Once Upon a Time: What Happened to Frederick

Mary Margaret and David go back and forth from episode to episode, let's be together; no we can't do that to Kathryn; we have to be together; no, we can't. This was another episode of the same theme. Still, it was a good episode.

In Fairy Tale Land, Princess Abigail arrives in the kingdom for her wedding in a beautiful white carriage. But James runs away, and King George sends soldiers to find him. James thinks he has outrun the soldiers, after some fancy horse jumping and hiding behind a tree. But still he's caught.

In Storybrooke, David and Kathryn are eating dinner, and Kathryn tells David that she applied to a law school in Boston, and was accepted. She wants them to move together so they can make new memories. I wonder where Kathryn went to college for her undergrad. Does Storybrooke have a university? This curse is quite... what word can I use? Smart? To be able to give these fairy tale characters backgrounds that include transcripts that can get one of them into a Boston law school. I also wonder about all of this contact from the outside world. They are all contained physically in Storybrooke, but why can they have contact with the outside world?

Fairy Tale Land: David is caught by Abigail's soldiers. Abigail actually wants to help him escape because she knows he doesn't want to marry her. She knows all about his love for Snow White. She doesn't want to marry him either because she is in love with someone else. James is happy to hear this, and so are we.

Storybrooke: David goes for a walk, and surprise, he runs into Mary Margaret. Mary Margaret tells David that he needs to choose between her and Kathryn. He tells her that he chooses Mary Margaret. MM tells him it's time to tell Kathryn about them.

Emma runs into the stranger, who asks her to get a drink with him. She says she can't go out with a man if she doesn't know his name. He tells her his name: August W. Booth. I love that he tells her, "W is for Wayne."

David tells Kathryn that he can't go to Boston with her because there's something preventing him from connecting to her. He doesn't tell her about Mary Margaret. In Fairy Tale Land, Abigail knows so much. In Storybrooke she doesn't even suspect the relationship.

Fairy Tale Land: James and Abigail ride to her father's "realm." This must be the realm where the characters based on myths live. Here she introduces James to the man she loves, Frederick. Frederick was turned into gold trying to protect her father, King Midas. James asks if she tried true love's kiss to break the curse. "Until my lips bled," she said. So, it must be common knowledge that "true love's kiss" can break curses. That must be why James tries it when Snow eventually eats the poisoned apple. I guess you gotta know these thing beforehand.

Abigail tells James there is a legend that the water of a lake not far away can replace what has been lost. But there is a creature that guards Lake Nostos (Nostos is Greek for "homecoming. That is pretty apropos.). She asks James to go to the lake and fetch some of the water to see if it can break the curse, and James agrees, because where other men failed, "None have my fearless bravery." James is quite sure if himself. But I guess you have to have that cockiness to go up against a creature that has killed everyone else.

Storybrooke: August has Henry's story book, and it looks like he's putting new stories into the book, or copying the pages. I'm not sure what he's doing. Who is August Wayne Booth? Hmmmm.

Kathryn tells Regina that David is leaving her, and Regina tells Kathryn that David and Mary Margaret are having an affair, and shows her pictures to prove it. An angry Kathryn confronts Mary Margaret at the school right after David tells Mary Margaret that he told Kathryn about them - right after he lies! As Kathryn storms into the school, she accidentally bumps into the gym teacher. It's a significant "almost meeting," as we'll find out later. Kathryn slaps Mary Margaret on the face right in the middle of the hall at the school. The rumor mill is about to start rolling.

It seems like both David and Mary Margaret have lost the courage they had in Fairy Tale Land. They've become the opposite of what they were before.

Fairy Tale Land: James goes to the lake and calls for the beast to show itself. It's the Lady of the Lake! Nope. That's from the Arthur legend. We haven't gotten to that one yet. If we're in mythological land, it has to be a siren. Yep, it's a siren. This doesn't bode well for James.

Storybrooke: August gets Emma to hop on his motorcycle and takes her for a drink - at a well. He says that there is a legend that if you drink the water, something lost will be returned to you. How does a stranger know about a legend in Storybrooke? He read the plaque, of course. So, a legend from Fairy Tale Land found its way into Storybrooke. Hmmm. Emma drinks, and later she finds Henry's story book. So, I guess the water worked, or August made sure that Emma believes it worked.

Mary Margaret walks down the street, and people avoid her and whisper about her. Then Granny tells her she should be ashamed of herself. Poor Mary Margaret. She wanted to be upfront and honest, but James couldn't do it.

Fairy Tale Land: At the lake, the siren turns into Snow White to tempt James into the lake so she can drown him. James gives in to the temptation and drops his sword as he kisses her. He falls into the lake and he sees the skeletons of other men who gave into the temptation and were drown. He tries to get away, but he is caught by seaweed (the plant, not the character from Hairspray). He finally grabs a knife and stabs and kills the siren.

Storybrooke: Someone has sprayed the word "Tramp" on Mary Margaret's car, and when Mary Margaret gets to her car, David is trying to wash it off. Mary Margaret is very upset that David lied to her, and didn't tell Kathryn about them. She says that what they have isn't love. She says, "what we have is destructive, and it has to stop." She tells them they shouldn't be together. Like I said, back and forth and back and forth. It's exhausting.

Kathryn tells Regina that she knows her marriage was an illusion, that it's not real. This is why the girl was accepted into law school - brains. She says that David has never looked at her the way he looks at Mary Margaret. Kathryn has decided to go to Law school in Boston by herself, and tell David that he should be with Mary Margaret. Of course we already know that she can't leave Storybrooke. Regina is not happy. She's losing her control.

Fairy Tale Land: James brings water from the lake to Abigail. She pours it over the "statue" of Frederick. He is freed from the golden curse. We discover that it's the gym teacher Kathryn ran into at the school. Ahhh. Abigail and Frederick have a sweet reunion. James is going to look for Snow, and he's hoping a bird can help him track her down. Those birds are pretty helpful.

Storybrooke: Regina uses one of her big skeleton keys to get into David and Kathryn's house. She takes the letter that Kathryn wrote to David telling him she's leaving for law school and that he and Mary Margaret should be together.

Emma sees Henry as he waits for Regina to pick him up from school, and she gives him his story book back. That's good. He really should read, and not play those games.

Fairy Tale Land: James goes to find Snow, and we see the scene with Red that we saw in an earlier episode where she tells him that Snow never came back. And then... King George and his soldiers finally catch up with James.

Storybrooke: Mary Margaret is lying in bed, distraught by everything that happened. Emma comes in and asks if she wants to talk. Mary Margaret says nope. Emma asks her if she wants to be alone. Mary Margaret says nope. Emma lies down next to Mary Margaret on the bed to be there for her. It's a sweet scene between "mother and daughter."

Regina burns Kathryn's letter, so David will never know that Kathryn gives him and MM her blessing to be together. And Kathryn drives away, off to law school. To find her "happy ever after." But then the gym teacher (Frederick) finds her car at the town border. It's empty. What happened to Abigail? Another mystery. I wonder where the gym teacher was going. He would have wrecked his car if he had tried to go any farther too. There must be a lot of wrecked cars in Storybrooke.

Quotes:

Abigail: You're prepared to lay down you life. How charming.

Mary Margaret: You have to make a choice.
James: I choose you.

Mary Margaret: Nothing with you means something, because if it were nothing we wouldn't be talking about it.

Emma: I'm not your mother.
Mary Margaret: According to Henry I'm yours.

Siren: Sometimes illusions are better than truth.

Kathryn: I've always had this irrational fear of leaving Storybrooke, like something's just holding me back.