, and where all the characters are. But it did still delve into the relationships - we have Baelfire and Belle hooking up - both lost people they care about and want back, by any means necessary. Regina, Snow White, Charming and to a degree Robin Hood hooking up to get back the Kingdom from whomever the interloper is. Aurora and Phillip being completely useless as usual. Not sure what happened to Milan (maybe they couldn't get the actress back?).
Also building on both Hook and Bae's feelings for Emma.

And reminding us of Emma's issues with what Neal did. I rather liked the Emma/Henry scene which gave me the scene that I'd wanted between them last year regarding Neal. Oh well, at least they gave me that scene. Henry telling her that not every guy was going to be like Neal and abandon her. And Emma reminding him - that Neal didn't just abandon her, he let her take the rap and go to prison in his stead. (Also turns out Henry is wrong - every guy she dates is like Neal or worse - Emma seriously has the worst taste in men. I mean, what are the odds that the nice guy you were dating turns out to be a flying ape who tries to kill you after you break up with him? (Emma: REALLY? Me: Right there with you. And damn, I like Christopher Gorman.) Although that's a nifty metaphor.)