Title Quiet Minds

Two-Sentence Summary In Storybrooke, Neal joins Emma on the quest to find Rumplestiltskin, a quest he began in the Enchanted Forest during the lost year. Flashbacks reveal how Rumplestiltskin returned, why Zelena has his dagger, and who was prepared to pay the ultimate price for using dark magic.

Favorite Lines
Emma: Go ahead and laugh. I almost married a monster from Oz. It’s hilarious.
Neal: I almost married an evil minion of my grandfather, Peter Pan. So I know what you’re saying.

My Thoughts “All magic comes with a price.”

This has always been one of the core themes of Once Upon a Time. Actions have consequences, and the choices we make have lasting ramifications on not only our lives but the lives of those around us. “Quiet Minds” was an episode about choices—both the good and the bad ones; the smart and the foolish ones; the ones we make and the ones made for us. Yes, it had some confusing magical/supernatural elements, but the moments that stayed with me had nothing to do with special effects or fairytale mythology. What I’ll remember about this episode long after this show is off the air (hopefully many years from now) was the story it told about a group of fairytale characters struggling with the very real and very human choices they’ve made.

In this season’s “Quite a Common Fairy,” we were shown that Regina made a choice to run away from the prospect of a second chance at love and happiness with Robin Hood. Ever since that episode, I’ve been waiting for her to come face-to-face with the consequences of that choice, but I’ll admit that it happened much sooner than I expected.

I still predict that Regina and Robin fell in love during the lost year without her seeing his lion tattoo. They definitely shared more than just that one adventure during their missing year; they were immediately drawn to each other in the same way Snow and Charming were back when they were cursed Mary Margaret and David. The way Regina showed a flicker of recognition after they repeated their dialogue from the beginning of their Enchanted Forest relationship reminded me immediately of Charming knowing that Snow was the only thing that felt right about his life in Storybrooke back when they were cursed. Once Upon a Time always has fun with dramatic irony, and I’m having fun watching it play out with this relationship. Another thing I’m having fun with in terms of this relationship is the chemistry between Sean Maguire and Lana Parrilla. Their scene in the farmhouse was as blatantly driven by sexual tension as any scene in Once Upon a Time’s history.

Parrilla did a superb job of showing that Robin could actually make Regina happy. Her smile when she talked to him about whiskey absolutely melted my heart. But there is still a part of Regina that is afraid to open her heart, which is why she bolted the second she saw his tattoo. However, this Regina isn’t the young woman who ran away from Robin in the pub in the Enchanted Forest. She’s grown so much since then, and she’s become a woman who has made choices—both awful and good—and has finally learned to own up to the consequences of those choices. It doesn’t surprise me that she finally met the man who was destined to make her happy after selflessly giving up her true love—Henry—to pay the price for casting the first curse. Just as casting the curse had a consequence (giving up Henry), so did Regina choosing to undo it (meeting Robin Hood).

At the end of “Quiet Minds,” Regina had to once again own up to the consequences of a choice she made. Watching Robin play with Roland, Regina was watching the life she could have chosen for herself; the happiness that could have been hers had she chosen differently all those years ago. Parrilla broke my heart in those silent moments because you could feel her being drawn to this man whom she believes she’s finally ready to love but has missed her chance to be with. I can’t wait for her to discover that she can still choose to open her heart to him; she can still choose happiness, and it’s not too late.

You could see it written on Parrilla’s face as Regina watched Robin and Roland: She believes she isn’t meant to have a happy ending. That was a running theme in this episode as well: Is it really as simple as “heroes get happy endings and villains don’t,” or is the real world a whole lot less black-and-white?

Continue reading →

Title The Tower

Two-Sentence Summary In the Enchanted Forest during the lost year, Charming goes on a quest for a plant to cure his anxiety after Snow tells him they’re going to have another baby, but instead he discovers Rapunzel, held captive in her tower by her own fears. In Storybrooke, Zelena causes Charming to face his fears about fatherhood—possibly stealing his courage (or at least a symbol of it)—in the process, while our heroes finally discover that Rumplestiltskin is alive and apparently on the loose in the town.

Favorite Line “That’s the best part of a small town; everybody knows everybody. It’s like a big family.” (Regina)

My Thoughts If last week’s “Witch Hunt” was a reminder that Once Upon a Time could recapture some of the humor that had been missing for long stretches of the show’s recent past, then “The Tower” was a reminder that it could also recapture the show’s sense of mystery. I love character beats as much as (if not more than) the next person, but I also love smart, interesting plotting. And the fact that I couldn’t sleep last night because my mind kept turning over new theories about where this season is going makes me a very happy (and very exhausted) fan.

While there were moments in Neverland that were dark (both literally and thematically), nothing Once Upon a Time has done before was as thoroughly creepy as “The Tower.” When an episode begins with a doll with a spinning head, you know you’re in for something unsettling—and that was putting it mildly. Credit should be given to director Ralph Hemecker for setting a strong, disturbing tone through his camerawork. What I was most impressed with was the way he made a variety of scenes equally suspenseful: the intimately sadistic showdown between Rumplestiltskin and Zelena in his cell; the choppy, panic attack-esque tone of the nightroot-induced confrontations; and the “demon among us” feeling invoked by the way he shot the meeting between Zelena and the Charmings.

Hemecker showed a deft directorial touch from the episode’s opening moments. I loved the use of color in Charming’s nightmare—everything felt just a little too bright, a little too surreal. I had seen the promo for this episode and knew we’d be seeing Emma in a princess gown, but even knowing that couldn’t take away the pain of watching Charming live out the life he never got to experience with his daughter. The hauntingly beautiful piano version of the show’s true love theme certainly didn’t improve my emotional state.

Continue reading →