Once Upon a Time: True North

I'm posting this just in time for another episode of Once Upon a Time tonight. I usually don't go into such detail about the plot of an episode, but I just couldn't stop on this one.

Hansel and Gretel has never been my favorite fairy tale. It always made me angry that the children's father would let his second wife talk him into abandoning Hansel and Gretel in the woods.

However, I enjoyed what the writers of Once Upon a Time did with the story.

Hansel and Gretel's father is a woodcutter who takes them with him while he chops down trees in the woods. He sends them to find kindling by themselves and gives them a compass that, he says, will help them find him again. When Hansel and Gretel return, they find their father gone. They run into the Queen (by the way, love the hat; not quite sure how I feel about the hair), who promises to help them find their father if they first pick up a little package for her from a blind witch.

And she warns them not to eat anything. So, we know what's going to happen there.

Here is where the story becomes familiar again. The siblings find the witch's gingerbread cottage, with all the goodies inside. Hansel takes a bite out of a big, blue frosted cupcake just as Gretel reaches for the satchel, and wakes the witch, the scary, blind witch who wants to eat them for dinner. I just have to say that I would have had a hard time not eating one of those cupcakes too.

One thing I like about this show is that they don't candy-coat (pun intended) the fairy tales. They were, and are, scary stories usually meant to warn children about the dangers in the world; in this case about going into the woods alone.

Eventually the children are able to get away from the witch by pushing her into her own oven (I wonder why the witch can't use her power to open the oven door). The Queen finishes the job Hansel and Gretel started but stoking the fire of the oven through her magic mirror. Now, if she can do that, why can't she just kill Snow White through the mirror? What are the limits to her magic, and does she really need, or want Snow White's heart specifically, or does she just want her dead?

Hansel and Gretel give the satchel to the Queen, and in it is The Apple. Let's see what she does with that (hehe). The Queen asks the siblings if they would like to live with her in the castle. Hansel is tempted, but Gretel says that they want to find their father. And the Queen gives them their wish and drops them back in the forest where they can start looking for their father.

This story, of course, is interspersed with a similar story in Storybrooke.

Eva and Nicholas have lost their mother (she died), and have been living on their own. They don't know their father. They get in trouble with a storekeeper (Sneezy, anyone?) for shoplifting, and because they involved Henry in the shoplifting, the Mayor wants to separate them and send them to group homes in Boston. Emma, remembering her horrible childhood moving in and out of foster homes wants to reunite them with their father, if she can find him.

Emma goes to Mr. Gold for help finding Hansel and Gretel's father. She shows him the compass (which was broken in Fairy Tale Land when the Queen's carriage almost runs the children down, and in Storybrooke it is no longer broken. How did that happen?), and Mr. Gold tells Emma he can find out who bought it from his shop. He looks at the card and gives her the name of the children's father. But we know that the card was blank. So, does Mr. Gold know everyone's connections from Fairy Tale Land? And are all of his index cards blank (hehe).

When Emma goes to talk to the kids' father, he tells her that he remembers their mother (which is funny because no one else remembers her), but he didn't know he had children, and doesn't think he could take care of them. So, now Emma has no choice but to take the siblings to Boston to foster homes.

Emma's car breaks down (right by the sign that says, "Leaving Storybrooke." How ironic) because the kids can't leave, and she has to call a mechanic, who just happens to be - surprise! -their father. As he walks toward them, the compass starts to work, and points to him. It's a bit corny, but I'm a sucker for corn.

As he told the Queen in Fairy Tale Land: Family always finds one another.

Emma is so happy to bring the family together, and she goes home to tell Mary Margaret the happy news.

Their scene together is just like a Mom and daughter. Emma plops down on the bed and Mary Margaret sits there folding laundry. At this point Emma tells Mary Margaret that Henry thinks that Emma is Snow White's (Mary Margaret's) daughter. And Mary Margaret becomes even more "motherly;" when Emma says she's going out to get some air, Mary Margaret says, "I'll leave you leftovers." It was sweet when Mary Margaret picks up Emma's baby blanket and smells it. I wish there had been a hint of recognition. Oh well, it will come slowly.

And then comes the newest mystery. A stranger comes riding into Storybrooke on a motorcycle at the end of the episode. Who is he? And how is it that he's able to come to Storybrooke? Will he be a new love interest for Emma? How can anyone replace Graham? (I'm still bitter about that one.)

Could he be the one that Emma was reading about in a newspaper clipping who, at seven year old, found "a baby" on the side of the road? Or is that too easy? And how long before we find out?

I enjoyed this episode, and I'm glad I didn't boycott after losing Graham, but I was close.

Side Note: It will be interesting to see another take on the Hansel and Gretel story on Grimm next week.

Quippy Quotes
Hansel: We did all of that for an apple?
Evil Queen: Now she's cavorting with dwarves. When did that happen?