Once Upon a Time Recap: “Lady of the Lake”

 by Tracy Ladd:

Once Upon a Time Recap: “Lady of the Lake”
Original Air Date (ABC): Sunday October 14, 2012
Season 2 Episode 3

Leave it to the creators of Lost to bring audiences another show that jumps between three separate timelines.  The title of the episode immediately made me think that we’d be getting a storyline featuring someone from the King Arthur realm, and we did, just not in the manner I had thought.  Instead the central theme in this latest installment was all about a parent’s love of their child and that theme was prevalent in all three timelines.

Mulan (Jamie Chung), Aurora (Sarah Bolger) and Jefferson (Sebastain Stan) all return and we get introduced to another new character with the arrival of Lancelot (Sinqua Walls).  With all the new characters and jumping back and forth in time, this is quickly becoming a show that will need to be watched from beginning to end so you don’t miss anything.  For those who thought it would just be a fun little fairy tale type show, it has evolved to be much, much more.  This week, things kick off in the past Fairtytale Land, so we’ll start there.

Fairytale Land (Past)

Charming, Snow and Red are gathered with a few others in a tent planning a mission to overthrow King George and defeat Regina when a group of King George’s soldiers ride into their camp, led by the feared “Leviathan”.  Charming, Snow and Red agree to split up in an effort to take out the soldiers and Charming tells Snow to meet him at his mother’s cabin in two days time.  He tells her that it’s time his mother met his true love.  Snow runs off into the forest, while Charming engages the enemy.  Snow’s escape is cut short when she is caught by the Leviathan, who reveals himself to be Lancelot.  “From the Round Table”, Snow asks? “Not anymore” he responds.  Uh-oh…that doesn’t sound good.

With Snow in tow, Lancelot takes her to King George.  In an effort to inflict pain upon both Snow and Charming, King George gives Snow a goblet of water that’s laced with a poison.  A poison that was also used on his wife, that curses the woman who drinks it, making them barren and unable to conceive a child.  Afterwards, King George lets Snow go.  Lancelot, disgusted with the King’s actions, leaves his service and vows to stay with Snow to make amends and goes with her on her journey to meet Charming.

Charming is already at his mother’s cabin, but King George’s men show up as well.  He sends his mother to hide in the cabin and proceeds to take out all of the men on his own.  When the battle is over, he turns to see that his mother has been shot in the chest with an arrow.  Snow and Lancelot arrive shortly after and Lancelot tells them that the arrow was poisoned.  Charming, determined not to lose his mom, tells them that they need to take her to the healing waters of Lake Nostos.  While en route, Charming’s mom gets to know Snow and finds out about the curse…..a secret that Snow hasn’t told Charming yet.

They arrive at Lake Nostos only to find nothing more than a dry riverbed.  Charming begins to lose hope, but Lancelot tells him that there is always water to be found.  While Lancelot and Charming search, mom tells Snow that if they find water, she wants Snow to drink it to break the curse of the potion.  Snow declines and says they’ll find another way.  Lancelot finds a shell that contains a wee bit of water, which he puts into his water flask.  Mom drinks from it, but nothing happens.  She’s going to die and she knows it and in an effort to grant her final wish, Snow and Charming are married by Lancelot.  Right after they both drink from the marriage cup, mom dies.  Afterwards, Charming gives Snow his mother’s necklace that is supposed to predict an unborn child’s sex.  When mom used it on Snow earlier, nothing happened.  This time, to Snow’s surprise, the necklace reacts.  She tells Charming that the sex of the baby is a surprise and after he walks away, she confides in Lancelot, telling him that when she gets pregnant, they will have a girl.

