Once Upon a Time Recap: “Dreamy”

by Tracy Ladd:

Once Upon a Time Recap: “Dreamy”
Original Air Date (ABC): Sunday March 4, 2012
Season 1 Episode 14

As much as I want the Operation Cobra story to advance, I will say that this week’s episode was a nice change of pace.  There wasn’t any scheming by Regina….well, there was a little, but it was more of a side story.  Even Emma didn’t have a huge role to play and that was even OK.  We learned all about Grumpy, or as he’s known in Storybrooke, Leroy.  It was tragic and a little uplifting as well if that’s even possible.  Lee Arengerg does such a great job as Grumpy/Leroy and he really nailed it this week.  Amy Acker (Whiskey from Dollhouse for those who don’t know her) pops up as a guest star as well in both FTL and Storybrooke.

Things kick off in FTL with two fairies hanging out in the clouds.  Nova is the inexperienced, clumsy fairy with dreams of becoming a Fairy God Mother.  Her teacher, the blue fairy, tells her that it’ll be a while before that happens and labels her a dreamer.  Nova flies off a bit disappointed and accidentally drops a little fairy dust that happens to land on an egg, which causes it to hatch early. What’s inside the egg?  It’s a dwarf…and it’s Grumpy, although he’s not Grumpy yet.  Apparently dwarfs come from eggs…..and there is never a female dwarf.  If that’s the case then my question is: who lays the eggs??????

He emerges from his egg with visions of Nova, but Bossy tells him that dwarfs don’t fall in love.  They’re hatched and their sole purpose is to work in the mines to create fairy dust.  He’s introduced to his seven brothers…including Stealthy, and given his axe, which bestows him with his name.  It’s kind of like the Sorting Hat.  His name…is Dreamy.

While working in the mines, Dreamy helps out Nova when the bag she just filled with fairy dust gets away from her.  When Dreamy looks at her he recognizes her as the woman he saw in his dreams right before he hatched.  The two share a sweet moment and Nova tells him that before she heads back, she’s going to see the fireflies.  Dreamy doesn’t catch on to the fact that she’s inviting him to go with her and tells her to have fun.

Later on at the tavern, Bossy notices that Dreamy isn’t eating and is lost in his own thoughts.  Dreamy tells him that he can’t eat, he can’t sleep and doesn’t understand what’s wrong with him.  Enter Belle, who is sitting at another table.  She tells him that what he’s feeling is love.  He tells her about the fireflies that Nova mentioned and Belle tells him that Nova was actually inviting him and that he should go to her.  Dreamy follows Belle’s advice and meets Nova.  The two decide to leave and travel the world together.

The next night Dreamy tries to sneak out but is stopped by Bossy and the Blue Fairy.  They tell him that if he were to leave with Nova, she would lose her wings along with her dream of being a Fairy God Mother, which she will become in time.  They tell Dreamy that drawfs can’t love and his feelings are only a dream.  Dreamy goes to Nova and after she shows him the boat she got for them, he tells her that he can’t leave with her.  He explains that if he does, it will ruin her future as a Fairy God Mother and he wants her to be happy.  She tells him that he makes her happy, but he tells her that dwarfs can’t love.

Angry and upset, Dreamy heads back to the mines to continue his work.  After taking out his aggressions on a rock, he breaks his axe.  He’s given a new one which in turn renames him Grumpy.  This all relates back to when Grumpy told Snow White that he’s experienced losing someone he loved.

The story in Storybrooke kicks off with Leroy having breakfast at the diner.  After losing his appetite, he decides to leave and runs into Mary Margaret, who’s trying to find volunteers to help with the Miner’s Day celebration.  She is helping the nuns sell their candles, but since the town has pulled a scarlet letter on her, no one offers to help.  Leroy doesn’t help her cause either when he tells her that no one will buy candles from the town drunk and the town harlot.

Later that day, Leroy happens across Sister Astrid (Nova’s alter ego) as she’s trying to get the lights to work.  He’s immediately smitten with her and helps her by fixing the lights so they work and she tells him that he’s her hero.  Leroy decides to seek out the sister and when he does, he walks in on her getting railed on by her superior for accidentally spending their whole budget.  Astrid tells Leroy that due to this error, they won’t be able to pay their rent, and their landlord, who happens to be Mr. Gold, will evict them.  Determined to help, Leroy enlists Mary Margaret’s help and the two go door to door trying to sell the candles, but end up with doors being slammed in their faces.

Leroy tries to tell Astrid about not being able to sell the candles, but ends up telling her they sold them all.  In an effort to get the money to cover the candles, Leroy tries to see his boat to Mr. Gold.  Once Mr. Gold finds out Leroy is trying to help the nuns, he refuses to buy the boat.  Apparently there is some bad blood there, but of course, we’ve no idea what exactly happened.  Astrid shows up and sees the boxes of candles on Leroy’s boat and questions him about them.  He tells her the truth and realizing that he lied to her, she leaves.

That night, Leroy and Mary Margaret drink their respective sorrows away at Grannie’s.  Leroy tells her to find happiness in her memories with David and move on.  Leroy then gets an idea and heads to the roof.  Mary Margaret is scared that he’s going to jump, but instead, he hits the transformer box with his axe, killing the power to all the lights at the festival, forcing everyone to buy candles.  They end up selling every last candle and Leroy gives the money to Astrid and tells her that he’s going to fix up his boat and tells her he hopes she’ll be his first passenger.

The side story this week dealt with Kathryn’s disappearance.  Emma was investigating the abandoned car when Sidney showed up looking for a story.  He’s still playing like he’s on her side and offers to get his hands on Kathryn’s cell phone records, which he does, but the information came from Regina.  Clearly they’re trying to set Emma on a certain path.

That path leads her to David, because the records show that the last call she made was to him.  The episode ends with David getting into the back of Emma’s squad car.  So the question remains, what happened to Kathryn?  Did she just disappear because she tried to leave?  Does Regina have her stashed somewhere?  She says that Kathryn is her friend, but I wouldn’t put it past her.  I mean, c’mon…she’s got Belle stashed.

And what is Mr. Gold’s issue with the nuns?  I think it has to do with the fact that in FTL, the nuns are the fairies and we know he doesn’t like the fairies too much at all.

Next week we finally get to see Ruby’s back story.  I’ve been curious about this one for a while.  I hope it’s good, but I also hope it lends itself to the larger story.  These side episodes are good and all, but we need to start seeing some progress on the overall arch.

DarkMedia contributor Tracy Ladd has been writing about film since her days on the her high school newspaper. Even though she took a decade or two off to explore other things, she’s back to doing what she loves. She also bakes, can knit a pretty nifty scarf and makes lightsaber sounds with her knitting needles. Or chopsticks. Especially with the lightsaber chopsticks.

You can find her on Facebook, on Twitter @ReelGoddess, and on her website The Reel Goddess.