by Tracy Ladd:
Once Upon a Time Recap: “Fruit of the Poisonous Tree”
Original Air Date (ABC): Sunday January 29, 2012
Season 1 Episode 11
Back toward the beginning of the season, I noticed that Mr. Gold had the Genie’s lamp in his shop. I wondered if and when the writers would tell that story and who would turn out to be the famous wish-granter. Surprisingly, that story was told with this latest episode and to be honest, I was rather surprised at who it turned out to be. I didn’t see that one coming at all. So this week contained some surprises, more questions and a whole lot of frustration but it was another solid origin story.
The episode begins in Storybrooke with Henry zooming past Emma on his bike. He’s headed to his secret hide-away, the castle jungle gym. The storm from last week has all but destroyed it but Henry’s main concern is the book. He has it hidden in a lock box buried in the sand. Luckily it’s still there. Emma asks why he hides it and he explains that he doesn’t want Regina to find it. He says that she doesn’t know about this place, but just then, she shows up and tell him to get in the car. Regina then turns her fury to Emma and tells her to do her job and that the “castle” should be destroyed because it’s unsafe. Regina also tells Emma now that’s she’s Sheriff, she needs to be responsible.
Emma stews over her conversation at the diner with Mary Margaret who tells her that Regina is jealous of Emma’s relationship with Henry. Mary Margaret gets a text message that says to “meet at their place” and tells Emma that she has to go and rushes out of the diner. Sidney approaches Emma, looking rather drunk, and he tells her that Regina caught wind of an exposé he was writing on her regarding missing city funds and she fired him. He tells Emma that they need to work together to take Regina down. Emma is wary but takes his card anyway.
In Fairytale land, Sidney is actually the genie of the lamp. Kink Leopold (Snow White’s father) finds the lamp on the shore and cleans it up by rubbing it. The Genie appears and tells the king that he can grant three wishes but lays down the ground rules first. The king ponders his wishes and tells the Genie that he has all he needs and he wishes for the Genie to be free. His second wish is to give the Genie the third wish to do as he pleases. Genie tells him that he will do what he always desired, find true love. No longer a slave to the lamp, Genie is invited back to the castle as the King’s guest. Back at the palace, King Leopold introduces Genie to his daughter, Snow White and his wife, Regina, who is tending to her apple tree. As soon as Regina looks upon Genie, he knows he has found love.
In Storybrooke, Emma rushes back to the castle only to see it being torn down at Regina’s request. Henry tries to rescue the book, but it’s gone. Emma congratulates Regina on destroying the one thing that Henry loves. Regina tells Emma that she needs to learn her place in this town, or soon she won’t be in it. After Regina walks away, Emma calls Sidney and tells her that she’s in.
Mary Margaret rushes to the “place” which is the toll bridge where David is waiting for her. He leads her to a picnic spread that he’s laid out and it’s quite clear that MM is now officially the “other woman”. She tells him that they need to figure out what they’re going to do, and he tells her they will…tomorrow. Meanwhile, Emma meets with Sidney on the QT and they hatch a plan to bring down Regina. I just couldn’t help thinking that this was not going to go down very well at all.
In FTL the King announces to his court how he’s so proud of his daughter, Snow and how she’s just like her mother, the fairest of them all. Regina looks on in a depressed way, then quietly leaves to go outside. Genie follows and after she tells him how she doesn’t belong, he gives her a mirror so that she can see herself as he does, the fairest of them all.
Sidney and Emma are combing through records when Mary Margaret walks in happy as a clam. Emma wants to do things by the book, but Sidney wants to stoop to Regina’s level. Mary Margaret is surprisingly ok with doing bad things for good reasons.
Emma and Sidney confront Regina about the missing funds, but of course she has an answer for everything. However, being the sly fox that Emma is, she plants a bug in Regina’s office. After listening to her conduct business, they find that she’s meeting someone in the forest to hand over some money. They follow, but lose her when Emma wrecks the car after her brakes went out. Turns out the lines had been cut. After wandering around the forest trying to find Regina, they run into Mr. Gold who says that he sold some land to Regina.
In FTL, Regina’s father Henry approaches the Genie and asks that he take a wooden box to Regina. For what it contains will be the only thing that will set her free from her miserable life. The Genie agrees and takes the box to her. She opens it and shows him what it is that will set her free. Two extremely deadly snakes. She tells him that since they will never be able to be together, she can’t bear her life anymore. He offers to kill the King for her. All this after the King asked him to help find the man who has stolen Regina’s heart.
Henry is at the diner trying to write down everything he can remember about the book. The Mystery WRiter shows up and asks what he’s doing. Henry tells him that he’s awfully interested in the book and asks why he’s so curious. The stranger tells him he’s a writer but leaves once Henry starts asking the questions.
Emma and Sidney find blueprints but Emma doesn’t want to use them because they’re “fruit from the poisonous tree”, evidence that was obtained illegally. They go to the city council meeting with the intention of outing her in front of the city. As Emma produces evidence about a second home in the woods, Regina admits that she is building out there. But it’s a park for the kids to play safely. D’OH! Poor Emma, she just for totally set up and worked over.
After the meeting, Regina tells Emma to stay away from her and to stay away from Henry or else. Mr. Gold tells her that she needs a powerful ally. Not quite sure why he’s trying to insist they team up, but he’s got something up his sleeve. Meanwhile, the Mysterious Stranger unlocks Henry’s box to reveal the book. Who is this guy?
In FTL, Genie sets the snakes on the King and they attack. The Genie tells the King he’s sorry, and hold his hand while he dies. He goes back to Regina to tell her the deed is done only to find out that it was all a ploy. Regina never loved him and she tells him so. He pledges his love for her anyway and uses his third wish. He wishes to always be by her side. Forever. And that, my friends, is how he ends up in the mirror. Regina laughs and says that he got his wish. What a bitch.
In the final scene, we see Regina sharing a drink with Sidney as she praises him for conning Emma. He even cut the brakes to make it look real. He tells Regina that now Emma will trust him and he’ll tell Regina everything.
Ok, so since Emma is “the hope”, how is it that her efforts are being thwarted every single time. At some point she has to gain the upper hand. I hope the writers start giving us a little more to chew on. I know Regina is the embodiment of all that is evil, but c’mon, she needs to be taken down a notch at least once. They also need to shed more light on this stranger. What’s his deal anyway? Any theories? Let me know in the comments. One last tidbit…if you’re having trouble keeping everyone and their alter egos straight, Seriable has a great article on who’s who.
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.
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