Fairtytale Land (Present)

In present day FTL, Snow and Emma are still stuck in the pit when confronted by Cora.  Cora tries to make like she’s a friend, and while Emma is suspicious, Snow is downright nasty.  Snow tells Emma not to trust her and goes on about how evil she is.  Before things get really ugly, a rope is tossed down and Snow and Emma are told that they are to be taken to meet the man in charge…..who happens to be Lancelot.  Snow tells Lancelot that she may have a portal that she and Emma can use to get back to Storybrooke but doesn’t want to speak of it because of Cora.  Lancelot tells her that Cora is powerless, but that doesn’t ease Snow’s fears one bit.  Lancelot agrees to let them go, but sends Mulan with them as protection.  As they make their way from the safe haven, a very angry Aurora follows.

Aurora makes her presence known and holds a knife to Snow’s throat, still blaming her and Emma’s arrival for Phillip’s death.  Snow’s a bad ass though and over powers her, but Emma shows up and shoots her gun to get their attention.  They stop fighting, but only because the shot also got the attention of an ogre who comes barreling through the trees looking for what I imagine is food.  The four woman run, but Emma stumbles and falls.  Just as the ogre is closing in on her, Snow shows up and shoots off an arrow, hitting the ogre in the eye, killing him.

They finally arrive at Snow’s old dilapidated castle and they walk into what would have been Emma’s nursery to find that the wardrobe that Geppetto built to save Emma is still there.  Just then Lancelot shows up saying he came to see if they were OK after the ogre attack.  He tells them that he wants to help them get back to Henry, but this sends up a red flag with Snow because Emma never mentioned Henry to him.  Cora reveals herself, telling Snow that she killed Lancelot a long time ago, and has only been posing as him to control the others, who needed a leader.  Cora wants to use the wardrobe to get to Storybrooke herself so she see (or kill??) her daughter, Regina.  Cora attacks Snow, and Emma, in an effort to save Snow, sets the wardrobe on fire.  Mulan and Aurora rush in ready to kick some ass, and Cora decides the fight is not worth it and vaporizes.  Mulan mentions that they don’t have a leader and nominates Snow for the position.  Emma apologizes for burning their only way home, but Snow ensures her, they will find another way.  Emma finally realizes that Snow and Charming sent her away for her own safety and is finally able to let go of her anger.  After they leave the castle, Cora re-materializes and scoops up some of the ash from the wardrobe and put it in a vile.

Storybrooke

In Storybrooke, Henry is desperate to help David find Snow and Emma, but David wants him safe.  David tells Henry that he already met with Jefferson, and that it didn’t do any good.  He sends Henry off to school, but once David’s back is turned, Henry takes off to find Jefferson himself.  Henry finds Jefferson sulking on the docks, and tells Jefferson that they need the hat to work.  Jefferson tells him that he should go talk to his mother because she most likely has something stored in her vault.  This gives Henry an idea and after telling Jefferson that he should to go find his daughter, he takes off.

Regina is packing up her office because she’s been asked to leave, when she gets a call from Henry asking her to meet him for lunch.  She hurries out of her office and once she’s gone, Henry sneaks in and steals her keys.  He makes his way to the cemetery and finds her vault.  He opens a box, only to have two scary snakes pop out, but luckily, David shows up just in time.  He tells her that Regina feared the worst when Henry stood her up and sent David to get him.  I guess Regina is trying to change her ways.

Jefferson sees Grace get off the school bus and after hesitating for a moment, he calls her name.  She turns and runs to him, overjoyed to finally see her father again.

Henry sits in Emma’s bug when David comes up to the window.  In an effort to spend some quality time with his grandson, David shows Henry two wooden swords that he bought so he could teach Henry how to sword fight.  He tells Henry that he is after all, the grandson of the great Prince Charming.  As the two sword fight their way down the street, District Attorney Spencer (aka King George) watches from his car.  That can’t be the makings for something good at all.

That’s it for this week.  I always get sad when we don’t get to see Rumpelstiltskin.  It looks like he’s back next week however, which is always a bonus.  I’m really curious to see just how long Snow and Emma will be stuck in FTL.  I’m thinking it will most likely be for the majority of the season.  And since Regina wants to make amends, it’s only fitting that mommy dearest come back to be the new big evil.

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.