Once Upon a Time: Welcome to Storybrooke

The flashbacks in this episode were not of Fairy Tale Land, but the time right after the curse (1983 to be exact) when everyone woke up in Storybrooke in their new lives (not knowing that they had forgotten their old lives). The flashbacks had touches of Brigadoon and Groundhog Day in it. The best part of the episode, of course, was seeing Graham again. It was nice to see him alive in the flashbacks, but sad to know that he's still dead in the present. Of all of the evil things that Regina has done, his murder is the one thing I can't forgive her for.

Observations:

Regina has a closet full of little business suits. After being such a snappy dresser in Fairy Tale Land, it's interesting that she would have such a bland wardrobe in her "happy ever after" place.

I can understand why all of the fairy tale characters don't have any problems accepting all of the technology of modern day (well, 1980's modern day), because they don't know to know any different. But how does Regina assimilate herself into our modern age and culture from the beginning of life in Storybrooke? She seems more excited with the fashion than with seeing things like electricity and cars, etc. I want to see her discovery of all of the new fan-dangled gadgets of the modern world.

The first place Regina goes after she wakes up in Storybrooke is to the school to find Mary Margaret to take her to see the John Doe who is in the hospital in a coma to make sure she doesn't know who he is. She has to make sure her plan to make sure that Snow White doesn't live "happy ever after" worked.

Mary Margaret's hairstyle is so not a style from the 1980's. For one thing, it's much too flat. *wink*

How does Regina know that the little boy and his father are not part of "The Enchanted Forest"? Does she know everyone who was part of the curse personally? I wouldn't think so. Maybe people from our world has a certain smell. *wink*

Henry says about Mary Margaret, "She's Snow White, she wouldn't hurt anybody." Has she read Henry's book that tells the tales of Snow White? Snow White was quite the, how do you say? Action hero. I think she took a few of Regina's guard out in her day, didn't she?

Regina certainly likes routine. And she gets angry if anyone messes with her routine. Actually she likes everyone to keep the same routine and doesn't like it if anyone messes with anyone's routine.
However, she does realize that routine can get a bit boring. Who wants to live the same day over and over and over? (Certainly not Bill Murray *wink*) And what is a good remedy for routine? A child. A child who isn't under a curse.

Cora brought a very large trousseau over with her on Hook's boat. That must have taken a while to pack. Oh, that's right - she probably used magic.

How does Gold know what the missing potion does? Is there a way to organize your spell-making ingredients that every person with magic knows? *wink*

Poor Henry. If he has Gold/Rumplestiltskin hating you, then there's going to be problems for Henry in a future episode.

Great way to show we're back in 1983 by showing a bus stop bench with a 1983 computer on it. The ad on the bench says, "Make 1983 the start of your personal digital revolution." I wonder if that was a real ad campaign for a real computer.

When you're looking for someone, of course you'd employ the skills of Ruby, the wolf.

I wonder how Greg got the private cell number for Regina?

Regina really wants a child. Badly. So, we know why Regina wanted to adopt Henry, eventually. I wonder why it took almost 20 years for her to get Henry. And why didn't she just grab a child who was already in Storybrooke. Find an orphan. I'm sure there were some. Maybe she wanted a child who wasn't under the curse.

If Regina let Owen go, why wouldn't she let Kurt go too? Why keep him there?

Regina tells Henry that Mary Margaret needs to pay for what she did to Cora. But Henry knows that Regina killed a lot of people too. She did horrible things. Doesn't she need to pay for what she did? How can she convince Henry that Mary Margaret needs to pay for killing someone when Regina's not willing to pay for the murders she's committed?

That's a touching scene when Owen is looking at the road to Storybrooke and seeing nothing and Regina watching Owen even though he can't see her. I really love how multi-faceted Regina's character is. You hate her, yet you feel sorry for her.

Mary Margaret can't take the guilt anymore. She wants Regina to put her out of her misery. But Regina tells her that she doesn't have to destroy her because Mary Margaret is doing it herself.

Surprise! Owen found his way back to Storybrooke. But where is Kurt?

Quotes:

Kurt Flynn: It's like someone dropped a town right in front of us.
(Me (singing): Brigadoon. Brigadoon, Bloomin' under sable skies)

Granny (to Ruby): When I put over-easy on the menu, I was talking about the eggs.

Mary Margaret: As we build our bird houses, remember - what you're making is a home, not a cage. A bird is free and will do what it will. This is for them, not us. They are loyal creatures. If you love them, and they love you, they will always find you.

Regina: I don't like surprises, Sheriff. I find them threatening. And do you know what happens when I feel threatened? Bad things.

Regina: I will have my son and I will have my vengeance. I will find a way to have everything.

Emma: What does that do?
Gold: In theory it has the power to make someone love you.
Emma: Doesn't that break magic laws? You can't bring someone back to life. You can't force someone to love you.
(That's not a magic law, it's a Genie's three-wish law. Well, a Disney's Aladdin's Genie's three-wish law (and that's a lot of apostrophes *wink*), however, this is ABC, who is owned by Disney, so I guess it breaks their magic laws).

Regina: I know I'm not the greatest cook. Unless it involves apples.

Regina: I came here looking to start over too. It hasn't turned out quite the way I'd hoped.

Mary Margaret: How do you do it?
Gold: Do what?
Mary Margaret: Live with yourself. Knowing all the bad things you've done.
Gold: You tell yourself you did the right thing. And if you say it often enough, one day you might actually believe it.

Regina: Do you know what my problem is? I've never learned from my mistakes.