When last we left Storybrooke:
The spell is broken. Everyone remembers!
Magic is back! But it’s different…
Everyone wants revenge on Regina, but Henry convinces his bio-mom and grandparents (heh) to keep her from harm. However, Gold sends a [del]dementor[/del] wraith after her. Heroic actions ensue and–with the Mad Hatter’s hat and a little magic–the wraith is banished to some corner of HEAL that still exists. Unfortunately, said wraith sucks the soul out of the true love of recently-awakened Sleeping Beauty. Emma falls into the vortex/portal created by the hat, and Snow leaps in after her. Charming is too late to follow. In HEAL, Sleeping Beauty and Mulan discover Emma and Snow at the place where the wraith came through…
Oh, and the opening of last week’s season premiere showed some guy in some city receiving a postcard from Storybrooke with the simple message: Broken. Who is he? Rumplestiltskin’s son? And where is August/Pinocchio? And Dr. Whale–what’s up with that guy?
Regina’s change of heart about Henry seemed pretty abrupt. They justified it with her memories of her own mother, but still… she had just reacquired magic and faced down the wrathful townsfolk in order to get him back. I like that she’s a complex character and not pure evil, and her flashbacks are developing her story nicely. I don’t think they should redeem her character too soon, though.
Interesting development with everyone still being kinda/sorta “trapped” in Storybrooke, unless they want to lose their memories again.
I was surprised that we didn’t see Emma and Snow until the very end. I suppose next week will focus on them.
Still not sure what’s up with Pinocchio. They show him near the beginning, lying in bed all wooden, and he blinks. Can he move on his own? If not, who moved him and where did he go?
This show’s going to get a bit more confusing if they have Storybrooke now/post-apocalyptic HEAL now/flashback HEAL; but I do want to see that palace coup Snow and James were plotting in the finale last season. Loved the charging up to save the day/make the heroic speech from the Storybrooke mounted steed, a.k.a. ratty ole pickup truck! And if they ever get back, Ruby for Prime Minister of the Enchanted Forest!
I wondered where Belle had gone to, as well. She’d been stuck in solitary for nearly thirty years, broken out and reunited with Gold, then decided to stay with him — and then, what — he’s hiding her in the back of the shop? Gold was in the process of gathering maps together when he learned he couldn’t leave Storybrooke (without causing total erasure of his previous identity); presumably he wouldn’t leave without her?
WRT Regina’s abrupt change of heart, I’ll cut the writers a bit of slack. Henry’s contempt for her behavior does seem to cut deep.
So who the heck is Whale? Given the one-night stand with Mary Margaret I thought it’d be awesome for him to turn out to be Doc, but that’s not the case. Clearly the skeeviness wasn’t just a manifestation of his real-world identity (so are they still nuns, it’s a good question). A quick web search brings up the possibility that he’s Dr Frankenstein, but I don’t see it — Frankenstein isn’t a legend or a folk tale. Then again, neither was Pinocchio, although it qualifies for having been Disneyfied.
I wonder if crossing the line would really effect Regina and Gold. My thought was that the mob should have forced her over the line before she regained magic, thus having to deal with no worse than Sarah Palin. But since neither of them was affected by the curse in the first place (in terms of memory), I’m not sure why they couldn’t leave with no ill effects now. However, Gold has Belle back and taking her out will screw with her memory, which is why they can’t leave together. I’m already watching Grimm, I don’t need a second series where one party has no memory of the relationship.
That said, is HEAL really so much better than the US? Leave, lose your memory, and get the heck out of Maine.
Who or what caused the “don’t leave or you’ll lose your memory” spell? In the story, I mean. It’s a necessity for the show to go on, but I didn’t catch how they wrote it in to the plot line.
Overall, I’m still enjoying this guilty pleasure a lot, but want more Gold & Belle!
I don’t think it’s been explained yet, just discovered. One of the dwarves left, and then started talking to the others as if he were back under the curse, not recognizing them as dwarves, etcetera.
I thought the whole line thing was maybe done by Cora, when they show her preventing Regina from running away in HEAL. A spell to keep her in; then Regina uses something similar on Henry later on.
And yeah, the Gold/Belle thing is confusing. Why does he want to leave? Did Bellel somehow leave and that’s why he wants to go? To be honest, it was made quite clear during the last couple of episodes that Belle isn’t his first priority; his magic and power are, period. So…? A lot of questions unanswered; deliberately, I suspect. Just hope they clear it up soon; the last couple episodes seem rushed and disjointed.
However…the first season did that, too: brought up a bunch of questions, then used the rest of the season to fill in the backstory.
Also…For giggles I’m rewatching the first season. I don’t think we’ve even backtracked to the point at the VERY BEGINNING of the series, where Snow is ‘dead’ and Charming kisses her awake. Have we?
Not sure. He’s titled as ‘Mysterious Man’, so that’s no help. He’s played by the Rene from True Blood Could be Rump’s kid, but the question from me is Who Sent It To Him?
I rather liked this week’s ending. I was expecting to find that Cora had taken over her daughter’s body, and it was kind of nice to be wrong. Should be interesting to see Snow’s reaction when she wakes up.
Its been stated since the beginning that "people that try to leave storybrooke, bad things happen’ - and its been consistent.
This is the first time one of the chars has tried to test it now that they know ‘who’ they are - I think the ‘get your storybrooke memories’ back is to tie who they were with who they would be in the ‘real world’ and also as a means to keep them in town.
We still don’t know the full implications of the purple fog of magic or if it had any impact outside the ‘bubble’ - it clearly didnt restore all magic, nor have the affect that Gold wanted - he’s on a search to find his boy and now that he can’t leave, even his plans have been thwarted.
Could be Rump’s kid, but the question from me is Who Sent It To Him?